Walking hexapod for demining territory of postwar Ukraine. Algorithm for switching gait

War Damage Assessment and Post-War Reconstruction

Authors

First and Last Name Academic degree E-mail Affiliation
Oleksandr Sapehin Ph.D. o.sapegin [at] kpi.ua Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Kyiv, Ukraine
Illia Platov No ilya_platov [at] ukr.net Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Kyiv, Ukraine
Oleksii Pavlovskyi Ph.D. a_pav [at] ukr.net Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Kyiv, Ukraine

I and my co-authors (if any) authorize the use of the Paper in accordance with the Creative Commons CC BY license

First published on this website: 21.08.2025 - 10:42
Abstract 

Modern robotic demining systems face the problem of insufficient possibility and maneuverability, especially in complex conditions such as tunnels, ventilation shafts, and debris. This limits their effectiveness in humanitarian demining, where guaranteed reliability is required. It is proposed to use small-sized walking robots, namely hexapods, which are capable of moving on vertical and complex surfaces using friction. The kinematics of the hexapod were studied and energy consumption was calculated for different trajectories and gaits. The analysis showed that the tripod gait is the most energy-efficient, but also the least stable. In contrast, the wave gait is the most stable but consumes significantly more energy. To optimize the hexapod's operation, it is proposed to implement an adaptive algorithm that will automatically switch the gait depending on the surface terrain and the system's condition. This will allow for the combination of energy efficiency with high stability and safety.

Keywords 
demining
walking hexapod
motion trajectory
energy efficiency
References 

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