Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ({IEEE})  

DOI： 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3291401

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publisher：Springer Open  

<title>Abstract</title>Hopping robots, called hoppers, are expected to move on rough terrains, such as disaster areas or planetary environments. The uncertainties of the hopping locomotion in such environments are high, making path planning algorithms essential to traverse these uncertain environments. Planetary surface exploration requires to generate a path which minimises the risk of failure and maximises the information around the hopper. This paper newly proposes a hopping path planning algorithm for rough terrains locomotion. The proposed algorithm takes into account the motion uncertainties using Markov decision processes (MDPs), and generates paths corresponding to the terrain conditions, or the mission requirements, or both. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed route planning scheme in three cases as the rough terrain, sandy and hard ground environment, and non-smooth borders.

DOI： 10.1186/s40648-022-00219-7

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Other Link： https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40648-022-00219-7/fulltext.html

Language：Japanese   Publisher：The Robotics Society of Japan  

Small rovers are suitable for carpooling or precursor missions and have been expected to explore complex areas where large rovers are hard to traverse. However, the moving performance of small rovers is lower than that of large rovers in general. This study designs a novel jumping mechanism that mimics a grasshopper leg for small rovers. We produced nine different leg expansion trajectories by changing the joint positions of the mechanism and investigated how these trajectories affected jumping performance. The highest jumping was obtained with a straight expansion trajectory and a kicking behind the foot, and kicking in front of the foot with a upward convex expansion trajectory generated the longest jump distance.

DOI： 10.7210/jrsj.40.643

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ({IEEE})  

DOI： 10.1109/LRA.2019.2926222

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (international conference proceedings)   Publisher：IEEE  

DOI： 10.1109/aim.2018.8452427

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.20965/jrm.2017.p0895

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Publishing type：Research paper (international conference proceedings)   Publisher：IEEE  

DOI： 10.1109/aero.2017.7943807

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)  

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)  

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)  

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Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author  

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers  

Small rover navigation needs to realise the direction of a landmark such as a mother lander. However, due to the hardware limitations, small rovers are hard to implement high accuracy perception algorithms. This paper proposeds a novel detection algorithm using saliency map. We focus on the peculiarity of an artifical object in natural environment, and study the estimation of the lander by analyzing the saliency map, painting, and linearity of the feature area from the image. We can detection landa by low accuracy perception algorithms.

DOI： 10.1299/jsmermd.2022.1p1-i03

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Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (public)  

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Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

© 2018 IEEE. This paper presents a novel mechanical design for efficient traverse of hopping rovers. In order to continue the exploration of planetary environment without any human help, optimizations and efficient designs of rovers are essential. In particular, improving robustness and decreasing energy consumption are crucial aspects of rovers design. Hopping efficiency on sandy surfaces is strikingly worse than on hard ground, because such soil is deformed and easily causes slip. The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel mechanical design which can get enough friction from granular media. First, the effects of soft soil for hopping are studied by comparing with hopping on hard ground in terms of energy. Next, a novel foot pad design for hopping on planetary terrain is proposed. Inspired by the conventional wheeled vehicle design, treads, called grouser, are installed for the bottom of the proposed foot pad. The effectiveness of the proposed design is validated through experimental evaluation.

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Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (public)  

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Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

© 2017 IEEE. For planetary exploration, small robots of just a few kilograms installed in the main spacecraft have a lot of advantages. Small robots can provide us with a wide range of exploration opportunities by using multi-robots, technical demonstrations, and science missions which require detailed data acquisition. There are not only mission advantages, but they can also be developed in a short period of time and at a low cost. MINERVA, MINERVA II, MASCOT are examples which are installed in the main spacecraft for surface exploration. In order to move on the surface of a "low gravity" object, like the Moon by a small robot, there are several options of locomotion, such as jumping, wheels, and legs. Wheel locomotion cannot step over obstacles where the size is bigger than the wheel radius, and the structure of leg locomotion is a very complicated piece of machinery and requires a lot of actuators. However, jumping locomotion is capable of moving a long distance by one action and the number of actuators required for jumping capability is very small. In addition, it can travel a longer distance on a planet or satellite which has a gravity lower than the Earth. For instance, it c

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Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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