CN117799361A - Ball wheel assembly, chassis and robot - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of robots, and provides a ball wheel assembly, a chassis and a robot. The ball wheel assembly comprises a mounting frame, a ball wheel, a friction roller set and a driving piece. An installation space is formed in the installation frame; the ball wheel is arranged on the mounting frame, and part of the ball wheel extends out of the mounting space; the friction roller combination is held on the ball wheel; the driving piece is connected to the mounting frame and is in power coupling with the friction roller set so as to drive the friction roller set to roll. According to the ball wheel assembly provided by the embodiment of the invention, the friction roller assembly is contacted with the ball wheel in a clasping manner, so that enough friction force is provided for the ball wheel, and the stable rotation of the ball wheel is ensured, thereby improving the motion stability of the ball wheel assembly. Meanwhile, the friction roller is combined and held on the ball wheel, so that the arrangement among the driving piece, the friction roller group and the ball wheel is more compact, and the occupation of the ball wheel assembly to the space is greatly reduced.

Description

Ball wheel assembly, chassis and robot

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to a ball wheel assembly, a chassis and a robot.

Background

In the existing mobile robots, the wheeled robot occupies a large part. These robots rely mainly on conventional circular tires for movement, but due to the design limitations of the tires, it is assumed that conventional circular tires can only rotate over a range of angles on the ground, which limits to some extent their flexibility of movement and range of application. If the rotation in the range of 360 degrees can be realized on the ground plane, the flexibility of the robot can be remarkably improved. Now, the ball wheel is also applied to the robot, and although the ball wheel has excellent rotation performance, the driving device is a difficulty in applying the ball wheel to the robot, and the driving device usually adopts friction driving, but the existing friction driving device is complex, and meanwhile, the friction driving effect is poor, so that the application of the ball wheel assembly in the robot is further limited. Therefore, how to improve the performance of friction driving while maintaining the excellent rotation performance of the ball wheel becomes an important problem to be solved in the current robotics.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to solving at least one of the technical problems existing in the related art. Therefore, the invention provides the ball wheel assembly, thereby solving the defect of poor friction driving effect of the existing ball wheel assembly.

The invention further provides a chassis.

The invention further provides a robot.

According to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, a ball wheel assembly comprises:

the mounting frame is internally provided with a mounting space;

the ball wheel is arranged on the mounting frame, and the ball wheel part extends out of the mounting space;

the friction roller group is combined with the ball wheel;

and the driving piece is connected with the mounting frame and is in power coupling with the friction roller set so as to drive the friction roller set to roll.

According to the ball wheel assembly provided by the embodiment of the invention, the friction roller assembly is contacted with the ball wheel in a clasping manner, so that enough friction force is provided for the ball wheel, and the stable rotation of the ball wheel is ensured, thereby improving the motion stability of the ball wheel assembly. Meanwhile, the friction roller is combined and held on the ball wheel, so that the arrangement among the driving piece, the friction roller group and the ball wheel is more compact, and the occupation of the ball wheel assembly to the space is greatly reduced.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the driving member comprises:

the motor is fixedly connected with the mounting frame;

the synchronous wheel comprises a driving belt wheel and a driven belt wheel, the driving belt wheel is arranged on an output shaft of the motor, and the driven belt wheel is a plurality of friction rollers respectively arranged in the friction roller groups;

and the synchronous belt is in power coupling with the synchronous wheel.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the friction roller set comprises a first friction roller and a second friction roller, the rotation directions of the first friction roller and the second friction roller are the same, and the first friction roller and the second friction roller are symmetrically arranged on two sides of the top of the ball wheel.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the driving member is located above the first friction roller and the second friction roller, and the driving member is located between the first friction roller and the second friction roller.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the mounting frame comprises:

the driving piece and the friction roller set are fixedly connected to the driving mechanism bracket;

the ball wheel retainer is used for installing the ball wheels;

and the upright post is connected with the driving mechanism bracket and the ball wheel retainer so as to form the installation space between the ball wheel retainer and the driving mechanism bracket.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the ball wheel holder comprises:

a first frame body;

the second frame body is connected with the first frame body, ball mounting grooves are formed in the first frame body and the second frame body, and the openings of the ball mounting grooves face the mounting space;

and the ball is partially extended out of the ball mounting groove and is contacted with the ball wheel.

According to one embodiment of the invention, each friction roller of the set of friction rollers is provided with an arcuate surface adapted to match the outer surface of the ball wheel.

A chassis according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention includes:

a housing;

above-mentioned ball wheel subassembly, mounting bracket fixed connection in the casing, ball wheel part stretches out the casing.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the chassis comprises a plurality of groups of the ball wheel assemblies, and the arrangement direction of the friction roller group of at least one group of the ball wheel assemblies is different from that of the friction roller groups of other ball wheel assemblies.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the chassis comprises four sets of the ball wheel assemblies, wherein two sets of the friction roller sets of the ball wheel assemblies are arranged along a first direction and the remaining two sets of the friction roller sets of the ball wheel assemblies are arranged along a second direction, the first direction and the second direction being arranged at an angle.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the first direction and the second direction are ninety degrees,

and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the shell is square, and the ball wheel assembly is arranged at four corner positions of the shell.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the chassis comprises two positioning shafts, the mounting frames of the ball wheel assemblies are provided with positioning pieces, the friction roller sets are arranged along the same direction, and the positioning pieces are respectively connected with two ends of one positioning shaft.

A robot according to an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention comprises the ball wheel assembly described above or the chassis described above.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the related art, the drawings that are required to be used in the embodiments or the related technical descriptions will be briefly described, and it is apparent that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings may be obtained according to the drawings without inventive effort for those skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a ball wheel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a second schematic diagram of a ball wheel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an exploded view of a ball wheel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a ball wheel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a cross-sectional A-A configuration of the ball wheel assembly provided by the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a base according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a second schematic structural diagram of a base according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals:

10. a ball wheel assembly;

20. a housing; 21. an upper housing; 22. a lower housing;

100. a mounting frame; 101. an installation space; 110. a drive mechanism bracket; 120. a column; 130. ball wheel retainer; 131. a first frame body; 132. a second frame body; 133. mounting lugs; 134. a ball mounting groove; 135. a positioning piece;

200. a ball wheel;

300. a friction roller set; 310. a first friction roller; 320. a second friction roller;

400. a driving member; 410. a motor; 420. a synchronizing wheel; 421. a driving pulley; 422. a driven pulley; 430. a synchronous belt; 440. a bearing;

500. and (3) rolling balls.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention are described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. The following examples are illustrative of the invention but are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, are merely for convenience in describing the embodiments of the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the apparatus or elements referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "connected" and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixed or removable, wherein the fixed connection may include an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium. The specific meaning of the above terms in embodiments of the present invention will be understood in detail by those of ordinary skill in the art.

In embodiments of the invention, unless expressly specified and limited otherwise, a first feature "up" or "down" on a second feature may be that the first and second features are in direct contact, or that the first and second features are in indirect contact via an intervening medium. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature may be a first feature being directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is level higher than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature may be the first feature being directly under or obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is less level than the second feature.

In the description of the present specification, a description referring to terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "examples," "specific examples," or "some examples," etc., means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the embodiments of the present invention. In this specification, schematic representations of the above terms are not necessarily directed to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, the different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples may be combined and combined by those skilled in the art without contradiction.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, a ball wheel assembly 10 according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, the ball wheel assembly 10 includes a mounting frame 100, a ball wheel 200, a friction roller set 300, and a driving member 400. A mounting space 101 is formed inside the mounting frame 100; ball wheel 200 is mounted on mounting frame 100, and ball wheel 200 partially extends out of mounting space 101; the friction roller set 300 is embraced on the ball wheel 200; the driving member 400 is connected to the mounting frame 100, and the driving member 400 is power-coupled to the friction roller set 300 to roll the friction roller set 300.

According to the ball wheel assembly 10 of the embodiment of the present invention, the friction roller set 300 contacts the ball wheel 200 in a clasping manner, so as to provide sufficient friction force for the ball wheel 200, and ensure stable rotation of the ball wheel 200, thereby improving the motion stability of the ball wheel assembly 10. Meanwhile, the friction roller set 300 is held around the ball wheel 200, so that the arrangement among the driving piece 400, the friction roller set 300 and the ball wheel 200 is more compact, and the space occupation of the ball wheel assembly 10 is greatly reduced.

It should be noted that the friction roller set 300 is generally composed of a plurality of friction rollers, the number of which is greater than or equal to two, and they may be uniformly distributed around the ball wheel 200 to ensure that sufficient friction force is provided to drive the movement of the ball wheel 200. "hugging" means that the sides of the friction rollers of the friction roller group 300 are tightly wrapped or around the circumference of the ball wheel 200 and the rolling of the ball wheel 200 is driven by friction.

The friction roller may have any shape of a rotating body, and may be, for example, a cylindrical friction roller whose generatrix is a straight line, or a rotating body friction roller whose generatrix is a curved line, and is not particularly limited. It will be appreciated that cylindrical friction rollers have a simple geometry, are relatively easy to manufacture and process, and are relatively inexpensive. Moreover, the cylindrical friction roller can adapt to the ball wheels 200 with different sizes, and can be applied to the ball wheel assemblies 10 with different sizes of the ball wheels 200.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 4 and 5, each friction roller of friction roller set 300 is provided with an arcuate surface adapted to match the outer surface of ball wheel 200. Through setting up the arcwall face, can increase the area of contact between friction roller and the ball wheel 200, can adapt to the appearance of ball wheel 200 better for contact between the two is smoother, can optimize the energy and follow the transmission efficiency of friction roller to ball wheel 200, helps reducing energy loss, improves entire system's energy efficiency.

It will be appreciated that the ball wheel 200 is mounted on the mounting frame 100, a portion of the ball wheel 200 extends out of the mounting space 101, and a portion of the ball wheel 200 extending out of the mounting space 101 can still make effective contact with the ground or other contact surface, so that the mounting frame 100 can protect the ball wheel 200 located in the mounting space 101, and reduce physical impact and wear to which the ball wheel 200 is subjected.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 4, the installation space 101 may be a symmetrical space with the vertical plane of the ball wheel 200 as a symmetrical plane, wherein a part of friction rollers in the friction roller set 300 are disposed at one side of the installation space 101, and another part of friction rollers are disposed at one side of the installation space 101, which is symmetrical to the part of friction rollers.

It will be appreciated that since the friction roller set 300 is disposed in a symmetrical space, driving force can be provided in a balanced manner, ensuring that the ball wheel 200 is uniformly stressed in all directions. Meanwhile, by providing the friction roller group 300 at different positions of the installation space 101, the available space can be more efficiently utilized. This arrangement ensures adequate contact of the friction roller set 300 with the ball wheel 200 while maximizing space utilization and helping to reduce the size and weight of the overall ball wheel assembly 10.

In one embodiment, one of the friction rollers of the friction roller set 300 is disposed at a position where the vertical plane is located. It will be appreciated that by positioning the friction roller in the vertical position, a supporting force in the vertical direction can be provided to the ball wheel 200.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the friction roller set 300 includes a plurality of friction rollers, at least one of which is disposed at an angle with respect to the rotation direction of the other friction rollers. It will be appreciated that by having the direction of rotation of at least one of the friction rollers disposed at an angle to the other friction rollers, the driving force can be provided in multiple directions such that the friction force acts not only in one direction but also pushes or pulls the ball wheel 200 in multiple directions, thereby achieving more flexible motion control and attitude adjustment, thereby enhancing the flexibility of the driving.

It is understood that the rotational speed and direction of the ball wheel assembly 10 can be adjusted by controlling the rotational numbers and rotational speeds of the friction rollers of the friction roller set 300 in different rotational directions, thereby improving the variety of driving effects of the ball wheel assembly 10.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the mounting frame 100 includes a ball wheel holder 130, a lifter for mounting the ball wheel 200, the lifter being coupled to the friction roller set 300, and a lifter coupled to the ball wheel holder 130 and the lifter, by which the lifter can be moved closer to or farther from the ball wheel holder 130.

It should be noted that, the ball wheel assembly 10 may move omnidirectionally, but when the movement direction of the ball wheel 200 is different from the movement direction of the friction roller in the friction roller set 300, the friction roller may provide unnecessary friction force to the ball wheel 200, resulting in unsmooth movement of the ball wheel assembly 10 and abrasion between the ball wheel 200 and the friction roller.

It will be appreciated that by moving the lifting table, the position of the friction roller set 300 relative to the ball wheel 200 can be conveniently adjusted, the frictional force between the friction roller set 300 and the ball wheel 200 can be adjusted, the friction roller set 300 is ensured to be in contact with the ball wheel 200 and provide driving force when needed, and can be separated from the ball wheel 200 when not needed, thereby reducing the loss of driving force and improving energy efficiency.

The driving member 400 may drive the friction roller of the friction roller set 300 to rotate by means of a conveyor belt, the driving member 400 may also drive the friction roller to move by means of gear engagement, and the driving member 400 may also drive the friction roller by means of a conventional driving method, which is not particularly limited in the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a driving member 400 includes a motor 410, a synchronizing wheel 420 and a synchronous belt 430, wherein the motor 410 is fixedly connected to a mounting frame 100; the synchronizing wheel 420 includes a driving pulley 421 and a driven pulley 422, the driving pulley 421 is mounted to an output shaft of the motor 410, and the driven pulley 422 is plural in number and is respectively mounted to each friction roller of the friction roller group 300; the timing belt 430 is dynamically coupled to the timing wheel 420.

It can be understood that the motor 410 is used as a driving source, the driving force is transmitted to the friction roller set 300 through the synchronous belt 430 and the synchronous wheel 420, and then the synchronous motion of the friction roller set 300 is realized through the cooperation of the synchronous belt 430 and the synchronous wheel 420. The driving pulley 421 drives the timing belt 430, and thus the driven pulley 422, to ensure that the respective friction rollers rotate at the same speed and direction, thereby providing a uniform driving force.

It will be appreciated that the timing belt 430 has a smaller size and weight, is more efficient to drive, is less costly to maintain, and simplifies the design and manufacture of the drive mechanism, compared to conventional gear or chain drives, using the drive means of the timing belt 430 and the timing wheel 420.

In one embodiment, the number of motors 410 of the driving member 400 is one, in other words, the ball wheel assembly 10 drives the friction roller set 300 through a single motor, so that the rotation of the friction rollers of the friction roller set 300 is achieved through one motor 410, and specifically, the motor 410 can achieve the synchronous movement of the friction rollers through the synchronous belt 430, the gear or the chain mentioned above or other manners, which will not be repeated herein.

It will be appreciated that the use of a single motor makes more efficient use of space, makes the overall system layout more compact, and reduces the complexity of the system, reducing the risk of possible dyssynchrony or failure of multiple motors.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the friction roller set 300 includes a first friction roller 310 and a second friction roller 320, the rotation directions of the first friction roller 310 and the second friction roller 320 are the same, and the first friction roller 310 and the second friction roller 320 are symmetrically disposed at both sides of the top of the ball wheel 200. It will be appreciated that since the first and second friction rollers 310 and 320 are symmetrically disposed, they can provide driving force in balance, ensuring that the ball wheel 200 is subjected to uniform and balanced friction, thereby improving the stability of the entire ball wheel assembly 10. The utilization rate of the installation space 101 can be optimized by symmetrically disposing the first and second friction rollers 310 and 320 at both sides of the top of the installation space 101, so that the contact between the ball wheel 200 and the friction rollers is more compact.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the driving member 400 is located above the first friction roller 310 and the second friction roller 320, and the driving member 400 is located between the first friction roller 310 and the second friction roller 320. It can be appreciated that the driving member 400, the first friction roller 310 and the second friction roller 320 form an acute triangle structure, and the driving member 400 has a "delta" structure as a whole, on one hand, the driving member 400 can more directly transmit power to the friction rollers, and can more easily realize uniform distribution of driving force, which helps to ensure that the two friction rollers provide equal driving force, thereby maintaining smooth movement of the ball wheel 200, reducing power transmission path and loss, and improving driving efficiency and response speed. On the other hand, the overall appearance of the ball wheel assembly 10 is more aesthetically pleasing.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a mounting frame 100 includes a driving mechanism bracket 110, a ball wheel holder 130, and a column 120, and a driving member 400 and a friction roller set 300 of the driving mechanism bracket 110 are fixedly connected to the driving mechanism bracket 110; ball wheel holder 130 for mounting ball wheel 200; upright 120 connects drive mechanism bracket 110 and ball wheel holder 130 to form mounting space 101 between ball wheel holder 130 and drive mechanism bracket 110.

It will be appreciated that a stable support structure is formed by the combination of drive mechanism bracket 110, ball wheel retainer 130 and upright 120. The driving mechanism bracket 110, the friction roller set 300 and the driving piece 400 can be fixedly connected together, the ball wheel 200 can be mounted on the ball wheel holder 130, then the driving mechanism bracket 110 is mounted on the ball wheel holder 130 through the upright 120, and the whole mounting process is simple, and the mounting difficulty and the cost are low.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1-3, each friction roller of the friction roller set 300 is rotatably coupled to the drive mechanism bracket 110 via a bearing 440. The inner ring of the bearing 440 is fixedly connected with the friction roller, the outer ring of the bearing 440 is connected with the driving mechanism bracket 110, and the bearing 440 can reduce the direct contact and friction between the friction roller and the driving mechanism bracket 110, reduce the abrasion and prolong the service life of the friction roller.

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the ball wheel holder 130 includes a first frame body 131, a second frame body 132, and balls 500, the second frame body 132 is connected to the first frame body 131, the first frame body 131 and the second frame body 132 are formed with ball mounting grooves 134, and the openings of the ball mounting grooves 134 face the mounting space 101; the balls 500 partially protrude from the ball mounting groove 134 to contact the ball wheel 200.

It will be appreciated that the balls 500 extend out of the ball mounting groove 134 and contact the ball wheel 200, providing smooth support as the ball wheel 200 rolls, with the contact between the balls 500 and the ball wheel 200 being rolling contact, with less frictional resistance than sliding contact. Ball 500 may roll in multiple directions so that ball wheel holder 130 may accommodate movement of ball wheel 200 in different directions. This allows for more flexibility in the movement of the ball wheel assembly 10 and can accommodate a variety of complex movement trajectories.

The combination of the first and second frames 131 and 132 forms a ball mounting groove 134, and the balls 500 can roll only in the ball mounting groove 134 by the mounting of the first and second frames 131 and 132. The opening of the ball mounting groove 134 is smaller than the diameter of the ball 500.

In one embodiment, the ball mounting groove 134 may also have a spherical structure, the spherical structure matches the shape of the ball 500, the ball mounting groove 134 is plural, the plural ball mounting grooves 134 are symmetrically arranged around the center axis of the ball wheel holder 130, and the ball 500 and the ball mounting groove 134 are in one-to-one correspondence.

It will be appreciated that the ball mounting grooves 134 of the ball structure are better adapted to accommodate rolling of the balls 500, and the balls 500 can be uniformly distributed within the grooves, thereby ensuring that each ball 500 is uniformly subjected to pressure, and the plurality of ball mounting grooves 134 are symmetrically disposed about the central axis, so that the ball wheel holder 130 can more uniformly carry the ball wheel 200.

In one embodiment, the ball mounting groove 134 may be in the form of a circular ring, and the ball 500 may move circumferentially around the ball wheel holder 130 in the ball mounting groove 134. It will be appreciated that the balls 500 perform a circular motion within the mounting groove such that the contact point between the balls 500 and the ball wheel cage 130 is constantly changing, thereby reducing friction and wear.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the ball wheel holder 130 includes at least two mounting lugs 133 mounted, the mounting lugs 133 being located at the outer side of the ball wheel 200, the mounting lugs 133 being used to secure the ball wheel assembly 10 to the member to be mounted.

It will be appreciated that the mounting lugs 133 serve as fixation points for the ball wheel assembly 10, ensuring that they can be firmly mounted on the piece to be mounted, and that the mounting lugs 133 can accommodate a wide variety of mounting scenarios, whether mounted on the chassis, body or other structure of the robot, the mounting lugs 133 being able to provide a reliable fixation means, ensuring stable operation of the ball wheel assembly 10.

Referring to fig. 6 and 7, a chassis according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a housing 20 and the ball wheel assembly 10 described above, a mounting frame 100 is fixedly connected to the housing 20, and a ball wheel 200 partially extends out of the housing 20.

It should be noted that, since the chassis includes the ball wheel assembly 10 described above, the chassis has all the technical effects of the ball wheel assembly 10 described above, and will not be described herein.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the chassis includes a plurality of sets of ball wheel assemblies 10, at least one of the ball wheel assemblies 10 having a friction roller set 300 disposed in a direction different from the friction roller set 300 of the other ball wheel assemblies 10. It will be appreciated that by providing at least one friction roller set 300 in a direction different from the other friction roller sets 300, an omni-directional drive of the chassis can be achieved. The design enables the chassis to generate driving force in any direction, and flexibility and efficiency of movement are improved.

It should be noted that the number of the ball wheel assemblies 10 may be multiple, for example, 3, 4, 5, etc., and may be specifically adjusted according to practical situations.

In one embodiment, housing 20 includes a lower housing 22 and an upper housing 21, with mounting bracket 100 disposed between lower housing 22 and upper housing 21, and ball wheel 200 partially protruding from lower housing 22. It can be understood that the mounting frame 100 is mounted on the lower housing 22, and then the upper housing 21 and the upper housing 21 are connected to complete the assembly of the base, so that the whole process is simple and convenient.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the chassis comprises four sets of ball wheel assemblies 10, wherein the friction roller sets 300 of two sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 are arranged along a first direction and the friction roller sets 300 of the remaining two sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 are arranged along a second direction, the first direction and the second direction being arranged at an angle.

It will be appreciated that the chassis is able to change direction of movement more flexibly due to the angle of the two directions. The arrangement mode makes the chassis more agile in steering or changing the travelling track, thereby improving the maneuverability.

The four sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 can realize the functions of advancing, retreating, turning left and right, rotating in situ and the like of the chassis by controlling the speed and starting and stopping of the driving members 400 of different ball wheel assemblies 10. The chassis of the present invention is described below in connection with a specific embodiment for performing forward, reverse, left turn, right turn and in-situ rotation functions:

when the chassis needs to move linearly along the first direction, the friction roller sets 300 of the two sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 can be controlled to rotate, and the friction rollers of the two sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 are left to not rotate. When the chassis needs to move linearly along the second direction, the friction roller set 300 of the other two sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 can be controlled to rotate, and the friction rollers of the remaining two sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 are not rotated. When the chassis needs to linearly move along the direction forming an included angle with the first direction and the second direction, the four ball wheel assemblies 10 can be controlled to rotate so as to realize the in-situ rotation of the chassis, and then the included angle between the first direction and the target direction is adjusted by rotating the chassis, so that the chassis linearly moves. When the chassis moving in the first direction needs to turn, the rotational speeds of the two friction roller sets 300 disposed in the first direction are adjusted to different speeds, thereby realizing the turning.

Of course, the chassis of the present invention may also implement forward, backward, and rotation functions by other control methods, and the examples herein are not limiting of the present invention.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the first direction and the second direction are ninety degrees. The ninety degree angular arrangement provides the chassis with full drive in both the longitudinal and transverse directions, allowing maximum steering flexibility so that the chassis can be easily moved and steered in any direction.

It will be appreciated that ninety degrees of arrangement may be most efficient in terms of space utilization, allowing the friction roller set 300 to be utilized to the greatest extent in each direction. Meanwhile, as the two directions are completely vertical, an operator can more intuitively understand and control the motion trail of the chassis.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the housing 20 has a square shape, and the ball wheel assemblies 10 are disposed at four corner positions of the housing 20, in other words, each ball wheel assembly 10 is disposed at an angle of 45 degrees to a lateral longitudinal axis of the center of the housing 20. It will be appreciated that the chassis is more flexible and stable in steering operations due to the ball wheel assembly 10 being located at the four corners of the housing 20. This arrangement helps to reduce the steering radius and improve the manoeuvrability of the chassis.

Of course, the housing 20 may have other shapes, and is not particularly limited herein.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the installation frame 100 of the ball wheel assembly 10 comprises two positioning shafts, each of which is provided with a positioning member 135, and the friction roller set 300 comprises two sets of ball wheel assemblies 10 arranged along the same direction, wherein the positioning members 135 are respectively connected with two ends of one positioning shaft. It will be appreciated that by providing the positioning shaft, it is possible to ensure higher positioning accuracy of the friction roller set 300 when it is provided along the same direction, and the positioning members 135 connecting both ends of the positioning shaft can enhance the structural rigidity of the mounting bracket 100, making it more stable and durable.

The positioning members 135 may be positioning protrusions or positioning holes, and the positioning members 135 disposed along the same direction are coaxial.

A robot according to an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention comprises the ball wheel assembly 10 described above or the chassis described above.

It should be noted that, since the robot includes the ball wheel assembly 10 or the chassis, the robot has all the technical effects of the ball wheel assembly 10 or the chassis, and will not be described herein.

In one embodiment, the robot includes a body, and the chassis is disposed at a bottom of the body. The robot is arranged at the bottom of the robot body, so that the robot has good maneuverability, can flexibly move in various terrains and environments, and comprises straight running, steering, obstacle avoidance and the like, thereby being suitable for different requirements.

Finally, it should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are merely illustrative of the invention, and not limiting. While the invention has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various combinations, modifications, or equivalent substitutions can be made to the technical solutions of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention, and it is intended to be covered by the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims (13)

1. A ball wheel assembly (10), comprising:

a mounting frame (100) in which a mounting space (101) is formed;

the ball wheel (200) is mounted on the mounting frame (100), and part of the ball wheel (200) extends out of the mounting space (101);

a friction roller set (300), wherein the friction roller set (300) is wrapped on the ball wheel (200);

and the driving piece (400) is connected with the mounting frame (100), and the driving piece (400) is in power coupling with the friction roller set (300) so as to drive the friction roller set (300) to roll.

2. The ball wheel assembly (10) of claim 1, wherein the driver (400) comprises:

a motor (410) fixedly connected to the mounting frame (100);

a synchronizing wheel (420) comprising a driving pulley (421) and a driven pulley (422), wherein the driving pulley (421) is mounted on an output shaft of the motor (410), and the driven pulley (422) is a plurality of friction rollers respectively mounted on each friction roller in the friction roller group (300);

and a synchronous belt (430) which is dynamically coupled to the synchronous wheel (420).

3. The ball wheel assembly (10) of claim 1, wherein the friction roller set (300) comprises a first friction roller (310) and a second friction roller (320), the rotation directions of the first friction roller (310) and the second friction roller (320) are the same, and the first friction roller (310) and the second friction roller (320) are symmetrically arranged on two sides of the top of the ball wheel (200).

4. A ball wheel assembly (10) according to claim 3, wherein the drive member (400) is located above the first friction roller (310) and the second friction roller (320), and the drive member (400) is located between the first friction roller (310) and the second friction roller (320).

5. The ball wheel assembly (10) of claim 1, wherein the mounting bracket (100) comprises:

the driving piece (400) and the friction roller set (300) are fixedly connected to the driving mechanism bracket (110);

a ball wheel holder (130) for mounting the ball wheel (200);

and a column (120) connecting the drive mechanism bracket (110) and the ball wheel holder (130) to form the installation space (101) between the ball wheel holder (130) and the drive mechanism bracket (110).

6. The ball wheel (200) assembly (10) of claim 5, wherein the ball wheel (200) cage (130) comprises:

a first frame (131);

the second frame body (132) is connected to the first frame body (131), ball (500) mounting grooves (134) are formed in the first frame body (131) and the second frame body (132), and the openings of the ball (500) mounting grooves (134) face the mounting space (101);

and the ball (500) partially extends out of the ball (500) mounting groove (134) to be in contact with the ball wheel (200).

7. The ball wheel assembly (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein each friction roller of the friction roller set (300) is provided with an arcuate surface adapted to match an outer surface of the ball wheel (200).

8. A chassis, comprising:

a housing (20);

the ball wheel assembly (10) of any one of claims 1 to 7, said mounting bracket (100) being fixedly connected to said housing (20), said ball wheel (200) extending partially out of said housing (20).

9. The chassis according to claim 8, characterized in that the chassis comprises a plurality of sets of the ball wheel assemblies (10), at least one set of the friction roller sets (300) of the ball wheel assemblies (10) being arranged in a direction different from the direction in which the friction roller sets (300) of the other ball wheel assemblies (10) are arranged.

10. The chassis according to claim 9, characterized in that the chassis comprises four sets of the ball wheel assemblies (10), wherein two sets of the friction roller sets (300) of the ball wheel assemblies (10) are arranged along a first direction and the remaining two sets of friction roller sets (300) of the ball wheel assemblies (10) are arranged along a second direction, the first direction and the second direction being arranged at an angle.

11. The chassis of claim 10, wherein the first direction and the second direction are ninety degrees,

and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the shell (20) is square, and the ball wheel assembly (10) is arranged at four corner positions of the shell (20).

12. Chassis according to claim 10, characterized in that it comprises two positioning shafts, the mounting frames (100) of the ball wheel assemblies (10) are provided with positioning members (135), the friction roller sets (300) are provided with two sets of ball wheel assemblies (10) along the same direction, and the positioning members (135) are respectively connected with two ends of one positioning shaft.

13. A robot comprising a ball wheel assembly (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or a chassis according to any one of claims 8 to 12.