Obstacle-aware Autonomous Flipper Control Method Based on Terrain Geometry

Rescue robots play crucial roles in search and rescue missions at disaster sites.Crawler mechanisms, which are valued for their high traversability on unstructured terrain, can be equipped with flipper arms featuring four singlerotation joints to enhance their performance.However, operating these flippers is challenging.Although various control methods have been developed recently, difficulties persist in adapting to three-dimensional uneven terrains and in avoiding interference between flippers and the environment.In this study, we propose an obstacle-aware autonomous flipper control method that actively adjusts the flippers based on the progress of the robot and terrain geometry.