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University of Toronto develops flexible foot pad for Hopcopter
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An engineering team at the University of Toronto has developed a flexible foot pad for the single-legged hopping robot Hopcopter, markedly improving its hopping performance on difficult terrain such as sand and ice. According to the team, the foot pad enlarges the contact area, tilts with the terrain via a spherical joint, returns to position with a rubber band, and adds short spikes on the bottom to increase grip, reducing takeoff error by up to 66%, improving efficiency by up to 64%, and decreasing cross-terrain performance variation by 84%. The related paper was published in Advanced Intelligent Systems. The team next plans to develop autonomous navigation for Hopcopter, targeting scenarios such as search and rescue and inspection of pipelines and mining areas.
Report timeline
- University of Toronto develops flexible foot pad for one-legged hopping robot Hopcopter, improving performance on sand and ice
A University of Toronto engineering team has developed a flexible foot pad for the one-legged hopping robot Hopcopter, enabling it to hop on difficult terrain such as sand and ice. By enlarging the contact area, using a spherical joint that tilts with the terrain, a rubber band for return, and short spikes on the bottom for grip, the pad reduces takeoff error by up to 66%, improves efficiency by up to 64%, and cuts cross-terrain performance variation by 84%. The related paper was published in Advanced Intelligent Systems; the team's next step is to develop autonomous navigation, targeting scenarios such as search and rescue, pipeline inspection, and mining area inspection.
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