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A robotic assistance system is presented which enables a human to handle unwieldy long objects by providing only one point of support. The robot grasps one end of the object and helps the human operator carry it at the other end. The proposed control method uses a virtual nonholonomic constraint. The movement of the object is constrained as if it were being carried on a wheel attached to the object. This method prevents the object from slipping sideways and simplifies the carrying operation. In spite of the constraint, the object can reach any position and orientation due to the nonholonomy. Cooperative manipulation in a horizontal plane is considered first, and then it is extended to 6-DoF manipulation in 3-D space. Experimental results show that an operator can easily handle a long object when aided by the robot.

The Integrated Limb Mechanism (ILM) concept deals with a dual arm-leg integrating the leg for locomotion and the arm for manipulation, while it enables a robot, for example, to operate flexibly in different work and situations, dual use requires that components are compact and mobile. Integrated software controlling the leg and arm is also required for implementing the actual robot. The ILM robot ASTEIRSK has six limbs arranged radially around the center to enable locomotion and manipulation capabilities omnidirectionally. ASTERISK features upper and lower symmetrical body and workability. We propose a design for the ILM and develop a small robot I/O controlling robot motion and monitoring sensors. In multimodal performance, ASTERISK uses omnidirectional drive control to walk hexapodally alternating tripod gait and creeping for restricted mobility. The new transportation way of hexapod walking style on a grid ceiling is proposed. Experiments deal with the detection of heat sources using infrared sensors and remote control to handle an object using two arms.

A robotic assistance system is presented which enables a human to handle unwieldy long objects by providing only one point of support. The robot grasps one end of the object and helps the human operator carry it at the other end. The proposed control method uses a virtual nonholonomic constraint. The movement of the object is constrained as if it were being carried on a wheel attached to the object. This method prevents the object from slipping sideways and simplifies the carrying operation. In spite of the constraint, the object can reach any position and orientation due to the nonholonomy. Cooperative manipulation in a horizontal plane is considered first, and then it is extended to 6-DoF manipulation in 3-D space. Experimental results show that an operator can easily handle a long object when aided by the robot.