A Walking Machine for Shallow Underwater Opera

K2T, Inc. proposes to design a walking machine for shallow underwater mobile operations. Development of an underwater walking robot is important due to the need to explore ocean bottoms for oceanography, bottom tomography, performing pollution assessments, and ship inspection. Shallow water in particular is a difficult portion of the ocean to explore due to the heavy currents and surges common in coastal waters. The objective of the Phase I research is to design a walking machine which can operate in the presence of subtantial fluid perturbations. K2T will draw upon its experience as the mechanical designers of the Antarctic volcano exploration robot, Dante, to create a design which overcomes much of the difficulties associated with fluid perturbations by emphasizing stability, a conservative gait, and a straightforward vehicle controller. The results of the Phase I effort will be a feasible design including system configuration, formulization of walker controller, performance specifications for legs, kinematic simulations, force stability study, gait study, and feasibility assessment based on biological principles and comparisons to predecessor walking machines. This design will provide a foundation for the Phase II construction of a prototype walking vehicle.