Development of Self-protection Behaviors in Fall Down by a Robot with Distributed Soft Flesh and Joint Shock Resistive Mechanism

Abstract

It is preferable that robots have soft outer cover and give themselves fewer impact in contact with humans or surroundings. Although self-protection is one of the most important functions and inevitably required for robust robot architecture, Simple introducing thick "flesh" to a robot tends to impede the movability and generality. In this paper, we have realized soft and thick outer cover by multilayered and distributed softness, and have introduced joint protection by dislocation and auto recover function. Finally, we realized various contact behaviors by the robot with distributed soft cover and joint dislocation ability.