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Stable Vertical Ladder Climbing with Rung Recognition for a Four-limbed Robot

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Abstract

This paper proposes a system for stable ladder climbing of the human-sized four-limbed robot “WAREC-1”, including the following 3 components: (a) Whole-body motion planning; (b) Rung recognition system and (c) Reaction force adjustment. These 3 components guarantee appropriate ladder climbing motion, successful rung grub and proper reaction force distribution at contact points throughout the climbing motion, respectively. With this system, (1) Stable ladder climbing in 2-point contact gait by a human-sized robot and (2) Successful and stable climbing of an irregular ladder (with a higher or inclined rung) in both 3-point and 2-point contact gait with the capability of recognizing the target rung and the corresponding motion planning are realized, which have rarely been realized by former studies. Finally, experiment results and data of the robot ladder climbing are also presented to evaluate the proposed system.

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Acknowledgment

This research was funded by ImPACT TRC Program of Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan). This study was conducted with the support of Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University; Future Robotics Organization, Waseda University, and as a part of the humanoid project at the Humanoid Robotics Institute, Waseda University. This research was also partially supported by SolidWorks Japan K. K; DYDEN Corporation; and KITO Corporation whom we thank for their financial and technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechatronics, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Kofu, 400-8511, Japan

    Xiao Sun

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering Informatics, Meiji University, Tokyo, 214-8571, Japan

    Kenji Hashimoto

  3. Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, 162-8480, Japan

    Shota Hayashi, Masahiro Okawara, Takashi Mastuzawa & Atsuo Takanishi

Authors
  1. Xiao Sun
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  2. Kenji Hashimoto
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  3. Shota Hayashi
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  4. Masahiro Okawara
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  5. Takashi Mastuzawa
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  6. Atsuo Takanishi
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Correspondence to Xiao Sun.

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Sun, X., Hashimoto, K., Hayashi, S. et al. Stable Vertical Ladder Climbing with Rung Recognition for a Four-limbed Robot. J Bionic Eng 18, 786–798 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-021-0058-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-021-0058-3

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