The Research On Bionic Quadrupedal Robot By Virtual Prototype Simulation

With the development of the science and technology, robots play an increasingly importantrole. Robots can replace human work in hard environment, such as the mine exploration,nuclear power maintenance, deep water exploration, unmanned reconnaissance, etc. Nearly40%of the terrain in the world is not suitable for the use of wheeled vehicles. The bionic robothave an significant technology superior to tradition wheel robot which have a limitation ofmobility to the approach and departure angles，can deploy in the complex ground surface. Dueto the potential benefits, the research on quadruped robot gradually becomes the essential partof robot development.The research by domestic institute is mainly focus on how the bio-quadruped robot tooperate indoor and the theory of movement and control, merely consider the robot operatingunder harsh outdoor environment. Based on the skeleton of horse, this paper developed a modelof a quadruped robot to minimize the body mass of the robot，by a simulation optimizationapproach connecting the virtual prototype technology with finite element analysis, and finishedthe kinematic and structure optimize design. Mechanism kinematics analysis verified therationality of mechanism design through the simulation experiments. Through the body stressanalysis of finite element analysis software, optimization variables were determined.Optimizing the structure size of the body reduced the mass of body and enhanced the flexibilityof the robot. The main content of the paper includes:1Introduce the development and trend of the quadruped robot both in civil and foreigncountries and then present the practical value of this research.2Established the right mechanism construction for the robot base on the research in theskeletal structure and the gait of horse.Finally,determine the structure of the robot.3Analysis the kinematic and dynamic of the quadruped robot.The result which as atheoretical foundation for the selection of driving electronic motor under simulation test.4Build the3D robot model by Solidworks software and then put the model into the visualprototype Adams/view software.The simulation results show that the whole mechanism canaccomplish purpose and the quadruped robot could run in trotting gait successfully.The testalso reveals that the robot with the ability to move steadily and maintain the reliability to moveon the ground.5To get the optimization of the robot body size by using the FEA software.The simulationresult demonstrate the efficiency of the optimization method and reach the goal of reducing themass and cost.6Present the limitation of the research and development outlook of the future quadrupedrobot.