Recovering elastic energy in a single-legged hopping robot

Robots that mimic animal locomotion may be improved by the addition of compliant parts. A proposed metric for the importance of compliance in an animal gait is Ek/Ein, the ratio of the systems peak kinetic energy to the energy input into it over one gait cycle. In this project, I create an analytical model of a hopping robot and a corresponding physical prototype that will serve as an experimental platform to investigate the relationship between Ek /Ein, and jump performance. Select runs of the simulation show a positive relationship between Ek/Ein and the jump height. Qualitative observation of the physical model shows that compliant parts are able to aid in performing a successful jump.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Sedal, Audrey

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anette Hosoi.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98766

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/98766