JP2014161991A - Robot movement mechanism and robot comprising the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot movement mechanism that can move flexibly on a flat surface and tackle with an irregular ground and continuously uneven stair steps.SOLUTION: The robot movement mechanism has omnidirectional wheels, which can be independently driven, formed at an end of a leg portion of a movement mechanism having a leg structure; has a sensor for detecting a posture of a main body thereof; and is mounted with a control method of giving rotation command to the omnidirectional wheels according to output value of the posture detecting sensor to avoid falling, and a caster type robot comprises the robot movement mechanism.

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot moving mechanism and a robot including the same, and more specifically to a robot having a shape in which legs and wheels are fused, and particularly has a stepping property such as a step, and on a plane. The present invention relates to a leg-wheel type robot that is not restricted in the direction of motion.

  In recent years, assuming robot activity not only in industry but also in the field of life support, not only on flat surfaces but also rough terrain, steps, steps, etc. are required, so many researchers move rough terrain. There is a lot of research on robots. Rough terrain mobile robots can be broadly classified into wheel type, crawler type, leg type, or a combination of these groups.

  In particular, a composite robot that uses a leg mechanism and wheels in combination has an advantage that it has high mobility on a flat ground while realizing rough terrain movement (see Patent Document 1).

  Also, on a flat ground, in a normal wheel mechanism, the direction of movement is restricted by the wheel itself in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the wheel. There is a moving mechanism that moves omnidirectionally or directly beside on a plane using omnidirectional wheels (omni wheels, mecanum wheels) on which wheels are arranged (see Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 4724845 JP 2010-76630 A

  By the way, although the movement mechanism like patent document 1 is excellent in correspondence with rough terrain etc., the omnidirectional wheel is used only as an auxiliary wheel (especially driven wheel), and the part which emits driving force is a normal wheel. For this reason, the wheel mechanism cannot be moved sideways or diagonally.

  Moreover, in the robot like patent document 2, the omnidirectional wheel is used as a driving wheel, and the free movement on a plane is possible, but it corresponds to the uneven terrain and the stairs which are a continuous level difference. The power is low.

  The present invention has been made in view of the conventional problems as described above, and can cope with uneven terrain and staircases that are continuous steps while allowing free movement on a flat surface. An object of the present invention is to provide a robot moving mechanism and a robot including the same.

  The above object of the present invention can be achieved by the following constitution.

  Two omnidirectional wheels that can be driven independently are installed at the tip of the leg that has the hip joint pitch axis and knee pitch axis, and has a sensor that detects the posture of the main body, and omnidirectional according to the output value of the posture detection sensor A moving mechanism of a leg wheel type robot, and a leg wheel type robot including the same, which implements a control method for giving a rotation command to a wheel to avoid overturning.

  In addition, two omnidirectional wheels that can be driven independently are installed at the tip of the leg that has a hip joint pitch axis and a knee linear motion joint, and has a sensor that detects the posture of the main body, according to the output value of the posture detection sensor. A leg wheel type robot moving mechanism, and a leg wheel type robot equipped with the same, which implements a control method for giving rotation commands to omnidirectional wheels and avoiding overturning.

  In addition, two omnidirectional wheels that can be driven independently are installed at the tip of the leg having the hip joint linear motion shaft and knee linear motion joint, and has a sensor for detecting the posture of the main body, and the output value of the posture detection sensor Correspondingly, a leg wheel type robot moving mechanism, and a leg wheel type robot provided with the moving mechanism of the leg wheel type robot, which implements a control method for giving rotation commands to omnidirectional wheels and avoiding overturning.

  In addition, two omnidirectional wheels that can be driven independently are installed at the tip of the leg that has the hip joint linear motion axis and the knee joint pitch axis, and has a sensor that detects the posture of the main body, and the output value of the posture detection sensor Correspondingly, a leg wheel type robot moving mechanism, and a leg wheel type robot provided with the moving mechanism of the leg wheel type robot, which implements a control method for giving rotation commands to omnidirectional wheels and avoiding overturning.

  According to the movement mechanism of the above-described leg-wheel type robot of the present invention and the robot including the same, high mobility without a restraining direction on a flat ground is realized by the omnidirectional wheel while realizing irregular terrain movement by the leg structure. can get.

It is a figure explaining the structure of the conventional quadruped wheel robot with a drive wheel. It is a figure explaining 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the Mecanum wheel as an example of an omnidirectional wheel. It is a figure explaining the omni wheel as an example of an omnidirectional wheel. It is a figure explaining an example of the moving mechanism using an omnidirectional wheel (example of a Mecanum wheel). It is a figure explaining an example of the moving mechanism using an omnidirectional wheel (example of an omni wheel). It is a figure explaining the guidance robot using the structure of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure explaining an inverted pendulum and cart system model. It is a figure explaining 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining 4th Embodiment of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a conventional quadruped wheel type robot with drive wheels. Four leg portions 51 are connected to the robot base 11, and each leg portion 51 can rotate a hip joint link 31 via a hip joint yaw shaft 21, and a hip joint pitch axis is connected to the other end of the hip joint link 31. 22, the thigh link 32 is rotatable, and the other end of the thigh link 32 has a vertical articulated configuration that allows the tibial link 33 to be rotated via the knee joint 23. A driving wheel 41 is installed at the end so that it can move on a plane under the restraint of the wheel.

  Next, a first embodiment of the leg-wheel type robot according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows a configuration in which the drive wheel 41 of the leg wheel type robot of FIG. 1 is changed to an omnidirectional wheel 42, and the hip joint yaw axis 21 is removed. In addition, an attitude detection sensor 12 is installed in the base 11 to acquire angle information such as the body tilting.

  The omnidirectional wheel 42 is a Mecanum wheel shown in FIG. 3, an omni wheel shown in FIG. The Mecanum wheel shown in FIG. 3 includes a main shaft housing 81 to which a drive shaft such as a motor is connected, a first driven small wheel 82a, a second driven small wheel 82b, and a driven wheel shaft 83. The wheel itself rotates to obtain a propulsive force, but the part that contacts the ground is a driven small wheel fixed to a shaft that is 45 degrees away from the main shaft, and movement in directions other than the wheel traveling direction is not restricted. Yes, by combining this as shown in FIG. 5 and adjusting the driving force of each axis, a moving mechanism that enables movement in all directions can be realized.

  Similarly, the omni wheel in FIG. 4 includes a main shaft housing 81 to which a drive shaft such as a motor is connected, a driven small wheel 84, and a driven wheel shaft 83. The wheel itself rotates to obtain propulsive force, but the part that contacts the ground is a driven small wheel fixed to a shaft that is 90 degrees away from the main shaft, and movement in directions other than the wheel traveling direction is not constrained. There is a combination of these as shown in FIG. 6, and by adjusting the driving force of each axis, a moving mechanism that can move in all directions can be realized.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a guide robot (guidance robot) using the configuration of the leg wheel type robot using the leg structure and the omnidirectional wheel as described above. The guidance robot determines a traveling direction according to a command from a person, detects surrounding obstacles, and avoids or stops. The base 11 is provided with a distance image sensor 61 for recognizing surrounding obstacles and stairs and an input device (force sensor) for detecting a command from a person.

  As described above, since the omnidirectional wheel 42 is provided at the tip of the foot, the hip joint yaw shaft 21 is not necessarily required because it can run freely on the plane without restraining direction. Further, by applying the control of the inverted pendulum / cart system shown in FIG. 8, it is possible to perform control such as avoiding overturning of the robot. In FIG. 8, the carriage 101 and the inverted pendulum 102 are connected by a single-axis passive joint, and are controlled so that the inverted pendulum 102 does not fall by moving the carriage 101 left and right. Is known to hold.

ｍ：振子の質量
Ｌ：振子の長さ（半分）
θ：振子の角度
τ：振子に加わるトルク
Ｍ：台車の質量
Χ：台車の変位
ｆ：台車に加わる力
ｇ：重力加速度

m: Mass of pendulum L: Length of pendulum (half)
θ: pendulum angle τ: torque applied to the pendulum M: mass of the carriage Χ: displacement of the carriage f: force applied to the carriage g: acceleration of gravity

  This model can be applied by aligning the line connecting the two support legs in a direction perpendicular to the page. By driving the omnidirectional wheel in accordance with the angle information detected by the attitude detection sensor 12, it is possible to control to prevent the vehicle from overturning. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide the hip joint yaw shaft 21 in order to avoid the fall, and the degree of freedom can be reduced to a configuration in which this is removed.

  Next, a second embodiment of the leg wheel type robot according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 9 is obtained by changing the knee joint 23 of the leg-wheel type robot of FIG. About another structure and an effect, it is the same as that of the said 1st Embodiment.

  Next, a third embodiment of the leg-wheel type robot according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram in which the knee joint 23 of the leg-wheel type robot of FIG. 2 is changed to a shin part linear motion joint 92 and the hip joint pitch axis 22 is changed to a thigh linear motion joint 93. About another structure and an effect, it is the same as that of the said 1st Embodiment.

  Next, a fourth embodiment of the leg-wheel type robot according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 11 is obtained by changing the hip joint pitch axis 22 of the leg wheel type robot of FIG. About another structure and an effect, it is the same as that of the said 1st Embodiment.

In the above description, the description is made assuming a guidance robot for guiding a person. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can also be used in a general walking machine.

11 Robot Base 12 Posture Detection Sensor 21 Hip Joint Yaw Axis 22 Hip Joint Pitch Shaft 23 Knee Joint 31 Hip Joint Link 32 Thigh Link 33 Tibial Link 41 Drive Wheel 42 Omnidirectional Wheel 43 Mecanum Wheel 44 Omni Wheel 51 Leg 61 Distance Image Sensor 71 Input device 81 Spindle housing 82a Driven small wheel 82b Driven small wheel 83 Driven wheel shaft 84 Driven small wheel 92 Tibial direct acting joint 93 Thigh direct acting joint 101 Cart 102 Inverted pendulum

Claims (8)

  A leg-wheel type robot having a sensor for detecting the posture of a main body by installing two omnidirectional wheels that can be driven independently at the tip of a leg having a hip pitch axis and a knee pitch axis.   The leg-wheel type robot having the structure shown in claim 1, wherein a control method is implemented in which a rotation command is given to an omnidirectional wheel in accordance with an output value of a posture detection sensor to avoid overturning.   A leg-wheel type robot having sensors that detect the posture of the main body by installing two omnidirectional wheels that can be independently driven at the tip of a leg having a hip joint pitch axis and a knee joint.   4. A leg-wheel type robot having a configuration as shown in claim 3, wherein a control method is implemented in which a rotation command is given to an omnidirectional wheel in accordance with an output value of a posture detection sensor to avoid overturning.   A leg-wheel type robot having a sensor that detects the posture of a main body by installing two omnidirectional wheels that can be driven independently at the tip of a leg having a hip joint and a knee joint.   6. A leg-wheel type robot having a configuration as shown in claim 5, wherein a control method is implemented in which a rotation command is given to an omnidirectional wheel in accordance with an output value of an attitude detection sensor to avoid overturning.   A leg-wheel type robot having sensors that detect the posture of the main body by installing two omnidirectional wheels that can be independently driven at the tip of a leg having a hip joint linear motion joint and a knee joint pitch axis.   8. A leg-wheel type robot having a structure as shown in claim 7, wherein a control method is implemented in which a rotation command is given to an omnidirectional wheel in accordance with an output value of a posture detection sensor to avoid overturning.

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