JP2005297087A - Boarding robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a boarding type robot capable of lowering the riding part while maintaining the posture of the riding part.
SOLUTION: A boarding robot 10 includes a foot part 20, a crus 18 connected to the foot part 20 via an ankle joint 26, and an upper leg connected to the crus 18 via a knee joint 24. 16 and a riding part 80 connected to the upper thigh 16 via the hip joint 22, and the foot part disk 45, the riding part disk 34, and one of the disks with respect to the ground plane A rotation prohibiting mechanism is provided that prohibits the other disk from rotating relative to the ground plane while not rotating. One of the “foot flat disc 45 and foot 20” and the “riding portion disc 34 and the riding portion 80” is fixed so as not to be rotatable relative to each other. The foot part disk 45 and the foot part 20 "or" the riding part disk 34 and the riding part 80 "are relatively rotatable, and are provided with a lock mechanism for restraining the relative rotation.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a boarding type robot. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for controlling the posture of a riding part of a boarding type robot.

2. Description of the Related Art A boarding robot is known that has a riding section on which a person rides and walks with a pair of leg links having upper legs, lower legs, and feet. In the boarding type robot, when the power supply is insufficient or the motors for driving the joints of the leg links cannot be controlled, it is necessary to lower the riding part while maintaining the posture of the riding part.
Patent Document 1 describes a technique for lowering the center of gravity by lowering the robot waist when the robot is about to fall.

JP-A-11-48170

With the technique described in Patent Document 1 described above, when the power supply is cut off, the riding section cannot be lowered while maintaining the posture of the riding section.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a boarding robot that is capable of lowering the riding section while maintaining the posture of the riding section even when power supply is cut off, and having higher safety.

The boarding robot according to the present invention includes a foot, a lower leg connected to the foot via an ankle joint, an upper leg connected to the lower leg via a knee joint, and a hip connected to the upper leg. And has a boarding part connected to each other. The boarding type robot prohibits rotation of the foot disk, the boarding disk, and the other disk while the other disk does not rotate with respect to the ground plane. It has a mechanism. One of the “foot plate and foot” and the “board and disc” is fixed so as not to rotate relative to each other. The “partal disk and foot part” or “the riding part disk and the riding part” are relatively rotatable, and are provided with a lock mechanism that restrains the relative rotation.
This boarding-type robot's rotation prohibition mechanism is that the foot disk, the boarding disk, and the other disk rotate with respect to the ground surface while one disk does not rotate with respect to the ground surface. Is prohibited. Further, the lock mechanism restrains the relative rotation of the “foot plate and the foot” or the “board portion and the board”. Therefore, when the power supply is cut off, the riding section can be lowered while maintaining the posture of the riding section.

Another boarding type robot according to the present invention includes a foot part, a lower leg connected to the foot part via an ankle joint, an upper leg connected to the lower leg via a knee joint, and an upper leg. And a riding section connected to each other through a hip joint. The boarding robot is composed of a foot disk fixed to the foot so that it cannot rotate relative to the foot, a crus disk that is mounted so that it can rotate relatively near the knee joint of the lower leg, and a space between the foot disk and the lower leg disk. A first belt body that is stretched over and constrains the rotation ratio of the two to “1: 1”, an upper thigh disc that is attached to the vicinity of the knee joint of the upper thigh so as to be relatively rotatable, and the vicinity of the hip joint of the upper thigh. A riding part disk mounted so as to be capable of relative rotation, a second belt body that is spanned between the upper thigh disk and the riding part disk and restricts the rotation ratio thereof to "1: 1", and the riding part disk And a lock mechanism for restraining the riding section so as not to be relatively rotatable. The lower leg disc and upper leg disc are restrained so as not to rotate relative to each other.
According to the boarding type robot configured as described above, the rotational position of the boarding part disk with respect to the ground contact surface can be maintained constant. Therefore, even when the power supply is interrupted, the lock mechanism restrains the riding part disk and the riding part so as not to rotate relative to each other, so that the riding part can be lowered while maintaining the posture of the riding part.

In the above riding robot, both the lower leg gear that cannot rotate relative to the lower leg disk and the upper leg gear that cannot rotate relative to the upper leg disk mesh with the knee joint gear provided near the knee joint. preferable.
With this configuration, the rotation of the lower leg gear that cannot rotate relative to the lower leg disk and the upper leg gear that cannot rotate relative to the upper leg disk is transmitted via the knee joint gear.

The main features of the embodiments described later will be described.
(1) The robot 10 includes a leg part 12 and a riding part 80 provided on the leg part 12. The leg portion 12 has a pair of leg links 14. The leg link 14 includes the upper leg 16 connected to the riding section 80 by the hip joint 22, the lower leg 18 connected to the upper leg 16 by the knee joint 24, and a foot 20 connected to the lower leg 18 by the ankle joint 26. ing. A riding section pulley 34 is rotatably mounted on the upper part of the upper leg 16. A lock hole 34 a is formed in the riding section pulley 34.
(2) The boarding unit 80 is provided with a lock mechanism 29. When the solenoid 28 of the lock mechanism 29 is not energized, the lock pin 37a of the lock member 37 enters the lock hole 34a of the riding section pulley 34 and locks the riding section pulley.
An upper leg pulley 36 is rotatably attached to the lower part of the upper leg 16. A belt 35 is bridged between the riding section pulley 34 and the upper thigh pulley 36. An upper leg gear 39 is fixed to the upper leg pulley 36. A knee joint gear 40 is rotatably attached to the upper part of the lower leg 18.
(3) A crus gear 42 is rotatably attached to the crus 18 below the knee joint gear 40. The lower leg gear 42 is meshed with the knee joint gear 40. A crus pulley 43 is fixed to the crus gear 42. A foot pulley 45 is fixed to the foot 20. A belt 44 is stretched between the lower leg pulley 43 and the foot pulley 45.

An embodiment relating to the robot 10 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the robot 10 includes a leg portion 12 and a riding portion 80 provided on the leg portion 12. The riding section 80 includes a seat 82, a storage box 83 attached after the seat 82, and the like. The passenger 84 controls the robot 10 by operating an operation stick (not shown) mounted on the seat 82 while sitting on the seat 82. The storage box 83 incorporates a controller for controlling the robot 10, a battery, and the like.
The leg portion 12 has a pair of leg links 14. The leg link 14 includes the upper leg 16 connected to the riding section 80 by the hip joint 22, the lower leg 18 connected to the upper leg 16 by the knee joint 24, and a foot 20 connected to the lower leg 18 by the ankle joint 26. ing. The leg link 14 is a “bird's foot type” in which the lower leg 18 rotates around the knee joint 24 in front of the extension line of the upper leg 16.
As shown in FIG. 2, the hip joint 22 is driven by the hip joint motor 30. The knee joint 24 is driven by a knee joint motor 31. The ankle joint 26 is driven by an ankle joint motor 32. Note that the hip joint 22, the knee joint 24, and the ankle joint 26 have mechanical configurations that swing and rotate the respective joints, but they are not shown in FIG.
As well shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a riding section pulley 34 is rotatably mounted on the upper part of the upper thigh 16. The riding section pulley 34 is arranged at a position where its axis coincides with the y axis of the hip joint 22. The y-axis means an axis extending in the lateral direction of the robot 10. A lock hole 34 a is formed in the riding section pulley 34.

As shown in FIG. 4, a locking mechanism 29 is provided in the riding portion 80 on the side of the riding portion pulley 34. The lock mechanism 29 includes a lock member 37, a solenoid 28, and a spring 38. The lock member 37 is formed with a lock pin 37a and can slide in the y-axis direction. The spring 38 is interposed between the lock member 37 and the riding portion 80 and biases the lock member 37 toward the riding portion pulley 34. The plunger 28 a of the solenoid 28 is coupled to the lock member 37. The solenoid 28 contracts the plunger 28a in the energized state and keeps the plunger 28a free in the non-energized state. Therefore, when the solenoid 28 is not energized, the lock member 37 is biased by the spring 38 and the lock pin 37 a enters the lock hole 34 a of the riding section pulley 34. FIG. 4 illustrates a state in which the lock pin 37a has entered the lock hole 34a. When the lock pin 37a enters the lock hole 34a, the riding section pulley 34 is locked. Then, the riding part 80 and the riding part pulley 34 cannot be rotated relatively. When energized, the solenoid 28 contracts the plunger 28a against the biasing force of the spring 38, and releases the lock of the riding section pulley 34. This state is illustrated in FIG. A configuration other than the lock hole 34a and the lock pin 37a can be used to lock the riding section pulley 34. For example, the riding section pulley 34 can be locked by a mechanism such as a clutch.
An upper leg pulley 36 is rotatably attached to the lower part of the upper leg 16. A belt 35 is bridged between the riding section pulley 34 and the upper thigh pulley 36.
The nominal diameters of the riding section pulley 34 and the upper leg pulley 36 (the length of the portion where the belt 35 contacts) are formed to have the same dimensions. For this reason, the rotation ratio of the riding section pulley 34 and the upper leg pulley 36 is “1: 1”. Here, the rotation ratio means a reduction / acceleration ratio between gears or pulleys.

An upper leg gear 39 is fixed to the upper leg pulley 36. For this reason, the upper leg gear 39 rotates together with the upper leg pulley 36. The upper leg gear 39 is disposed at a position where the axis thereof coincides with the upper leg pulley 36.
A knee joint gear 40 is rotatably attached to the upper part of the lower leg 18. The knee joint gear 40 is meshed with the upper leg gear 39, and its axis is arranged at a position that coincides with the y-axis of the knee joint 24. The knee joint gear 40 may be rotatably attached to the upper leg 16.
A lower leg gear 42 is rotatably attached to the lower leg 18 below the knee joint gear 40. The lower leg gear 42 is meshed with the knee joint gear 40.
The upper leg gear 39 and the knee joint gear 40 are formed to have the same number of teeth. The knee joint gear 40 and the crus gear 42 are formed to have the same number of teeth. For this reason, the rotation ratio of the upper thigh gear 39 and the knee joint gear 40 and between the knee joint gear 40 and the lower thigh gear 42 is “1: 1”.
A crus pulley 43 is fixed to the crus gear 42. A foot pulley 45 is fixed to the foot 20. The foot pulley 45 is disposed at a position where its axis coincides with the y-axis of the ankle joint 26. A belt 44 is stretched between the lower leg pulley 43 and the foot pulley 45. The lower leg pulley 43 and the foot pulley 45 have the same nominal diameter. For this reason, the rotation ratio between the lower leg pulley 43 and the foot pulley 45 is “1: 1”.
As described above, the rotation ratio between the riding section pulley 34 and the upper leg pulley 36, the rotation ratio between the upper leg gear 39 and the knee joint gear 40, the rotation ratio between the knee joint gear 40 and the lower leg gear 42, the lower leg pulley 43 and the foot pulley. The rotation ratio of 36 is set to “1: 1”. Therefore, the rotation ratio between the riding section pulley 34 and the foot pulley 45 is also “1: 1”.

When walking, the robot 10 energizes the solenoid 28 to unlock the riding section pulley 34. Then, when it is about to fall, the solenoid 28 is deenergized to lock the riding section pulley 34 and the joint motors 30, 31, and 32 are deenergized. The state where the robot 10 is likely to fall down means that, for example, when the remaining amount of the battery is low and the drive control of the joint motors 30, 31, and 32 cannot be performed, or when the robot 10 comes into contact with other objects, unexpected projections and depressions are formed. This is the case when stepping on.
When the robot 10 is about to fall, the robot 10 can lower the riding part 80 while maintaining the same posture as when the riding part 80 is walking. Hereinafter, how the riding section 80 descends while maintaining the posture will be described in detail. When the knee joint motor 31 and the ankle joint motor 32 are deenergized, they can rotate freely. When the knee joint motor 31 and the ankle joint motor 32 can freely rotate, the lower leg 18 rotates about the y axis of the ankle joint 26 by the weight of the riding section 80. The lower leg 18 and upper leg 16 rotate about the y-axis of the knee joint 24. The upper leg 16 rotates around the y-axis of the hip joint 22. The positional relationship between the riding section 80 and the riding section pulley 34 is maintained as it is because the riding section pulley 34 is locked.
FIG. 5 illustrates a state in which the boarding unit 80 is descending. In this figure, the crus 18 are rotating in the clockwise direction θ around the ankle joint 26 from the state shown in FIG. Since the foot pulley 45 is fixed to the foot 20, even if the lower leg 18 rotates around the ankle joint 26, the foot pulley 45 remains in the rotational position. Since the belt 44 is stretched over the lower leg pulley 43 and the foot pulley 45 and the rotation ratio between the lower leg pulley 43 and the foot pulley 36 is “1: 1”, when the lower leg 18 rotates around the ankle joint 26, the lower leg pulley 43 Rotates counterclockwise by an angle θ relative to the lower leg 18. Since the lower leg 18 rotates clockwise around the ankle joint 26 by the angle θ, the lower leg pulley 43 does not rotate with respect to the space (the ground contact surface). If the lower leg pulley 43 does not rotate with respect to the space, the lower leg gear 42 fixed to the lower leg pulley 43 also does not rotate with respect to the space.

  If the lower leg gear 42 does not rotate with respect to the space, the knee joint gear 40 engaged therewith will not rotate with respect to the space. For this reason, the upper leg gear 39 meshed with the knee joint gear 40 does not rotate with respect to the space. Therefore, the upper leg pulley 36 fixed to the upper leg gear 39 does not rotate with respect to the space. Accordingly, the riding section pulley 3 connected to the upper thigh pulley 36 by the belt 35 does not rotate with respect to the space. That is, even if the ankle joint 26, the knee joint 24, and the hip joint 22 are rotated to shift from the state shown in FIG. 3 to the state shown in FIG. If the position of the lock hole 34a does not change, the posture of the riding section 80 locked to the riding section pulley 34 also does not change. Then, the riding section 80 descends while maintaining a horizontal posture. FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a state where the riding section 80 is lowered while maintaining the posture.

Sprockets can be used instead of pulleys. In this case, a chain is used instead of the belt.
Gears may be used instead of the riding section pulley 34 and the foot pulley 45, and a plurality of gears may transmit the rotation of these gears.

Specific examples of the present invention have been described in detail above, but these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and changes of the specific examples illustrated above.
In addition, the technical elements described in the present specification or drawings exhibit technical usefulness alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. In addition, the technology illustrated in the present specification or the drawings achieves a plurality of objects at the same time, and has technical utility by achieving one of the objects.

The typical side view of the state where the robot stands. Sectional drawing of a boarding part and a leg part. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2. Detailed view of the locking mechanism. The side view of the leg part in the state where the boarding part is descending. The typical side view of the state where the boarding part lowered.

Explanation of symbols

10: Robot 12: Leg 14: Leg link 16: Upper thigh 18: Lower thigh 20: Foot 22: Hip joint 24: Knee joint 26: Ankle joint 28: Solenoid 28a: Plunger 29: Lock mechanism 30: Hip joint motor 31: Knee joint motor 32: ankle joint motor 34: riding section pulley 34a: lock hole 35: belt 36: upper thigh pulley 37: lock member 37a: lock pin 38: spring 39: upper thigh gear 40: knee joint gear 42: Lower leg gear 43: Lower leg pulley 44: Belt 45: Foot pulley 80: Riding part 82: Seat 83: Storage box

Claims (3)

A foot part, a lower leg connected to the foot part via an ankle joint, an upper leg connected to the lower leg via a knee joint, and a riding part connected to the upper leg via a hip joint Have
A foot part disk, a riding part disk, and a rotation prohibiting mechanism that prohibits the other disk from rotating relative to the ground surface while one disk does not rotate relative to the ground surface,
Either the “foot flat disc and foot” or the “boarding disc and riding portion” is fixed so as not to be rotatable relative to each other. A boarding type robot provided with a lock mechanism that allows relative rotation of the “plate and foot part” or “boarding part disk and boarding part” and restrains the relative rotation. A foot part, a lower leg connected to the foot part via an ankle joint, an upper leg connected to the lower leg via a knee joint, and a riding part connected to the upper leg via a hip joint Have
A foot disk fixed to the foot so as not to rotate relative to the foot;
A crus disc attached to the vicinity of the knee joint of the crus so as to be relatively rotatable;
A first belt body spanned between the foot disk and the crus disk to restrict the rotation ratio of both to “1: 1”;
An upper thigh disc attached to the vicinity of the knee joint of the upper thigh for relative rotation;
A riding section disk attached to the vicinity of the hip joint of the upper leg so as to be relatively rotatable;
A second belt body that is bridged between the upper thigh disk and the riding section disk and restricts the rotation ratio between them to "1: 1";
It has a lock mechanism that restrains the riding part disk and the riding part so as not to rotate relative to each other,
A boarding robot in which the lower leg disc and upper leg disc are restrained so that they cannot rotate relative to each other.   The boarding type robot according to claim 2, wherein both a lower leg gear that cannot rotate relative to the lower leg disk and an upper leg gear that cannot rotate relative to the upper leg disk mesh with a knee joint gear provided near the knee joint.

Images