Cylindrical crawler unit based on worm rack mechanism for rescue robot

In Japan, since the Great Earthquake, attention has surrounded development of disaster victim relief activity using robots. Development of a robot that is adaptive to various environments in irregular places, rubble, and confined areas is needed. A wheel movement type robot, a robot in the shape of a snake, a crawler type robot and a multi-leg robot are all described in the relevant literature as rescue robots that are currently studied. Although these robots are high efficiency and/or high ground-covering ability, they need comparatively large space to move. In this study, a cylindrical crawler robot based on worm-rack mechanism, that doesn´t need large space to move and has high ground-covering ability, is proposed. In this report, structure, driven mechanism, design, prototype, and experimental evaluation are reported.