Spherical robot
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of micro robots, in particular to a spherical robot.
Background
The spherical mobile robot is a mobile robot which is provided with an internal driving system, such as a motion executing mechanism, a sensor, an energy device, a control system and the like, arranged in a spherical shell, driven internally and mainly walks in a rolling manner.
The spherical mobile robot breaks through the static balance of a sphere through the movement of an internal driving device, is flexible in movement, can realize pivot steering and omnidirectional walking, and can operate in a narrow space, and the driving principle of the spherical mobile robot is basically divided into two types, namely that the driving device is directly contacted with the inner surface of a spherical shell, and the movement of the driving device is converted into the rotation of the spherical shell through the action of friction force, so that the whole robot is driven to move; the other is that the gravity center position of the robot is changed through the movement of the driving device, meanwhile, the acceleration and deceleration movement of the driving device generates inertia force, and the robot rolls under the action of eccentric moment and inertia moment.
The spherical mobile robot adopting the driving device to be in direct contact with the spherical shell has a relatively simple structure and is easy to control, but the steering capacity is poor, and after the robot runs for a long time, the steering mechanism and the spherical shell are seriously abraded, so that the stable running of the robot can be influenced. And the center of gravity position of the robot is changed to drive, so that the driving mode of the robot is simpler and more flexible, the shock resistance is strong, but higher requirements are provided for a motion executing mechanism and a control system, and the control difficulty is increased.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a spherical robot having a simple structure and easy control.
The technical scheme adopted by the invention is as follows:
a spherical robot comprising a spherical housing and a driving device inside the spherical housing, the driving device comprising:
the framework is movably connected with the spherical shell;
the counterweight is provided with at least three directions of linear translation freedom degrees in the spherical shell and can move to the center of the spherical shell, and the linear translation freedom degrees are not all on the same plane;
the output end of the counterweight driving piece drives the counterweight to linearly translate in the direction;
and the battery and the circuit control panel are used as a balance weight, the battery supplies power for the balance weight driving piece and the circuit control panel, and the circuit control panel is in signal connection with the balance weight driving piece.
As a further improvement of the invention, the counterweight drive drives the translation of the counterweight in a linear direction such that the counterweight is offset from the central main axis of the spherical housing and forms an angle with the main axis, whereby the resulting eccentric moment causes the rider to roll and steer.
As a further improvement of the invention, the driving device comprises an inertia measuring unit arranged on the spherical shell or on the framework, and the inertia measuring unit is connected with the circuit control board through signals and is powered by a battery.
As a further development of the invention, the inertial measurement unit comprises several sensors.
As a further improvement of the invention, the center of gravity of the weighted driving member and the skeleton is approximately located at the center of the spherical shell.
As a further improvement of the present invention, the counterweight driving member includes at least three sets of linear driving components, each set of linear driving components correspondingly drives the counterweight to linearly translate in one direction, each set of linear driving components includes two linear stepping motors with output directions parallel to each other, and the two linear stepping motors of each set of linear driving components are installed in opposite directions or installed in opposite directions.
As a further improvement of the invention, the two linear stepping motors of each group of linear driving parts are distributed in a centrosymmetric way by taking the center of the spherical shell as a center.
As a further improvement of the invention, the counterweight driving member drives the counterweight by connecting and driving the framework.
As a further improvement of the invention, the framework at least comprises a first shaft frame, a second shaft frame and a third shaft frame which are arranged from outside to inside, the first shaft frame and the second shaft frame, the second shaft frame and the third shaft frame, the first shaft frame and the third shaft frame are connected through different groups of linear driving components, and the counterweight is fixedly connected with the third shaft frame.
As a further improvement of the invention, each shaft frame is provided with a slide rail, and the output end of the corresponding linear driving part is connected with the corresponding slide rail in a sliding way so as to drive the linear translation of the corresponding shaft frame.
The invention has the beneficial effects that: the invention realizes the eccentricity of the counterweight and the rolling and steering of the robot under the action of the inertia moment generated by the eccentricity by driving the linear translation of the counterweight through the counterweight driving piece arranged on the framework, greatly simplifies the design of a control system and a driving system because the counterweight only moves linearly relative to the framework and does not rotate, keeps continuous and uninterrupted motion and can ensure the stability of the motion.
Drawings
The invention is further described with reference to the following figures and embodiments.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a spherical robot;
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the eccentric of the counterweight;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a set of drive weights of a linear drive unit;
FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of one embodiment of a spherical robot;
FIG. 5 is a motion diagram of the spherical robot translation;
FIG. 6 is a moment diagram of the translational motion of the spherical robot;
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the motion of the spherical robot steering;
fig. 8 is a moment analysis diagram of the steering motion of the spherical robot.
Detailed Description
The spherical robot referring to fig. 1 includes a spherical housing 1 and a driving means inside the spherical housing 1. The driving device comprises a framework, a counterweight 2 and a counterweight driving piece.
Wherein the counterweight 2 has at least three directions of linear translational freedom degrees in the spherical shell 1, and each linear translational freedom degree is not all on the same plane, so that the counterweight 2 can move to a specific position in a Cartesian coordinate system under the external drive. Generally, the counterweight 2 only needs to have three directions of linear translation freedom to realize the corresponding function, and for this reason, the linear translation of the following embodiment is based on three directions of x, y and z in a space coordinate system.
The counterweight 2 can move to the center of the spherical shell 1, namely to the central position of the spherical robot, and the spherical robot is in a static state; the balance weight 2 may be offset from the center of the spherical shell 1, i.e., in an eccentric state with respect to the center position, and at this time, the spherical shell 1 is rolled in the eccentric direction to achieve balance.
The counterweight driving member is arranged in the spherical shell 1, but is separated from the spherical shell 1 and does not contact with the spherical shell, and the output end of the counterweight driving member drives the counterweight 2 to linearly translate in the direction.
The frame is not shown in fig. 1 and 2, but it should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the frame can be movably connected to the spherical shell 1, and the counterweight driving member is mounted on the frame.
In the embodiment, the counterweight driving member needs to be powered and also needs to be driven and controlled (driven in a certain direction, linearly translated amount and the like), so that a battery and a circuit control board are further arranged in the spherical shell 1, the circuit control board is in signal connection with the counterweight driving member through a circuit, and the battery supplies power to the counterweight driving member and the circuit control board. The battery and the circuit control board are mounted on the backbone and their weight is heavier with respect to the counterweight driving member and the backbone, which for this purpose is used as a counterweight 2 in the present spherical robot. The counterweight mass of the scheme is larger in proportion to the total weight of the spherical robot, and larger inertia moment can be provided, so that the robot has higher speed and more flexible turning capability.
The movement and principle of the present spherical robot will be explained below.
Assuming that the spherical robot is constrained with a pure rolling on the ground, the structure is simplified and is formed as shown in fig. 5 to 8.
Referring to fig. 5, when the spherical robot translates, the counterweight 2 is driven by the counterweight driving member to linearly translate and change position, so as to change the center of gravity position of the whole spherical robot and control the robot to roll.
Referring to the moment analysis of FIG. 6, the counterweight drive drives the counterweight m1A certain angle theta is generated between the eccentric moment and the main shaft of the sphere, the position of the gravity center of the robot is changed through the position change of the counterweight, and the generated eccentric moment can enable the robot to roll forwards. And as the robot rolls, the counterweight driving part continuously moves linearly to maintain the included angle of the counterweight relative to the inertial coordinate system, so that the robot is controlled to continuously move.
When the robot moves forwards, the total moment of the gravity center is as follows:
。
wherein,
m1: a counterweight mass;
m2: robot mass;
r: the distance between the counterweight and the center of gravity of the robot;
m: the friction coefficient is approximately equal to 0.3;
g: acceleration of gravity = 9.8 m/s2;
R: a spherical shell radius;
IT: moment of inertia;
: the offset load makes an angle with the Z axis of the sphere.
Referring to fig. 7, a weight m1And the robot deflects along a certain direction, and the motor maintains the swing angle of the counterweight relative to an inertial coordinate system to steer the robot.
If fig. 6 is a side view of a spherical robot, fig. 8 is a front view of the robot, when the robot makes a turning motion (along a virtual radius) and the moment of the center of gravity is:
。
wherein d is the offset of the rotating counterweight relative to the center of gravity; rh: the radius of the spiral.
In an embodiment, the driving device further comprises an inertial measurement unit, not shown, disposed on the spherical shell 1 or on the skeleton, which may be a number of sensors, which are connected to the circuit board in signal and powered by the battery. In the embodiment, the accurate control of the spherical robot is realized by adopting the control of the inertia measurement unit matched with the counterweight driving piece.
Preferably, the center of gravity of the weight driving member and the skeleton is approximately located at the center of the spherical shell 1, and the weight driving member and the skeleton do not have too much influence on the center of gravity during the movement.
Further preferably, referring to fig. 1, the counterweight driving member includes three sets of linear driving parts, namely an x-axis linear driving part 7, a y-axis linear driving part 8 and a z-axis linear driving part 9. Each group of linear driving components correspondingly drives the linear translation of the balance weight 2 in a corresponding direction. Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the balance weight 2 is located at the center of the spherical housing 1, and in order to control the translation, the z-axis linear driving unit 9 drives the balance weight 2 to move a small distance in the direction opposite to the z-axis direction, and the x-axis linear driving unit 7 drives the balance weight 2 to move a small distance in the direction of the x-axis, so as to form the eccentric state shown in fig. 2. Each set of linear driving members is separated from the spherical housing 1 and does not contact the spherical housing 1 in any state.
In an embodiment, reference is made to fig. 3, which illustrates an x-axis linear drive unit 7. The x-axis linear driving unit 7 includes two linear stepping motors 71 and 72 having output directions parallel to each other, and it can be understood that the two linear stepping motors 71 and 72 are located on the same plane. The two linear stepping motors are installed oppositely or back to back, and are distributed in central symmetry with the center of the spherical shell 1. The other y-axis linear driving part 8 and the other z-axis linear driving part 9 have linear stepping motors with the same structure. In the embodiment, the two linear part motors of each group of linear driving parts are kept symmetrical, so that the balance weight can be kept stable during driving, and the linear driving parts are not easy to be eccentric. In addition, the linear stepping motor can realize the angle and speed control of the stepping motor through the pulse number and frequency input by the signal input end of the driver without feedback signals.
The above has been described only about the structural principle of the spherical robot, and in a more specific embodiment, the above-described linear driving means drives the counterweight 2 by connecting and driving the frame.
Referring to fig. 4, the framework at least comprises a first shaft frame 3, a second shaft frame 4 and a third shaft frame 5 which are arranged from outside to inside, the first shaft frame 3 and the second shaft frame 4, the second shaft frame 4 and the third shaft frame 5, and the first shaft frame 3 and the third shaft frame 5 are connected through different groups of linear driving components, and the counterweight 2 is fixedly connected with the third shaft frame 5. For example, the mutual relationship between the first shaft frame 3 and the second shaft frame 4 is that the fixed ends of two linear stepping motors of the x-axis linear driving component 7 are fixed on the first shaft frame 3, and the output end is connected with the second shaft frame 4 so as to drive the second shaft frame 4 to linearly translate along the x-axis; because the second shaft frame 4 is connected with the third shaft frame 5 through another group of linear driving components, and the third shaft frame 5 is connected with the balance weight 2, the linear translation of the second shaft frame 4 drives the balance weight 2 to perform linear translation along the x axis. The interconnection of the other shaft frames is similarly constructed and will not be described in detail.
Furthermore, each shaft frame is provided with a slide rail 6, and the output end (slide block) of the corresponding linear driving part is connected with the corresponding slide rail 6 in a sliding way so as to drive the linear translation of the corresponding shaft frame.
The spherical robot of the embodiment also includes the following advantages:
first, simple structure, the motion is nimble, easily control. Each shaft frame is controlled by a symmetrical linear stepping motor, the robot rolls under the action of inertia moment, and the additional functions of the robot can be increased by using limited space in a ball due to the absence of a complex control mechanism and a driving mechanism.
And secondly, the balance weight and the shaft frame only move linearly and do not rotate, so that the design of a control system and a driving system is greatly simplified, and the stability of the movement can be ensured while the continuous and uninterrupted movement is kept.
Thirdly, as long as the design of all parts (linear stepping motors and the like) is kept as symmetrical as possible, the weight and the strength of the shaft frame are ensured, the balance weight and the peripheral parts reach the proper weight proportion, and the spherical robot can efficiently move.
Fourthly, each part has simple structure, is convenient for control cost, is easy to be put into commercial production, and is more efficient and economic in later maintenance and improvement due to simple and efficient structure.
Fifthly, the robot adopts the inertia measurement unit to be matched with the linear stepping motor to realize the accurate control of the spherical robot.
The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention.