Abstract: A robotic vehicle is provided with an extendable arm and a mandible structure. The mandible structure includes a pair of mandibles with toothed portions that cooperatively engage such that the mandibles may be opened and closed by applying a force to only one of the pair of mandibles. The mandible structure hangs freely from the extendable arm and is balanced so that the mandible structure naturally maintains a substantially vertical orientation. In the closed position, the mandible structure defines an interior cavity suitable for securely grasping a ring.

Abstract: A robotic vehicle is provided with improved traction and mobility via a specially designed wheel apparatus including a relatively rigid wheel structure formed from two circular, coaxial sprocketed wheel plates separated by a central hub. The sprockets on the wheel plates are circumferentially aligned with one another, with axially facing sprocket pairs being received in areas defined between circumferentially adjacent pairs of tread links in a series of tread links, equal in number to the number of sprocket pairs, arranged in a circular array around the periphery of the wheel structure. The sprocket pairs are sized and configured in a manner such that substantial relative axial and circumferential movement between the wheel structure and the tread link array are blocked, with the axially facing sprockets in each sprocket pair being axially and resiliently deflected toward one another by surface portions of their associated tread link area.

Abstract: A robotic vehicle is provided with an extendable arm and a mandible structure. The mandible structure includes a pair of mandibles with toothed portions that cooperatively engage such that the mandibles may be opened and closed by applying a force to only one of the pair of mandibles. The mandible structure hangs freely from the extendable arm and is balanced so that the mandible structure naturally maintains a substantially vertical orientation. In the closed position, the mandible structure defines an interior cavity suitable for securely grasping a ring.

Abstract: A robotic vehicle is provided with improved traction and mobility via a specially designed wheel apparatus including a relatively rigid wheel structure formed from two circular, coaxial sprocketed wheel plates separated by a central hub. The sprockets on the wheel plates are circumferentially aligned with one another, with axially facing sprocket pairs being received in areas defined between circumferentially adjacent pairs of tread links in a series of tread links, equal in number to the number of sprocket pairs, arranged in a circular array around the periphery of the wheel structure. The sprocket pairs are sized and configured in a manner such that substantial relative axial and circumferential movement between the wheel structure and the tread link array are blocked, with the axially facing sprockets in each sprocket pair being axially and resiliently deflected toward one another by surface portions of their associated tread link area.