Development of Curb-climbing Robot Based on Principle of Pole Vault Mechanism

Herein, we present a wheel-based robot that functions through a pole vault mechanism. When the robot encounters a curb, it climbs up by leveraging a pole in front and using the thrust from the rear wheel. In this situation, the robot can maintain its driving state. We determined the appropriate shape for the robot, including the lengths of the pole and body, based on its geometric relationship with the curb and built it accordingly. Additionally, we performed statistical analysis to calculate the magnitude of the motor torque required for climbing curbs. We tested the robot and its pole vault mechanism on a standard-height curb created using wooden plates. The proposed pole vault mechanism enables our robot to not only overcome curbs easily but also remain structurally simple and cost- effective compared with existing obstacle-overcoming mobile robots. In the aftermath of COVID-19, manual labor, such as in delivery tasks, has been increasingly replaced by mobile robots. Thus, we expect our robot to contribute to the advancement of mobile robotics.