斜面上での転がり現象を利用した移動ロボットの停止機構に関する検討

抄録

The volcano exploration mobile robot using a phenomenon of rolling down on slopes was developed in our previous study. However, the robot had a problem that it cannot stop on slopes. In this study, to realize a roll-down mobile robot that can stop on slopes, the roll-down locomotion and stop mechanism using transformation by air pressure of the body is proposed. A prototype of a roll-down robot with the mechanism was developed and experiments were conducted to verify the validity of the proposed method. As a result, the robot was able to stop on a slope by exhausting the air inside the robot body and transforming the shape. This paper describes the concept of the roll-down locomotion and stop mechanism, the developed prototype, and the experiments using the robot.