Affiliations: [a] Okayama University of Science, Okayama, Japan | [b] Tokyo Denki University, Tokyo, Japan | [c] Aichi Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan | [d] National Institute of Technology, Matsue College, Shimane, Japan | [e] National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster, Tokyo, Japan
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Tetsuya Kinugasa, Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-0005, Japan. E-mail:kinugasa@mech.ous.ac.jp
Abstract: The paper provides a shelled track using bent track shoes for flexible mono-tread mobile track (FMT).
FMT is flexible mono-tread tracked vehicle, which could run on various rough terrains.
We expect to apply the FMT to missions on rough terrain,
such as search and rescue activities and environmental investigations including planetary exploration.
However, the edge of the track shoes deflected when they touched to a prominence of obstacles and interfered to the body.
The side surface of the FMT was not covered with the track shoes,
and thus the weak parts made from ABS plastic were broken.
Moreover, there is no practical camera system for teleoperation of FMT.
Generally, a bird's-eye view is practical for teleoperation of a small ground vehicle.
However, a camera (sometime with a long arm) and a laser sensor for the bird's-eye view implemented on the robot's deck is not suitable to take advantage of FMT, i.e., almost all the surface is covered by the track belt.
In the study, we introduce a shelled track belt using a rigid and bent track shoe to cover the body,
develop a new FMT prototype, RT05-COBRA,
propose a dual-camera system that covered wide-range view in a horizontal plane,
and evaluate its mobility using standard fields based on International Standard Test (NIST) regulation.
Keywords: Tracked robot, flexible mono-tread mobile track, shelled track
