Mechanical Spider

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Applications, Vol 1, Issue 5,
Special Issue, October 2013, ISSN 2320-6349
Mechanical Spider by Using Klann Mechanism

N. G. Lokhande* , V.B. Emche**
Assistant professor ,Department of

Mechanical Engineering
Shri Datta Meghe Polytechnic,
Hingna Nagpur-16. India
email: nikhil.lokhande10@yahoo.in , vemche@gmail.com
ABSTRACT As the wheels are ineffective on rough and rocky areas,

therefore robot with legs provided with klann mechanism is
beneficial for advanced walking vehicles. It can step over
curbs, climb stairs or travel areas that are currently not
accessible with wheels. The most important benefit of this
mechanism is that, it does not require microprocessor control
or large amount of actuator mechanisms. In this mechanism
links are connected by pivot joints and convert the rotating
motion of the crank into the movement of foot similar to that of
animal walking. The proportions of each of the links in the
mechanism are defined to optimize the linearity of the foot for
one-half of the rotation of the crank. The remaining rotation of
the crank allows the foot to be raised to a predetermined
height before returning to the starting position and repeating
the cycle. Two of these linkages coupled together at the crank
and one-half cycle out of phase with each other will allow the
frame of a vehicle to travel parallel to the ground. This project
is useful in hazardous material handling, clearing minefields,
or secures an area without putting anyone at risk. The
military, law enforcement, Explosive Ordinance Disposal units,
and private security firms could also benefit from applications
of mechanical spider. It would perform very well as a platform
with the ability to handle stairs and other obstacles to wheeled
or tracked vehicles.
The goal for this project is to create an eight-legged robot to
test new walking algorithm. We loosely based our design on
spider because there has an advanced way in robotics on
octopedal locomotion. Hopefully algorithm develops will be of
use to robotics community and in future society.
Keywords Klann mechanism, leg design, walking robot
I. INTRODUCTION
This walking robot is based on klann mechanism klann
mechanism is a planar mechanism designed to simulate the
gait of legged animal and function as a wheel replacement.
The linkage consists of the frame, a crank, two grounded
rockers, and two couplers all connected by pivot joints. It has
6 links per leg 180 degrees of crank rotation per stride. 2 legs
will replace a wheel Clockwise rotation of the crank.
1. Step height is achieved by rotating the connecting arm

which is attached to the crank on one end and the middle of
the leg on the other. It pivots on a grounded rocker.
2. The proportions of each of the links in the mechanism are
defined to optimize the linearity of the foot for one-half of
the rotation of the crank. The remaining rotation of the
crank allows the foot to be raised to a predetermined height
before returning to the starting position and repeating the
cycle. Two of these linkages coupled together at the crank
and one-half cycle out of phase with each other will allow
the frame of a vehicle to travel parallel to the ground.
3. The Klann linkage provides many of the benefits of more
advanced walking vehicles without some of their
limitations. It can step over curbs, climb stairs, or travel into
areas that are currently not accessible with wheels but do
not require microprocessor control or multitudes of actuator
mechanisms. It fits into the technological space between
these walking devices and axle-driven wheels.
II.
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Existing Design of the leg mechanism

For legged robots, 2 DOF is the minimum required to move
a leg forward by lifting and swinging. Figure 1 shows the
leg mechanism, using a Watt-chain six-bar mechanism to
imitate the cockroach (insect) leg. We chose a six bar
mechanism because of its superior force-transmission angle
and bigger oscillating angle in comparison with other types
such as the four-bar mechanism (Norton, 2004). Force
transmission is very important for leg mechanisms, because
of the point contact with the ground. The leg mechanism
itself has one DOF for lifting, whilst the base of mechanism
has another DOF for swinging. The leg mechanism, with its
body size shown in Figure 1, is modeled with Solid Works.
It has six links and seven cylindrical joints. The body size
and link dimensions are determined from the maximum
swing and lift angles. Each link is created by entering its
shape and reference coordinates. To mate the contact
surfaces of the parts, the assembly bar of the assembly-
All copyrights Reserved by eETECME-2013, Marathwada Mitra Mandals polytechnique.

Theragaon , Pune, India , Published by IJMCA (www.ijmca.org)
Page 13

mating menu is used. Then the component is rotated around
an axis, specifying the desired axis and rotation for the
selected surfaces. To generate more stable walking on rough
ground and mimic muscles, the springs are mounted
between link1 and link2 and between link2 and link3 [1].
Figure 1 Design of the leg mechanism

2.2 Mechanical Design of A Quadruped Robot
It is a quadruped, electrically actuated, walking and wallclimbing robot. The trunk consists of one part only, and the
legs are mounted, symmetrically, on the corners of the
trunk, Fig. 2. Each leg has three links and three actuated
joints connecting these links. Hip horizontal joint is used to
swing the three links of the leg in a plane parallel to the
ground while walking, hip vertical joint, to attach-detach the
foot on and from the terrain for swing and support stages,
respectively [2].
2.3 Theo Jansen mechanism for

Climbing over bumps
Transporter vehicles have traditionally used wheel
Mechanisms like cars and trains. Wheels are ideally
suited for movement without vertical fluctuations of
the body, and tires with inner rubber tubes absorb
shock from a rugged road. On the other hand,
biologically-inspired robotics learn mobile flexibility
from the morphology of multiple legs and their
coordination .Good examples of this are arthropods,
like spiders, and the robots are conventionally
designed with actuators placed in every joint. In such
implementation, robots are good tools to investigate
how an animal moves, but they are unable to be a
substitute principle for wheels because they dont
much take into account the maximum load capacity.
Joints actuators promise mobile flexibility, while the
Actuators torque performance impacts on the
toughness of the robots body. Therefore, in the
design of disaster robots, which need to move on
rubble and carry rescue devices, continuous tracks or
crawlers are popular.
Theo Jensen a Dutch kinetic artist who has attempted
to create a bridge between art and engineering by
focusing on biological nature, proposed a linkage
mechanism to mimic the skeleton of animal legs.
This is called Theo Jansen mechanism, and
provides the animal with a means of moving in a
fluid manner. Interestingly, his artificial animals
require no electric power for actuators, and do work
by weak wind power to drive the gaits of multiple
legs through a transformation of internal cyclic
motion to an elliptical orbit of the legs [3].
Figure.3 A prototype of the extended Theo Jansen

mechanism made of bamboo sticks
Figure 2 The robot, and the leg
2.3 Use of Klann mechanism in underwater autonomous

walking robots

Page 14

A low-cost, biologically inspired underwater walking robot
has been designed and built to covertly explore the seabed
and to determine properties of submerged objects in obscure
and inaccessible underwater locations. Adopting legged
locomotion for traversing the seabed has a number of
operational advantages; firstly, the platform can maintain its
position without expending energy; secondly, the typically
unstructured terrain of the sea bed can be scaled efficiently;
and thirdly, movement generates a low acoustic signature
which, for applications such as mine clearance or littoral
Warfare would be beneficial.
The design of the robotic platform, hereafter referred to as
MechaLobster measures 170x550x260mm and is composed
of; a watertight, negatively buoyant controller and battery
housing (Otter Box); two modified drill motors (1:148
gearbox) driving the Klann linkage6 inspired leg
mechanism[4].
All these gives the walking motion to the arm like

a spider.
Sr.No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Spcifications
Quantity Specification
1
0.5HP(horsepower)
Low carbon steel
Spur gear
3
14C6
Low carbon steel
Arm linkage 8
30C8
Low carbon steel
Crank
8
30C8
Supporting
Low carbon steel
16
link
30C8
Low carbon steel
Arm
8
30C8
Low carbon steel
Forcing link
8
30C8
High carbon steel
Chain
1
55C8
Component
Motor
Table I Components of mechanical spider by using klann mechanism
IV. Klann linkage for the project
Figure. 4. Photo of machalobster showing detail of whisker attachment
III.
Construction and working
It consist of motor or engine mounted at the top.
Out of three spur gear one is connected to motor or

engine shaft called Driving gear and remaining
two are meshes with driving gear with the help of
chain..
The crank is connected to the shaft on which two

driven gears are mounted.
As the motor made to ON the driving gear drives

another two gear , one is clockwise while other is
anticlockwise as the gears are rotate in opposite
direction.
Due to this this rotation resulting in the crank

rotation.
Crank moves the forcing link gives the momentum

in a particular line of action with help of supporting
link.
The work of supporting link is to move the arm in a

particular profile which made by the end point of
arm and move back to its normal position i.e. initial
position.
Figure 5. Dimensions of klann linkage.
The Klann linkage is a planar mechanism designed to

simulate the gait of legged animal and function as a wheel
replacement. The Klann linkage was developed by Joe
Klann in 1994 as an expansion of Burmester curves which
are used to develop four-bar double-rocker linkages such as
harbor crane booms. It has been a hobby for a number of
years to develop a bicycle without wheels that could walk. It
would move on legs and resemble a large insect. A linkage
was developed that satisfied the design criteria and several

Page 15

small-scale prototypes were built that demonstrated the
concept. Applications for the linkage go beyond humanpowered machines. The links are connected by pivot joints
and convert the rotating motion of the crank into the
movement of a foot similar to that of an animal walking.
The Klann linkage provides many of the benefits
of more advanced walking vehicles without some of their
limitations. It can step over curbs, climb stairs, or travel into
areas that are currently not accessible with wheels but do
not require microprocessor control or multitudes of
inefficient actuator mechanisms. It fits into the
technological void between these walking devices and axeldriven wheels.
rolling friction, this linkage becomes more viable and

wheels of similar size cannot handle obstacles that this
linkage is capable of.
V. Applications
[1] Design and prototype of a six-legged walking insect

robot Servet Soyguder and Hasan Alli Mechanical
Engineering Department, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey
Industrial Robot: An International Journal Volume 34
Number 5 2007 412422
1. Toys could be developed that would fit in the palm of

your hand and just large enough to carry a battery and a
small motor. So that it could ride into combat with radiocontrolled assault spiderbikes.
2. The military, law enforcement, Explosive Ordinance
Disposal units, and private security firms could also benefit
from applications of the spiderbike. It would perform very
well as a platform with the ability to handle stairs and other
obstacles to wheeled or tracked vehicles.
Pivoting suspension arms could be used to optimize
The height of the legs for the waterline.
Increase the platform height.
Reduce the vehicle width.
Also it allows the legs to fold up compactly for storage and

delivery.
REFERENCES
[2] Mechanical Design of A Quadruped Robot for

Horizontal Ground to Vertical Wall Movement Abd
Alsalam Sh. I. Alsalameh Shamsudin H.M. Amin Rosbi
Mamat Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
(CAIRO) Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
[3] A study of availability and extensibility of Theo Jansen
mechanism toward climbing over bumps Kazuma Komoda
(PY)1, and Hiroaki Wagatsuma 1 Department of Brain
Science and Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology
2 RIKEN Brain Science Institute
Figure 6.
Explosive tracking spider bike
[4] Artificial active whiskers for guiding underwater

autonomous walking robots T. Rooney_, M.J.Pearson, J.
Welsby, I. Horsfield, R. Sewell, S. Dogramadzi Bristol
Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England,
Bristol, BS161QD, UK
3. Unmanned operations could be used for reconnaissance,

patrolling, hazardous material handling, clearing minefields,
or secure an area without putting anyone at risk.
4 .There would be further benefits if a portion of these tasks
could be automated or made more accurate through Global
Positioning Systems, infrared viewing, and audio and video
recording. It could be programmed to patrol a predefined
perimeter at random intervals.
VI. Conclusion
This project can step over curbs, climb stairs, or travel into
areas that are currently not accessible with wheels but does
not require microprocessor control or multitudes of actuator
mechanisms.
It would be difficult to compete with the efficiency of a
wheel on smooth hard surfaces but as conditions increase
Page 16

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Applications, Vol 1, Issue 5,

Special Issue, October 2013, ISSN 2320-6349