To verify the advantages of using powder-filled blocks when considering stair-climbing
safety and reliability, the stair-climbing crawler (Yoneda et al., 2001) as shown in Figure 24
was developed. The climber has a total length of 1180 mm, a width of 830 mm and a weight
of 65 kg, including the batteries. This vehicle has a maximum speed of 500 mm s-1 and the
batteries have a lifespan of 45 min.
Furthermore, the crawler with powder-filled belts was able to climb steeper stairs (step
length 270 mm, step height 160 mm and edge radius 5 mm),