RA-L 201963 citations

Super Dragon: A 10-m-Long-Coupled Tendon-Driven Articulated Manipulator

Gen Endo, Atsushi Horigome, Atsushi Takata

Abstract

The decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants is a national urgent problem in Japan. The distribution and characteristics of the fuel debris inside the nuclear reactor must be investigated to safely retrieve them. This letter describes a 10-m-long articulated manipulator for investigation inside the primary container vessel. We employed a coupled tendon-driven mechanism and a gravity compensation mechanism using synthetic fiber ropes to design a lightweight and slender articulated manipulator. After discussing the basic principle and control algorithm, we focus on the detailed mechanical design of a prototype model. We confirmed its feasibility through basic motion experiments.

BibTeX
@inproceedings{ral2019_superdragona10ml,
  title = {Super Dragon: A 10-m-Long-Coupled Tendon-Driven Articulated Manipulator},
  author = {Gen Endo and Atsushi Horigome and Atsushi Takata},
  booktitle = {RA-L 2019},
  year = {2019}
}