Development of a Spiral Propulsion Mechanism in Wetlands-Relation between Torque and Load

This paper addresses load properties of a spiral propulsion mechanism in wetlands. Recently, area of wetland has been decreasing due to farmland development and so on. The phenomenon is becoming one of the major environmental conservation concerns. The project of investigation of the current state and its degradation trend of the marshland has been started. The most significant challenges to the field surveys focus on the development of locomotion mechanism to carry measurement devices in wetland. One of the authors has proposed spiral propulsion mechanisms for movement in wetlands. Fundamental experiments have been performed in the bank of a river, where was covered with dried long-stem plants, and the traction properties of the spiral propulsion mechanism in wetlands is investigated. We have proposed a simple formula which describes the relation between torque, load and traction. The data of the experiment fit the formula well in range of less than a certain value of load.