Roboleg: a robotic soccer-ball kicking leg

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis, design and experimental results of a development program for a robotic leg to be used to kick soccer balls to evaluate new shoe and ball designs for the sport of soccer. The motivation is to be seen in the ability to reproduce and vary kicks reliably to allow more accurate evaluation of new shoe and ball designs without the use of extensive human-kick data sets, statistical evaluations and unquantifiable and unknown experimental errors. The leg was designed with a combination of active and spring-assisted actuator modules to allow the leg to transfer momentum to a soccer ball to achieve take-off speeds of up to 40 m/sec. A removable foot allows for testing of various shoes. Preliminary experimental results have shown that the ball can be kicked with enough range and spin to hit inside the upper corners of a goal at a distance of 20 m and a height of 2.5 m with an accuracy of +/- one ball diameter (0.25 m), with a maximum range of 40 m.