Design of an eccentric paddle locomotion mechanism for amphibious robots

In this paper we present a novel eccentric paddle mechanism (ePaddle) for amphibious robots that can work in terrestrial, aquatic and semi-aquatic environments and perform wheeled, legged and paddling locomotion gaits. The concept of the ePaddle mechanism is discussed firstly and followed by its forward and inverse kinematic models. The ePaddle mechanism brings remarkable locomotion ability to a robot working in complex amphibious environments that are hazardous to most of existing robots. Three terrestrial gaits and two aquatic gaits are introduced in this paper. The prototype design of the ePaddle mechanism is introduced and the terrestrial trafficability analysis shows that the ePaddle-based robot is highly capable of overcoming steps and ditches. Finally, the prototype of an ePaddle module is simulated with a legged walking gait, and the proposed locomotion ability as well as its kinematic models are verified by the simulation results.