A Deployable Bio-inspired Compliant Leg Design for Enhanced Leaping in Quadruped Robots

TL;DR

This paper introduces a bio-inspired deployable leg with elastic energy storage, significantly improving quadruped robots' jumping height through innovative design and validation.

Contribution

It presents a novel deployable compliant leg design using 3D-printed elastic material that emulates biological tendons to enhance jumping performance.

Findings

17.1% increase in vertical jumping height

Finite element analysis confirms energy storage efficiency

Design demonstrates improved agility in quadruped robots

Abstract

Quadruped robots are becoming increasingly essential for various applications, including industrial inspection and catastrophe search and rescue. These scenarios require robots to possess enhanced agility and obstacle-navigation skills. Nonetheless, the performance of current platforms is often constrained by insufficient peak motor power, limiting their ability to perform explosive jumps. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a bio-inspired method that emulates the energy-storage mechanism found in froghopper legs. We designed a Deployable Compliant Leg (DCL) utilizing a specialized 3D-printed elastic material, Polyether block amide (PEBA), featuring a lightweight internal lattice structure. This structure functions analogously to biological tendons, storing elastic energy during the robot's squatting phase and rapidly releasing it to augment motor output during the leap. The proposed mechanical design significantly enhances the robot's vertical jumping capability. Through finite element analysis (FEA) and experimental validation, we demonstrate a relative performance improvement of 17.1% in vertical jumping height.