JPH02180571A - Walking robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a wide movement irrespective of a trouble road and curved passage, etc., with securing quickness and stability, by fitting six leg units at least at about equal intervals to the circumferential part of a robot main body. CONSTITUTION:At least six leg units 7 are fitted to the circumferential part of a robot main body 6 and the robot main body is supported by the leg units 7 in half number every other unit, i.e. three leg units at least. So, the stability is secured because of the min. three points support being executed and sufficient walk width can be given to the residual leg units 7, and the overcoming opera tion of an obstruction and rapidity become easy to be obtd. Also because of the base end link of each leg unit 7 having the degree of freedom on the horizon tal face, the track change can quickly be executed without the need for changing the direction of the robot main body 6, by turning the leg unit 7 in a swing up state for instance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a walking robot that is applied to inspection, monitoring work, etc. in a nuclear power plant or various factories, for example.

(Prior Art) In recent years, various types of movement mechanisms have been researched and developed. In particular, in nuclear power plants, etc., when straddling various piping,
A movement mechanism that can navigate narrow passages and stairs while avoiding equipment and obstacles to reach a desired location is an important element in the development of robots that perform inspections and work in place of humans.

For example, in a nuclear power plant, operation is stopped once a year and periodic inspections are performed according to a predetermined schedule. There are many items in this periodic inspection, but
It is desired that the project be completed in as short a time as possible in order to improve the operating rate.

Depending on the location of the inspection or inspection, there may be restrictions on entry by one worker due to radiation regulations.
Therefore, many workers are required and work efficiency is poor. In addition, it is important to inspect and inspect equipment, equipment, etc. even while the plant is in operation, as this enables early detection and early response to abnormalities. However, during operation, there are many places that are difficult for humans to access.

Based on these ideas, various robots have been developed to perform inspections and inspections in place of humans. For example, there are inspection and work robots such as mole rail type robots, wheel type robots, and crawler type robots, which are equipped with TV cameras, manipulators, and various detectors such as radiation dose rate meters and thermometers.

However, these robots have various drawbacks. For example, in the mole rail type, a track must be laid, which requires additional equipment and equipment, and furthermore, the robot's range of action is limited.

In particular, it is extremely difficult to lay a track in an existing plant due to the space for installing the track, the environmental conditions during construction of the track equipment, etc. With wheeled robots, weirs, steps,
Crawler-type zero-bots cannot climb over piping, cables, etc., and when climbing over weirs, steps, piping, cables, etc., there is a risk of injuring the person being climbed over. Furthermore, wheel-type, crawler-type, etc. robots often have cables for control and power supply, which limits their range of motion and requires equipment to handle cables as the robot moves. becomes.

Recently, legged walking robots have been developed that can overcome weirs and steps, as well as straddle cables, piping, etc. without damaging them. For example, a two-legged type that simulates human walking or a similar four-legged type is typical.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, the walking robots that have been developed so far!・In addition to lacking stability and high speed, there are problems such as poor response to course changes and direction changes, and the mechanism is extremely complicated and heavy.

For this reason, as a practical robot that enters various places and performs inspections, etc., we have no choice but to rely on the wheel-type robots mentioned above.
The reality is that sufficient results have not always been obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances.
Its purpose is to provide stability and high speed, and to have a wide range of motion.Moreover, it can easily walk over road surfaces with obstacles such as weirs, steps, piping, or cables without damaging them, and is relatively simple and lightweight. The objective is to provide a walking robot that can also be used for walking.

The second purpose is to provide a walking robot for inspection that can be controlled from a remote location to perform arbitrary movements based on a certain visual sense, and that can easily carry out practical operations such as inspection and monitoring. There is a particular thing.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The invention of claim 1 achieves the first object, and includes a robot body including a υ control section integrally or separately, and a leg unit for moving the robot body. And as mentioned above! bl
A walking robot having a driving mechanism for driving each of the leg units based on a command from a JLL1 section, wherein at least six leg units 1- are attached at approximately equal intervals around the periphery of the robot body, Each leg unit has a proximal link connected to the robot body with degrees of freedom in a horizontal plane and a vertical plane, and a proximal link connected with a degree of freedom in a vertical plane with respect to the proximal link. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the leg unit is configured such that one of the adjacent leg units always lands on the ground and performs a walking motion alternately. This robot has a cylindrical or polygonal columnar robot body, a plurality of leg units provided at equal intervals around the robot body, and a plurality of leg units provided on the robot body and connected to the outside of the robot body. a wireless transmitter/receiver that exchanges data, a general controller/roller that controls all of the leg units, a plurality of local controllers that individually control the movements of the leg units, and a plurality of local controllers that drive the leg units. an actuator and a plurality of drivers for driving the actuator; a visual device provided on the robot body and its control unit; a video transmitter for transmitting images by the visual device; and a viewing direction by the visual device. a visual device driving controller for changing the
The robot main body is equipped with a detector for detecting environmental information arranged in the robot main body, a power source mounted on the robot main body for driving each of the drive parts, and a remote command device provided separately from the robot main body, The command device includes a main control device for processing data sent to the robot main body side;
The present invention is characterized in that it has a wireless transmitter/receiver for exchanging data with the C wireless transmitter/receiver of the robot body, and a monitor device for monitoring the image of the visual device of the robot body.

(Function) According to the invention of claim 1, at least six leg units 1
− is attached to the periphery of the robot body, and when walking, 1
The robot body is supported by half of the leg units, that is, at least three leg units. therefore,
Since at least three points of support are provided, stability is ensured, and sufficient stride length can be given to the remaining leg units, making it easier to overcome obstacles and achieve high speed.

In addition, since the base end link of each leg unit has a degree of freedom on the horizontal plane, for example, by rotating the leg unit in the raised state on the horizontal plane, it is possible to quickly change the course without having to change the direction of the robot body. I can do it. Note that when a rotational force is applied to the leg unit in the grounded state, the supported robot body itself rotates relatively, so it is easy to change the direction of the robot body by a certain angle. Therefore, the range of movement is wide, and the user can walk easily and quickly even on road surfaces with obstacles and winding passages.

Roughly speaking, each leg unit has a link structure in which the base end link has degrees of freedom in the horizontal and vertical planes, and the tip link has degrees of freedom in the vertical planes, so the configuration is relatively simple.
Drive motor and power transmission A simple i-mechanism can be adopted, and it can be easily made compact and lightweight.

Further, according to the invention of claim 2, since the robot body is cylindrical or polygonal and the leg units are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, a rotationally symmetrical configuration is achieved, and rotation of the leg units on the horizontal plane is achieved. In addition to being able to more freely change directions through motion, it is also equipped with a data processing device, external environment detector, visual device, wireless transmitter/receiver, etc., making it easier to inspect and monitor various items by remote control. become.

(Example) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the control system of the walking robot of this embodiment, Fig. 2 is a side view showing the mechanical configuration of the walking robot, Fig. 3 is a plan view thereof, and Fig. 4 is the leg unit of the walking robot. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the walking robot of this embodiment is roughly divided into a remote command section 1 as a control section, and a moving section 2 that moves separately from the remote command section 1. The remote control unit 1 includes a main controller 3 for processing IIJ Ill data to be sent to the mobile unit 2 and receiving data indicating the status of the mobile unit 2, a wireless transmitter/receiver 4 and its antenna 4a, and a mobile unit 2. It consists of a TV monitor 5 and its antenna 5a for receiving the video sent from the section 2.

The moving unit 2 includes a robot main body 6 and six leg units 7 for moving the robot main body 6.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system configuration of this moving unit 2 includes drivers 11a, 11b, and 11c for driving the leg unit 7 as directly related elements for movement.

12a, -"I 6a, 16b, 16G, and O = cal controller 0-ra 11-1 that directly drives and controls the leg unit 7
6, a supervising controller 17 that manages and controls the local controllers 11 to 16, and a wireless transceiver 18
It has an antenna 18a, and a battery 19. In addition, as a component for inspection, the visual device T
The V camera 20, camera control 20, video transmitter 20b, antenna 20C, pan head 21, pan head driver 21a, and pan head controller 22 are shown on the right.

The leg unit 7 has three degrees of freedom as will be described later, and in order to control its three operations, there are three DC motors, three encoders (position detectors), a limit switch 611, and a brake 3b. They each have

Although not particularly shown, the moving unit 2 is equipped with various detectors such as a thermohygrometer, a radiation dose rate meter, etc., and transmits measurement data to the remote control unit 1 to monitor environmental information. There is.

Next, the mechanical configuration of the moving section 2 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the robot body 6 has a regular hexagonal column shape, and six leg units 7 are attached to the periphery of the robot body 6 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Each leg unit 7 is driven by each of the controllers 11 to 16.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, each leg unit 7 has a base end link 7a of a parallel link type connected to the robot body 6 with degrees of freedom on the horizontal and vertical planes, and this base end link 7a. It consists of one tip/end link 7b connected to the end link 7a with a degree of freedom in the vertical plane.

The base end link 7a has a vertical pivot shaft 23 and a vertical pivot shaft 23.
A pair of ball screws 24.25 and nuts 26.27 each having an inclined axis provided at the upper and lower ends of It is connected to parallel links 29, 30 connected to the bracket 28.

Note that the connecting portions of the links 7a and 7b are all rotatable bottle connections. Nuts 26, 2 of the proximal link 7a
The end points P, P, for supporting the ball screws 24.25 are rotated by the DC motor 31, so that the end points P, P, for supporting the ball screws 24.25 are rotated by a constant stroke along the axis of the ball screws 24.25. Slide to move. When the end point PA is slid in the direction A' in FIG. 4, the bracket 28 moves to the end point P.

The lower end of the tip link 7b moves in the direction shown in the figure via the parallel links 29 and 30. Also,
When the end point PB is slid in the direction B', the bracket 28 rotates about the end point PA as a fulcrum, and the parallel link 29
．． 30, the lower end of the tip link 7b moves in eight directions. That is, the movable range of the tip link 7b is between points p, p, p3 and P in the vertical plane as shown in the figure.
This is the part surrounded by 4. Each end point P of the proximal link 7a
The stroke position of one end point P is detected by an encoder, and the limit position of stroke 0 is detected by a limit switch. Further, this entire link mechanism is rotationally driven by a DC motor around a pivot U-axis 23 shown in the figure, that is, within a certain range on a horizontal plane. This lI! The rotational position of the Il rotation shaft 23 is also detected by an encoder, and the rotational limit position is detected by a limit switch. In this way, each leg unit 7 has a total of three degrees of freedom: two degrees of freedom for leg swing on the vertical plane and one degree of freedom for leg rotation on the horizontal plane.
It has a degree of freedom. Note that the tip of the leg in Figure 2 is 0. Pl.

P2. The states of P3 and P4 are at the point 0.0 of the range of motion of the tip of the leg in FIG. They correspond to the states of P, P2, Ps J'3 and P4, respectively. As shown in FIG. 3, any leg unit 7 is rotated on a horizontal plane and divided into two groups, front legs and rear legs. Such leg units 7 are set so that one of the adjacent ones always lands on the ground and performs a walking motion.

By transmitting control data from the royal W mounting stomach 3 to the moving section 2, the leg unit 7 is driven, the IJItl 1 section 2 reaches the target location, and the image captured by the TV camera 20 is transmitted to the TVl: This is what is sent to Monitor 5.

In this embodiment, a TV camera is selected as the visual device, but the present invention is not limited to the TV camera, and other visual means using light beams or the like can be applied.

Next, the action will be explained.

In the above configuration, any set of 311 consisting of every other leg unit among the six leg units 7! By grounding It and performing a, lJI [l so that the vertical projection point of the center of gravity of the robot body 6 falls within the triangle formed by the grounding points of its three legs, a stable posture can be maintained at all times.

Kiguchi bot's basic movement method is to constantly maintain this state and alternately repeat two sets of three legs on the ground and one with the legs floating, allowing it to move on the floor, weirs, steps, etc. Can climb over piping, cables, etc. However, the three legs in the grounded state move each degree of freedom tAm I so that they advance in the moving direction, and the three legs in the floating state send their three legs in the moving direction and move to the grounded state.

Such a transfer! 1lIIIIIIl is achieved by sending walking data from the main v1w device of the remote command center to the general controller of the mobile unit, and since it is cableless, it can be used to move anywhere in the nuclear R1i plant or various factories without being restricted in its range of action. , inspection work using visual equipment is accomplished remotely. In addition, environmental information can be monitored by mounting a temperature/hygrometer, radiation dose rate meter, oxygen concentration meter, etc. on the mobile unit as various detectors for environmental information and sending measured data to a remote command unit.

According to the above embodiment, the robot main body 6 can always walk in a stable state by the three leg units 7, and can easily overcome obstacles and operate at high speed. This can be easily done by turning 7a on the horizontal plane.

Therefore, the range of movement is wide, and the user can walk easily and quickly even on road surfaces with obstacles and winding passages.

Furthermore, each leg unit 7 has a link structure in which the base end link 7a has degrees of freedom on the horizontal plane and the vertical plane, and the distal end link 7b has degrees of freedom on the vertical plane, so the configuration is relatively simple. Also, the drive upper etc. can be of a simple configuration, and it is easy to achieve compactness and weight reduction.

Moreover, according to the configuration of the embodiment in which the leg units 7 are equally distributed around the rotationally symmetrical robot body 6, the direction of movement is not particularly limited, and changes in the course direction etc. can be performed extremely easily. .

Furthermore, wireless transmission and reception enables cable-less remote control, which increases the degree of freedom of movement, and also provides data processing functions and external environment detection functions, making it extremely effective for inspections of atomic couplants, etc. Become.

In the above-mentioned example, the robot main body 6 has a hexagonal column shape, but it is not necessarily limited to this, and may have another polygonal column shape or a cylindrical shape, and it is also possible to have an arbitrary shape.

Further, the number of leg units 7 is not necessarily limited to six, and can be added in consideration of the size and weight of the robot body 6.

Further, in the above embodiments, the robot was applied as an inspection robot, but it goes without saying that it can be applied as a variety of work robots by incorporating some kind of work mechanism.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the walking robot according to the present invention can move over a wide range regardless of obstacles such as road surfaces and oil roads while ensuring speed and stability. It will now be possible to easily achieve unmanned operation in various places that could not be desired otherwise.

Moreover, by being equipped with wireless equipment and various inspection instruments,
Effects such as efficient inspection, monitoring, etc. can be achieved by remote control.

Ru.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A robot body equipped with a control unit integrally or separately;
The walking robot includes a leg unit for moving the robot body and a drive mechanism for driving each of the leg units based on a command from the control unit, wherein the leg unit is attached to a peripheral portion of the robot body. At least six leg units are attached at approximately equal intervals to the robot body, and each leg unit has a proximal link connected to the robot body with degrees of freedom in the horizontal and vertical planes, and It consists of a tip link connected to a side link with a degree of freedom in the vertical plane, and is set so that one of the adjacent leg units always lands on the ground and performs walking motions alternately. Characteristic walking robot. 2. A cylindrical or polygonal columnar robot body, a plurality of leg units provided at equal intervals around the robot body, and a plurality of leg units provided on the robot body to exchange data with the outside of the robot body. a wireless transceiver, a general controller that controls all of the leg units, a plurality of local controllers that individually control the movement of the leg units, an actuator for driving the leg unit, and an actuator that drives the actuator. A plurality of drivers, a visual device provided on the robot body and its control unit, a video transmitter for transmitting images by the visual device, and a controller for driving the visual device for changing the viewing direction by the visual device. and a detector arranged on the robot body to detect environmental information, a power source mounted on the robot body to drive each of the driving parts, and a remote command device provided separately from the robot body, The remote command device includes a main controller for processing data sent to the robot body, a wireless transmitter/receiver for exchanging data with a wireless transmitter/receiver of the robot body, and a visual device of the robot body. A walking robot characterized by having a monitor device for monitoring an image of the robot.