Method for a Robot Able to Navigate Stairs.
Tadao KAGIWADA · TRANSACTIONS OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS Series C · 1994
In the several methods of mobile robots, the wheel method is unfavorable for stairs or obstacles. The leg method and the creeping method demand very intricate control systems and are not efficient on flat floors. The caterpillar method is not reliable and not stable in the navigation of stairs. In the former arm-wheel method, the sensor which discriminates stairs and the mechanism which changes wheel-running and arm-rotation are intricate. In this paper, a means of mobile mechanism for a robot able to navigate stairs is developed, which requires neither sensor which discriminates stairs nor a mechanism which changes wheel-running and arm-rotation. Since there is no sensor, the reliability in a severe environment is high. Moreover, since it has no intricate mechanism, it can also be used in a wheelchair, for example, which is not powered. Through the experiment using a prototype of a robot able to navigate stairs it is clear that the mechanism developed here functions as intended.