國智清創雄安機器人研究院
英文版正文1819字，
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中文版正文686字，
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David Zarrouk’s lab at Ben Gurion University, in Israel, is well known for developing creative, highly mobile robots that use a minimal number of actuators. Their latest robot is called RCTR (Reconfigurable Continuous Track Robot), and it manages to change its entire body shape on a link-by-link basis, using just one extra actuator to “build its own track in the air as it advances.”
以色列本古裡安大學（Ben Gurion University）的David Zarrouk實驗室以開發使用最少執行器的移動機器人而聞名。他們最新的機器人被稱為RCTR，它能夠在一個環節一個環節的基礎上改變整個身體的形狀，只需要一個額外的執行器，就可以在前進時在空中建立自己的軌跡。
The concept behind this robot is similar to Zarrouk’s reconfigurable robotic arm. That arm is made up of a bunch of links that are attached to each other through passive joints, and a little robotic module can travel across those links and adjust the angle of each joint separately to reconfigure the arm.
這個機器人背後的概念類似於Zarrouk的可重構機械臂。那隻手臂由一堆通過被動關節相互連接的連桿組成，一個小小的機器人模塊可以穿過這些連桿，並分別調整每個關節的角度來重新配置手臂。
RCTR takes this idea and flips it around, so that instead of an actuator moving along a bunch of flexible links, you have a bunch of flexible links (the track) moving across an actuator. Each link in the track has a locking pin, and depending on what the actuator is set to when that link moves across it, the locking pin can be engaged such that the following link gets fixed at a relative angle of either zero degrees or 20 degrees. It’s this ability to lock the links of the track—turning the robot from flexible to stiff—that allows RCTR to rear up to pass over an obstacle, and do the other stuff that you can see in the video. And to keep the robot from fighting against its own tracks, the rear of the robot has a passive system that disengages the locking pins on every link to reset the flexibility of the track as it passes over the top.
RCTR對這個點子進行了一些調整，這樣代替一個沿著一組柔性連桿移動的致動器，你有一堆柔性連接件（軌道）在一個致動器上移動。軌道中的每個連桿都有一個鎖銷，根據該連桿在其上移動時執行器的設置，鎖銷可以接合，從而使以下連桿固定在零度或20度的相對角度上。這是鎖定軌道的鏈接，使機器人具備柔韌與僵硬之間切換的能力，使RCTR能夠通過障礙物。為了保持機器人不與自己的軌道發生衝突，機器人的後部有一個被動系統，它解開每個連桿上的鎖定銷，以在軌道通過頂部時重置軌道的柔韌性。
The biggest downside to this robot is that it’s not able to, uh, steer. Adding steering wouldn’t be particularly difficult, although it would mean a hardware redesign: the simplest solution is likely to do what most other tracked vehicles do, and use a pair of tracks and skid-steering, although you could also attach two modules front to back with a powered hinge between them. The researchers are also working on a locomotion planning algorithm for handling a variety of terrain, presumably by working out the best combination of rigid and flexible links to apply to different obstacles.
這個機器人最大的缺點是它不能，呃，駕駛。增加轉向並不特別困難，儘管這意味著硬件的重新設計：最簡單的解決方案可能是做大多數其他履帶車輛所做的，並使用一對履帶和防滑轉向，儘管你也可以前後連接兩個模塊，它們之間有一個動力鉸鏈。研究人員還正在研究一種用於處理各種地形的運動規劃算法，大概是通過將剛性和柔性鏈路的最佳組合來應用於不同的障礙。
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/reconfigurable-robot-can-climb-up-its-own-track
https://designandrobotics.weebly.com/david-zarrouk.html
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8930917
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編譯：J<4
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