JP2002306858A - Walking robot toy - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a walking robot capable of walking not only in back and forth directions but also in left and right directions by preventing a state from being unnaturally tilted at the time of walking and moving two legs in side directions to open them. SOLUTION: A pair of rotary shafts are arranged symmetrically to the center line so as to turn the shafts in the back and forth directions inside a hip part, flat gears integrally attached to the rotary shafts are engaged with each other and the rotary shafts are made rotatable in linkage in opposite directions. Two spindles separated in a horizontal direction are formed on the respective rotary shafts, the upper end part of the parallel link of a leg mechanism is pivoted by the spindles and a foot part is freely supported at the lower end of a main leg link 15 and an auxiliary leg link 16. Further, vertical shafts are projectingly formed respectively at the upper ends of the links of left and right parallel link mechanisms, the projected shafts are passed through to both ends of a swing link 20 supported freely rotatably in a horizontal direction on the center line of the hip part and thus, the inclinations in the back and forth directions of left and right legs are linked.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a humanoid robot toy having two legs and a walking robot having a walking mechanism for alternately operating two legs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A walking mechanism of a toy using a humanoid robot that alternately moves two legs forward and walks is a robot that moves a leg in a straight line from the waist to the foot alternately in the front-rear direction. The conventional walking robot does not have an interlocking mechanism between the driving leg and the waist portion and the other leg. Is tilted, and the state part unnaturally tilts during walking, resulting in an unstable walking state. In addition, since the linear link mechanism that constitutes the leg is connected between the waist and the foot of the robot, the leg always operates linearly while walking, so the walking state is unnatural. there were. Furthermore, a conventional two-legged walking robot can only walk in the front-back direction, cannot move the legs in the lateral direction and walk in the lateral direction, and cannot perform various expressions.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and prevents an unnatural inclination due to stepping forward or backward during walking. It is possible to represent the natural walking state by bending the knee joint of the leg that has been bent, and to move the two legs laterally so that the legs can be opened, so that in addition to the front-back direction, the left-right direction It is an object of the present invention to provide a walking robot capable of walking.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a waist, which supports the upper body such as the chest and abdomen, and to make contact with the floor and to move forward, backward, left and right on the floor. And a pair of left and right parallel link mechanisms including a main leg link and an auxiliary leg link that cooperate with the waist and the foot, and a pair of rotations in the waist. The shafts are arranged symmetrically so that the shafts are oriented in the front-rear direction, and the spur gears integrally attached to the rotating shaft are meshed with each other so that the rotating shaft can rotate in conjunction with the opposite direction so that each can rotate. The rotation shaft is formed with two horizontally separated support shafts to pivotally support the upper end of the parallel link of the leg mechanism by the support shaft, and the foot is attached to the lower ends of the main leg link and the auxiliary leg link. Free link, and the link of the left and right parallel link mechanism Vertical shafts are formed at the ends, and the protruding shafts are penetrated through both ends of a swinging link supported rotatably in the horizontal direction on the center line of the waist, thereby interlocking the inclination of the left and right legs in the front-rear direction. And the left and right feet are back and forth,
By alternately moving in the left and right directions, a walking motion in the front and rear direction and a sidewalking motion in the left and right direction are enabled.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a rubber ball is disposed at the center of each of the left and right feet so as to be freely rotatable, and a portion of the rubber ball is exposed from the bottom of the foot for walking. The front and rear moving motor and the left and right moving motor are decelerated by the front and rear moving motor and the left and right moving motor, respectively, and the rubber roller for the front and rear moving contacts the outer surface of the rubber ball in the front and rear direction and the left and right direction of the ball. By driving the front and rear drive motors and the left and right drive motors disposed on the left and right feet, the rubber balls are independently rotated in the front and rear directions and the left and right directions via the rubber rollers to move the feet. It was made.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, an upper leg cover and a lower leg cover rotatably connected at a knee joint portion are provided outside the leg mechanism, and the upper end of the upper leg cover is connected to the main leg link. The lower leg cover is rotatably coupled to the upper portion, and the lower end portion of the lower leg cover is connected to a foot cover member movably provided in the up-down direction with respect to the foot portion.
A foot cover lift bar is provided to lift the foot cover upward with respect to the foot when the two motors are rotationally driven, and by operating the foot cover lift bar, the foot cover is lifted upward with respect to the foot,
The upper leg cover and the lower leg cover connected to the foot cover are bent at the knee joint.

[0007]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, by moving one of the right and left feet in the front-rear direction, one of the main leg link and the auxiliary leg link is swung and inclined. The tilt of the vertical axis protruding from the upper end of the main leg link due to the swing of one leg can be linked to the other leg via the swing link to tilt the other leg. Since the waist supported by both legs follows and moves in accordance with the inclination of the two legs, and is always maintained in a horizontal state, a stable walking posture without natural upper body inclination can be obtained.

Further, even when one of the right and left feet is moved laterally and the leg is opened, the pair of rotating shafts supporting the parallel link mechanism of the two legs at the upper ends coincide with the shaft. Due to the meshing of the gears formed, they are rotated in opposite directions, and the waist is placed horizontally at the center of the open angle of both legs, so the lateral movement posture is also the upper body movement from the waist part. A stable natural posture is obtained.

Further, a leg cover which can be bent at the knee joint is provided on the outer periphery of the parallel link forming the leg, and a foot cover for covering the foot is provided on the foot so as to be vertically movable, and the upper end of the leg cover is provided. And the lower end are linked to the parallel link and the foot cover, and the foot cover member is lifted upward by the rotational drive of a drive motor disposed in the foot so that the two leg covers are bent at the knee joint. The legs are moved in the front-back and left-right directions by the drive motor, so that the knee joints of the legs are lifted and bent upwards, as if the legs were as if they were running and running. And a robot that walks in a natural walking posture can be provided.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing a mechanism inside a part of a walking robot 1 employing a walking mechanism according to the present invention. The walking robot 1 is formed as a humanoid robot having a head 2, a chest 3, an abdomen 4, left and right arms 5, 5, a waist 6, and two left and right legs 7, 7. The head 2 and the left and right arms 5, 6 are each configured to operate independently by an operating mechanism.

A spherical fulcrum formed at the base of the neck supporting the head is formed on the head 2, and the fulcrum is supported in a circular hole formed in the chest 3, so that the head 2 can be oriented in any direction. It can also be tilted and can be freely rotated in the horizontal direction. The arms 5 and 6 are rotatably supported via rotatable shoulders 3a and 3b formed on the chest 3, and a link mechanism is formed for each joint from the upper arm to the fingertip. It is configured to be able to rotate and bend in any direction.

Further, a horizontal rotation mechanism is formed between the chest 3 and the abdomen 4, so that the chest 3 can be rotated in the horizontal direction with respect to the abdomen 4. The abdomen 4 is rotatably supported on the waist 9 around a horizontal axis, and is formed so that the upper body of the robot 1 can be tilted forward or backward. Each of these connecting mechanisms allows each section to operate independently in any direction, for example, by a drive mechanism such as a motor built in each section. The waist 9 supporting the upper body of the robot 1 and the foot 1 moving along the walking surface
0 is connected via a pair of parallel link mechanisms.

Next, the configuration of the waist 6, leg 7, and foot 8 constituting the walking mechanism of the robot will be described in detail with reference to FIG. A waist base 10 for supporting each member of the upper body of the robot is provided in the waist 6, and the waist base 10 has a leg support shaft 11 extending in the front-rear direction and extending horizontally.
11 are provided symmetrically, and each leg support shaft 11, 11
The spur gears 12 and 12 attached to one end of the gear are engaged with each other, whereby the respective leg support shafts 11 and 11 are configured to rotate in conjunction with each other in opposite directions.

A front support shaft 13 and a rear support shaft 14 are formed on each leg support shaft 11 outwardly in parallel with each other, and the front support shaft 13 forms a parallel link mechanism. The upper end of the leg link 15 is rotatably supported, and the upper end of the auxiliary leg link 16 is rotatably supported on the rear support shaft 14. The main leg link 15 has a U-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 3, and the front support shaft 13 penetrates two sides formed at an interval so that a torsional force acts on the link to cause the leg to move. This prevents twisting and delaying the operation.

The lower ends of the main leg link 15 and the auxiliary leg link 16 are rotatably supported on the upper surface of an inner member 17 constituting a foot portion. A front support shaft 18a and a rear support shaft 18b of a rotary support shaft 18 are provided. Respectively. The main leg link 15 and the auxiliary leg link 16 constitute a parallel link mechanism, and the waist base 10 and the foot 8 are always horizontal even when the leg 8 is moved in the front-rear direction and the leg 7 is inclined. To maintain.

At the upper ends of the left and right main landing gear links 15, vertical shafts 19 projecting upward from the main landing gear links 15 are formed integrally with each other.
It is loosely fitted in a long hole 20a formed at both ends of a swing link 20 rotatably supported at the center on the upper surface of the zero. Accordingly, when one of the right and left legs is stepped forward and backward and tilts, the tilt is transmitted to the vertical axis 19 of the other leg 7 via the vertical shaft 19 and the swing link 20, and the other leg interlocks. To tilt. As described above, since both legs 7 operate in conjunction with each other, the movement of the waist base 10 can be linked with the movement of both legs 7 to obtain a more natural walking posture.

An upper leg cover 21 forming the outer contour of the thigh of the leg 7 and a lower leg cover 22 forming the outer contour of the shin portion are attached to the outside of the main leg link 15. The two covers 21, 22 having a substantially U-shaped cross-section are rotatably connected at the lower end of the upper leg cover 21 and the upper end of the lower leg cover 22. The lower leg cover is rotatably connected to a foot cover member 23 forming an outer shell of a foot portion at a lower end portion thereof. The lower leg cover is rotatably attached to a mounting portion 15a formed at an upper portion of the main leg link 15. ing.

Next, details of the foot 8 will be described. The foot portion 8 includes a foot cover member 23 forming an outer contour of the foot portion 8 and an inner member 17 inside the foot cover member 23 and accommodating a drive mechanism for the foot portion. The inner member 17 has a foot cover member 23.
The main leg link 15 and the auxiliary leg link 16 are connected through an opening 25 formed in the upper surface of the main leg. The connection structure between the main leg link 15 and the auxiliary leg link 16 and the inner member 17 includes a front support shaft 18 a formed to project laterally from a rotation support shaft 18 horizontally supported in the front-rear direction on the upper surface of the inner member 17. Each is pivotably connected to the rear support shaft 18b.

As shown in FIGS.
A rubber ball 29 is arranged almost at the center of the
A part of the rubber ball 29 is exposed from an opening 30 formed at the bottom of the inner member 17 so that the rubber ball 29 can be installed on a walking surface. As shown in detail in FIG. 5, a front / rear drive roller 31 is provided on the rear side of the rubber ball 29 in contact with the outer surface of the rubber roller 29.
An idler roller 32 is disposed on the side opposite to 1. The front / rear drive roller 31 includes an inner member 17.
The rotational driving force of the front-rear drive motor 33 disposed in the inside is transmitted and rotated via a reduction mechanism 34 such as a worm gear and a rotation axis direction conversion mechanism 35 using a crown gear, and is rotated.
As a result, the rubber ball 29 is
Is driven to rotate forward or backward.

Similarly, a left and right drive roller 36 and an idler roller 37 are disposed on the side of the rubber ball 29 so as to face each other. The left and right drive roller 36 controls the rotation of the left and right drive motor 38 via a speed reduction mechanism 34. To rotate the rubber ball 29 in the lateral direction. An idler roller 39 for suppressing the upward movement of the rubber ball 29 is disposed above the rubber ball 29. The idler roller 39 corresponds to the rotation of the rubber ball 29 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction. For this purpose, the configuration is such that the direction of the roller can be freely rotated in accordance with the rotation of the rubber ball 29.

Front / rear drive motor 31 and left / right drive motor 3
8 rotates the rubber roller 29 in the front-rear direction or the left-right direction, so that the lower end of the rubber roller 29 comes into contact with a ground surface such as a floor surface and the inner member 17 moves in the front-rear direction or the left-right direction with respect to the ground surface. I do. In addition, a sliding member 40 is formed on the front and rear portions of the bottom surface of the inner member 17 so as to come into contact with the grounding surface and stably move the inner member 17 while sliding. Sliding member 4
Numeral 0 is formed in a spherical shape on which slippery processing such as Teflon (registered trademark) processing has been performed, and is grounded at two or more places before and after the lower surface of the inner member 17 so that the inner member 17 is in a horizontal state. Have maintained.

The inner member 17 further includes a fan-shaped gear 43 meshing with a spur gear 42 which is rotationally driven via a centrifugal force clutch 41 interposed between the rotational drive shafts of the front-rear drive motor 33 and the left-right drive motor 38. The lift bar 44 is swingably driven by the centrifugal clutch 41 when the respective drive motors 33 and 38 rotate. The swing of the lift bar 44 causes an end of the lift bar 44 to rotate. The section is configured to move upward, so that the foot cover member 23 arranged on the outer periphery of the inner member is pushed upward to perform an operation.

The foot cover member 23 is disposed so as to cover the upper and side surfaces of the inner member 17. The parallel link mechanism 45 disposed between the inner member 17 and the foot cover member 23 allows the foot cover member to be connected to the inner member 17. It is configured to be able to move vertically in parallel with the member. As shown in FIG. 6, the lift bar 44 is moved upward with respect to the inner member 17 by the operation of the lift bar 44.

The operation of walking according to the above embodiment will be described.
A state in which one leg is stepped forward from the upright state will be described with reference to FIGS. When the front / rear drive motor 33 in one of the left and right inner members 17 is driven in the normal rotation direction, the front / rear drive roller 32 is rotationally driven via the speed reduction mechanism 34 and the like, and the rubber ball 29 is rotated in the forward direction.
Thereby, the inner member 17 moves in the forward direction,
The main leg link 15 and the auxiliary leg link 16 are gradually inclined.
At this time, the lift bar 44 swings via the centrifugal force clutch 41 by the rotation of the front-rear drive motor 33 to lift the foot cover member 23 upward. As a result, the lower leg cover 22 is lifted upward, and each leg cover is bent from the portion of the knee joint, which is the junction of the upper leg cover member and the lower leg cover 22, as if the leg was bent at the knee joint portion and moved forward. Walking in a stepped state is performed.

When one leg 7 moves forward, the vertical shaft 1 protruding from the upper end of the main leg link 15 of this leg is moved.
9 rotates the oscillating link 20 so that the other leg 7
The main leg link 15 is symmetrically swung, and the waist is moved to follow one leg via the waist base 10. In other words, not only one leg that has been stepped in the forward direction operates independently, but the waist member and the other leg interlock with the stepped leg to perform a natural walking posture.

As described above, the front and rear drive motors 33 of the left and right inner members 17 are alternately driven in the forward or reverse direction, so that the left and right legs 7 are alternately stepped in the front and rear direction to move forward or backward. Can be walked.

Next, the walking operation in the lateral direction will be described. When the left / right drive motor 38 in the inner member 17 of one foot is driven from the upright state as shown in FIG. 9, the inner member 17 moves in the lateral direction due to the rotation of the rubber ball 29 in the lateral direction. At this time, the inner member 17 and the main leg link 1
The main leg link 15 and the auxiliary leg link 16 are supported by the waist base 10 as the inner member moves in the horizontal direction because the 5 and the auxiliary leg link 16 are supported by the rotatable leg support shaft 11. It rotates around the leg support shaft 11 and is in an inclined state. The rotation of the leg support shaft 11 is caused to rotate about the leg support shaft supporting the other symmetrically arranged leg 7 so that the main leg link 15 and the holding leg link 16 of the other leg 7 have substantially the same angle. By rotating, the waist base 10 is always maintained in a horizontal state.

The four motors of the front / rear drive motor 33 and the left / right drive motor 38 which are disposed in the left and right inner members 17 are driven based on the relative positions of the right and left feet detected by sensors or contact switches. By controlling the rotation direction, the rotation speed, and the rotation amount of the program, the right and left legs and the waist can cooperate with each other to perform a natural movement.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire walking robot of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view in which a part of a walking mechanism from a waist to a foot of the walking robot is partially seen.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a part constituting a walking mechanism of the walking robot of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of an inner member and a foot cover member constituting a foot portion.

FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view of the same state as in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal side view of the same foot as FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal side view of a leg portion showing an upright state.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal side view of the leg portion in a state where the leg portion is stepped forward.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the leg in an upright state.

FIG. 10 is a front view of a state in which one foot is stepped laterally.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Walking robot 6 Waist part 7 Leg part 8 Foot part 10 Waist base 11 Leg support shaft 12 Spur gear 13 Front support shaft 14 Rear support shaft 15 Main leg link 16 Auxiliary leg link 17 Inner member 18 Rotation support shaft 19 Vertical shaft 20 Swing Link 21 Upper leg cover 22 Lower leg cover 23 Foot cover member 29 Rubber ball 31 Front / rear drive roller 33 Front / rear drive motor 36 Left / right drive roller 38 Left / right drive motor 40 Sliding member 41 Centrifugal force clutch 42 Spur gear 43 Sector gear 44 Lift bar 45 Parallel link mechanism

Continued on front page F-term (reference) 2C150 CA01 CA04 DA04 DA28 EB01 EC03 EC15 EC25 EC28 3C007 AS36 CS08 HT12 WA03 WA13 WB02 WC22 WC23 3J062 AA38 AB28 AC06 AC09 BA35 CB03 CB18 CB28 CB33

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A waist supporting an upper body part such as a chest and abdomen, a pair of left and right feet capable of moving in front and rear and right and left directions on the floor in contact with the floor, and the waist and the feet. It consists of a pair of left and right parallel link mechanisms composed of a main leg link and an auxiliary leg link that cooperate with each other, and a pair of rotation shafts are arranged symmetrically in the waist so that their axes are oriented in the front-back direction, The spur gears integrally attached to the rotating shaft are meshed with each other to enable the rotating shaft to rotate in conjunction with the opposite direction, and each rotating shaft is formed with two horizontally separated supporting shafts. The support shaft pivotally supports the upper end of the parallel link of the leg mechanism, and freely supports the foot at the lower ends of the main leg link and the auxiliary leg link. A vertical axis is formed so as to project, and the projecting axis By penetrating both ends of the swing link that is supported rotatably in the horizontal direction on the core line, the inclination of the left and right legs in the front and rear direction is interlocked, and the left and right feet are
A walking robot capable of walking in the front-rear direction and side-walking in the left-right direction by alternately moving in the left-right direction. 2. A rubber ball is disposed at the center of each of the left and right feet so as to be freely rotatable, and a portion of the rubber ball is exposed from the bottom of the foot so that it can contact the walking surface. In the front-rear direction and left-right direction of the ball, a front-rear movement rubber roller and a left-right movement rubber roller decelerated from the front-rear movement motor and the left-right movement motor are arranged in contact with the outer surface of the rubber ball, respectively. By driving the front-rear drive motor and the left-right drive motor disposed on the foot, the rubber ball is rotated independently in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction via the rubber roller to move the foot. The walking robot according to claim 1. 3. An upper leg cover and a lower leg cover rotatably connected at a knee joint portion outside the leg mechanism, and an upper end of the upper leg cover is rotatably connected to an upper portion of the main leg link. At the same time, the lower end of the lower leg cover is connected to a foot cover member provided to be vertically movable with respect to the foot, and the four foot motors arranged on the left and right feet are rotated to drive the foot cover to the foot. A foot cover lift bar is provided to lift the foot cover upward, and by operating the foot cover lift bar, the foot cover is lifted upward with respect to the foot, and the upper leg cover and the lower leg cover connected to the foot cover are separated. The walking robot according to claim 2, wherein the walking robot is bent at a knee joint.