WAREC-1 – A four-limbed robot with advanced locomotion and manipulation capabilities

Kenji Hashimoto, Takashi Matsuzawa, Xiao Sun, Tomofumi Fujiwara, Xixun Wang, Yasuaki Konishi, Noritaka Sato, Takahiro Endo, Fumitoshi Matsuno, Naoyuki Kubota, Yuichiro Toda, Naoyuki Takesue, Kazuyoshi Wada, Tetsuya Mouri, Haruhisa Kawasaki, Akio Namiki, Yang Liu, Atsuo Takanishi, Satoshi Tadokoro

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This chapter introduces a novel four-limbed robot, WAREC-1, that has advanced locomotion and manipulation capability with versatile locomotion styles. At disaster sites, there are various types of environments through which a robot must traverse, such as rough terrain filled with rubbles, narrow places, stairs, and vertical ladders. WAREC-1 moves in hazardous environments by transitioning among various locomotion styles, such as bipedal/quadrupedal walking, crawling, and ladder climbing. WAREC-1 has identically structured limbs with 28 degrees of freedom (DoF) in total with 7-DoFs in each limb. The robot is 1,690 mm tall when standing on two limbs, and weighs 155 kg. We developed three types of actuator units with hollow structures to pass the wiring inside the joints of WAREC-1, which enables the robot to move on rubble piles by creeping on its stomach. Main contributions of our research are following five topics: (1) Development of a four-limbed robot, WAREC-1. (2) Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using laser range sensor array. (3) Teleoperation system using past image records to generate a third-person view. (4) High-power and low-energy hand. (5) Lightweight master system for telemanipulation and an assist control system for improving the maneuverability of master-slave systems.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSpringer Tracts in Advanced Robotics
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages327-397
Number of pages71
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Publication series

NameSpringer Tracts in Advanced Robotics
Volume128
ISSN (Print)1610-7438
ISSN (Electronic)1610-742X

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Artificial Intelligence

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'WAREC-1 – A four-limbed robot with advanced locomotion and manipulation capabilities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this