Climbing stairs places a greater load on lower limb joints compared to walking on level ground. Variations in anatomical structures and muscle characteristics between genders suggest potential differences in the distribution of required mechanical work among the three lower limb joints. This study aimed to identify gender disparities in the allocation of mechanical work to lower limb joints during stair climbing. A total of thirty-six adults (equally divided between men and women) participated in the study. Participants ascended stairs equipped with force plates at their comfortable speeds, while motion was captured using nine cameras. Inverse dynamics analysis was employed to calculate the mechanical work performed by each joint during four phases of stance: weight acceptance, pull-up, forward continuation, and push-up. Male participants exhibited significantly higher mechanical work than females at the hip and ankle joints (p < 0.05) from the 1st- 3rd phases and the 2nd phase, respectively. Conversely, female subjects displayed greater knee joint work during the 2nd- 3rd phases (p < 0.05). Notably, a pronounced gender difference was observed during the 2nd pull-up phase, where body mass is lifted by a single leg. These findings suggest that men and women employ distinct strategies in distributing mechanical work across lower limb joints.

Improving battery performance is crucial for increasing drone flight time. However, developing individual parts can also enhance mission performance and extend operating time. By attaching a drone to a wall instead of hovering in the air, the operating time and range of task performance can be extended. This study focuses on the adhesion force of a modular permanent magnet wheel leg for wall climbing drones. The wheel leg comprised several spokes without a rim. It could climb obstacles higher than wheel radius and provide a large adhesion area. An equation for the adhesion force of the wheel leg was derived, considering mechanical factors such as drone size, inclination of the ferromagnetic wall, and drone posture. A simple experimental model was created to verify the validity of the adhesive force equation. The effectiveness of the derived equation was confirmed by experimentally measuring the angle of the ferromagnetic wall that losT adhesion according to mechanical factors and comparing it with the derived adhesion force.

Electroadhesion has many advantages over other adhesion methods such as pneumatic, hydraulic, magnet, etc. The applications include electrostatic chucks and grippers. Recently, electroadhesion has been adopted for robots working in limited environments. The electro-adhesive climbing robots can be used for inspection and exploration in a variety of conditions. The electroadhesion robots often have a limited adhesion force. In this paper, we propose a novel pad structure improving the adhesion force. An additional insulating layer prevents the discharge from the high voltage application and increases the adhesion force per unit area. The electroadhesion forces were compared for the different pad materials and electrode structures and were partly confirmed as the theoretical model. The proposed pad was used for a climbing robot wheel. The climbing robot weighs approximately 3 kg and can manage to 3 kg of extra weight on metal walls. Experiments showed a 90-degree gradability for the climbing robot.

This paper introduces an entire development trend of the bio-inspired robots, details of the single locomotive robots, and multimodal robots. Unlike general robots that utilize rigid structures and complex control techniques, creatures have compliant and soft body structures and survive in a simpler way. Inspired by the creatures’ standout performances, bioinspired robotic research has been started by implementing the single locomotion modes of insects such as crawling, jumping, and climbing. Recently, to expand locomotion domain, multimodal robots are actively being studied by integrating more than two locomotion modes of the insects such as jumping-crawling, jumping-gliding, and flying-climbing. Based on the reviews, we carefully suggest how the bio-inspired robotic research will proceed.