Development of a 20-m-long Giacometti arm with balloon body based on kinematic model with air resistance

Abstract

As a part of our research on several different types of Giacometti robots, a 20-m-long, considerably light, and simple robot arm, referred to as the Giacometti arm, is developed in this study. Even though the Giacometti arm is not suitable for precise positioning, rapid motion, and high load capacity, which are the aspects most conventional robots focus on, it is designed for extremely specific purposes such as the inspection of otherwise unreachable regions using a small camera at the arm's tip. In addition, it is designed to be essentially safe even if it falls down or hits an object. This aspect is realized using helium-filled balloon bodies and thin pneumatic muscles. In this paper, we designed new Giacometti arm which is 20-m-long, weighs 940 g, and has 20 degrees of freedom. To realize this long arm, we derived a kinematic model of the 20-m-long Giacometti arm, factoring in the air resistance. We verified the model using the arm, and its utility was confirmed at a mock-up facility.