We propose a new weight compensation mechanism with a non-circular pulley and a spring. We show the basic principle and numerical design method to derive the shape of the non-circular pulley. After demonstration of the weight compensation for an inverted/ordinary pendulum system, we extend the same mechanism to a parallel five-bar linkage system, analyzing the required torques using transposed Jacobian matrices. Finally, we develop a three degree of freedom manipulator with relatively small output actuators and verified that the weight compensation mechanism significantly contributes to decrease static torques to keep the same posture within manipulator's work space.

This paper presents a quadruped-walking robot for demining mission. Robot that can adapt any landscape and handle various tasks by utilizing the legs as manipulator is useful one to ensure the safety of local residents and people engaged in the demining mission. However, it is known that mine removing by human workers is progressing slowly because of the risk of their lives. The proposed robot has various features, such as 1) much wider working area than conventional walking robots, 2) unique drive mechanism, 3) high modularity and cooling mechanism and so on. It is expected to give the workers safety to accelerate the demining.

To accomplish high mobility and working performance, an active ankle mechanism with multi-degrees of freedom is required for multi-legged walking vehicle. In this paper, a novel active ankle mechanism with 2 degrees of freedom is proposed. This mechanism has large workspace, high mechanical strength and coupled driving system.

This paper introduces a novel Shape Feedback Master Slave (M-S) arm system, which is inexpensive and robust to be equipped in the demining robot "TITAN-IX". A M-S arm system is an important element. However, it is very difficult to use the conventional M-S arm system into unpredictable environments such as a minefield, because the control parameters to adapt the environment are mostly unknown. The newly introduced Shape Feedback M-S Gripper (SPADE GRIPPER) for detecting and removing mines is composed of three unilateral position controls without bilateral force control, can work stably in such an unknown environment. The mechanical design and the operation principle of SPADE GRIPPER and several experiments are performed to examine its validities.