Abstract
To increase the speed of automatic transporting vehicles in underground narrow roads, we propose a differential four-wheel vehicle that allows contacts to the wall using roller bumpers. A one-tenth scale model is developed for a feasibility study. Using the model, basic experiments to evaluate the impact of wall-contact have been conducted. Wall-contacting running is realized by offsetting the target path to wall. The results of the experiment reveal the possibility of the travel utilizing the wall without a large impact. The additional basic experiments have been conducted to evaluate the running in situations where position noise is added. The results of the experiment showed that driving utilizing the wall as guide structure enables a stable travel even in situations where position information contains severe error.
