Tham khảo tài liệu 'new approaches in automation and robotics part 12', kỹ thuật - công nghệ, cơ khí - chế tạo máy phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | Hypermobile Robots 323 serpentine robot Granosik et al. 2005 . The OmniTread design offers two fundamentally important advantages over its predecessor and in fact over all other serpentine robots described in the scientific literature to date. These features are maximal coverage of all sides of all segments with propulsion elements joint actuation with pneumatic bellows. We believe that the bellows-based joint actuators used in OmniTread have a substantial advantage over a cylinder-based design as discussed in Granosik Borenstein 2005 . This robot passed extended tests at SouthWest Research Institute in Texas showing excellent performance on the send and rock testbeds as well as in the underbrush. It can climb obstacles times higher then itself and span trenches almost half of own length. The latest version of the OmniTread is called OT-4 as it can fit through a hole 4 inches 10 cm in diameter Borenstein et al. 2006 . The OT-4 is even more versatile then its predecessors with onboard power sources both electric and pneumatic it can operate up to one hour with wireless communication is completely tetherless with clutches can precisely control power consumption and with additional flipper-tracks can easily overcome the knife-edge hole obstacle and climb almost 5 times its own height. The detailed information on performance of all members of the Omnis family can be found in Granosik et al. 2007 . Fig. 11. The Omnis family of hypermobile robots from University of Michigan OmniPede upper left OmniTread lower left OT-4 right Another example of reconfigurable hypermobile robot was developed by Zhang et al. 2006 . The JL-I system shown in Fig. 12 consists of three identical modules actually each module is an entire robotic system that can perform distributed activities. Vehicles have a form of crawlers with skid-steering ability. To achieve highly adaptive locomotion capabilities the robot s serial and parallel mechanisms form an active joint enabling it to change its
