GerWalk: Lightweight Mobile Robot with Buoyant Balloon Body and Bamboo Rimless Wheel

Recently, robots such as rescue and observation robots that traverse rough terrain are being deployed for data collection and other operations. However, as these robots are heavy and expensive, the practical situations in which they can be deployed are limited. This paper presents a design concept for a large, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive robot that is highly capable of traversing rough terrain. To realize these goals, the proposed robot has a large, lightweight, and simple structural design comprising a rimless-wheel with an assisted buoyant balloon body containing helium. The structure of the robot is sufficiently simple that ordinary people can independently fabricate it. This ensures that the robot is low-cost and suitable for practical operations.