Multi-modal robots expand their operations from one working medium to another, land to air for example. The majorities of multi-modal robots mainly refer to platforms that operate in two different media. However, for all-terrain tasks, there are seldom research to date in the literature. Generally, locomotions in different working media, i.e. land, water and air, require different propelling actuators, and thus the triphibian system becomes bulky. To overcome this challenge, we proposed a triphibian robot and provide the robot with driving forces to perform all-terrain operations in an efficient way. A morphable mechanism is designed to enable the transition between different motion modes, and specifically a cylindrical body is implemented as the rolling mechanism in land mode. Detailed design principles of different mechanisms and the transition between various locomotion modes are analyzed. Finally, a triphibian robot prototype is fabricated and tested in various working media with both mono-modal and multi-modal functionalities. Experiments have verified our platform, and the results show promising adaptions in future exploration tasks in various working scenarios.

翻译：多模态机器人将其操作从一种工作介质扩展到另一种，例如从陆地到空中。大多数多模态机器人主要涉及在两种不同介质中运行的平台。然而，针对全地形任务，目前文献中少有相关研究。通常，在不同工作介质（即陆地、水域和空中）中的运动需要不同的推进执行器，因此三栖系统会变得笨重。为克服这一挑战，我们提出了一种三栖机器人，并为其提供驱动力以高效执行全地形操作。设计了一种可变形机构，以实现不同运动模式之间的切换，具体而言，在陆地模式下采用圆柱形机体作为滚动机构。详细分析了不同机构的设计原理以及各种运动模式之间的切换。最后，制造了一台三栖机器人样机，并在多种工作介质中进行了单一模式和多模态功能测试。实验验证了我们的平台，结果表明该机器人在未来各种工作场景的探索任务中具有良好的适应性。