Evaluation of snake-like rescue robot "KOHGA" for usability of remote control

We discuss the usability of remote control for a snake-like rescue robot named KOHGA. This robot is one of many snake-like robots developed for search and rescue operations. KOHGA is constructed by connecting multiple crawler vehicles serially, thus resulting a long and thin structure. This is a great advantage as the robot can have both the capability to climb over obstacles, and as well as the ability to enter narrow spaces. Moreover, KOHGA can transform into a scorpion configuration, where the two CCD cameras positioned at robot's both ends, would provide to the operator a clear view of both the robot and its surroundings. In this paper, the design concept of KOHGA and the evaluation experiments for usability of remote control method are discussed in detail.