Bonhyun Ku with Advisor A. Banerjee

Animal-like robots, such as a cheetah robot, require agile movements including running and jumping. Although many animal-like robots have been developed, most have stiff bodies or a passive spine. A stiff body structure limits the robot’s balance and agile movements. Actual cheetahs have a flexible spine structure, which allows them to run very fast.

We propose a distributed and scalable electromechanical actuation for agile systems to overcome the limitations of the current robots’ dynamic movements. This system consists of stacks of E-shaped core with two coils, as shown in Figure 1. The electromagnetic force is controlled by current through the coils. The system is also able to detect the position of each spine structure. The proposed electromechanical actuation design can allow animal-like robots to have faster and flexible movements and better balancing. This research is supported by Kwanjeong Educational Foundation.

Figure 1. Electromagnetic Actuation System