Human Cooperation Control of Two-Wheeled Robot for Stairs Riding Up

Abstract

In recent years, population aging has progressed worldwide. It is predicted that labor shortage due to population aging will become more serious. Therefore, it is expected that luggage transport robots be introduced into human living environments. However, stairs is an issue that must be addressed when using robots in the human environment. Typically, robots are large and mechanical, and their movement speed tends to decrease. Therefore, in this study, we propose a stair-ride-up method using a two-wheeled robot. The proposed method achieves the ride-up of stairs via a pushing force through cooperation with humans. Robots that use the proposed method can be manufactured in a small size, incurs a low cost, and offers a relatively high climbing speed. Experiments are conducted for cases of ride-up with and without control. Results show that only half of the work is required by the control. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the proposed method can achieve a ride-up stair speed of 0.3 step/s.