Planar Omnidirectional Crawler Mobile Mechanism

- Experiment of Operation and Pressure to the Ground by Planar Omnidirectional Crawler -

Abstract

In recent years, robots are being extensively used in disaster management; therefore, they need to be equipped to operate in harsh environmental conditions. This research aims to develop a mobile mechanism with a high running performance using a planar omnidirectional crawler mechanism, and aims to improve the practicality of a disaster response robot. Examples of such site include staircases with scattered objectives, narrow passage and swamping after the tsunami.
In this paper, we carried out a running test to confirm that the designed mechanism has been realized and that driving to omnidirections is possible. Furthermore, we will describe the results of the experiments for confirming that load distribution is possible for the running surface thanks to the surface structure.