In this paper, we introduce the pipe cleaning robot developed to clean the gas impurities of the iron manufacturing equipments. The pipe cleaning robot is composed of two driving modules and one cleaning module. 2-DOF joint units were developed for connections among the modules. To maximize the traction power of the driving parts, it became caterpillar type. The extension links have been developed to maintain the traction force in case the pipe inner diameters change. Three cleaning modules were developed for the effective cleaning in the pipe. The driving and cleaning performance tests of the pipe cleaning robot were proceeded in the field of the iron manufacturing equipments.

We present the initial results of on-going research for building a novel Mobile Haptic Interface (MHI) that can provide an unlimited haptic workspace in large immersive virtual environments. When a user explores a large virtual environment, the MHI can sense the position and orientation of the user, place itself to an appropriate configuration, and deliver force feedback, thereby enabling a virtually limitless workspace. Our MHI (PoMHI v0.5) features with omnidirectional mobility, a collision-free motion planning algorithm, and force feedback for general environment models. We also provide experimental results that show the fidelity of our mobile haptic interface.