押付力による弾性体の摩擦係数変化を考慮したオムニホイールの受動ローラの材料検討

抄録

There has been growing interest in self-propelled robots for inspecting aging piping facilities. However, the friction of the power and communication tether may interfere with the robot’s traveling. Our robot, AIRo-5.2, which has an active bending joint mechanism with a torque controller, can press its omni-wheels against the inner pipe wall and generate a traction force of 250 N and more. For high traction force, materials of passive roller for the omni-wheels are dominant. In this report, the frictional properties and durability of eight different elastomers for the omni-wheels were investigated by experiments. The experimental results show that NBR (Nitrile Butadiene Rubber) has the highest performance in both traction force and wear resistance.