Development of active cord mechanism ACM-R3 with agile 3D mobility

This paper describes the development of ACM-R3, which is a new version of the active cord mechanism with three-dimensional mobility. This ACM-R3 is equipped with large passive wheels which wrap its overall body, and has frictional characteristic as snake-like skin. It is also equipped with radio controlled servomotors with some gears added to them, and held tightly by shell flames so that it can move steadily and with high power. Each unit of ACM-R3 consists of a very simple structure, batteries, and electronic circuits to control itself. Consequently, ACM-R3 consists of as many units as we want to use, and is suitable for the platform of snake-like robotics researchers. ACM-R3 can demonstrate new propulsion methods and motions, combining the ability of a manipulator and a propulsion unit.