A throwable spherical deployable robot

Conventional search-and-rescue and reconnaissance robots often fail to navigate post-disaster environments with high barriers or narrow gaps due to their cumbersome form factor. To mitigate the inherent limitations of existing robots—including excessive weight, inferior obstacle-surmounting performance, and poor impact resistance, this study proposes a novel throwable spherical deployable robot system inspired by the morphological characteristics of armadillos and octopus tentacles. The robot’s structure was designed to transform from a spherical configuration to an omnidirectional mobile vehicle through cable-driven mechanisms. Kinematic modeling and simulation of the flexible deployment units were conducted to validate their motion rationality and reliability. A mechanical model of the flexible units was established, revealing that the bending performance of the flexible joints correlate with their strain energy. Force analysis was conducted on the robot in its deployed configuration, and a functional prototype was fabricated to verify the practical feasibility of the proposed design. Experimental results indicate that the developed throwable spherical deployable robot exhibits excellent impact resistance performance; its height is reduced by 50% in the deployed state, which allows it to access narrower crevices, while its omnidirectional mobility boosts operational maneuverability of the robot in complex environments.