Hideyuki Tsukagoshi

Active Hose: an artificial elephant's nose with maneuverability for rescue operation

Proposes both the design concept and the driving mechanism of a flexible robot with multiple degrees of freedom to dive into debris. Up to now, several kinds of pneumatic robots with flexibility have been developed, however, they could not perform multiple degrees of freedom with high bending moment. A new type of robot, called Active Hose, is proposed which has multiple degrees of freedom by connecting units of two degrees freedom in series and has high bending moment by introducing a spine structure and using the deformation of spiral tubes. Active Hose with this performance can be expected to be applied to rescue operations such as searching for victims under debris just after an earthquake, supplying fresh air and drinking water for victims, and carrying air jacks so as to make a room for the victims to escape.

Design of a Higher Jumping Rescue Robot with the Optimized Pneumatic Drive

This paper describes the numerical analysis and design for a higher jumping rescue robot using a pneumatic cylinder. First, the basic equations for jumping are derived and the simulation is performed. Then, the relationship between the jumping height and the pressure-receiving area of the cylinder is considered when the volume or the stroke of the cylinder is kept constant. This allows calculation of the optimal cross sectional area. In addition, the jumping height is also affected by the weight ratio between the rod and the cylinder tube. Based on these results, a robot equipped with a cylinder of the appropriate dimensions controlled by a well-selected valve is re-engineered and demonstrated. Experimental results show that the improved robot can jump considerably higher than the former design with the same energy efficiency, as shown in the following video. http://www.cm.ctrl.titech.ac.jp/study/jump/home.html.

Quadruped walking robots at Tokyo Institute of Technology

In this article, the design principle of the leg driving mechanism to minimize energy loss and maximize output power is discussed. We will also introduce the gait control methods implemented in our previous quadruped walking robots. Finally, we will survey most of the prototype models of our quadruped walking robots.

Maneuvering operations of the quadruped walking robot on the slope

On the assumption that a quadruped robot works on a slope, we discuss how to make it prevent tumbling over. The larger the difference becomes between the potential energy of the center of gravity of the initial position and that of the highest position after its rotating, the less the robot tumbles. So this difference can be regarded as stability margin, and a novel gait to obtain largest stability margin is mentioned here. It is an intermittent crawl gait. Its energy stability contour (consisting of equal stability points on the inclined plane) is helpful in the design of standard foot trajectories. An optimal posture on the slope, designed in this way, results in inverse trapezoid shape, which means that upper two legs are located wider than lower two ones. This form worked for the experimental machine, TITAN VII. Furthermore, if the standard trajectory for one direction is combined with another direction trajectory, the quadruped robot can easily switch its proceeding directions, keeping enough stability margin. This sequence is shown.

Jumping robot for rescue operation with excellent traverse ability

This paper describes the numerical analysis and design for a higher jumping rescue robot using a pneumatic cylinder. First, the basic equations for jumping are derived and the simulation is performed. Then, the relationship between the jumping height and the pressure-receiving area of the cylinder is considered when the volume or the stroke of the cylinder is kept constant. This allows calculation of the optimal cross sectional area. In addition, the jumping height is also affected by the weight ratio between the rod and the cylinder tube. Based on these results, a robot equipped with a cylinder of the appropriate dimensions controlled by a well-selected valve is re-engineered and demonstrated. Experimental results show that the improved robot can jump considerably higher than the former design with the same energy efficiency, as shown in the following video

Development of a Throw & Collect Type Rescue Inspector

In order to search survivors in half-collapsed buildings at disastrous sites, the authors have developed the throw & collect rescue inspector. It is composed of a throwing and a drawing mechanisms and a child machine equipped with camera. The parent robot is inserted to the site and starts the inspection of the area. If an obstacle is in the way, it throws out a child machine with its magnetic brake pneumatic cylinder, and the inspection can be performed beyond the obstacle while the child machine is drawn back. This report shows the details of the structure of the robot.

Maneuvering operations of a quadruped walking robot on a slope

We discuss how to prevent a quadruped walking robot from tumbling over when operating on a slope. In the process of tumbling, the potential energy of the center of gravity goes through a maximum. T...

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.

Numerical Analysis and Design for a Higher Jumping Rescue Robot Using a Pneumatic Cylinder

This paper describes the numerical analysis and design for a higher jumping rescue robot using a pneumatic cylinder. First, the basic equations for jumping are derived and the simulation is performed. Then, the relationship between the jumping height and the pressure-receiving area of the cylinder is considered when the volume or the stroke of the cylinder is kept constant. This allows calculation of the optimal cross sectional area. In addition, the jumping height is also affected by the weight ratio between the rod and the cylinder tube. Based on these results, a robot equipped with a cylinder of the appropriate dimensions controlled by a well-selected valve is reengineered and demonstrated. Experimental results show that the improved robot can jump considerably higher than the former design with the same energy efficiency, as shown in the video (http:/lwww.cm. ctrl. titech.ac;jp/study/jump/home.html).

Leg-in-rotor-II: a jumping inspector with high traverse-ability on debris

This paper discusses the design and motion experiments of the newly constructed jumping & rolling inspector Leg-in-rotor-II. The features of Leg-in-rotor-II are as follow; (i) The driving method of 3-D jumping & rolling by the reduced degrees of freedom on the separated drive. (ii) The introduction of the passively stored leg. (iii) The introduction of the wheel with the light anisotropy elasticity of the high changing ratio. (iv) The pneumatic jumping control method and its energy saving, (v) The sensing method to estimate the desired jumping start point. (vi) The structure of the sideway tumble prevention and the shock buffer. Finally, the motion experiments of Leg-in-rotor-II to roll, jump and land on debris are shown and the validity of the introduced design methods is verified.