End-effector with a Hook and Two Fingers for the Locomotion and Simple Work of a Four-limbed Robot

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an end-effector for realizing various locomotion modes and simple work of a legged robot. The locomotion modes include climbing a vertical ladder, crawling, and walking. The simple work includes grasping and switching motions required at a disaster site. The developed end-effector has a two-pronged hook shape and two fingers for grasping and working and can be used to perform the locomotion and manipulation tasks described above. The experimental results confirmed that the four-limb robot WAREC-1 (WAseda REsCuer-No. 1) equipped with our proposed end-effector was able to climb a vertical ladder and perform the crawling motion. We also confirmed that the end-effector could grasp and switch five types of objects: a cylinder, cylinder with trigger, T-shaped, disk, and thin plate.