Abstract
Flexible, continuum-type robots can access narrow spaces in debris areas during search-and-rescue missions. However, their current problem is the lifting capability of the head, which is necessary to surmount the rubble. This study proposes a passive-thrust vectoring method to stabilize head levitation for air-jet-actuated, long, continuum robots, and thus enhance their step-climbing abilities. An air jet can generate a thrust force that is sufficient for head levitation. A critical issue in levitation involves the backward bending of the head without using any air-jet control; however, thrust control is inappropriate because of the delay caused by the long channel. Therefore, the proposed method maintains the thrust direction constant. Sufficient conditions for global stability are derived and confirmed via dynamic simulations. The proposed method is simple and can be mechanically realized with a passive head-bending mechanism, thus contributing to a lightweight design. Experiments demonstrated that the developed air-floating-type, 7-m long robot, can achieve stabilized head levitation, and that the robot can climb a step with a height of 250 mm. Robot demonstrations in rubble justify the robot’s capacity to surmount the rubble. This passive-thrust vectoring method is expected to contribute to the future enhancement of the mobility of continuum robots owing to its simplicity and practicality.
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Funding
Open access funding provided by Osaka University. This work was supported in part by the JSPS KAKENHI (Grant numbers JP19H00748 and JP21K14119), and in part by the ImPACT Tough Robotics Challenge Program of the Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation project.
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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Robotic system development and data collection were conducted by Shuta Kamio, Yuichi Ambe, and Yu Yamauchi. The controller design and stability analysis were performed by Yuichi Ambe. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yuichi Ambe, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The provided video shows the head bending motion without the proposed controller, the stabilized head levitation with the proposed passive mechanism, one example of the step-climbing experiments (explained in Section 6), and demonstrations associated with Section 7.
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Ambe, Y., Kamio, S., Yamauchi, Y. et al. Air-Jet Levitation of Continuum Robots: Stable Head Floating by Passive Thrust Vectoring for Enhancing Mobility. J Intell Robot Syst 109, 33 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01964-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01964-6