Recently, research on hybrid mobile robots is attracting considerable interest due to the ability of these systems to perform service tasks in heterogeneous scenarios and irregular terrains. This paper proposes a specific hybrid locomotion configuration, which combines legs and Mecanum-omniwheels into a six-legged hexapod robot. Theoretical backgrounds and open issues are addressed by considering some challenging problems such as: gait planning, modeling omnidirectional motion and designing a control architecture for combining locomotion modes. The paper demonstrates suitability, feasibility and successful performance of the proposed locomotion strategies and presents experimental results and novel scientific contributions regarding the motion of hybrid mobile robots.

Locomotion over different terrain types, whether flat or uneven, is very important for a wide range of service operations in robotics. Potential applications range from surveillance, rescue, or hospital assistance. Wheeled-legged hexapod robots have been designed to solve these locomotion tasks. Given the wide range of feasible operations, one of the key operation planning issues is related to the robot balancing during motion tasks. Usually this problem is related with the pose of the robot’s center of mass, which can be addressed using different mathematical techniques. This paper proposes a new practical technique for balancing wheeled-legged hexapod robots, where a Biodex Balance System model SD (for static & dynamic) is used to obtain the effective position of the center of mass, thus it can be recalculated to its optimal position. Experimental tests are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique and modify and improve the position of hexapod robots’ center of mass.

Most of the developed and studied service robots for vertical locomotion, as visual inspection, are made up by a rigid body with legs, wheels, or both. Thus, the robot can only displace over regular and/or flat surfaces since it is not able to adapt to the irregularities and projections of the wall. Therefore, this paper presents the design and analysis of an adaptable robot for vertical locomotion service tasks, which has a body made up of four wheeled legs that can easily adapt to the different irregularities and projections of building facades. The robot uses an Electric Ducted Fan (EDF) as the vortex adhesion system. Each leg has a rubber cover, which allows a higher mechanical adaptability of the robot over different irregularities of the wall. Theoretical backgrounds and open issues are addressed by considering some challenging problems such as mechanical adaptability modeling as well as kinematic and static analysis. Laser sensors are mounted over the robot to measure the adaptability of the robot, between the legs and body, at each time of the experimental tests for vertical locomotion.

En el presente trabajo se muestran los elementos y partes de un prototipo de robot Scara con base móvil, que tiene la finalidad de ser usado como un equipo de enseñanza-aprendizaje de los conceptos básicos de la robótica en los niveles de licenciatura. Se presenta el diseño mecánico del robot así como los movimientos que realiza cada uno de sus grados de libertad. Se desarrollan las ecuaciones del modelado de cinemática directa e inversa. También se muestran los tipos de actuadores usados en el prototipo y la forma de controlar cada uno de llos. Finalmente se describe la implementación en el control y manipulación para el movimiento de las articulaciones utilizando una interfaz gráfica de usuario. El robot tiene la capacidad de tomar y dejar piezas al utilizar sujeción por medio de ventosas que utilizan aire comprimido en su funcionamiento.