Mobility Analysis of Screw-Based Locomotion and Propulsion in Various Media

TL;DR

This paper provides comprehensive experimental analysis of screw-based locomotion across various media, highlighting its potential for multi-terrain robotic mobility and offering data for future system design.

Contribution

It presents the first extensive experimental data and performance analysis of screw-based locomotion in multiple media, filling a key research gap.

Findings

Demonstrates multi-domain mobility of screw-based locomotion

Provides quantitative performance data across different media

Enables future design of effective screw-based robotic systems

Abstract

Robots "in-the-wild" encounter and must traverse widely varying terrain, ranging from solid ground to granular materials like sand to full liquids. Numerous approaches exist, including wheeled and legged robots, each excelling in specific domains. Screw-based locomotion is a promising approach for multi-domain mobility, leveraged in exploratory robotic designs, including amphibious vehicles and snake robotics. However, unlike other forms of locomotion, there is a limited exploration of the models, parameter effects, and efficiency for multi-terrain Archimedes screw locomotion. In this work, we present work towards this missing component in understanding screw-based locomotion: comprehensive experimental results and performance analysis across different media. We designed a mobile test bed for indoor and outdoor experimentation to collect this data. Beyond quantitatively showing the multi-domain mobility of screw-based locomotion, we envision future researchers and engineers using the presented results to design effective screw-based locomotion systems.