Treaded Robot Modified For Stair Climbing

[Mike Li] is showing of his stair climbing robot. It’s a bot that cruises around on a pair of tank treads, but some interesting modifications gave him the traction needed to ascend a flight of stairs without slipping backward.

The image above shows this process in great detail. You can see the unaltered treads leaving the top of the image. In the foreground, strips of rubber-backed rug add some sticking power to the otherwise smooth surface. To really stop the bot from slipping, segments of CAT5 cable have been screwed to the tread at regular intervals, holding the carpeting tightly in the process.

You can see in the video after the break the little robot has no problem with rough terrain. The design was inspired by the iRobot Packbot which has a set of treaded appendages sticking off the front end. These ensure that the vertical face of an obstacle, such as the beginnings of a staircase, can still be reached by the main set of treads.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktw6AZU2Wtk&w=470]

9 thoughts on “Treaded Robot Modified For Stair Climbing

  1. The main thing those front tracks help with is getting onto (parallel with) the stairs. They also help with controlling the center of gravity. A manipulator can also be used to control the center of gravity. However, a robot with fixed tracks, like the Dragon Runner 20, will climb stairs without a problem as well.

    What is really important is that there is a portion of the treads that touches the edge of the stair. That is what allows the robot to begin climbing.

  2. I’m with bty on this.
    Simple outreaching skids or a forward manipulator / larger diameter front wheels, and/or longer wheelbase may have solved the problem with a bit less work.

    Nice toy though.

Leave a Reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.