Cane robot with spherical wheels adaptable to the multi-legged robot

Abstract

To support handicapped and elderly people in their daily lower-limb activities, a multi-legged robot that changes its form according to the application is designed. Each leg of the robot can be separated to operate as a cane robot with spherical wheels. The cane robot moves on a plane by itself and touches the user to stabilize the user's walking balance and prevent the user from falling. Since walking motion of a multi-legged robot causes some shock when touching the ground, the cane robot must have a more shock-resistant structure than a conventional spherical-wheel robot. In this paper, we propose a cane robot with a built-in shock absorber that can be applied to a multi-legged robot.