Dynamic simulator design for a robot with six legs

The fast developments in computer technology have also opened the way for more robotic studies in the future. Many nature inspired robot prototypes can be utilized to work in industrial, military, medical and educational fields. Most robots have been planned to move in directions with the help of wheels or tracks, but recent studies have focused on creating robots with legs. The reason for this is that legged versions of these robots can operate more comfortably in multiple environments found in nature. For this thesis study; most research has been done in literature with robots that operate legs. The designing, controlling, kinematic analysis and real time system applications of a six-legged robot are later studied on this research. The designed system consists of a rectangular platform with 6 legs. This study is meant to be a preliminary work for future models in regards to creating fast prototypes and a simulation of hardware that are to be used in future models. The modeling of the system was executed with the help of MATLAB/Simulink-SimMechanics program. The supervision of the designed system will be through a controller designed with fuzzy logic and sliding wedges. The Denavit-Hartenberg approach was used in the resolution of forward/backward kinematic equations, and the Lagrane-Euler equation was utilized in the robot Dynamics. Although the Lagrange-Euler equation is mostly used in the background for forward/backward or reverse kinematics, the possibilities of Simmechanics helps the designer to avoid highly sophisticated equations for the operating of the robot system. Key Words: SimMechanics, Six Legged Robot, Sliding Mode Control, Fuzzy Logic, Kinematic