Development of the Whole-Body Waterproof Shell Applying and Removing System Using Phase-Change Paraffin and Grease for the Multi-DOF Robot

• Main Authors: Makabe, Tasuku, Okada, Kei, Inaba, Masayuki
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Manipulators; Robot sensing systems; Sensor systems; Temperature; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Water
• ISSN: 2153-0866
• DOI: 10.1109/IROS55552.2023.10341470

We need to build robot systems that can operate in multiple environments, including underwater. For a robot to be waterproof, it needs to be covered all over its body and have a waterproof structure, but this is expensive to produce and consumes hardware resources such as weight. In this study, we propose a method of constructing a robot system in which paraffin, which can change its phase between solid and liquid at different temperatures, is cloaked on the robot's body surface, and grease is inserted into the robot's body to give it an acquired the waterproof shell for waterproofing purposes. We have studied an automated method of the waterproof shell application system by combining a small spider-shaped multi-legged robot that can measure the temperature of the environment as a robot to which we apply the waterproof shell and a life-size arm robot that performs the operation applying the waterproof shell to the small robot as a system. Through the addition of the waterproof shell to the spider-shaped robot and the removing the shell in unnecessary areas by controlling temperature, and the realization of operation in land and water environments, we used the proposed robot system to add acquired functions to operate underwater robots, thereby expanding the supported area of robots which have many DOFs and sensors from conventional ground to underwater.