An Origami-Based Miniature Jumping Robot with Adjustable Jumping Trajectory and Enhanced Intermittent Jumps

A small-scale jumping robot can reach obstacles much larger than its size. It is important for a jumping robot to perform intermittent jumps to cross through rough terrains. However, the limitations of conventional structures hinder the further integration of functions to a miniature (sub-50 g) jumping robot. No sub-50 g jumpers could perform intermittent jumps with adjustable jumping trajectories. In this work, we proposed an origami-based miniature jumper, which performed intermittent jumps with adjustable omni-directional trajectories. The intermittent jumps were achieved by the jumping and self-righting mechanisms, which were actuated by a single motor. The clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of the motor actuated the loading, self-righting and triggering process, respectively. The jumping height was adjustable by adjusting the rotation angle of the motor. Meanwhile, the take-off pitch & yaw angle adjustment methods were integrated into the robot. Therefore, we demonstrated a 9 cm, 13.5 g prototype with functions of re-loading, self-righting, jumping height adjustment and take-off pitch & yaw angle adjustment. The robot could adjust jumping height from 16 to 34 cm and self-right for the next jump. The results revealed that our robot could jump across different obstacles with different scales and directions. The mobility was greatly increased compared with other miniature jumping robots.