Remote control system of disaster response robot with passive sub-crawlers considering falling down avoidance

Abstract This paper describes a remote control system for a crawler-type mobile robot with passive sub-crawlers. This system has a great advantage because it utilizes an essential compliant mechanism that allows the angle of the sub-crawlers to be adapted to the shape of the road surface. Its operation is extremely simple, and it is only necessary to control the movement direction and driving speed in comparison with the case of controlling active sub-crawlers. However, a robot with passive sub-crawlers cannot recover from a situation in which it is stuck. The operator must select a traversable route for unknown rough terrain using only the information obtained from camera images and some sensor data from the robot. In this study, a remote control system for a crawler robot with passive sub-crawlers was developed based on a warning system. This system evaluates the currently selected route by calculating the stabilization for the robot when falling down in the roll and pitch directions. Experimental results obtained using a prototype crawler robot with passive sub-crawlers demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed system.