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  HomeContents of Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering (English Edition),2008 No.2DEVELOPMENT OF A SHAPE-SHIFTING  MOBILE ROBOT FOR URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE

YE Changlong
School of Machinery and Automobile, Shenyang Institute of Aeronautical Engineering,
Shenyang 110034, China

Robotic Laboratory, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Shenyang 110016, China

MA Shugen
Center for Promotion of COE Program, Ritsumeikan University,
Shiga-ken 525-8577, Japan

Robotic Laboratory, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang110016, China

LI Bin
Robotic Laboratory,
Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

 

 

DEVELOPMENT OF A SHAPE-SHIFTING  MOBILE ROBOT FOR URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE* 

 

Abstract: A portable shape-shifting mobile robot system named as Amoeba II (A-II) is developed for the urban search and rescue application. It is designed with three degrees of freedom and two tracked drive systems. This robot consists of two modular mobile units and a joint unit. The mobile unit is a tracked mechanism to enforce the propulsion of robot. And the joint unit can transform the robot shape to get high environment adaptation. A-II robot can not only adapt to the environment but also change its body shape according to the locus space. It behaves two work states including the linear state (named as I state) and the parallel state (named as II state). With the linear state the robot can climb upstairs and go through narrow space such as the pipe, cave, etc. The parallel state enables the robot with high mobility on rough ground. Also, the joint unit can propel the robot to roll in sidewise direction. Two modular A-II robots can be connected through jointing common interfaces on the joint unit to compose a stronger shape-shifting robot, which can transform the body into four wheels-driven vehicle. The experimental results validate the adaptation and mobility of A-II robot.

Key words: Urban search and rescue Modular unit Shape-shifting robot Environment adaptation

 


* This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 60375029) and National Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China(863 Program, No. 2006AA04Z254). Received May 9, 2007; received in revised form December 14, 2007; accepted January 8, 2008

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Biographical notes

YE Changlong, born in 1974, is currently an associate professor in Shenyang Institute of Aeronautical Engineering. He received his bachelor degree with class honors in mechanical engineering from Shenyang University of Technology, China, in 1997, and MS degree in mechanical engineering from Shenyang University of Technology, China in 2002. He received his PhD degree in mechanical engineering in 2005. His research interests include mechanism design of robot, biological inspired robot and reconfigurable robots.
Tel: +86-24-23970494; E-mail: clye@sia.cn

MA Shugen, born in 1963, is currently a professor in Ritsumeikan University, Japan. Also, he is a professor in Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of sciences, China. He received his PhD degree in mechanical engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. His research interests include cellular robot system, biological inspired robot, redundant robot and reconfigurable robots.
Tel: +86-24-23970494; E-mail: shugen@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp


LI Bin, born in 1963, is currently a professor in Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of sciences, China. His research interests include the rover and robot control method.
Tel: +86-24-23970494; E-mail: libin@sia.cn


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