Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../….

SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE SPIDER4LEGS MOBILE ROBOT

1
Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, Romania
E-mail:

ABSTRACT
The objective of this paper is to develop the control system for driving a mobile robot
using the Arduino board, controlled by an ESP 32 logic processor, named
SPIDER4LEGS. In order to be used in the oil and gas industry, for example for the
internal inspection of oil product transport pipelines, the four-legged spider type robot
version was chosen, especially due to the special mobility it offers. The created control
system must ensure the control of the movement of the kinematic couplings in the
construction of the legs, the monitoring and maintenance of stability as well as the
establishment of the optimal stepping sequences. The control system is simple and it use
the Wi-Fi communication, because it is the best way to transfer data between the robot
and the operator, offering a lot of advantages.
Keywords: mobile robot, servo motor, ESP 32

INTRODUCTION
The mobile robot is an automatic, complex system that can perform different activities
in a variety of real-world situations. It is a combination of devices equipped with
servomotors and sensors under the control of a hierarchical computing system,
operating in a real space, marked by a series of physical properties and planning
movements so that they can perform a task according to the initial state of the system
and depending on the existing a priori information, related to the work environment. In
a very broad and consequently comprehensive sense, a system represents a set of
elements that interact with each other and with the environment in order to achieve a
certain goal [1]. Mobility allows the robot much greater flexibility in the execution of
complex tasks.
The specific problems that appear in mobile robots are the following: avoiding impact
with stationary or moving objects, determining the position and orientation of the robot
on the ground, as well as planning an optimal movement trajectory. In the case of a
distributed automatic robotic system, the spatial positions are of extreme importance
and the fulfillment of the desired goals as well as the functioning of the entire system
depends on them. The robot must be able to plan its movements, automatically decide
which movements to perform to complete a task, depending on the current arrangement
 Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../……….

of objects in the workspace. Movement planning does not consist of a single and well-
defined problem, but of a set of problems, some of which are more or less variants of
the others. Avoiding collisions with fixed or moving obstacles, located in the robot's
workspace can be done by several methods: the creation of a mechanical guard that
stops the robot by deformation, the use of sensors that measure the distance to obstacles
in the direction of movement, the use of proximity sensors, the use of correlated
information from more many types of sensors. Locating objects can also be done by
physical contact, but this procedure imposes restrictions on the speed of movement. The
physical contact between the robot and the obstacles in the environment generates
reaction forces that change the state of the robot. High working speeds make the
dynamic effects of a physical contact with obstacles or handled objects risky and can
lead to damage to the object or the robot.
Among the more frequently used navigation methods can be mentioned: measuring the
number of rotations made by the motor wheels, using accelerators and gyroscopes,
electromagnetic buoys installed in the field, optical or magnetic passive or semi-passive
beacons. Information about the workspace can be obtained independently of any action
of the robot and can be organized on navigation maps. The map provides a
configuration of the initial structure of the workspace [1].
The robot must operate safely, for example it must avoid obstacles or stay away from
dangerous operating conditions and not endanger the operator in the vicinity of the
robot [2]. The necessary configuration is obtained by updating the initial map with
information obtained from the navigation system of the autonomous robot. Based on the
initial model, a possible trajectory can be established to achieve the goal, a trajectory
that is as close to the real one as the information about the working environment is
closer to the reality on the ground. The initially existing information can contribute to a
division of the space into accessible and forbidden areas. In the process of modelling the
workspace, it is important to take into account the dimensions and the physical-
mechanical possibilities of approaching these obstacles by the robot, depending on their
dimensions [2].
One field of application of the pasting robots is the internal inspection of pipelines. But
these systems have problems with going over obstacles or moving on inclined surfaces.
One such robot is the one built by Siemens in 1995, the Pipe Climbing Robot, with 8
legs. Another example is the MORIZ robot, with 8 legs, developed by the Technical
University of Munich, capable of climbing the inner surface of pipes with different
slopes.
Wired communication it is the simplest way to transfer data between the robot and the
operator. A series of problems associated with wireless transmission disappear in the
case of wired data communication, at the cost of restricting the robot's mobility. The
main advantage of wired communication systems is that, in addition to the data
transmitted between the robot and the human operator, it can also be supplied with
electricity, thus eliminating the need for a battery on the robot and increasing the
autonomy of the robot [2]. Wireless communication systems they use a series of
technologies for transmitting data through the air (eng. wireless), among which we
mention: transmission through waves in the infrared spectrum, bluetooth, radio
modems, WiFi (eng. wireless fidelity) and others [2].
 Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../….…

SPIDER4LEGS MOBILE ROBOT STRUCTURE

The components for the robot are the following: the main body with 4 legs; ESP32
development board, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth BLE, Dual Core; PCA9685 module, I2C
interface, 16 CH, servo motor; 12 Servo motors SG90 180 degrees. The mechanical
design of the robot and the implementation of the actuation system are presented in
Figure 1 and Figure 2.

Figure 1. SPIDER4LEGS mobile robot

PCA9685

ESP32

Figure
2.
Electrical connection diagram
 Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../……….

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR ROBOT CONTROL

Developing software for this robot means, in fact, creating the program for the
microcontroller. So, all the servo motors are controlled using Pulse with Modulation
(PWM) received from the microcontroller. The direction and position of the servos can
be controlled by varying the PWM signal. For that objective, each servomotor is
connected to the servo driver board PCA9685. For this application, the values of the
PWM signal was calculated in the design part, which was presented in another work.
The difficulty of controlling a quadruped mobile robot consists in ensuring static
stability while walking. That's why we should always have three feet in contact with the
ground, but its center of mass should always be kept inside the support polygon.
Moreover, four is the minimum number of legs for a robot, if no additional dynamic
balancing elements are used [7].
Figure 3 shows the software development logic for controlling the four-legged robot.
After initializing the program, if there is a command from the user, the Wi-Fi module
will send a command for the microcontroller board ESP32. Then, the board will send a
signal to the PCA9685 servo driver board. After that, the servo driver board will send
the signal to the involved servos to make that movement and it will run in loop.

Yes
Waiting for the user to
START Wi-Fi Module
command

ESP 32

Servos PCA 9685

Figure 3. Schematic for the software process

In order to control the robot, we have to establish the method of its movement. Walking
is a sequence of movements of the legs in space and time. In quantitative terms, it can
be defined as follows: a) each leg goes through two repetitive phases, support (contact
with the ground) and transfer; b) the duration of a movement cycle (support and
transfer) is the same for all four legs. Within the same cycle, the relative duration of the
support and transfer phases may vary; c) during a cycle of revolution, the movements of
the four legs follow each other in the order of their entry into action; d) the movement is
diagonal, this means in a half cycle of revolution, two diagonal legs succeed each other
[7].
The control strategy has two hierarchical levels, an upper level that ensures the control
of the cooperation of the arms in order to carry out the desired movement, on the
 Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../….…

trajectory, of the object-task, and a lower level that determines the individual movement
of each leg.
The logical schemes of the functions will be presented in the following.

VOID SETUP()

START
set bound rate 115200
bps

INCLUDE
LIBRARIES set PWM frequency to
60 Hz

end
VOID SETUP()

Figure 5. Logic scheme of setup function

VOID INITIALIZE() VOID INITIALIZE()

set PWM signal for

VOID LEGS() 90º of servomotor0

writeln(“0”)

VOID ADVANCE()
set PWM signal for
90º of servomotor1

VOID LOOP() writeln(“1”)

…
Figure 4. Main logic diagram

set PWM signal for

90º of
servomotor14

writeln(“14”)

end
Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../……….

Figure 6. Logic scheme of initialize function

VOID LEGS()

set PWM signal for specific angle

for each servomotor to LEG 1

writeln(“servomotors_number ”)

set PWM signal for specific angle

for each servomotor to LEG 4

writeln(“servomotors_number ”)

end

Figure 7. Logic scheme of legs function

VOID ADVANCE()

set PWM signal for moving the legs

in reverse direction, for each leg in
order to advance the robot

writeln(“servomotors_number ”)

end
 Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../….…

Figure 8. Logic scheme of advanced function

VOID LOOP()

NO YES
If serial > 0

int input = serial.read()

YES
Void
Case “i”
initialize()

NO

YES
Case “a”

Void legs()
NO

NO
delay(1500)
Case “s”

YES Void
advance()
STOP

Figure 9. Logic scheme of loop function

The gait chosen for this robot is a simple one, so that we always have three feet in
contact with the ground. For forward movement, rotation and backward movement, the
sequence of movements is as follows: front leg-left, rear leg-right, front leg-right, rear
leg-left.
 Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../……….

The actuators are connected to the PCA board through a serial connection. Also, a serial
protocol is used to connect PCA9685 servo board and ESP32 board.

CONCLUSION
The organization of the driving programs represents a very important aspect in the
driving systems of the robots, which greatly depends on the adopted performances.
Programs can be created either based on the sequential exploitation of the component
blocks within a fixed structure, or through variable programming structures, in this case
the transition from one command to another is carried out in an adaptive manner, based
on the latest results obtained from the space operation of the robot.
The complexity of the driving system and the degree of difficulty of the performed
operations determine the adoption of specific technologies for the implementation of
driving laws. Conventional driving methods are based on a proper modeling of the
system.
In contrast to conventional techniques, fuzzy management methods offer much more
pragmatic solutions, with obvious application facilities in various fields, requiring an
acceptable level of knowledge in the field of systems, control logic and technology. The
use of fuzzy logic in the implementation of control systems in the absence of total
information on the system was also one of the factors that determined the wide spread
of fuzzy control in the most diverse fields.
Another method of approaching the unconventional control of robots is formed by
neural networks. Recently, fuzzy logic and neural networks form neuro-fuzzy driving
systems.
A possible field of application of these robots is the internal inspection of pipelines
transporting petroleum products. Another application can be an inspection task on an
offshore gas platform.
As future trends, the program can be improved by creating another step structure to
design the movement of the mobile robot.

REFERENCES
[1] Bucur, G., Linii flexibile și roboti, Editura UPG Ploieşti, 2021, pp 142-152.
[2] Popescu, C., Conducerea neuro-fuzzy a roboţilor mobili, Editura UPG Ploieşti, 2015
[3]https://www.proconsilgrup.ro/servomotor-tipuri-si-principiul-de-functionare
[4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXURLvga8bQ&t=302s
[5]https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/F0L/Y9R2/ITS40PI2/F0LY9R2ITS40PI2.pdf
[6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFdXB8Za5Os&t=213s
[7] https://pdfcoffee.com/roboti-pasitori-curs--pdf-free.html
 Romanian Journal of Petroleum & Gas Technology No. ……../….…

[8]https://www.evansville.edu/majors/computerengineering/downloads/projects-2019/
spider-robot-report.pdf