Dual-arm construction robot with remote-control function

In disaster areas, operating heavy construction equipment remotely and autonomously is necessary, but conventional remote-controlled heavy equipment has problems such as insufficient operability, limited mobility on slopes and stairs, and low work efficiency because of difficult remote control. As part of the ImPACT-TRC Program, a group of Japanese researchers attempts to solve these problems by developing a construction robot for disaster relief tasks with a new mechanism and new control methods. This chapter presents the overview of construction robot and the details of main elemental technologies making up the robot. Section 5.1 describes the basic configuration of the robot and the teleoperation system. Section 5.2 is a tether powered drone which provides extra visual information. Sections 5.4 and 5.3 are force and tactile feedback for skillful teleoperation. Section 5.5 is visual information feedback which consists of an arbitrary viewpoint visualization system and a visible and LWIR camera system to observe surrounding of the robot in a dark night scene and/or a very foggy scene. These functions can dramatically increase construction equipment’s capacity to deal with large-scale disasters and accidents.