Engineers at the Institute of Mechanics of Moscow State University have designed and manufactured a walking robot using 3D printing technologies with composite materials and aluminum alloys.
According to the press service of Moscow State University, the team has developed mechanics, drives, electronics, and software that coordinates the operation of twelve motors. The robot has already been tested on the territory of the university. Ahead is a huge amount of work on improving the software and debugging the robot, but it can already be used as a research platform for universities and scientific institutions.
The advantage of walking robots in comparison with wheeled or tracked counterparts is their high crossing capacity on a wide variety of surfaces. The walking platform allows for its seamless integration with the existing urban infrastructure created for humans.
A pioneer in the field of modern walking robots was Boston Dynamics, which in 2005 introduced the BigDog robot created in partnership with the Foster-Miller defense robotics company, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Harvard University. Boston Dynamics is currently the world leader in walking robotics. American, European, and Chinese developments are known to be predominant, and there has not been a single Russian analogue so far.
Engineers at the Institute of Mechanics have been developing the robot for two years. The kinematics and related software are now being finalized, and soon the finished device will be available for scientific groups dealing with robotics.
The weight of the robot is fifteen kilograms, and the total power of the drives is more than three kilowatts. For the construction to be lighter, the chassis components were 3D printed from anisotropic composites and aluminum alloys. Parts for such robots can basically be produced on budget 3D printers such as the QIDI Tech X-Max which is capable of printing carbon-fiber filled nylon composites.
“There are not many laboratories in the world dealing with walking robotics, and the appearance of prototypes of such devices in Russia adds to the scientific and engineering potential of the Russian engineering school. We believe that this project will give a serious impetus to the development of four-legged robots in our country,” commented Anton Rogachev, leading engineer of the General Mechanics Laboratory at the Institute of Mechanics.
