End-effector with a Hook and Two Fingers for the Locomotion and Simple Work of a Four-limbed Robot
Authors: Takashi Matsuzawa, Asaki Imai, Kenji Hashimoto, Tomotaka Teramachi, Xiao Sun, Shunsuke Kimura, Nobuaki Sakai, Yuki Yoshida, Kengo Kumaaai, Takanobu Matsubara, Koki Yamaguchi, Atsuo Takanishi
Abstract
In this paper, we propose an end-effector for realizing various locomotion modes and simple work of a legged robot. The locomotion modes include climbing a vertical ladder, crawling, and walking. The simple work includes grasping and switching motions required at a disaster site. The developed end-effector has a two-pronged hook shape and two fingers for grasping and working and can be used to perform the locomotion and manipulation tasks described above. The experimental results confirmed that the four-limb robot WAREC-1 (WAseda REsCuer-No. 1) equipped with our proposed end-effector was able to climb a vertical ladder and perform the crawling motion. We also confirmed that the end-effector could grasp and switch five types of objects: a cylinder, cylinder with trigger, T-shaped, disk, and thin plate.