Locomotion method of a rescue robot with multi-legs and Omni-directional wheels

Abstract

A rescue robot in a disaster area should have a mechanism to move on irregular surfaces. Actual disaster spot consists of an irregular surface such as inside of a collapsed house. However, it is mostly surrounded by many flat surfaces such as roads to that spot or undamaged area inside that spot. A robot that works under rescue operation should not only have special purpose locomotion mechanism but also have rapid movement methods to run under level surfaces. We proposed new rescue robot that has two mechanisms: one is Omni-directional wheels for leveling surfaces, the other is a set of multiple legs for irregular surfaces. To realize smooth rotation seamlessly between wheel movement and legged locomotion, we investigated a new gait that realizes arbitrary rotation around any position of a center of rotation. The proposed gait is especially useful for sensing devices such as cameras mounted on top of the robot.