1A2-D07 Development of a Character Robot Appealing to Visitor of Hakodate Area : Development of a squid robot in Hakodate

Abstract

We developed a character robot that is expected to appeal to visitors and increase tourists to Hakodate area. A squid is chosen as the motif of the robot, because it is one of famous regional food and easily associated with Hakodate. The robot is made with aluminum and plastic, its height is 1.8m and the weight is 150Kg. The robot has 23 degree of freedom actuated by an air cylinder and a joint is structured with 3 cylinders. The body of the robot is moved by one joint and the arm is formed by 3 joints, i.e. 9 cylinders move one arm. Rest two cylinders are used to move eyelids. Cylinders are controlled from an H8 microprocessor and control commands are given via LAN using HTTP. A graphical interface executed on a PC is built to register and send a sequence of commands. The robot demonstrated in Hakodate and appeared in TV news, newspapers, and new sites on the Internet.