Attitude Stability of a Cable Driven Balloon Robot

At the time of a large-scale urban earthquake disaster, human search activities and information collection are the most important processes of rescue operations. Robots for search and rescue (e.g., aero-robots, crawler type robots) have been studied extensively recently. We have developed a cable driven balloon robot for information acquisition from the sky during disaster rescue and recovery operations. The balloon, from which hang several sensors (sensor unit, SU), uses "a natural shape balloon". Three cables connect the SU, and the balloon, with its sensors, is driven by expansion and contraction of the cable length. Cameras and several sensors or wireless relays are loaded onto the SU. The attitude stability of the SU is required to eliminate camera shaking resulting from wind. Such stability is necessary for high-precision information collection because this robot is used in the open air. This study verifies the attitude stability of an SU using a cable arrangement between the balloon and the SU; it statically calculates the movable scope of the SU at an arbitrary wind speed and direction