In this paper, we studied a new vacuum caterpillar drive system that can be used for solar panel cleaning robots. The conventional vacuum caterpillar structure has an issue, in that the vacuum hose becomes twisted. As a result, we designed a new vacuum caterpillar structure with no vacuum hose kinks. Also, we verified that no issues concerning flow analysis exist with this new system. We found that this system with the proposed vacuum caterpillar structure has an appropriate performance as a solar panel cleaning robot for practical use.

A design and analysis for new foot sensor that measures pressure distribution while walking or running in daily life is introduced. In the process of the sensor design, the shape, mechanism composing of the sensor, and variables that dominate sensor’s sensitivity are investigated. Through these variables analysis, an optimal shape and dimension were determined. The effects of variables on sensor’s sensitivity and the relationship between each variable are proved by analyses and experiments.