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Improvements to RHex Robot Development;

Towards a Low cost RHex Robot
Ehab Ali*, Ahmed Onsy, Ibrahim Elsherif and Mohamed Metwally
*, , MTC, Cairo, Egypt - UCLan, Preston, UK
*houbalead@hotmail.com, aonsy@uclan.ac.uk

AbstractThe RHex robot is a six-legged robot inspired by

biology. Several models of this robot have been developed,
focusing on areas such as: the shape of the platform; the systems
sensors, actuators and main controller; the leg design, gait and
locomotion; navigation and vision systems; and the robots
application. However, versions of the RHex robot developed so
far include expensive components, and little published work
focuses on the design of a low-cost RHex robot. This paper details
the design of an academic low-cost RHex robot including the
materials used for mechanical parts, sensors, actuators and the
system controller. Two essential improvements were provided in
this paper; the robot legs manufacturing method and the robot
controller cost. The system is currently under validation in the
laboratory environment and future publications will describe its
validation in different environments and the use of other
advanced sensors.

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Keywords Biology Robot; Low-cost materials; Mechatronic

system design; Actuator; System identification.

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I. INTRODUCTION
The development of biologically-inspired robots has gained in
popularity in recent years and is expected to remain the focus
of many researchers well into the future. Examples of these
robots can be found in many publications, as described in a
comprehensive survey of bio-inspired legged robot designs
[1]. The RHex robot is one example of these legged robots,
where all RHex platforms include six legs connected to rotary
actuators. Improvements have been made in leg design and
materials in different robot models in order to produce simple
and controlled movement gaits. The leg actuator is controlled
by a main controller, which has also been improved. This
receives sensor input and user commands to provide control
signals to the actuators [2]. Fig. 1, shows examples of
different models of the RHex robot [3].

The original concept for the RHex robot, known as the RHex
0.0 or RP-0, was introduced in August 1999 by Buehler at
McGill University [3-5]. This model of the RHex robot, called
the research RHex, was improved between 1999 and 2004;
these developments are listed in Table I. Several models were
developed subsequently at different robotics and AI labs,
resulting in a variety of RHex platforms such as the Research
RHex, Rugged RHex, Edubot, Sandbot, and X-RHex [6].
The different models of the RHex robot developed so far are
shown in Table II.
TABLE I.

Different models of the research RHex robot [3-5]

Specs

RHex 0.0

RHex 0 1

Body
dimensions
(mm)

530200150

470200120

Ground
clearance
(mm)

100

130

Leg design

Heat shaped Delrin

rods with soft feet,
length:175mm

4 bar linkage
legs
length:170mm

Total
weight

7.25 Kg

Power
source

2*2.2 Ah @ 12 V
lead acid batteries

Power
circuitry

48 mins standby, 8
mins running

RHex 0.2

Improved
frame

New half
circle legs

No
change
from
RHex 0.1

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Actuators

Six 20W brushed

DC motors.
Maximum
torque/leg: 3.614
Nm

Interfacing

Filtered PWM
motor drivers up to
15A max current.
Six channels remote
control

Sensors

Six optical encoders

coupled to the
motor shafts.

Additional
sensors
RHex 0.1;
2-axis acc.
3 gyros

486DX100 CPU.
All PD controllers
implemented
onboard, with
commands from the
RC unit.

No
change
from
RHex 0.1

Processor
and control
algorithm

RHex 1.0

7 Kg

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No Change

Two 12v
acid,
t=15min

IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics

Altendorfer et al. [7] concluded that the research RHex is the

lightest and fastest platform, and it includes a vision system,
multi-sensors and advanced controllers. The Rugged-RHex is
the only platform able to operate on land and on the water
surface without modifications, while the AQUA-RHex is the
most waterproof platform for driving underwater.
TABLE II.
Robot
Models
1

Research
RHex
(RHex 0.0)
(RHex 1.0)
(RHex 0.2)
(RHex 1.0)

Rugged_
RHex

AQUARHex

Comments

1999 2004

Open aluminum frame, bent Derlin leg

coupled directly to motor, control was
by 8 PC104 cards, power from two12v
acid batteries, weight=7KG, duration:
15min

Failures
appeared in the
first models:
1. Fracture of
Delrin legs.
2. Motor shaft
slippage.
3. Connector
problems.
4. Not suitable
for outdoor
environments.

Modified design:
Mass reduction to 7 kg, run time
increase to over 30 minutes, the open
aluminum frame provided with lexan
cover Several models of the leg
design were developed

1. Carbon fiber shell casing with

curved surfaces:
High strength-to-weight ratio, better
even distribution of impact loads,
reduced hydrodynamic drag during
swimming
2. Modified design:
Dampers were used as an interface
between the electronics and the shell
to reduce the effect of vibration
Weight: greater than 10Kg, from Al
material, payload 2 kg, travel distance
2 km, duration 6hrs, underwater
mobility, two internal cameras, teleoperative communication via IEEE
802 1I b

Fig. 2.

Mechanical design of the RHex robot

The mechanical design was checked using two software

packages: Inventor and ANSYS. The mechanical analysis
included the stress analysis of robot body, hips and legs, as
shown in Fig. 3. The analysis also included the study of the
weight distribution of the internal components inside the
mechanical system.

Damage to
electronics due
to vibration

A. Mechanical System Design

When developing the mechanical parts of the RHex robot,
several objectives are proposed, including: low cost, low
weight, ease of free maintenance, tool-less battery charging
and exchange, easy access to internal components, and
resistance to impact and water. The mechanical design of the
developed RHex robot is shown in Fig. 2, where the main
system dimensions are 50036076 mm. The robot legs are
made of polyethylene material and have outer and inner
diameters and width of 158mm, 150mm and 30mm
respectively. The legs are covered with 3mm rubber tread to
improve interaction with the ground, provide damping and
reduce the effect of impact during the robot's motion. A camshape hip is used to connect each leg to the mechanical body.
The mechanical design is checked for a net payload of 6 Kg.

Mechanical system analysis

B. Sensory, actuation and main system controller:

The development of the control system also included several
proposed objectives: that the robot controller should be low
cost and include wireless communication; such as by using
Atmel microcontrollers, three of which were used to control
the robot.

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II. DESIGN OF LOW COST RHEX ROBOT

Fig. 3.

ev

Improved platform replacing the Zytel

shell components with 7475Al to
withstand the pressure of high depths,
and includes a computer-vision system
to generate 3D maps

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Specs.

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ShelleyRHex

Year

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Different developed models of the RHex robot [7]

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The sensory actuation system includes several sensing

methods: a vision system comprising two CMOS cameras, an
IMU sensor, ultrasonic sensors and motor shaft encoders. Six
EMG49 brushed DC motors were used to provide the leg's
rotary motion. Figs. 4 and 5, show the layout and block
diagram of the control system.
The idea of one actuator per robot leg allows each motor
effects on robot motion by about 30% of the gait. The EMG49
brushed DC motor has many advantages, including its
specifications and characteristics in the ranges of speed and
torque required, as well as being inexpensive, commercially
available and its power dense.

IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics

study the actuator behaviour under different conditions. The

actuator transfer function is also developed along with the PID
controller gains. Fig. 10 shows the response of the actuator
transfer function for a desired input.

Fig. 9. Simulink program for acquiring actuator inputs and outputs data.
Fig. 8. Robot Travelling Distance based on the Polygon of Stability

From the theory of the crank mechanism the angle of rotation

of the support phase can be derived from following equation:
= sin-1 (d / Le)

(1)

Fo

where: d is the travelling distance, and Le is the effective

length of the robot leg. The value of d can be derived from the
following equation of the polygon of stability:
d=CE/F

(2)

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Fig. 10. Transfer Function Response for a Desired Input

Equations 1 and 2 can be used to predict the behaviour and

performance of the robot: in forward kinematics, by giving a
certain angle to the actuator to achieve the required travelling
distance of the robot centre of gravity; or in inverse kinematics
to determine the required angle for the actuator to navigate the
robot a certain distance.

IV. SYSTEM VALIDATION

B. Validation of the low-cost system behaviour

Several tests were conducted in the lab in order to validate the
system. These included running the robot in open loop and
closed loop routines and also checking the operation of each
leg by calculating the required leg angle for navigating the
robot in a stable gait over a distance (d) inside the polygon of
stability. For example, it was found that the angle of support
phase for the actuator s = 38 at ts = 0.3s in a total tc = 0.9s,
which resulted in a successful robot gait over 1.5m for 4s.
Also, the error for each actuator controller was checked and
found to be a maximum of a difference of 6 pulses between
the actuator encoders. This error can be reduced by enhancing
the controller design using seven Atmel microcontrollers: one
for each leg actuator and one serving as a main controller.

B. Validation of the system model

The Matlab software package was used to model and verify
the system model. The leg actuator transfer function is also
developed using the Matlab toolboxes, such that the
established Simulink model, as shown in Fig. 9, was used to

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A. Validation of the loading capacity of the robot legs

The two materials initially selected to manufacture the robot
legs namely: Polyethylene (PE) and Polyvinyl Chloride
(PVC), due to their low cost, ability to withstand high loads
and have minimum manufacturing steps, were mechanically
tested against the maximum loading capacity under the normal
force at the tip of the C-shape of the leg using a compression
testing machine. The PE leg proved its ability to withstand
higher loading capacity of 21.5 kgf while the PVC leg was able
to withstand a maximum loading capacity of 15.6 kgf, hence
the PE martial will be used in the robot legs development.
Appendices A & B include the results of the compression tests
of the two leg materials.

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V. Conclusion:
This paper presents the development of a low-cost RHex robot
that can be used for academic and research purposes. The
development process included the design and production of the
mechanical system, sensory-actuation hardware and the control
system including the control hardware. The first essential
improvement in the robot development was the robot legs
manufacturing method, such that two new legs materials were
tested and the selection of the Polyethylene material for legs
manufacturing was a successful choice over the Polyvinyl
Chloride martial, due its higher loading capacity, however both

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are low cost marital and have minimum manufacturing steps,

which improves previous robot leg developments. The lowcost Atmel microcontroller showed the ability to control the
operation of the RHex robot in the laboratory, and its
functionality has been experimentally validated; which was the
second improvement. The use of future work will focus on
using additional advanced sensors. Further testing will follow
to check the total system error during operation in different
terrains.

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[3]

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[6]

[10] Saranli, U., Rizzi, A.A. and Koditschek, D.E. (2004) Model-based
dynamic self-righting maneuvers for a hexapedal robot.International
Journal of Robotics Research, 23(9): 903-918.
[11] Saranli, U. and Koditschek, D.E. (2003) Template based control of
hexapedal running. In Proceedings of the IEEE International
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[12] Buehler, M., Saranli, U., Papadopoulos, D. and Koditschek, D.E. (2000)
Dynamic locomotion with four and six legged robots. In Proceedings of
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Bio-inspired design and dynamic maneuverability of a minimally
actuated six-legged robot, IEEE, Japan, 2010.

Acknowledgment:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the
commandant of the MTC and the collaborative efforts of the
departments of printing engineering, electrical engineering and
computer engineering at the MTC, during the development
phases.

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Appendix A

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