JPH0516069Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] A. Field of industrial application The present invention is a device for detecting a step when a traveling robot using an endless track such as a crawler runs over a step where there is a risk of falling. This is an idea regarding.

B. Outline of the invention The present invention is a traveling robot equipped with an endless crawler, which has a fixed distance from an object such as a floor surface and is in contact with the object. A roughly L-shaped lever is provided on the robot body, and a limit switch is provided opposite the other end of the lever. When the endless track hits a step and bends, the lever swings and turns on the limit switch. hand,
The presence of a stepped portion can be mechanically detected.

C. Prior Art A traveling robot is known in which the robot main body has a pair of left and right crawlers as its legs and is configured to be able to run freely. This traveling robot is designed to detect when there is a difference in level while traveling and climb over it.

FIG. 4 shows this type of traveling robot, in which 1 is the robot body, 2 is endless crawler tracks movably provided as legs on the left and right sides of the robot body;
3 is a step detection device. When such a traveling robot travels on a step, there are two modes of travel: uphill and downhill, but especially when descending from a step, it is necessary to detect the end of the step. It is necessary to have a structure that prevents people from stepping off and falling.

In the conventional step detection method for preventing falls of this kind, the step detection device 3 uses an optical sensor. That is, light 4 is emitted from a light projecting section provided in the step detection device 3, and the light 4 is irradiated onto an object 5 such as a floor surface, and this reflected light is received by a light receiving section to detect the presence or absence of the object 5. (Figure 4).
If the light receiving section does not receive the reflected light from the object 5, it is determined that there is a stepped portion 5a, as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, in the conventional example described above, the sensitivity of the optical sensor was adjusted by keeping the distance D between the optical sensor and the object 5, 5a constant.

D Problems to be solved by the invention However, according to the above-mentioned conventional technology, since an optical sensor is used, if a part of the object 5 is dirty or coated with glossy paint, etc. The light is not reflected on the dirty surface 6 (Figure 6),
Or, the paint surface reflects too much and the light from the light emitting part does not reach the light receiving part of the step detection device 3, causing the object 5 to be mistakenly recognized as having a step even though it is flat. It was hot. In addition, if the distance to the object 5 changes after adjusting the sensitivity of the optical sensor (for example, due to irregularities on the floor, protrusions, perforated steel plate floor, slatted floor surface, etc.), the operation of the optical sensor may become unstable. Therefore, there is an inconvenience that the object 5 cannot be accurately fattened. In this type of traveling robot, it is natural that the robot body 1 may move up and down due to unevenness of the floor surface, so the distance D between the optical sensor and the floor surface naturally changes.
However, this only has a bad effect on the operation of the optical sensor, and currently the configuration for removing this bad effect is complex and requires advanced technology.

E. Means for Solving the Problems Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the structure of detecting a step part for preventing falling using an optical sensor, the present invention reliably detects a step part through a mechanical structure. The purpose is to provide a device for detecting this. To this end, the present invention detects a stepped portion by configuring a lever that moves in conjunction with the movement of the endless crawler track to turn on a limit switch when the endless crawler track is recessed inward at a certain height. It has been made possible.

F Effect According to the above configuration of the present invention, it is mechanically detected that the endless crawler track is deformed when it hits the corner of the step, and the limit switch that recognizes the detection of the step is turned ON by the mechanical operation. Therefore, it is possible to detect a stepped portion to reliably prevent a fall without being affected by unexpected irregularities or dirt on the floor surface.

G. Embodiment The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 1 is a partial side view showing the main parts of the present invention, in which the robot main body 1 and the endless crawler belt 2 are entirely omitted, and only a portion of each is shown. The illustrated step detection device 7 has a base 8 fastened and fixed to the robot body 1 through an elongated hole 9a with bolts 9 on the front side surface of the robot body 1 so as to be vertically adjustable. A lever 11 is movably supported via a lever 10, and a limit switch 12, which the lever 11 moves in and out of, is fixed to a base 8. The lever 11 is approximately L-shaped, and the upper end thereof is the limit switch 1.
A contact 13 is suspended at a constant height via a spring 14 at the lower horizontal end, facing the lever 1.
1 is always biased clockwise by a return spring 15 wound around its shaft 10. 16,17
are stoppers for suppressing the swinging of the lever 11 and keeping the distance a between the endless crawler track 2 and the contactor 13 and the distance b between the limit switch 12 and the lever 11 at predetermined values. Note that the contactor 13 may be provided so as to be able to contact both of the endless crawler belts 2 on both the left and right sides, or it is sufficient to provide only one of them.

Therefore, to explain the operation of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, when the endless crawler track 2 is running on an object 5 such as a flat floor surface, the lever 11 of the step detection device 7 is moved as shown in FIG. As shown, by adjusting the stopper 17, the contactor 13 is positioned at an appropriate height where it does not come into contact with the endless crawler belt 2, and is stably set in a state in which the operating piece 12a of the limit switch 12 is not pressed. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, when the endless crawler track 2 reaches the stepped part 5 and the front wheel comes off the corner, the endless crawler track 2 bends and the robot body 1 tilts forward, and the stepped part integrated with this bends. Since the detection device 7 is also tilted, its contact 13 hits the endless crawler belt 2 and displaces the lever 11. Therefore, the lever 11 is the shaft 10
The upper end of the lever 11 pushes the operating piece 12a of the limit switch 12. Therefore, limit switch 1
2 is turned ON, a signal is input to the robot body 1 to detect the stepped portion 5, and a command is issued to take an appropriate action, such as stopping or moving backward.

H. Effects of the invention According to the invention described above, a lever equipped with a contactor held at a constant height that can be adjusted from the robot body at a position where it can come into contact with the endless crawler track can be swingably moved to the front of the robot body. Since the step is detected by installing a limit switch that is turned ON by the rocking of the lever, it is possible to mechanically detect the deformation of the endless crawler track that bends when it hits the step. , it is possible to reliably detect the presence or absence of a stepped portion, and the reliability is high. In addition, by adjusting the distance between the contact and the endless crawler track, it is possible to detect irregularities and protrusions other than the stepped portion and avoid misidentification, so the drawbacks caused by the optical sensor can be sufficiently solved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams of operation, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are explanatory diagrams of a conventional example. 1... Robot main body, 2... Crawler (endless crawler track), 5a... Step portion, 7... Step portion detection device,
8...Base, 10...Shaft, 11...Lever, 1
2... Limit switch, 13... Contact, 15
...Return spring, 16, 17...stopper.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a traveling robot equipped with an endless crawler track, a substantially L-shaped lever that can swing freely and whose swing angle can be adjusted is provided on the robot body, and one end of the lever is in contact with an object such as a floor surface. A contact element is located inside the crawler track and provided at the tip thereof, and a limit switch is provided opposite to the other end of the lever and turns on when the contact element touches the endless crawler track and swings by a predetermined angle. A method for preventing a traveling robot from falling, characterized in that when the crawler track hits a step and bends, a contactor is pressed to swing a lever, operating the limit switch and issuing a predetermined operation command to the traveling robot. Step detection device.