Abstract
This letter presents a gripper module for a snake-like robot to perform search and rescue tasks in a narrow space. The proposed gripper module has three features: (1) It can accommodate the fingers inside its body. (2) It has three fingers that can grip objects with irregular surfaces stably. (3) One of the fingers is equipped with a camera on the fingertip to search in a narrow space. To implement the above features in a small, light, and compact gripper module, we propose a novel design of a gripper module with three fingers and eight degrees of freedom. The joint configuration of the proposed gripper is unique compared with a general-type gripper. A prototype of the proposed gripper module has been integrated into a snake-like robot to demonstrate its capability of performing rescue tasks in a collapsed environment. The three features of the proposed gripper module are experimentally verified: it is light (0.4 kg), small (less than 68 mm in diameter), and powerful (grasping force = 2.48kgf).
Highlights
S INCE it was first introduced by Hirose [1], snake-like robots have been extensively investigated because they can be used in various terrains and situations
We propose a gripper module for snake robots that perform urban search and rescue (USAR) tasks in narrow spaces
The following design conditions are considered for the proposed gripper module: the gripper module should stably grasp and manipulate a small object; the finger of the module should not hinder the movements of a snake robot when it is attached to the snake robot; the size of the gripper module should be similar to the size of the driving module of the snake robot
Summary
S INCE it was first introduced by Hirose [1], snake-like robots have been extensively investigated because they can be used in various terrains and situations. A smart and powerful gripper module for snake robots is required to performs search and rescue tasks in a narrow space. The gripper module should have a dedicated joint configuration to perform search and rescue tasks using fingertips and grab objects with irregular shapes such as collapsed debris. We propose a gripper module for snake robots that perform USAR tasks in narrow spaces. A snake robot can manipulate small objects through the proposed gripper module and effectively search using a fingertip camera without moving the snake body. The fingers can be accommodated inside the module by adopting grooves and a wide range of motion actuators Such an accommodation mechanism improves the mobility of the snake robot in a narrow space.
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