Compliant Surface Robotics

"In Phase I, we conducted exploratory research into hybrid locomotive modalities toward achieving the Compliant Surface Robotics (CSR) goals. We researched technologies and designs that would enable a wheeled vehicle to be integrally designed with activelycontrolled articulated structures to develop a "morphable" vehicle, with over-determined legs, wheels and other motive actuator-articulated structure configurations. We examined scalable degrees of freedom and rapidly narrowed our system design down totwo possible eight-legged, eight-wheeled vehicle configurations, named Spyder. Spyder's mobility exceeds most CSR specifications, as extracted from the Tactical Mobile Robot program and documented in our program performance specification. We achieved ourPhase I objective. We now propose a 24-month effort to conduct advanced development to: - resolve critical design issues, - apply resolution to trade final concepts, -select a viable architecture, - build a fully operation prototype, and - demonstrateperformance against specification requirements. Included within Phase II, we will leverage MEMS sensor and command and control design architectures that we are developing in a separate effort towards a miniature underwater vehicle. Using those advances,we will develop a subset of MEMS based control design for Spyder toward improved endurance by minimizing hotel loads. Spyder will demonstrate weight less than 10 kg, range in excess of