4th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots: From Biology to Industrial Applications

Citation

Berns, K. and Dillmann, R. (2002), "4th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots: From Biology to Industrial Applications", Industrial Robot, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 370-370. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2002.29.4.370.1

This book contains 130 research papers that were presented at the 4th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots, held in September 2001. The conference was organised by CLAWAR, an EC BRITE/EURAM Thematic Network of Excellence, and brought together academics, researchers and industrialists interested in this subject. The book presents research in new and emerging fields and industrial applications to provide up to date coverage of climbing and walking robot technology.

The papers are divided into 12 parts, with part one addressing biomechanical aspects. This section discusses topics including “Design criteria for the leg of a walking machine derived by biological inspiration from quadrupedal animals” and “Insect designs for improved robot mobility”. The second section, neurothological concepts, presents papers including “Control of hexapod walking – a decentralized solution based on biological data” and “Hierarchical control structures of a multi‐legged robot for environmental adaptive locomotion”.

“Mechatronic environment for integrated design of walking machines”, “Dynamics of robot with vibrating engine” and “The biomimetic design of a robot primate using pneumatic muscle actuators” are among the topics discussed in Design methodologies. Parts four and five address fluid actuators and sensor systems, respectively. Topics presented include “Airbug – insect‐like machine actuated by fluidic muscles” and “Fast analysis of the stereo images using dynamic programming of robot vision”.

“Real‐time hardware and software control architectures for ROBICAM biped robot” and “A simulation system for behaviour evaluation of off‐road mobile robots” are included in section six, Control architecture and simulation, while “Adaptive impedance/force control of legged robot systems” and “New path planning algorithms for higher gait stability of a biped robot” are among the papers presented in section seven, Control approaches.

Crawling locomotion presents six papers including “Micro in‐pipe robots with PZT actuator” and “Architecture and control of a snake micro‐robot”. “Stable stair climbing in a simple hexapod robot”, “Three‐legged robotics – kinematics, dynamics and control” and “Reactive reflex based posture control for a four‐legged walking machine” are among the 20 papers addressed in section nine, Multi‐legged walking. The following section, Biped locomotion, discusses topics including “New trends of walking robotics research and its application possibilities” and “Towards autonomous bipedal walking”.

The final two sections of this book address climbing, and applications, respectively. Papers presented include “Two‐legged self‐contained wall climbing robot with scanning type suction cups”, “Perspectives of climbing and walking robots for the construction industry” and “Is there a future for climbing and walking robotic systems in military applications?”.

Overall, this is a superb reference text that will be invaluable to academics, researchers and industrialists alike, who are involved with developing climbing and walking robots.