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Survival of falling robotsAs mobile robots are used in more uncertain and dangerous environments, it will become important to design them so that they can survive falls. In this paper, we examine a number of mechanisms and strategies that animals use to withstand these potentially catastrophic events and extend them to the design of robots. A brief survey of several aspects of how common cats survive falls provides an understanding of the issues involved in preventing traumatic injury during a falling event. After outlining situations in which robots might fall, a number of factors affecting their survival are described. From this background, several robot design guidelines are derived. These include recommendations for the physical structure of the robot as well as requirements for the robot control architecture. A control architecture is proposed based on reactive control techniques and action-oriented perception that is geared to support this form of survival behavior.
Document ID
19930069174
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Cameron, Jonathan M.
(JPL Pasadena, CA, United States)
Arkin, Ronald C.
(Georgia Inst. of Technology Atlanta, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: In: Mobile robots VI; Proceedings of the Meeting, Boston, MA, Nov. 14, 15, 1991 (A93-53170 23-63)
Publisher: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
Subject Category
Cybernetics
Accession Number
93A53171
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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