GB2150451A - Legs for a walking robot toy - Google Patents

Abstract

Each of two legs of a walking toy robot comprises an external part 9, moved by a motor-driven crank 19 (or 19a-180 DEG out of phase) and guided by a slot 12 receiving a pin 5, and an internal part 7, pivotal about pin 5 and located in a hole 13 formed in part 9. A rolling part 8 at the foot of part 7 alternately projects from and is received within recess 14 of part 9. When rolling part 8 is within recess 14, surfaces 10a of part 9 contact the surface over which the toy moves. A coupling 22, 3 causes swinging of arms 6. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Legs for a robot toy This invention relates to the legs of a robot roy which is capable of walking by means of an electric motor and a drive gear mechanism contained therein, Heretofore, there have been proposed a number of toys capable of walking with alternate steps using a crank shaft which is rotated by means of an electric motor and a drive gear mechanism contained therein.Those toys may be classified into two categories: one is so constructed that the rotary movement of its crank shaft is directly interlocked with the walking movement such as those disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Registration Gazettes No. 54-32634 and 54-42791 and the other is such that both legs equipped with wheels at their ends are allowed to slide as the circular movement of the crank shaft is changed into parallel straight lines, the latter being disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Registration Gazette No. 586472 and Japanese Patent Registration Gazette No.

46-15336. Of these inventions, the former is so contrived that the rotatory movement of the crank shaft 1800 out of phase is directly interlocked with the walking movement and this not only causes the toy to oscillate horizontaally but also causes it to lose its balance and topple while walking. In the latter case, although it offers excellent stability, the walking movement is unnatural because the legs alternately slide on the walking plane.

An object of the present invention is to provide a robot toy capable of walking with excellent stability as if it were walking like a man.

In order to attain the aforementioned object, the robot toy according to the present invention comprises legs each with portions contacting the ground, the portion including an internal oscillating part which is a shaft equivalent to the leg in length with a rolling part being fixed to the center of the shaft in good balance, the rolling part being equipped with rollers in front and in rear, the shaft being combined therewith by passing its lower portion through a hole made from above the recess, and external oscillators which are leg bodies having external configurations which are designed by preference, the shaft of the leg proper being fixed to a branch shaft within the body in such a manner that the shaft may be swung like a pendulum to guide the leg proper, the leg proper being coupled to the crank shaft.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a leg proper for illustrating the leg portion of a robot toy.

Fig. 2(A) is a partial cross sectional view of one side of the leg having a rolling part which is in contact with the walking surface with the crank pointing in the vertical direction.

Fig. 2(B) is a partial cross sectional view of the other side of the leg with the crank showing a phase shift and pointing in the vertical direction.

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the mechanism of the external oscillator and the internal oscillating shaft.

Referring now to the drawings, the present invention will be described in detail.

Fig. 1 is a perspective exploded view of one of the legs of a robot toy illustrating the arrangement of fixed frames incorporated in the body and its legs coupled to the frames and thus to the body.

The fixed frames 1, 2 enclosed by the external face of the body and incorporated therein are respectively U-shaped and provided with back plates 1a, 2a and side plates 1 b, 2b bent in the same direction on both sides thereof. The wide fixed frame 1 is externally placed and the narrow fixed frame 2 is internally placed, so that the back plates 1a, 2a of the combination of them may be glued to each other on the same side. Because of the difference in width between the fixed frames 1, 2, a predetermined gap between the side walls on the left and right is provided.

A rotary shaft 4 and a support spindle 5 are provided in the upper and lower portions of the side wall 1b of the wide fixed frame 1, respectively. The rotary shaft 4 fixes an oscillating arm 3 equipped with an arm 3a inside the side wall 1b and a robot arm member 6 outside the side wall 1b. The support spindle 5 is passed through the two side walls 1 b, 2b and used to rotatably fix the upper end of an internal oscillating shaft 7 inside the side wall 1b and receive the tip 5a of the shaft into the guide groove of an external oscillator (which will be described later) inside the side wall 2b.The internal oscillating shaft 7 is used to rotatably fix a rolling part 8 having two rollers arranged with a longitudinal space therebetween to the lower end of the shaft 7a in a well-balanced manner through a pin 9, the shaft 7 oscillating back and forth with the support spindle 5 as a fulcrum. The rolling part 8 is provided with two rollers 8a in front and in rear between two frames 8b and the central portions thereof are oscillatorily fixed to the longitudinal end of the shaft 7a in consideration of balance. The internal oscillating shaft 7 equipped with the rolling part 8 is formed in an inverted T shape and allowed to have roughly the same length as that of an external oscillator 9 which will be described as follows.

The external oscillator 9 comprises a lower leg member 10 which is half as long as the oscillator itself and an upper guide plate 11 incorporated therewith. The leg member 10 may have an external shape designed to be esthetically pleasing and is cylindrical with a thick wall, whereas the guide plate 11 is internally deviated from the upper end face of the leg member 10, the guide plate having a thin wall and being narrow. The guide plate 11 also has a guide slit 12 cut into a certain depth from the upper end in the center thereof. The guide plate is provided along the inside wall 2b of the fixed frame 2 and used to receive the tip 5a of the support spindle 5 into the guide slit 12.The leg member is a combination of materials stuck together and the finished member has a guide hole 13 verticaliy passing therethrough along the central axis, whereas it has a channel type recess facing downward in the lower portion thereof, communicating with the guide hole 13. Upon completion of assembling, the lower half of the shaft 7a of the internal oscillating shaft 7 is inserted into the guide hole 13 and the rolling part 8 is oscillatorily contained in the recess 14. Thus the movement of the internal oscillating shaft 7 accompanied by the rotary movement of the external oscillator 9 is allowed to accompany and be independent of the latter to some extent.The external oscillator 9 is coupled to a motor 16 incorporated in an internal partition wall 15 and reduction gears 17 and a power shaft 18 which has its speed reduced by the gears through a crank 19 and a crank pin 20 so as to make the robot carry out a walking operation through the crank movement. In other words, the crank pin 20 is fixed to the inside lower end of the guide plate 11 and the crank 19 rotates at a predetermined reduced speed, causing the external oscillator 9 to be guided by the guide plate 11 sliding on the support spindle 5 and to start the walking action. The internal oscillating shaft 7 oscillates back and forth synchronously with the movement of the external oscillator 9 with the support spindle 5 as a fulcrum, whereas the external oscillator moves up and down against the internal oscillating shaft.Within that range, the rolling part 8 makes frequent appearances in the channel type recessed face 14 of the leg member 10.

The rolling part 8 a robot toy standing on the walking surface 21 is always kept in contact with the walking surface because of gravity and the external oscillator operates to move up and down against the internal oscillating shaft 7 having the rolling part 8 and repeats the motion of making the underface of its leg touch and detach from the walking surface. The robot toy is thus allowed to walk with a predetermined pace and at this time the rolling part rotates with the pace, forming the leg of the robot.

There is also shown an arrangement comprising a power shaft 18a coupled to the other leg and a crank 19a on the side, which is provided 180 out of phase against the crank 19. For this reason, the other leg also carries out the aforementioned walking operation in the same manner alternately with a time lag. When the egs of the robot alternately effect the walking operation, it may hold a stable standing position and keep a smooth walking condition because, as described above, the rolling part 8 of the internal oscillating shaft 7 is always kept in contact with the walking surface and because the rotary movement is carried out during pace shifting.

A coupling rod 22 couples the leg member 10 of the external oscillator 9 to the arm 3a of the oscillating arm 3 to make the oscillating arm 3 oscillate along with the external oscillator 9 and the movement of the arm of the robot interlock therewith.

Although now shown in the drawings, the external oscillator 9 may be operated interlockingly in the same manner as above described by providing the crank pin 20 with another coupling rod, fixing a bell crank to the partition wall 15, coupling both of them and coupling one end of the bell crank to, for instance, the head and other components of the robot.

Fig. 2 shows the relation between the surface 23 where the leg member 10 in partial cross section touches and the walking surface 21 and the surface 23 of the leg member 10 is composed of the lower end face 10a of the leg member 10 and the rolling part 8 having the face corresponding the former.

Fig. 2(A) shows a state in which the crank 19 moves vertically downward against the power shaft 18 and the rolling part 8 is inserted in the channel type recess 14, so that the roller 8a and the lower end face 10a simultaneously contact the walking surface 21. Fig. 2(B) shows a state in which the crank 19 moves vertically upward and the external oscillator 9 rises up against the internal oscillating shaft 7, so that the lower end face 10a of the leg member 10 is separated from the walking surface. According to Fig. 2, it may readily be understood that one of the legs is at (A) and the other at (B).

Fig. 3 is 3 structural view wherein one of the rollers 8a of the rolling part 8 is always in contact with the walking surface in that direction even though the internal oscillating shaft moves back and forth in company with the external oscillator 9 and, since the internal oscillating shaft 7 only oscillates, it moves back and forth above the rollers as shown by the dot-dash line.

The leg according to the present invention is oscillatory against the shaft and the lower shaft thereof and provided with an internal oscillating shaft as long as the leg having a rolling part with two rollers in the front and in the rear, a lower leg member appearing to be the leg of a robot and a guide slit, an external oscillator formed with an upper guide plate coupled to the upper end face of the leg member, the lower pars of the shaft and the rolling part being contained in a recess opened to the ground side and the upper half of the shaft passing through a hole made in the leg member and provided along the guide plate.The upper end of the internal oscillating shaft is oscillatorily fixed to a fixed frame incorporated in the robot body and the tip of support spindle is slidably inserted in the guide slit of the guide plate, whereas the leg member of the external oscillator for forming a ground surface with the underface of the leg and the rolling part is rotatabiy provided at both the ends of a power shaft 180 out of phase and mova ble upward and downward against the internal oscillating shaft. Accordingly, the external oscillator allows the robot to carry out walking operation as it is guided by the support spindle to effect the crank movement. The internal oscillating shaft accompanies the external oscillator during the walking operation while it oscillates with the support spindle as a fulcrum and, since the rolling part always rotates on the walking surface, a natural walking operation may be smoothly carried out.

Moreover, it is possible to add further features including moving arms and other moving parts of the robot interlockingly with the movement of the legs thereof.

Claims (3)

1. Walking legs for a toy robot comprising an internal oscillating shaft capable of oscillating against the shaft of the leg and the lower end thereof and having a rolling part capable of rotating the walking surface, an external oscillator comprising a lower leg member, a guide slit above the leg member and an upper guide plate coupled to the leg member, the lower part of the shaft and the rolling part being contained in a recess opened to the grounding side and the upper half of the shaft passing through a hole made in the leg member and provided along the guide plate, the upper end of the internal oscillating shaft being oscillatorily fixed to a support spindle of a fixed frame, the tip of the support spindle is slidably inserted in the guide slit and the leg member of the external oscillator being provided at both ends of a power shaft incorporated in the external oscillator, 1800 out of phase.

2. A walking toy robot comprising: a body portion a pair of inner leg members pivotally attached to the body portion at or near their upper ends ahd having ground-contacting feet at their lower ends; a pair of outer leg members arranged around respective inner leg members, the outer leg members being axially movable relative to the inner leg members and also capable of pivotal oscillating movement relative to the body portion; and drive means arranged to impart to the outer leg members a pivoting and axially reciprocating movement relative to the body portion, the inner leg members following the pivotal component of the movement and the two outer leg members moving out of phase with one another whereby they execute a walking motion.

3. A walking leg mechanism for a toy robot, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.