Mobile platforms when negotiating steps and stairs should be able to control theirs posture in order to avoid sudden tilting or falls. In particular, when considering applications for search and rescue operations where users have a very limited time of operation, the motion on stairs should be automated as much as possible. In this way operators can concentrate on their tasks (i.e. search of survivors and/or exploration of dangerous environments) rather than having to focus on the stability of the vehicle. A simple but very effective mechanism called ldquotailrdquo is introduced. The mechanical design and its control method is presented together with several tests and experiments carried out with a simple tracked vehicle in real environments.

Fire brigades and special agencies are often demanded to operate for search and aid of human lives in extremely dangerous scenarios. It is very important to first verify the safety of the environment and to obtain remotely a clear image of the scenario inside buildings or underground spaces. Several studies have been addressing the possibility of using robotic tools to carry out safe operations. This contribution presents the development of the HELIOS team, consisting of five tracked robots for urban search and rescue. Two units are equipped with manipulators for the accomplishment of particular tasks, such as the handling of objects and opening doors; the other three units, equipped with cameras and laser range finders, are utilized to create virtual 3D maps of the explored environment. The three units can move autonomously while collecting the data by using a collaborative positioning system (CPS). After an overview on the specifications of the team of robots and with respect to previous publications, detailed information about the improvements of the robot mechanical design and control systems are introduced. Tests of the CPS system and HELIOS IX vehicle together with a typical mission experiment are presented and discussed.

Fire brigades and special rescue agencies are often demanded to operate for search and aid of human lives in extremely dangerous scenarios. The use of robotic tools can make those operations safer for the operators and more efficient in terms of time and allocation of resources. This contribution describes the development of the newest tracked vehicle HELIOS IX. This mobile platform equipped with a manipulator represents the first stage of a Japanese national founded project. It aims to the development of a robotic system to be utilized in extreme environments such as rescue operations in heavily stricken urban areas. With respect to the previous prototypes the mechanical design and the system architecture is described. A new gripper is also introduced and tested together with few mobility experiments of the platform.

Robotics research can help search and rescue operations with developing practical mobile platforms and tools for urban and industrial disaster response. Crawled vehicles, because of their terrain adaptability, have a considerable importance for rescue operations and tasks performed in unstructured environments. In this contribution we present the newest version of HELIOS robot (HELIOS VIII). It consists of the same mechanical concept introduced with its predecessor. Nevertheless all the efficient motion capabilities of HELIOS concept were maintained and improved. In this paper we will focus a lot on the development of a new gripper for HELIOS vehicle. It consists of four fingers actuated by one actuator and they can adapt to the grasped object surface. Besides we introduce also a special docking mechanism utilized for the connection of the vehicle with auxiliary crawler units.

In this research an arm-equipped vehicle for search and rescue operations is presented. The important features for tracked vehicles are introduced through an overview of the solutions so far developed. The concept and the motion capabilities of the new vehicle Helios VII are explained. Afterwards the first assembled prototype is validated by means of mechanical computer simulations and basic experiments on the real vehicle.