Development of a Four-Legged Robot with Spine-Type Grippers for Exploration on Rugged Terrain

Abstract

Robotic exploration in an extreme environment plays an increasingly important role. Such an environment is basically not easy for humans to access, and an on-site manned activity also carries a lot of risks. Thus, it is useful to utilize a mobile robot that can investigate and collect information of extreme environment. In this laboratory, we have proposed a rock climbing robot that moves while gripping the surface of the ground with grippers. By gripping the ground surface, it is possible to conduct a stable exploration activity even in irregular terrain with steep slope, where is difficult to travel with wheeled or trucked type robots. In this paper, the authers developed a spine-type gripper capable of gripping the rocky environment and a four-legged robot using the grippers. We also demonstrated the developed gripper and robot are useful for climbing rugged terrain with slope by experiments.