Development of Noncircular Wheel “TFW” for Traveling over a Single Step only by Rotational Movement

Tomohiko Oki; Toshio Morita

doi:10.20965/jrm.2013.p0375

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JRM Vol.25 No.2 pp. 375-383

doi: 10.20965/jrm.2013.p0375

(2013)

Paper:

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Development of Noncircular Wheel “TFW” for Traveling over a Single Step only by Rotational Movement

Tomohiko Oki and Toshio Morita

Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kouhoku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan

Received:

October 5, 2012

Accepted:

February 16, 2013

Published:

April 20, 2013

Keywords:

vehicle, wheel, travel over a step, TFW, SRIDER

Abstract

Wheeled vehicles are used daily because they have high movement efficiency, simple structures and low cost. However, their travel ranges may be limited due to the low traveling performance of wheels when they encounter a step. Variousmovement mechanisms have been developed to solve this issue, but they have become complicated and heavy in attempts to meet each design condition, so they are hard to use daily in some cases. The authors therefore devised a simple, low cost movement mechanism the TFW(Transformable Flexible Wheel) that can travel over a step without special controls. This is a noncircular wheel that can travel over a step without slipping by denting the outer circumference of the wheel when it comes into contact with a step and catching the step with the internal mechanism of the TFW. In this paper, the outline of the structure and movement of the TFW is discussed. In addition, its effectiveness is verified through the creation of two vehicles, the simple prototype SRIDERzero and the experimental model SRIDER, to prove that the traveling performance of the TFW over a step is superior to that of conventional wheels and to demonstrate the basic movements of the TFW.

Cite this article as:

T. Oki and T. Morita, “Development of Noncircular Wheel “TFW” for Traveling over a Single Step only by Rotational Movement,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.25 No.2, pp. 375-383, 2013.

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References

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[5] J. Yuan and S. Hirose, “Zero Carrier: A Novel Eight Leg-Wheels Hybrid Stair Climbing Mobile Vehicle,” J. of Field Robotics, Vol.17, No.1, pp. 44-51, 2005.
[6] M. Lauria, Y. Piguet, and R. Siegwart, “OCTOPUS: AN AUTONOMOUS WHEELED CLIMBING ROBOT,” Proc. Int. Conf. on Climbing and Walking Robots, pp. 315-322, 2002.
[7] H. Okada, T. Iwamoto, and K. Shibuya, “Rescue Robot Vehicle for Water Disaster with Variable Configuration Segmented Wheels,” J. of Field Robotics, Vol.18, No.3, pp. 278-285, 2006.
[8] K. Sakaguchi, T. Sudo, N. Bushida, Y. Chiba, Y. Asai, and K. Kikuchi, “Wheel-Based Stair Climbing Robot with Hopping Mechanism – Fast Stair Climbing and Soft Landing Using Vibration of 2-DOF System –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.19, No.3, pp. 258-263, 2007.
[9] R. T. Schroer, M. J. Boggess, R. J. Bachmann, R. D. Quinn, and R. E. Ritzmann, “Comparing Cockroach and Whegs Robot Body Motions,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3288-3293, 2004.
[10] U. Saranli, M. Buehler, and D. E. Koditschek, “RHex: A Simple and Highly Mobile Hexapod Robot,” Int. J. of Robotics Research, Vol.20, No.7, pp. 216-631, 2001.
[11] E. Z. Moore, D.Campbell, F. Grimminger, and M. Buehler, “Reliable Stair Climbing in the Simple Hexapod ‘RHex’,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2222-2227, 2002.
[12] Supporting Online Materials:[a] iRobot Corporation, iRobot Roomba ® Vacuum Cleaning Robot.
http://www.irobot.com/en/us/robots/home/roomba.aspx
[13] [b] Segway Inc., Segway Product.
http://www.segway.com/business/products-solutions/index.php

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

[1] [1] H. G. Nguyen, J. Morrell, K. Mullens, A. Burmeister, S. Miles, N. Farrington, K. Thomas, and D. Gage, “Segway robotic mobility platform,” In SPIE Proc. 5609: Mobile Robots XVII, 2004.

[2] [2] Y. Uchida, K. Furuichi, and S. Hirose, “Fundamental Performance of 6 Wheeled Off-Road Vehicle “HELIOS-V”,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2336-2341, 1999.

[3] [3] T. Thueer, A. Krebs, R. Siegwart, and P. Lamon, “Performance Comparison of Rough-Terrain Robots – Simulation and Hardware,” J. of Field Robotics, Vol.24, No.3, pp. 251-271, 2007.

[4] [4] T. Estier, Y. Crausaz, B. Merminod, M. Lauria, R. Piguet, and R. Siegwart, “An Innovative Space Rover with Extended Climbing Abilities,” Proc. of Space and Robotics, pp. 333-339, 2000.

[5] [5] J. Yuan and S. Hirose, “Zero Carrier: A Novel Eight Leg-Wheels Hybrid Stair Climbing Mobile Vehicle,” J. of Field Robotics, Vol.17, No.1, pp. 44-51, 2005.

[6] [6] M. Lauria, Y. Piguet, and R. Siegwart, “OCTOPUS: AN AUTONOMOUS WHEELED CLIMBING ROBOT,” Proc. Int. Conf. on Climbing and Walking Robots, pp. 315-322, 2002.

[7] [7] H. Okada, T. Iwamoto, and K. Shibuya, “Rescue Robot Vehicle for Water Disaster with Variable Configuration Segmented Wheels,” J. of Field Robotics, Vol.18, No.3, pp. 278-285, 2006.

[8] [8] K. Sakaguchi, T. Sudo, N. Bushida, Y. Chiba, Y. Asai, and K. Kikuchi, “Wheel-Based Stair Climbing Robot with Hopping Mechanism – Fast Stair Climbing and Soft Landing Using Vibration of 2-DOF System –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.19, No.3, pp. 258-263, 2007.

[9] [9] R. T. Schroer, M. J. Boggess, R. J. Bachmann, R. D. Quinn, and R. E. Ritzmann, “Comparing Cockroach and Whegs Robot Body Motions,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3288-3293, 2004.

[10] [10] U. Saranli, M. Buehler, and D. E. Koditschek, “RHex: A Simple and Highly Mobile Hexapod Robot,” Int. J. of Robotics Research, Vol.20, No.7, pp. 216-631, 2001.

[11] [11] E. Z. Moore, D.Campbell, F. Grimminger, and M. Buehler, “Reliable Stair Climbing in the Simple Hexapod ‘RHex’,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2222-2227, 2002.

[12] [12] Supporting Online Materials:[a] iRobot Corporation, iRobot Roomba ® Vacuum Cleaning Robot.
http://www.irobot.com/en/us/robots/home/roomba.aspx

[13] [13] [b] Segway Inc., Segway Product.
http://www.segway.com/business/products-solutions/index.php