Event Location: NSH 1109
Bio: Bryan is a Masters student in the Robotics Institute. He is conducting his thesis research at the National Robotics Engineering Center under the guidance of Dr. Dimi Apostolopoulos and plans to graduate in December 2009. His interests include mobile robot system design, design of mechanisms for controllability, and control for unique modes of locomotion. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University in 2008 and worked at GE Transportation and Whirlpool Corporation during and after his undergraduate education.

Abstract: Mobility in rough terrain has long been a hindrance in ground-based robotic exploration. Historically, such tasks have been approached with wheeled platforms, which have difficulty surmounting obstacles of even moderate height, or with legged robots that can step over obstacles but require complex foot-placement planning and posture control. In this talk, I will present the design of the latest Robotic All-Terrain Surveyor (RATS) prototype currently under development at the National Robotics Engineering Center. The novel robot has a spherical body roughly the size of a soccer ball with 12 legs evenly distributed around its surface. Each leg is a single-DOF pneumatic linear actuator, oriented normal to the spherical body. RATS is a new approach to the hopping robot concept that uses its unique geometry and simple actuators to achieve diverse locomotive capabilities regardless of landing posture. Our goal is to develop a robot that can navigate any sort of terrain and do so at high speeds.

In the past 15 months I have undertaken to investigate the mobility behavior of this prototype to understand the limitations of its performance and draw insight for controlling its movements. I have demonstrated the feasibility of achieving tipping, hopping, and prolonged rolling behavior, and I will summarize some experimental results of this characterization. I will also discuss the initial control strategies that have been developed and implemented to achieve such multi-modal locomotion with the prototype.