Ringbot Quad: A wheel that walks by KIMLAB

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KIMLAB at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has built Ringbot Quad, a monocycle robot that throws out the usual drivetrain and instead puts four individually powered modules inside a single ring shaped wheel, each one topped with an articulated leg.

A wheel that rolls along on its own, then stands up and walks away on four legs.

This is Ringbot Quad, from KIMLAB at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

It is a monocycle. One ring shaped wheel, and the ring itself is the body. There is no axle in the middle for a motor to turn.

What moves it are four powered modules inside the ring, each running along the inner rim. Four hamsters in a hamster wheel, pushing torque into the rim to roll the whole thing.

Each module is topped with an articulated leg, and the legs do the clever part.

In driving mode they stay tucked inside and shift the weight side to side, which is how a robot on one wheel stays upright and leans into a turn.

Then the mode flips. The legs drop, take the full weight, and the ring becomes a frame rather than a wheel. It walks as a quadruped, over steps and broken ground a wheel cannot climb.

The first Ringbot, in 2024, managed about five kilometres an hour on two legs that mostly just propped it up. Four legs give this one a real stance, so it can carry its own body and walk.

The shape earns its keep too. A ring that big rolls over a curb, and the footprint stays as narrow as one wheel.

It is still a compact proof of concept, shown by Kevin Gim and Joohyung Kim at ICRA in Vienna this June.

2 months ago

AI and Robotics

Ringbot Quad: A wheel that walks by KIMLAB

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