The newly developed Scoutrobot is distinguished from other
robots because its control scheme allows it to jump over obstacles
or harsh environments without requiring complex mechanisms
employed in other obstacle-overcoming robots. The
jumping mechanism and control scheme produce a flexible robot
that can adapt to various obstacle heights. The jumping mechanism
consists of a pneumatic cylinder, which provides sufficient
force and is relatively simple. The jumping height is controlled
by a combination of the jumping and traveling speeds. The
height of an obstacle is estimated from stereo vision cameras
and ultrasonic sensors on the robot. The jumping speed is controlled
by assigning an appropriate duty ratio value to a PWMcontrolled
valve; the ratio varies depending on the obstacle
height and traveling speed. Two ultrasonic sensors provide continuous
alignment during travel and ensure that the robot has
well aligned poses before jumping, enhancing the reliability of
the jumping procedure. A RMS was designed to observe and control
the robot on a remote screen with a three-dimensional display,
which required world, camera, projection, and threedimensional
projection transformations. The environment around
the robot is displayed on the screen at the same time so that
users can perceive as if they were navigating with the robot.
Further study is required to upgrade the Scoutrobot’s performance
in terms of jumping on or over different types of obstacles.
Our group is currently focused on this task. New types of
mechanism and control algorithms are being investigated, being
introduced in short term.