Development of multi-wheeled snake-like rescue robots with active elastic trunk

A practical robot for search and rescue operation is demanded. We believe that one of the most promising robot is a snake-like robot with a slim and active trunk. This paper proposes a new multi-wheeled snake-like robot with active elastic trunk. We choose active wheels for the propulsive device due to mechanical robustness and simplicity, and increase locomotion capability by serially arranging many active wheels along to the trunk. We also propose a new mechanism for the trunk which satisfies both active bending motion and passive compliance. The active elastic trunk consists of deformable elastic segments made of sponge and rigid (or semi-rigid) segments, where active wheel is attached, stacked in layers. The active bending motion is generated by pulling the cables passing through the trunk from the head to tail. We develop three prototypes named “Souryu-VII”, “Souryu-VIII” and “Souryu-IX”. The mechanical design and features for each prototypes are explained and their performances are evaluated through the experiments with various measures.