Ato Kitagawa

Gel-type sticky mobile inspector to traverse on the rugged wall and ceiling

An epoch-making handy sized sticky mobile robot has been developed, aiming to search and rescue survivors inside the half collapsed buildings caused by big earthquakes. After the robot is tossed through small spaces, it moves around the rugged or bumpy wall and ceiling to overlook the floor by the installed camera. To generate large enough adhesive force even on the rugged wall, a gel mat made of urethane is introduced, whose force can be recovered by the washing function. Developed sticky robot based on the above method could realize the 3D mobile performance on the rugged wall and ceiling with the function of washing of the gel mat and monitoring the scene of the inside of the building. The validity of the application to the rescue inspector is also verified.

Bari-bari-II: Jack-up rescue robot with debris opening function

This paper proposes a novel type of rescue robot which is aimed to open narrow spaces, move under heavy debris, and search and save out survivors at disastrous site. Unlike most of the conventional mobile robots to move through opened spaces, the proposed robot has the ability of cultivating spaces by its own so as to be able to pass through. The key of the robot is the step structure on its head which enables it to open 10 mm gap up to 250 mm gradually under 600 kg load by oil hydraulic power, synchronizing with the mobile behavior to go forward. Such kind of mobile method with jack-up function can be realized by switching two modes alternately discussed in this paper. The validity of the proposed design and behavior is experimentally verified by the developed model named Bari-bari-II.

Flexible sliding actuator using a flat tube and its application to the rescue operation

This paper proposes a novel flexible sliding actuator driven by fluid power. The actuator called Λ -drive is basically composed of a flat tube and a slider. In the slider the tube is bent, then the buckling point occurs, 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. The proposed actuator is applicable to not only the straight path but the spiral and the curved one as well. Moreover, the design method to drive stably and the analysis of the output force are discussed in this paper. Finally, “Fluid Ropeway” is also proposed as the application of Λ-drive aiming to search and rescue survivors in the half collapsed houses, and its feasibility is verified through the experiment.

Tube actuator with drawing out drive aimed for the inspection in the narrow and curved path

This paper describes a tube actuator aimed for a robot to inspect in the narrow and curved path. The tube is made of silicone, and its surroundings are restrained. This actuator has mainly two functions: enabling advancing of the robot, and enabling it to curve into the desired direction. The advancing motion is promoted by pressuring, which draws out the folded tube, and the curving motion is achieved by changing the restraining condition of surroundings of the tube. Preliminary experiments showed that the tube can curve 90 degrees under the pressure of 0.2MPa. Furthermore, to curve the tube into desired direction, the restraining material can be made of water-soluble film or thermoplastic film, which changes its mechanical properties under certain conditions. Using this actuator, the developed robot was able to advance through narrow path and curve through the path in directions of three dimensions.

Smooth creeping actuator by tip growth movement aiming for search and rescue operation

This paper proposes a novel flexible fluid actuator with a long cylindrical structure, aimed at creeping smoothly even on rugged and narrow terrain. Since only the tip goes forward by drawing out the outer skin from its inside, the actuator creeps without moving against the outer environment, just like the plants growing process. The actuator is composed of the plural flexible flat tubes, placed around the cylindrical slippery cloth in parallel, whose tips are bent to cut off the fluid passage. Moreover, it is designed to be capable of steering the direction actively by curving its tip, while the outer shape formed before remains constant. The developed prototype named “Grow-hose-I” creeps at the maximized speed of 500mm/s with generating the driving force of 40N in linear motion. Finally, its feasibility for search and rescue operation is discussed, aiming to make it carry small cameras and microphones as smoothly as possible at the disastrous site.

Rescue inspectors to enhance accessibility and traverse ability using Magnetic Brake Cylinder

Two types of rescue inspectors are presented in order to enhance accessibility of disastrous sites. One is a rolling and jumping mobile inspector, which uses a pneumatic cylinder to jump over obstacles, and the other one is the throw and collect type rescue inspector, which deploys a child machine over high obstacles using a pneumatic cylinder In order to enhance their traversing ability, in this paper, a novel pneumatic cylinder is proposed, named magnetic brake cylinder (MB cylinder hereafter), which is composed of a tank, a pneumatic cylinder, and a permanent magnet. With this structure, the piston is held by the attractive force of the magnet until the pressure inside the tank is very high, offering a higher driving power than an ordinary cylinder. Its control method and the optimization process of its size are also introduced. The MB cylinder is then mounted into the presented inspectors, which show a higher jumping and throwing height than when using an ordinary cylinder, proving to be an efficient option of enhancement.

Skin stimulation by the fluid powered self-excited oscillation and its effect on the human body

A novel fluid power actuator called Flat Ring Tube (FRT) is introduced in this paper. The mechanism of FRT is so simple that it only needs a urethane flat tube and water pressure power source. No valves or switches are required. Applying constant water pressure results in periodic oscillation of the tube. The frequency is proportional to the flow rate of water and inversely proportional to the tube length. By contacting the tube with a passively supported shaft, it rotates due to the periodic tube oscillation. This principle can also generate the linear driving force, when FRT is mounted so as to kick the ground. Such kind of performance can be also expected to stimulate the blood flow rate, when FRT touches on the skin of the human body appropriately. The experimental results showed us the developed wearable massage device could effectively improve both the circulation of the blood flow and the density of oxygen in blood, which resulted in let the people feel more comfortable than conventional massage devices.