We focus on the "Vuton-II", a new omnidirectional vehicle developed as a transport vehicle to operate within factories, hospitals, and warehouses. This vehicle is composed of three or more "Omni-Discs". The Omni-Disc mechanism ensures that individual wheels of the Omni-Disc assembly are always aligned in the same direction, and can always roll freely. The Vuton-II was based on the Vuton-I, an earlier omnidirectional vehicle with similar targeted use and controls characteristics. The Vuton-II is designed to be low in cost, short in stature, and reasonably high in payload.

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) can be advantageously used to drive a robot in its most efficient operation region for a wide range of external loads. The paper describes an optimal load-sensitive control algorithm for an actuator unit comprising a CVT and an electric motor. The introduced control algorithm takes into account both the electrical motor and the CVT efficiency. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by simulations and experiments carried out on an actual stair-climbing mobile robot "HELIOS-VI".

We are developing the "HELIOS" series, platforms for off-road vehicles and powered wheelchairs that are able to ascend and descend stairs. At present, we are developing an endless rotation locomotion type terrain adaptive vehicle "HELIOS-VI" that is propelled by 2 crawler belts. This vehicle has two continuously variable transmissions to change the velocity and direction of locomotion. The vehicle also has two active arms attached to the axis of the one drive pulley of the active crawler. One of the arms has two passive tires installed at its tip, and improves the vehicle's terrain adaptability in rough terrain; the other arm carries payload and adjusts payload posture. We introduced a structure that can change the posture of this load dynamically. This paper first outlines development process of the HELIOS series, and then discusses the configuration of terrain adaptive crawler vehicle HELIOS-VI and the design of its driving mechanism.

We focus on a heterogeneous robotic system of decentralized autonomous agents with a leader, which we call "super-mechano-colony (SMC)". It has characteristics of both hierarchical and distributed control systems. This paper explains the basic concept and a physical test bed of SMC, and discusses an example, specifically planetary rovers, for SMC.