Principle Verification of the Wide-Area Exploration System Using Multiple Winch Units and Passive Mobile Robots
José Victorio Salazar Luces, Manami Hoshi, Yasuhisa Hirata · The Proceedings of JSME annual Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (Robomec) · 2020
In this study, we propose a wide area exploration system that combines multiple winch units and passive mobile robots. Passive mobile robots loaded with exploration sensors are driven by a pulling force from the winch unitts and can steer by controlling brakes attached to their wheels. By adjusting the wire length, the passive mobile robot is pulled within the exploration area, and controls the brake torque of the wheels to follow the desired trajectory. We describe the range that can be searched by a passive mobile robot, which changes depending on the deployment of the winch units. In addition, we conduct an outdoor experiment using the principle verification model of the proposed system, and confirmed the effectiveness of this system.