Abstract
In this paper, we develop an articulated mobile robot for cleaning on steps and narrow paths. The robot consists of links which has a cleaning unit, wheels for propulsion, a pitch joint for three-dimensional motion, and sensors for collision detection, and the links are serially connected by a yaw joint. A control method which the robot effectively cleans a plane floor is proposed, and simulations and experiments were carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of it. Furthermore, experiments were performed to test feasibility of climbing a step.
