The Adelopod is a small two-armed tumbling robot developed by the University of Minnesota Center for Distributed Robotics.
Tumbling is achieved through the use of two
rigid arms that rotate about its body. Another degree of freedom is
achieved by each arm by adjusting the plane in which that arm rotates.
Tumbling is a largely unexplored method of locomotion
where the robot controls its orientation in order to achieve
consecutive forward falls through its environment, thus producing net displacement. It is desirable for robotic
locomotion for a number of reasons including inherent
stability, high mobility, and low hardware complexity.
