Measurement of flexed posture for Flexible Mono-tread mobile Track using new flexible displacement sensor

We have proposed Flexible Mono-tread mobile Track (FMT) as a mobile mechanism for hazardous environment such as disaster area. FMT has only one track which can flex in three dimension. Generally speaking, one has to teleoperate robots under invisible condition. In order to operate the robots skillfully, it is necessary to detect not only condition around the robots and its position but also posture of the robots at any time. Flexed posture of FMT decides turning radius and direction, it is very important to know its posture, accordingly. FMT has a vertebral structure composed of vertebrae as rigid body and intervertebral disks made by flexible devices such as rubber cylinder and spring. Since the intervertebral disks flex in three dimension, it is not easy for traditional sensors such as potentiometers, rotary encoders and range finders to measure its deformation. The purpose of the paper, therefore, is to measure flexed posture of FMT using a new flexible displacement sensor. We prove that the flexed posture of FMT with five intervertebral disks can be detected through experiment.