Robots "in-the-wild" encounter and must traverse widely varying terrain, ranging from solid ground to granular materials like sand to full liquids. Numerous approaches exist, including wheeled and legged robots, each excelling in specific domains. Screw-based locomotion is a promising approach for multi-domain mobility, leveraged in exploratory robotic designs, including amphibious vehicles and snake robotics. However, unlike other forms of locomotion, there is a limited exploration of the models, parameter effects, and efficiency for multi-terrain Archimedes screw locomotion. In this work, we present work towards this missing component in understanding screw-based locomotion: comprehensive experimental results and performance analysis across different media. We designed a mobile test bed for indoor and outdoor experimentation to collect this data. Beyond quantitatively showing the multi-domain mobility of screw-based locomotion, we envision future researchers and engineers using the presented results to design effective screw-based locomotion systems.

翻译：在野外环境中的机器人必须穿越从固体地面到沙粒等颗粒状材料再到液体的各种地形。现有多种解决方案，包括轮式和腿式机器人，它们各自在特定领域中表现优异。基于螺旋的运动是一种具有前景的多域机动性方法，已被应用于探索性机器人设计，包括水陆两栖车辆和蛇形机器人。然而，与其他运动形式相比，针对多地形阿基米德螺旋运动的模型构建、参数影响及效率研究仍然有限。在本工作中，我们针对螺旋运动理解中的这一缺失环节展开研究：呈现了跨不同介质的全面实验结果与性能分析。我们设计了一个用于室内外实验的移动测试平台以收集相关数据。除了定量展示螺旋运动的多域机动性外，我们期望未来的研究人员和工程师能够利用本文呈现的结果设计出高效的基于螺旋的运动系统。