Abstract
Robot technology is expected to become applicable to missions on rough terrain, such as rescue activities, environmental investigations, and planetary exploration. Tracked vehicles are effective against such environments because the contact pressure of the vehicle can be distributed more widely. In order to improve mobility, new mechanisms such as a serpentinetype tracked vehicle have been proposed. We previously proposed the flexible mono-tread mobile track (FMT). The first prototype called WORMY has a mechanical problem, i.e., track belt interference and derailing, when it moves flexing. This paper proposes and validates a new design strategy of the FMT adopting layered structure of its body. The layered structure reduces space between vertebrae, which can solve the derailing problem. A new prototype adopted the layered structure is developed in order to validate its mobility. We also evaluate effectiveness of passive retroflexion against obstacles.
