Climbing and Walking Robots

Abstract

Nowadays robotics is one of the most dynamic fields of scientific researches. The shift of robotics researches from manufacturing to services applications is clear. During the last decades interest in studying climbing and walking robots has been increased. This increasing interest has been in many areas that most important ones of them are: mechanics, electronics, medical engineering, cybernetics, controls, and computers. Today's climbing and walking robots are a combination of manipulative, perceptive, communicative, and cognitive abilities and they are capable of performing many tasks in industrial and nonindustrial environments. Surveillance, planetary exploration, emergence rescue operations, reconnaissance, petrochemical applications, construction, entertainment, personal services, intervention in severe environments, transportation, medical and etc are some applications from a very diverse application fields of climbing and walking robots. By great progress in this area of robotics it is anticipated that next generation climbing and walking robots will enhance lives and will change the way the human works, thinks and makes decisions. This book presents the state of the art achievments, recent developments, applications and future challenges of climbing and walking robots. These are presented in 26 chapters by authors throughtot the world. The book serves as a reference especially for the researchers who are interested in mobile robots. It also is useful for industrial engineers and graduate students in advanced study.

Design and control of a bio-inspired soft wearable robotic device for ankle–foot rehabilitation

“…One method for proportional control is to use proportional valves that control the input air pressure of the muscles by changing input voltage [35]. Another method is PWM control of binary on/off solenoid valves [36,37]. In our design, binary valves and the PWM method were implemented to take advantage of the compact form factor of the binary valves.…”

Design, Analysis and Development of A Portable Trolley for Stair Climbing

“…Since there are typically no lifts or elevators placed in buildings, the only option is to use human labor. We can't deny the fact that labour these days is expensive [1,2].…”