Development of Giacometti Arm With Balloon Body

As part of our research on developing different types of Giacometti robots, the potential of a very long, very light, and very simple robot arm with a balloon body is discussed in this paper. Although this robot arm is not suitable for precise positioning, rapid motion, and high load capacity, which...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE robotics and automation letters 2017-04, Vol.2 (2), p.951-957
Main Authors: Takeichi, M., Suzumori, K., Endo, G., Nabae, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Force
hydraulic/pneumatic actuators
Inspection
Manipulators
mechanism design of manipulators
Muscles
Search and rescue robots
Wires
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Summary:As part of our research on developing different types of Giacometti robots, the potential of a very long, very light, and very simple robot arm with a balloon body is discussed in this paper. Although this robot arm is not suitable for precise positioning, rapid motion, and high load capacity, which are the aspects most conventional robots focus on, it is designed for very specific purposes, such as inspection using a small camera at its tip and is designed to be essentially safe even if it falls down or hits an object. This robot arm is realized using helium-filled balloon bodies and thin pneumatic muscles. The arm achieves self-weight compensation, and the possibility of designing a very long arm is confirmed theoretically and experimentally. A prototype of a 7-m-long cantilever arm is designed, developed, and tested.
ISSN:2377-3766
2377-3766
DOI:10.1109/LRA.2017.2655111