Prosthetic Parts for Protecting Mobile Robots

Mobile robotics are currently designed to be worked in difficult and complicated conditions of applications such as disasters and dangerous areas in industries. Such types of robots need to protect themselves from damage against unexpected effects. In this paper we propose five different prosthetic parts, which can be installed on the mobile robots to increase survival chances. These protection mechanisms were inspired by how some animals protect themselves in nature. The five proposed prosthetic parts are named as umbrella, four-bar mechanism, retractable roof, turtle shell, and box shell. A visual design of all five methods is included in this paper. The analysis of all the five shells is based on the ABS Plastic as the material of the shell, mainly due to its low density and adequate strength, and 1000 N distributive external static force. The results showed the ability of equipping the introduced shells into the mobile robot platform without needing mechanical modifications.