Mechanism allowing a mobile robot to apply a large force to the environment

Abstract

In this study, we investigated a mechanism that allows a mobile robot to apply a large force to the environment. We first investigated the limits on the force that a mobile robot can apply to a target object by analyzing the forces between the robot, ground, and object and the limits on the frictional forces between them. To prevent the mobile robot from falling when applying a large force, we developed a prototype in which the manipulator was connected via a passive rotational joint. We investigated the pushing capacity of the prototype robot through an experiment in which it tilted a large object. The results confirmed that the mechanism allows a mobile robot to apply a large force to an object without falling by trial and error.