Proceedings of 2014 IEEE
International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation
August 3 - 6, Tianjin, China
A Roller Skating Mode-based Amphibious Spherical Robot
Maoxun Li1,3, Shuxiang Guo2,3, Chunfeng Yue1
1
Graduate School of Engineering, Kagawa University, Japan
2
Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University, Japan
3
Harbin Engineering University, China
s14d505@stmail.eng.kagawa-u.ac.jp, guo@eng.kagawa-u.ac.jp
Abstract – A father-son robot system is developed to
implement complicated underwater operations. In order to move
from the land to the water and work underwater automatically,
the amphibious father robot has the quadruped walking
actuation mode and the water-jet actuation mode. However, the
walking velocity on land is limited by the complex conditions and
the quadruped walking actuation mode is not suitable for the
movement on the ramp. This paper proposes a new roller skating
actuation mode for the amphibious father robot to improve the
movement performance on the even terrains and ramp. Four
passive wheels are installed on the four legs of the robot. Two
structures of the father robot in roller skating mode are designed
with different installation methods of the wheels. Two sliding
gaits are proposed for each structure. Then the sliding
experiments were carried out on the even terrain and a slope
respectively to evaluate the performance of the robot. From the
results, the robot has a higher sliding performance in the second
structure. At a control frequency of 5.56 Hz, we get a maximum
sliding velocity of 37.5 cm/s.
Index Terms –Amphibious robot, Quadruped walking, Father
robot, Sliding gait.
I. INTRODUCTION
Because of the increasing requirement for underwater
operations, including submarine topography survey, pipeline
cleaning, water samples collection, and underwater object
recovery, a number of underwater robots have been widely
studied and used. The normal sized underwater robots usually
have a relatively high velocity, long operating times and high
loading capacity, and can support multi-functionality.
However, it is questionable for normal sized underwater
robots to work in limited spaces.
By having the compact structure, microrobots actuated by
smart actuators including ICPF actuators [1]-[3] and SMA
actuators [4]-[6] can realize the underwater tasks in narrow
spaces. Nevertheless, the compact structure also brings limited
multi-functionality, locomotion velocity and enduring time to
microrobots. Microrobots usually have a lower speed because
of the properties of the smart actuators. And the wireless
microrobots cannot provide enough power for a long duration
movement because the robot is unable to carry a large power
supply. For wire microrobots, they can get enough energy
from power supply through the cable, but at the same time
limited in the range of movement.
In order to solve these problems, we describe a father-son
robot configuration used for wide underwater applications,
978-1-4799-3979-4/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
which combines the advantages of different kinds of robots.
The motor-based father robot carries a number of smart
actuator-based microrobots, which can be controlled remotely.
When the father robot encounters a narrow space that it cannot
get through, microrobots will sent out to work. The father
robot has a high mobile velocity and can provide power and
send control signals to microrobots, as shown in Fig. 1. The
father-son configuration has gotten increasing attention in the
past few years. A father–son configuration rescue robot
system is developed by Toshiba to explore the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear plant [7]. A small, deployable, and highly
maneuverable agent ROV as an end effector, which is
connected to the main vehicle by a flexible smart cable, is
developed to realize the accurate manipulation [8].
For the convenience of launching and recycling the father
robot automatically, a multi-functional amphibious father
robot, which can work in complicated underwater
environments and on land, is developed. During the
operations, the father robot will walk form the land to the
water at first. When the robot gets into the water, it will
change its actuation mode from quadruped walking mode to
water-jet actuation mode. In comparison with other shapes,
spherical robot has the maximum inner space. Besides, by
having the symmetry, spherical robot has the advantage of
high flexibility.
There are some problems for the land performance of the
father robot. On the even terrains, the robot can achieve a
maximum walking velocity of 22.5 cm/s, which is not enough
for the movement on land. And the robot can only walk down
a slope with a maximum inclination angle of 8 º.
Fig. 1 Father-son robot configuration
For solving these problems, a new roller skating actuation
mode is proposed to improve the land performance of the
robot on the smooth surface and the slope. Four passive
wheels are installed on the four legs of the robot. Two
structures of the father robot in roller skating mode are
designed with different installation methods of the wheels.
1957
And two sliding gaits are proposed for each structure. Some lower hemisphere of the robot is set for carrying the
sliding experiments for the robot in different structures are microrobots. The diameter of the upper and lower hemisphere
carried out on the even surface. is 234 mm and 250 mm respectively. The height of actuating
This paper is organized as follows. In section II, we unit in standing state is 108 mm.
describe the father-son robot configuration and the structural
design of the spherical robot. Then we propose two kinds of
structures for the robot in roller skating mode in section III.
And the prototypes are given in section IV and experiments
are conducted to evaluate the land performance on the even
terrains and a slope. Finally, we draw the conclusions in
section V.

Fig. 3 Improved structure I of the father robot

Fig. 2 Physical dimensions of the father robot

II. FATHER-SON ROBOT CONFIGURATION

A. Father-son Robot Configuration
Normal sized mobile robot can achieve high velocity,
enough power supply for a long operating time, and
adaptability to complex operating environments. Microrobots
can be more flexible by having the compact structure. A
father-son robot configuration, which combines the
advantages of the large robot and microrobots, is proposed as
shown in Fig. 1. The father-son robot system is composed of
an amphibious spherical robot as father robot and several
microrobots as son robots. To adapt to different environments,
the spherical robot can change its actuation mode between
water-jet actuation mode and quadruped walking mode.
During the actual operation, the spherical robot moves close to
the target first and then keeps still. When encountering the
confined spaces, microrobots will be released, and then get to
the target to work. After the work finished, microrobots will
Fig. 4 Improved structure II of the father robot [13]
be recycled by the father robot.
B. Amphibious Father Robot
Figure 2 shows the physical dimemsions of the proposed
father robot, which consists of a sealed transparent upper
hemispheroid, two openable transparent quarter spherical
shells, a plastic circular plate, a plastic shelf and four actuating
units. Each actuating unit is composed of a water jet propeller
and two servo motors. The two servo motors on the same
actuating unit are mutually perpendicular, with which each
actuating unit can realize two degrees of freedom movement.
The control circuits, batteries and sensors are carried on the
sealed hemispheroid for being waterproof. A space in the Fig. 5 Proposed actuating systems in two structures

1958
 III. PROPOSED FATHER ROBOT IN ROLLER SKATING ground are resolved into the lateral reaction forces and the
ACTUATION MODE forward forces. Since both right and left legs moves
symmetrically, the lateral reaction forces are cancelled and the
A. Proposed Spherical Robot Structure forward forces are remained as the driving force. Due to the
presence of the lateral reaction forces, the robot will not go
The quadruped walking motion on land can select discrete straight exactly. The force generated by the left leg is the same
foot points with multi-articulated legs, which causes the robot with that generated by the right leg at any time. So the robot
to have a high efficiency and to be stable even on rugged will move along a wave trajectory. The center line directions
terrains. On the even terrains and ramp, the wheeled of the front passive wheels in Gait 1 and rear wheels in Gait 2
locomotion is more efficient than the walking motion, by the are aligned with the direction of motion.
reason of the low friction [9]. From the results of pervious
researches [10] [11], the robot can achieve a maximum
walking velocity of 22.5 cm/s on the even terrains, which is
not enough for the land movement. Besides, we know that the
robot cannot climb a ramp over an inclination angle of 8º due
to a higher centre of gravity. During the walking motion, the
robot will lift the leg one by one or the two of them at one
moment, which causes the robot to break its balance due to the
change of the position of the centre of gravity. When the robot
slides downhill with passive wheels, the position of centre of
gravity will not change during this period. The robot will keep
stable and not tumble forward during sliding downhill. Fig. 6 Force analysis with Gait 1 and Gait 2
To order to increase the adaptability to different terrains
and improve the walking velocity of the developed father C. Actuating System Mechanisms in Structure II
robot on level or comparatively smooth terrains, we add four In the legs’ working space, there are an infinite number of
passive wheels on four legs to implement skating motion possible trajectories [9]. To implement high stability, easy
without additional motors. Each wheel has one degree of analysis and independence from payload, several assumptions
freedom. Figures 3 and 4 show the two kinds of proposed have been made by Endo et al. in [12]. For the straight skating
structure of the improved quadruped father robot. Four passive motion, two front legs or two rear legs implement a symmetric
wheels were installed right below the four motors of the motion. In our proposed structure, each leg had two joints.
propellers or below the four motors next to the nozzles of the Two sliding gaits have been implemented in the robot in
water-jet propellers respectively, which could increase a
structure Ċ. In the skating process, four legs of the robot in
hybrid motion on land with lightweight. The proposed
the first gait (Gait 3) should be on the ground and two front
actuating systems of two kinds of structures are shown in Fig.
legs or two rear legs produce cyclic motion. The cyclic
5. Each passive wheel can be actuated to swing cyclically
trajectory can be fixed by the amplitudes and frequency of the
along two perpendicular axes by two servomotors. The
swing motion of each leg. Due to the symmetry, the transverse
direction of motion of the robot in structureĉis perpendicular reaction forces can be counteracted between two front legs or
to that in structureĊ. The walking direction is the same with two rear legs. Therefore, the longitudinal forces will be left as
the sliding direction in structureĊ. the driving force to skate.
B. Actuating System Mechanisms in Structure I
In the skating process, two legs should be on the ground
all the time and others implement a fixed motion. For the
straight skating motion, two front legs or two rear legs
implement a cyclical motion. Two sliding gaits are proposed
for the robot in structure I, as shown in Fig. 6. The first gait
(Gait 1) is a gait actuated by the two front legs, in which at
least three legs are contact with the ground at any one time.
The nozzles of the water-jet propellers of the two rear legs in
Gait 1 should be at a 90º angle to the ground. The horizontal
motors of the front legs rotate 60º during the sliding motion.
The second gait (Gait 2) is a gait actuated by the two rear legs. Fig. 7 Force analysis with Gait 4
The nozzles of the water-jet propellers of the two front legs in In the skating process, two front legs of the robot in the
Gait 2 should be at a 45º angle to the ground. The horizontal second gait (Gait 4) should be aligned with the direction of
motors of the rear legs rotate 90º during the sliding motion. motion and two rear legs produce a fixed cyclic motion.
The axis of the passive wheel is fixed at a right angle to the Before sliding, the direction of the turning wheel on each leg
leg. In these two gaits, the friction between the wheel and should be consistent with that of motion. By the vertical servo

1959
motor on the rear legs rotating, the friction force will be
generated as the driving force to skate, as shown in Fig. 7.
And the resultant force, composed of a friction force and an
opposite reaction, can be expressed as follows:
݂ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ߤ ȉ ܰሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ߤ ȉ ‫ܨ‬ଵ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ
் experiments, sliding motion with Gait 1 is more efficient than
ൌ ߤ ȉ ‫ ܨ‬ȉ ‫ߠ ݊݅ݏ‬ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ߤ ȉ ȉ ‫ߠ ݊݅ݏ‬ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ (1)
௛
் For father robot in structure II, some straight sliding
‫ܨ‬௢ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ‫ܨ‬ଶ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ‫ ܨ‬ȉ ܿ‫ߠ ݏ݋‬ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ȉ ܿ‫ߠ ݏ݋‬ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ
௛ experiments have been conducted on the flat testbed in our lab
் with two sliding gaits. Figure 9 shows the sliding experiments
‫ܨ‬௥ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ݂ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൅ ‫ܨ‬௢ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ȉ ሺߤ ȉ ‫ߠ ݊݅ݏ‬ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൅ ܿ‫ߠ ݏ݋‬ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻሻ
௛
where ݂ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ denotes the friction force generated by the vertical
servo motor, ܶ is the rated torque of the servo motor,‫ܨ‬௢ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ
denotes the opposite reaction applied by the ground, ‫ܨ‬௥ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ, the
resultant force of ݂ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ and ‫ܨ‬௢ ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ, is the driving force of the
robot, Ʌ୫ denotes the maximum amplitude of the swing angle,
and ρ is the friction coefficient between the wheel and ground.
D. Control System Mechanisms and Batteries
The control center of the spherical robot is AVR
ATMEGA2560 micro-controller. We use ten channels of
PWM signals to control the eight servo motors on the legs to
actuate the robot, and two servo motors on the upper
hemisphere to open and close two quarter spherical shells. Use
eight Input/output ports to control four water jet propellers for
positive rotating and negative rotating motion. Another four
Input/output ports are contacted to the remote controller with
four channels which controls the movement of the robot.
For the power supply, we use three batteries, one of
which, 6TNH22A/8.4 V, is for providing the power to AVR
micro-controller, other two of which, YBP216BE/7.4 V, are
used to provide the power to ten servo motors and four water
jet propellers.
sliding motion is perpendicular to that of the walking motion.
The rotation of the wheels has no effect on the walking
motion. However, the motion efficiency is low because the
camber angle is not perpendicular to the ground. The angle
change mechanism should be improved to adjust the angle
automatically when the leg swings. From the results of the
that with Gait 2. Navigation control of the robot should be
developed on the robot with two sliding gaits.
(2)
(3) with Gait 4. Using four passive wheels, the robot can move
smoothly on the testbed. Figure 10 shows the results of the
sliding velocity of the robot with sliding Gait 4 and the
maximum walking velocity with walking Gait 3 under
different control frequency. At low frequencies, the sliding
velocity and walking velocity were almost the same. As the
frequency increased, the velocities in sliding and walking
motions initially increased as a function of frequency and then
decreased. The sliding motion was faster than the walking
motion. Compared to walking motion, sliding motion is not
affected by the response time of the servo motor, which had a
big influence during the walking motion at relatively high
frequencies. At a control frequency of 5.56 Hz in Gait 4, we
achieved a maximum sliding velocity of 37.5 cm/s.
And the sliding experiments have also been conducted on
a slope with different inclination angles. Figure 11 shows the
results of the sliding velocities on the slope with the
inclination angles from 0º to 10º. On the slope, the component
of gravity of the robot provides part of the driving force,
which causes the robot to achieve a relatively high speed.

IV. PROTOTYPE ROBOT IN ROLLER SKATING MODE AND

EXPERIMENTS

A. Prototype Spherical Robot in Skating Mode

The prototype actuating systems of the amphibious father Fig. 8 The prototype father robot in skating mode
robot in skating mode were developed, as shown in Fig. 8.
Figure 8 (a) and (b) show the actuating system in structure I
and II respectively. The robot consists of two main parts, the
upper hemisphere and two transparent quarter spherical shells.
The actuating system and the plastic shelf for microrobots
were set in the lower hemisphere. We chose to use HS-
5086WP waterproof servo motors made by Hitec Company
and the water jet propellers produced by Raboesch Company.
B. Sliding Experiments on the Smooth Surface
For father robot in structure I, we have implemented some
straight sliding experiments to use two sliding gaits on the flat
desk. The robot in this structure can realize the walking and Fig. 9 Experiments for Gait 4 in structure II
sliding motions simultaneously because the direction of the

1960

Fig. 10 Experimental results for Gait 4 during straight skating motion. The red
and blue points correspond to sliding and walking motions respectively
Fig. 11 Experimental results for Gait 4 during straight skating motion on a
slope with different inclination angles
V. CONCLUSIONS
In order to combine the advantages of the large mobile
robot and microrobot, a father-son robot system is proposed.
The father robot has two actuation modes, including the
quadruped walking mode and the water-jet actuation mode.
For improving the land performance of the amphibious
father robot on the even terrains and ramp, a new roller
skating actuation mode for the father robot is proposed in this
paper. Four passive wheels are installed on the four legs of the
robot. Two structures of the father robot in roller skating mode
are developed with different installation methods of the
wheels. Two sliding gaits are designed for each structure.
Then the sliding experiments were carried out both on the
even terrain and a slope to evaluate the performance of the
robot. From the results, we know that the robot has a higher
sliding performance in the second structure. At low
frequencies, the sliding velocity and walking velocity on the
even terrain were roughly equal. At a control frequency of
5.56 Hz, we got a maximum sliding velocity of 37.5 cm/s.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research project is partly supported by National
Natural Science Foundation of China (61375094), and Key
Research Program of the Natural Science Foundation of
Tianjin (13JCZDJC26200).
1961
REFERENCES
[1] S. Guo, M. Li, L. Shi and S. Mao, “A Smart Actuator-based Underwater
Microrobot with Two Motion Attitudes”, Proceedings of 2012 IEEE
International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, pp. 1675-
1680, 2012.
[2] S. Kim, I. Lee and Y. Kim, “Performance enhancement of IPMC actuator
by plasma surface treatment”, Journal of Smart Material and Structures,
Vol. 16, pp.N6-N11, 2007.
[3] L. Shi, S. Guo, M. Li, S. Mao, N.Xiao, B. Gao, Z. Song, K. Asaka, “A
Novel Soft Biomimetic Microrobot with Two Motion Attitudes”, Sensors,
Vol. 12, No. 12, pp. 16732-16758, 2012.
[4] Z. Wang, G. Hang, J. Li, Y. Wang, K. Xiao, “A microrobot fish with
embedded SMA wire actuated flexible biomimetic fin”, Sensors and
Actuators, A 144, pp. 354-360, 2008.
[5] J.J. Gill, K. Ho, G.P. Carman, “Three-dimensional thin-film shape
memory alloy microactuator with two-way effect”, J. Microelectromech.
Syst. 11, pp. 68-77, 2002.
[6] M. C. Carrozza, A. Arena, D. Accoto, A. Menciassi, P. Dario,“A SMA-
actuated miniature pressure regulator for a miniature robot for
colonoscopy”, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 105, No. 2,
pp.119-131, 2003.
[7] Toshiba 4-legged nuclear plant inspection robot (2012). [Online].
Available: http://www.exponentialtimes.net/videos/toshiba-4-legged-
nuclear-plant-inspection-robot/
[8] S. Yu, J. Yuh, J. Kim, “Armless underwater manipulation using a small
deployable agent vehicle connected by a smart cable”, Ocean
Engineering, Vol. 70, pp.149-159, 2013.
[9] G. Endo, S. Hirose, “Study on Roller-walker (System Integration and
Basic Experiments)”, Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2032-2037, 1999.
[10] S. Guo, M. Li, C. Yue, “Performance Evaluation on Land of an
Amphibious Spherical Mother Robot in Different Terrains”,
Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics
and Automation, pp.1173-1178, 2013.
[11] S. Guo, M. Li, L. Shi, S. Mao, C. Yue, “Performance Evaluation on
Land of an Amphibious Spherical Mother Robot”, Proceedings of the
2013 ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering,
pp.602-607, May. 25-28, Beijing, China, 2013.
[12] G. Endo, S. Hirose, “Study on Roller-walker (Multi-mode Steering
Control and Self-contained Locomotion)”, Proceedings of the 2000
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2808-
2814, 2000.
[13] L. Shi, Y. He, S. Guo, “Skating Motion Analysis of the Amphibious
Quadruped Mother Robot”, Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International
Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, pp.1749-1754, August 4-
7, Takamatsu, Japan, 2013.
[14] A. Menozzi, H. A. Leinhos, D. N. Beal, and P. R. Bandyopadhyay,
“Open-loop Control of a Multifin Biorobotic Rigid Underwater
Vehicle”, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp.
112-116, 2008.
[15] X. Lin, S. Guo, “Development of a Spherical Underwater Robot
Equipped with Multiple Vectored Water-Jet-Based Thrusters”, Journal
of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, Vol. 67, No. 3-4, pp. 307-321, 2012.
[16] U. A. Korde, “Study of a jet-propulsion method for an underwater
vehicle”, Ocean Engineering, Vol.31, No.10, pp.1205-1218, 2004.
[17] K. Watanabe, “An AUV Based Experimental System for the Underwater
Technology Education”, Proceedings of Oceans 2006-Asia Pacific,
pp.1-7, 2006.
[18] X. Lin, S. Guo, K. Tanaka, and S. Hata, “Development and Evaluation
of a Vectored Water-jet-based Spherical Underwater Vehicle”,
INFORMATION: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 13,
No. 6, pp. 1985-1998, 2010.
[19] C. P. Santos, V. Matos, “Gait transition and modulation in a quadruped
robot: A brainstem-like modulation approach”, Robotics and
Autonomous Systems, Vol. 59, pp.620-634, 2011.
[20] T. Arai, E. Pagello, and L. Parker, “Guest editorial: Advances in
multirobot systems”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation,
Vol. 18, pp. 655-661, 2002.
[21] R. Chase, A. Pandya, “A Review of Active Mechanical Driving
Principles of Spherical Robots”, Robotics, pp. 1 – 21, 2012.