Novel climbing method of pruning robot

Abstract

A novel climbing method of pruning robots is presented. The climbing method is similar to climbing approach of timberjacks in Japan. Main features include the optimal position of center of mass of the pruning robot that is located outside of tree and the innovative vertical climbing approach. Four active wheels are set at regular intervals around the tree, which one pair for upper side and the other for lower side. Each active wheel is driven by a DC servomotor through a worm gear that has no back drivability. This novel design brings both lightweight and high climbing speed features of the pruning robot. A basic theory of mechanism design for avoiding falling down from a tree and experimental results of climbing up for validating the theorem are presented. © 2008 SICE.