32 TRACKED AND SNAKE-LIKE ROBOTS

Robots from Russia : L Top : Andrew-5  domestic robot. Each track chassis can turn around wheel axle to cross over obstacles ; L Below and M Top : Triangular Tracks on a rather big robot ; M Below and R Top :  Wheels on legged robot ; R Below : Triangular track robot. http://projects.roboclub.ru/

Selene Rover LRC, 2008, of Surrey Space Center of University of Surrey. It was the same system as Telemax. http://surreylunarrover.

wordpress.com/

Raposa robot, 2005, of Instituto Superior Technico of Portuguese University and IdMind, Engenharia de Sistemas, Lda Company. http://raposa.idmind.pt/

Robhaz-DT5 robot from Korea Institute of Science and Technology,  around 2006. http://www.robhaz.com/about_robhaz_photo_

eng.asp?board_no=4&page=1

Robhaz DT5. http://www.robhaz.com/about_robhaz_photo_eng.

asp?board_no=4&page=1

Korean rescue robots ; left : NTUT National University Taipei of Technology 2011, Robhaz DT5 ; right : Robhaz and MRL. http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=677 http://green.taiwantrade.com.tw/ORG/news.do?Method

=news_detial&informationId=33468

SNR1 or DIR123 of AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Japan, from 2008. Two triangular tracks and a driven articulated tracked tail make this robot original and efficient.

http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/projects/

USAR/2007/RoboCupRescue_Robot_League

_Atlanta_GA_USA_%282007.3%29.pdf

and : http://staff.aist.go.jp/kamimura.a/

Quince Recue Robot built in 2010 by Japan’s International Rescue System Institute and the Chiba Institute of Technology is highly mobile, weights 2,6 kg and moves at 1,6 m/s. http://www.robotshop.com/blog/quince-the-rescuer-robot-517

Quince robot.       http://1jour1actu.com/science/des-robots-pour-explorer-fukushima/

Hibiscus robot 2006      http://robot.watch.

impress.co.jp/cda/news/2006/06/05/28.html

Kenaf Robot of Impress Watch Corporation of NPO/ IRS, International Rescue System, at Hyogo, Japan, in 2009. Note the tracks witch cover all the width of the robot for better locomotion. http://robot.watch.

impress.co.jp/docs/news/20091029_325241.html

Robocup 2007 Rescue Robot Ideal, from YouTube.

Robocup 2007 CEO Mission from Youtube

RRRL_NuTech-R_part2 on Youtube.

UMRS

http://robot.watch.

impress.co.jp

/docs/news/20090717_

302857.html

UMRS-2007 TRIAGE and UMRS-2007 PORTES from www.robot.watch.impress.co.jp

Quince robot of Chiba Institute, to be used at Fukushima. http://www.houseofjapan.com/robots/quince-rescue-robot

Passive tracks robot seen at Japan Open, 2007. From YouTube.

M-TRAN III (2005) self-reconfiguration robot of AIST, Japan. This lattice structure could be automatically configured into walking robots, crawling snake-like robot or rolling ring. Many laboratories research on this subject, like Akiya Kamimyra's Modular Robotic System and else.

http://unit.aist.go.jp/is/frrg/dsysd/

mtran3/  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Reconfiguring_Modular

_Robotics

M-TRAN II self-reconfiguration robot, 2003, from AIST and Tokyo Institute of Technology, which studied a transformable robot from a Four-Legged Walker to a Caterpillar.     http://www.galactic

suitedesign.com/blogs/GSmoonrace/?p=246

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi5Mj3t4MIE

M-Tran-roll-loco.mpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi5Mj3t4MIE

KOHGA2 rescue robot by Matsuno Lab in 2007. Four driven tracked arms allow crossing obstacles. Khoga 3 is more update. Pr Fumitoshi Matsino is also vice president of International Recue System Institute. http://www.mecha

tronics.me.kyoto-u.ac.jp/modules/kenkyu/index.php?content_

id=3#content_1_4

Soryu, Blue Dragon, 1997, was built by Hirose Fukushima Lab, Tokyo Institute of Technology, as a rescue robot. Pict VSD from 3 to 9 Feb 2000.

http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot.html

Blue Dragon Type V SR5 of S Hirose and Fukushima is a belly less robot. http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/snake/soryu5/soryu5.html

Soryu-V of Tokyo Institute of Technology

Soryu IV rescue robot, 2006, from S. Hirose and Fukushima. http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/snake/soryu4/soryu4.html

IRS Soryu, of S. Hirose of Robotic Institute of Technology, Tokyo. http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/snake/soryu4/soryu4.html

Helios VII robot of S. Hirose, in 2002. Arms of the tracks could make it 'Walk'. The center of gravity of the rover could be adjusted with robot arm and make it easier to climb on obstacles and to recover after flipping over. http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/wheeled_e.html

Helios IX rescue robot of Hirose and Fukushima Lab, Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2011. http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/13/helios-ix-semi-autonomous-rescue-robot-moves-up-stairs-opens-doors-video/

Gunryu robot, 1992, Hirose and Fukushima Lab, Tokyo, could go over large obstacles and planned, in a next step, to perform by groups. http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/group/gunryu/gunryu_e.html

Topy robot. http://www.topy.co.jp/english/tech/index.html http://www.topy.co.jp/dept/bdp/BG002_006.html http://www.robots-dreams.com/2009/03/the-to-bravely-go-where-no-man-robot.html

Robots from Japan : Upper left : Shinobi NuTech-R Nagoaka Univ Of Tech, Lower left ; Univ of Electro-Communications, NIIT Bleue-Japan. Upper Right : c-rescue, Lower Right : NIIT Blue-Japan.

Thailand Robots : upper : rescue Saqib 2006 to present from Faculty of Bart Lab Engineering, Mahidol University, Thailand, lower : KMITNB's Team, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology North Bangkok in Thailand Rescue robot contest 2007.

Snail, Resquake of K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Teheran, MRL of AZAD University of Qazvin, recue robots

Resquake Robot K.N. Toosi University of Iran, 2005 to present.

Ariana robot is fitted with hybrid Triangular Tracked Wheel (TTW) locomotion mechanism and seen at RoboCup 2006 Rescue Robot League (NIST test arena). The concept of TTW locomotion mechanism was introduced by Amir H. Soltanzadeh.   https://sites.google.com/site/amirhst/robots

MRK-35 Mobile Surveillance Robot, from Rusec.

MRK-25 from SRDEB, Special Robotics Experimental Design Bureau rescue robot in mid 80s successfully used to clean Chernobyl nuclear power station. Pict from 'Military Parade', March, April 1998.

Assembled gears K of Kegresse Engineer, 1940. Two gears of wire-guided destruction barriers were assembled together avoiding to roll-over. engins-blindes.leforum.eu

Eros Robot from INTRA (INTervention Robotique sur Accident) created in 1998 by EDF, CEA and Areva. This indoor articulated robot was pictured by J M Maclou at Open House at Fontenay-aux Roses in 1992. Numerous robots are now stored at Chinon EDF Nuclear Power Plant. Some tracked robots are rather large and mechanical bases come from civilian market. EOLE robot is issued from Andros Remotec robot.

Andros Robot developed in France in the 80s by CEA Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique. In fact, it is issued from the Andros Robot of Remotec, called later EOLE.

Teleman Recue Robot for Nuclear Power Plant, 1992, CEA, Fontenay Aux Roses, France. Tracks are fitted with picklocks for better climbing stairs.

Frastar II of Framatome, Lyon, in the 80s.

Frastar II robot

AMR Program

CEA Intervention Robots

Oscar, Romain and Teddi Robots

oscar-and-romain-rescue-robots-of-cea.pdf

Mobile robot from 1989 by Cybernetix, Marseille.

Cibernetix Mobile Robot

Cybernetix robot TSR 200, payload 265 kg, speed 4 km/h, J M M at Engineering Museum, Angers, 2012 11.

Xinhuanet robot from China, in 2008, for ice and snow surface. Mass 300 kg, payload 40 kg, pulls loads of 100 kg, operational in a radius of 25 km.

Reconfigurable robot JL-I developed by Zhang et al. (2006). Each module could move separately.

Aoeba-1 rescue robot built in 2006 by State Key Laboratory of Robotics, China.

Last robot from Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2011.

Robots from China.

Cibernetix robot      http://www.secret

projects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=12525.15

Tracked robot.      http://www.flyingtracks.com/product_show.asp?nid=502

From roboforum.ru  http://roboforum.ru/forum8/topic5927.html

RS-1 line robots of Howe and Howe Technologies.        http://www.howeandhowe

technologies.com/

purchasing.php

Robot on a Russian site :          http://e-memory.ru/who/1/1d/whomap1d.htm

Robot like Gecko, 2011, of Jeff Krahn, Simon Fraser University. Feet have an adhesive material.  http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media-releases/2011/researchers-create-gecko-like-climbing-robot.html

Quince robot, 2011, of Chiba Institute of Technology for nuclear rescue. They failed to bring back information because they stuck in debris. Off-road capabilities must be improved.    http://www.strodong.com/4949/researchers-failed-mission-robot-running-nuclear-reactor.html

Illinois Lunabotics team robot 'IRIS-1     http://www.ae.illinois.edu/news/article.html?id=1520

Four tracks robot, 1998, from Japan.   www2.neweb.ne.jp

Exploration VIV EC-Safemobil Fire Fighting Research Robot of University of Zagreb, Croatia, Larics Lab, 2011. Mass 85 kg, autonomy 3 hours,   http://larics.rasip.fer.hr/projectInfo.php?id=26

 Dragon Runner, of Qinetic. Pict J M M at Villepinte, June 2012.

B2P2 Robot, 2008, belongs to the group of VGTV : Variable Geometry Tracked Vehicle, University of Angers, France. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=3I_KoCeAdEw

4Track robot, 2011.    http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13298

CAIR Robots of Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, of Bangalore, India. Pict J M M at Villepinte on 2012 06.

Warwick University robot, GB, for Robocup Recue Championship Open, Magdeburg, Germany, in 2010.      http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/

newsandevents/pressreleases/

warwick_students_take/

Stair climbing robot seen on YouTube.

Plasma RX Robocup 2008 from YouTube : Plasma-RX_Robocup_Rescue

_Robot_2008__Suzhou

Helios 7 robot from www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp

Inspector robot, of Piap, Poland.      http://www.antiterrorism.eu/product/pl/inspector

PIAP surveillance robot, 2005       http://www.roboclub.ru/

project/mobi/2005/07/18/

mobiln_20.html

PIAP Robot for surveillance from Industrial Institute for Automatization and Measures, Warsaw, Poland. Mass 180 kg, Lateral stabilizers allow to lift heavy load. Speed 0.5 m/s. Pict J M M at Villepinte on 2012 06.   http://www.altair.com.pl/cz-art-831

Scout of Piap, Poland.       http://www.antiterrorism.eu/product/pl/scout

Four tracks robot, 2008, from Dr Alexander Kleiner of University of Freiburg for odometry, from YouTube :   Visual_odometry_in_

rough_terrain

 Canipede robot with 12 powered whegs, built by Mike Keesling.   

http://robots.net/robomenu

/1061510492.html

Wheels and tracks for moon of Dr. M.G. Bekker of Defense Research Laboratories of General Motors between 1961 and 1970. Bekker was a pioneer in theoretical calculation of soil traffic ability. He is the father of soil mechanics applied to off-road vehicles and he wrote several books on this subject.      http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa_appel/5867219198/

Tracked scale rover of Bekker, 1961.  

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1961-Moon-

Roving-Vehicle-Model-Orig-Press-Photo-/

3x3 ELMS Roving Vehicle with active pitch control and yaw steering built at Marshall Space Flight Center in early 70s. See Chapter : 'Change around the tracks III'. The Elastic Loop Mobility System, invented by Kitchens and studied by N. C. Costes and W. Trautwein was not really a track. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/msad28apr98_1b/

ELMS Rover for Mars exploration, 1985. Pict from the review : 'Aerospace of America', November 1985.

4GM robot of Rover Company of St Petersburg created for a 'large Mars Rover' in 1974. The propulsive device had four autonomous caterpillar bogies. Having independent two-degree-of-freedom torsion suspension it was created to investigate this propulsion device. Mass 450 kg, speed : 1 and 2 km/h. http://www.enlight.ru/ib/tech/vtm/vniitm.pdf

4GM Robot. http://www.enlight.ru/ib/tech/vtm/vniitm.pdf

MACbot, Multi Active Crawler Robot, in 2008, from Korea University, Seoul, has tracks that can completely revolve on their axle to cross obstacles. Mass : 4 kg. Maximum Height of obstacle : 18 cm.

MACbot robot

Tracked model with epicyclical tracks. Model and picture J M Maclou, 2009 05.

Tracked model with epicyclical tracks built with Meccano/Erector construction set. Tracks lies under the belly and four tracked arms may be rotation free or locked to rotate. Model and pict J M Maclou, 2009 05.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Robot 85 cm long 35 cm wide, mass 6,3 kg. It is composed of 4 articulated lines with 18 wheels each of 4 cm diameter. Designed for moving in atomic power station, 2000. Pict from Sciences et Vie, April 2000.

Makro snake robot, 2000, from Fraunhofer Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems, St. Augustin, Germany. Makroplus, nowadays, is autonomous and is able to overcome obstacles. http://www.inspector-systems.com/makro_plus.html

Gavin Miller's snake like robots from the 90s to 2005 could crawl on flat soils and were very realistic. Passive wheels assist movement.

http://tams.informatik.

unihamburg.de/

lehre/2009ws/seminar/

ir/PDF/snake-like%20robot.pdf

Carnegie Mellon snake-like robot, 2010. This new snake-like robot can move forward on relatively flat ground by waves, roll, sideways and wrap around a tree trunk or inside a pipe. Others snakes bots exists like Anna Konda, HiBot Amphibious snake, Unified Snake robot of CMU Biorobotics Lab, Gavin Miller Bots, Sand Snake Robots of Georgia Institute of Technology, Snake Robot of St Petersburg and others. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~biorobotics/serpentine/serpentine.html

ACM-R5 Amphibious robot realized by Shigeo Hirose, Tokyo. It was the first to build snake-like robots. This robot moves forward on ground and water by lateral undulating and wheels are not driven. It seems today (May 2011) that snake-like robots propelled by waves cannot progress on uneven grounds like true snakes. This means they need sensors or additional tracks, wheels or legs to move without undulating.

http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot.html

Omniped Snake robot propelled by legs (and not waves) of University of Michigan in 2002-2003.

Polybot snakebot, in 2002 of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, CA and NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffetts, CA. This rather old model was said to be able to go over obstacles (there are no videos) in the future and it seems it needed more sensors to progress much better on rocky grounds. It could move inchworm, flip over, coil and side-wind. http://stuff.dewsoft

overseas.com/snakebot.htm

Polybot snake robot G3 in early 2000, from NASA and PARC could be configured into loop to climb upstairs or in line using vertical undulations (sinusoidal waves) to go forwards or downstairs. First generation, in the 90s, were Polybots and Polypod of PARC, Stanford, which were reconfigurable in snake, legged spider, rolling track, earthworm. It does not seem that really off-road snake-robots moving by lateral undulations exists nowadays. http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/industrial-robots/modular-robots/0 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2001/san_francisco/1173559.stm

Millibot train semi-autonomous articulated tracked robot was built in 2002 at Carnegie Mellon University. The Millibot Train concept provided couplers that allowed the Millibot modules to engage/disengage under computer control and joint actuators that allowed lifting of one module by another and control the whole train shape in two dimensions. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/

~hbb/

Millibot

Snake like robot of Brian Thompson, 2007. From YouTube : Brian Thompson's 3d Snake Robot

Polymorphic Robot could change shape, here it became a wheel. From YouTube :  Modular robot's wriggles show greater flexibility.

Moira snake-like robot.              

Moira I Snake Robot, 2003, from Osaka Laboratories, Japan. It comprises 4 segments with 2 driven tracks on its four sides for a total of 8 tracks by segment. 2 DOF joints are actuated by pneumatic actuators and it can lift up its nose to overcome obstacles.

Moira robot, the head.

Moira 1 and 2 Snakes Robots, for rescuing. http://www.rescuesystem.org/IRSweb/en/robot_DDT.html http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/799/InTech-Hypermobile_robots.pdf

Moira 2 tracked snake robot developed by Kyoto University is 1,4 m long, 18 kg, particularly suited for rescue operations in Japan or Asia countries since wooden structures leave little space to go through when they collapse. First version dates from 2003.

Moira 2 robot. http://www.expo2005.or.jp/jp/E0/E1/nat/robot/city.html

Moira 3 Design                http://dragonflys.jugem.jp/?cid=9

ATV and Moira II Snake like robot. http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2005/0613/nedo.htm

Millibot Train, 2002, from Cargenie Mellon University

ASC, Active Scope Camera, Snake-like robot, of Tohoku University in 2008. This 8 m robot, equipped with camera and fiber-optic for searching under collapsed building, is propelled down by millipede-type action of vibrating inclined cilia on its body to propel itself at 5 cm/s. It performs well but camera does not compensate if the robot flip over and the orientation of the operator is lost. More, the camera is not at all wide angle. This robot was used at Sendai, Japan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKM2t7sqJOg 

The Snake-like robot prototype, 2007, of Dr. Satoshi Tadoroko of Tohoku University is used to search through rumbles after a disaster. A large number of directed hairs vibrate to provide moving ahead. A search light in front of the robot sends back an image. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djreEBKWPSw

Snake robots, at Cargenie Mellon University.

ACM-R3 snake like robot, 2001, from Hirose Fukushima Robotics. The passive wheels (not driven) are here to reduce friction and they could be detached, the robots moving forwards by lateral undulations (like snakes), lateral rolling (like earthworms) or sinusoidal waves (like caterpillars of butterfly) and even translation by pedal waves (like snails). http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/snake/acm-r3/acm-r3_e.html

ACM-R4 Snake-like robot, 2004, from S. Hirose, is similar to ACM-R3 but wheels are driven allowing to cross large obstacles which could not be possible with waves. Moving is not by undulating waves but by wheels and the body is completely articulated.

However, this operation is difficult and it is written that sensor signals fitted on the robot would make it automatically adapted to narrow and stepped environment for easy moving on uneven grounds. It seems such a robot doesn't exists today.

ACM-R4 is equipped with rubber seals at the joints and wheel shafts. Experiments confirm continuous 3 hours operation in muddy water. http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/snake/acm-r4/acm-r4_e.html

ACM-R4 snake robot of Hirose, in 2004. Each unit has one DOF (Degree Of Freedom) of bending but the next joint is turned of 90°. The wheels are driven which allows to climb this chair.

http://www.intechopen.com/source/

pdfs/799/InTech-Hypermobile_robots.pdf

Swarm-bots in Bruxells, 2007. Designed ed until 2005 at EPFL, Lausanne, is a reconfigurable robot whose units can be assembled, helping them to cross large obstacles. http://www.swarm-bots.org/

Snake-like robot "SnakeWheel-2" made in 2007 by The State Scientific Center of Russia - Central R&D Institute for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics.

http://tams.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/lehre/2009ws/seminar/ir/

PDF/snake-like%20robot.pdf

Snake Gen 3 of NASA used deformable ring to move forward. Early 2000. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2000/00images/snakebot/snakebot.html

Snake 2 of GMD, German National Research Center, 1999. Each segment had 12 electrically driven wheels. Designed for pipe inspection. http://www.prism-magazine.org/april00/html/robotics.cfm

Slime Robot of Hirose in 1999 is composed of a main tube of serially connected 3 DOF modules activated by pneumatic actuators. It can creep by lateral waves as a true snake, waves like a snail or laterally roll and pivot turn. http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/snake/slim_slime/slim_slime_e.html

KOHGA snake-like robot of 8 units. Each unit has two tracks except the two heads. These units are serially interconnected with both ends first two joints as 2-DOF active joint and rest of the joints as 3-DOF passive joint. The passive joints provide good adaptation to complex environments. For this reason, KOHGA has high mobility even in rough terrains. Developed by Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama and Matsumo Laboratory of Kyoto University, in 2002 for rescue.

http://www.mechatronics.me.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

OT4 snake-like robot on driven tracks about 2006 seems to be the best 'off-road' robot. Propulsion is NOT by undulating waves. Of course, joint are active control in yaw and pitch (not in roll). http://www-personal.umich.edu/~johannb/Papers/paper129.pdf

OT8 and OT4 snake like robots of University of Michigan, 2007. They can cross very large obstacles and are really off-road. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~johannb/Papers/paper109.pdf

OT4-snake-like-robot.pdf

OT8-snake-like-robot.pdf

US006517457-017 of Hagen Schempf, 2003, from Automatika, for a one track robot and one track vehicle.

Aurora robot of Automatika had Design Excellence Award in 2002. It is marketed today for firefighting and reconnaissance applications or pipe inspection. It incorporates a unique system of steerable and pitch able drive mono-tread. Prototype weights 10 kg. Automatika, O'Hara Township, PA, is a subsidiary of Foster-Miller, Inc., interne owned itself by Qinetic North America (QNA) Company in 2007.

Automatika-one-track-robot.pdf

Aurora robot of Automatika, of Hagen Schempf. A drive-spine and pins are glued on the inner face of the continuous urethane belt; pins are used to drive the belt with the sprockets. The track is guided with the guide-spines. The body is divided in 3 articulated parts. Aurora is driven by batteries and electric motors.

Pandora of Automatika, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania is now owned by QinetiQ North America. It is fitted with interesting tracks that could walk. Pandora is no more manufactured.

Pandora Automatika

Azimut Robot, 2002, from Laborius of University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, is an autonomous and original robot with four Akerman steering tracks conceived by François Michaux and his team. https://introlab.3it.usherbrooke.ca/mediawiki-introlab/index.php/AZIMUT

Andros F6A Surveillance wheeled and tracked robot from Remotec of Northrop Grumman. Pict J M M at Villepinte in 2000.

Andros Robot. http://www.

rutgersprep.org/kendall/7thgrade/cycleB_2009_10/bf/androstherobot2.html                           

Tracked robots of the 2000. Top : iRobot Watch Impress, Bottom : IRobot Warrior II. http://scitechie.com/02/xbox-controlled-military-robot-video/ http://kaden.watch.impress.co.jp/img/kdw/docs/558/794/html/1.JPG.html

NUGV Robot, Novel Unmanned Ground Robot of Spawar in 2004, improved its mobility by changing its configuration. It was electrically powered and tele operated. The NUGV was designed and built by ACEI, Valencia, CA, under SPAWAR Systems Center contract.

http://www.spawar.navy.mil/robots/

pubs/spie5422-16.pdf

http://www.public.navy.mil/

spawar/Pacific/Robotics/Pages/NUGV.aspx

OTO Melara TRP-1B. Track at front is articulated with a cylinder. Pict J M M at Villepinte, 2008 06.

Ariana Robot fitted with Triangular Tracked Wheel (TTW) locomotion mechanism at 2006 Rescue Robot League in Germany. This concept was introduced by Amir H. Soltanzadeh from Azad University, Tehran. From YouTube : AriAnA rescue robot team @ RoboCup 2006   and : https://sites.google.com/

site/amirhst/robots

 Wide Track, 2003, from : www.robotgroup.net at Austin, Texas.

 MRV-295 robot about early 2000.

 Rembot on YouTube

Sakura Robot built by the Future Robotics Technology Center at the Chiba Institute of Technology.   http://features.rr.com/photo/007M19N6dna9K?q=

Japan+AND+tsunami

Sakura robot, 2012, sponsored by NEDO.   http://www.furo.org/ja/robot/sakura/index.html

Robot of Aristote University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 2009. http://www.salonicanews.com/2009/10/blog-post_5695.html

Rescue robot 2RS-SRMU     www.robot.watch.impress.co.jp

Multi-platform robot from China. It can be used according to available space. http://www.tiaozhanbei.net/project/11907/

 Hirose-Fukushima robot  http://www.topy.co.jp/english/dept/bdp/BG002_001.html

 HiBot ACM-R4H robot      http://www.hibot.co.jp/en/products/robots_1

 Helios III Wheel Chair, 1990.     http://www-robot.mes.titech.ac.jp/robot/wheeled/helios3/helios3.html        http://robot.watch.

impress.co.jp/cda/parts/image_for_link/2418-96-16-3.html

 Hanool's Hanuri-RT rescue robot, 2007, from Seoul, Korea. Injured people must stay on the robot. The sophisticated tracks could allow better off-road performance.     http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/01/hanools-hanuri-rt-rescue-bot-touts-go-go-gadget-tracks/       http://us.aving.net/news/view.php?

articleId=48680

 Earthquake rescue robot from Shenyang, China.                       http://economy.lnd.com.cn/htm/2011-03/22/content_1758442.htm

AR2S robot, University of Calgary.       

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~aramirez/AR2S-Lab-Project-USAR-Robot.html