Development of brittle star type robot moving on water-bottom for long term survey and monitoring

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K03982
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 20020:Robotics and intelligent system-related
• Research Institution: Chiba Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Aoki Takeshi 千葉工業大学, 先進工学部, 教授 (20397045)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 内田 史朗 千葉工業大学, 工学部, 教授 (50761095)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: クモヒトデ / ソフトロボット / 全方向移動体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we have been developing brittle star robots to realize a submersible that can move along the bottom of the water for long-term investigation and monitoring. Brittle stars have long and flexible arms composed of small bones, and can move in all directions by combining the motions of each arm. The three continuum legs, which have the same structure as the small bones, are driven by wires to perform spiral twisting motion. This motion of the continuum legs is defined using the extended conical spiral equation, and omni-directional movement is realized by controlling the amount of travelling at the contact point of the first cycle when the legs touch the water bottom. In addition, a basic study was conducted to construct a wireless power supply system using laser beams in the sea to realize long hours of work underwater.

Free Research Field

ロボット工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果はクモヒトデ型ロボットを開発し，腕部の運動の組み合わせによって全方向移動を実現した点である．従来の研究では生物模倣のロボットとしてクモヒトデの動作計画や機能再生などを扱われていたが，長い腕部の構造を構築し，動作を再現した研究はなされていなかった．本研究は実用化を見据え，生物模倣からのアプローチではなく，力学的なアプローチにより少ない能動自由度によって全方向移動を実現したことに意義があると考える．さらに水中ロボットの活動時間を拡大するために，緑色レーザとGaInP太陽電池を用いた水中無線給電システムを構築した点が産業界へ寄与すると考える．