MOBILE ROBOT BY A DRAWING-OUT TYPE ACTUATOR FOR SMOOTH LOCOMOTION INSHIDE NARROW AND CURVING PIPES

Abstract

This study discusses the search and rescue mobile robot which is aimed to go through narrow and curving routes and pipes inside the collapsed houses. This robot is inspired by the action of the octopus drawing out its arms. Since it uses the part of the arm that was drawn out as support for its advancing motion, it is expected to carry a camera without depending on the size of pipes. To realize this action, this robot is composed of a flat tube and a slider named Λ-drive. In Λ-drive the tube is bent, forming a buckling point on it, which helps to cut off the fluid passage in order to provide the driving force to the slider when pressurizing one side of the tube. Finally, it is experimentally verified through experiments that this robot is able to go through some narrow and curving pipes.