JPS624273B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a traveling device that is used as the legs of a robot that performs various tasks, inspections, etc. on behalf of a worker in a cramped or poor working environment.

In places where the work environment is poor due to the radioactive atmosphere, such as inside the building of a nuclear power plant, or in places where it is not suitable for workers to work due to narrow spaces or uneven surfaces, these tasks and inspections can be performed on behalf of workers by robots. Attempts are being made to do so. Therefore, there is a need for a traveling device that will serve as the legs of such a work robot and can not only travel on flat surfaces, but also be able to travel on slopes, run on stairs, climb ladders, and overcome obstacles, as well as be able to make sudden turns and change course. becomes. In particular, stairs have steep slopes, narrow widths, and narrow landings, making it difficult to climb up and down stairs using conventional travel systems.

The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned needs, and an object of the present invention is to provide a traveling device that can not only travel on flat surfaces, but also be able to ascend and descend stairs and ladders, and overcome obstacles.

The structure of the present invention that achieves this object consists of coaxially mounting two wheels that can be driven and rotated independently on the left and right sides of the lower part of the main body of the device, and having a bendable drive wheel that has a pivot axis parallel to the axis of rotation of these wheels. A total of four legs each consisting of a leg joint and two arms connected to each other via the leg joint; a drive rotation mechanism having a pivot axis parallel to the rotation axis of the wheel at the front and back of the upper left and right sides of the device main body; The legs are attached via possible joints, and the distance between the front and rear joints is set shorter than the length of the arm, and rollers having rotation axes parallel to the rotation axis of the wheel are rotatably provided at the tips of the legs. On the other hand, the device is characterized in that hooks that can be hooked onto rungs of a ladder-like running surface are attached to the device main body and the legs, respectively.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of the present invention will be explained in detail below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings.

The traveling device of the present invention has four legs 8, 9, 10, and 11 attached to a device main body 3 having two wheels 1 and 2. The wheels 1 and 2 are mounted coaxially on the left and right sides of the lower part of the device body 3 so as to be able to rotate independently, and are driven by separate drive motors equipped with low reduction gears (not shown). Also,
Each leg 8, 9, 10, 11 has two arms 6,
These four legs 8, 9, 10, 11 are attached at their base ends to the left and right front and back of the upper part of the device main body 3 via joints 4, respectively. ing. The distance between these joints 4 in the front and back direction is set shorter than the length of the arms 6 and 7 that form the legs 8, 9, 10, and 11.
This makes it possible to avoid interference with the device main body 3 when going up and down stairs. Also, a leg joint 5 that interconnects the arms 6 and 7, and legs 8, 9, 10,
The joints 4 for attaching the wheels 11 to the device body 3 both have pivots parallel to the rotation axes of the wheels 1 and 2, so that each leg 8, 9, 10, 11 can be attached to the wheels 1 and 2. Bending and stretching in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
Each of these joints 4 and 5 is equipped with its own drive source, such as a motor (not shown) and a high speed reducer (not shown), and each operates independently to drive the legs 8, 9, 1.
0 and 11 can be rotated and legs 8, 9, 10, and 11 can be bent. Furthermore, wheels 1 and 2 are attached to the tips of each leg 8, 9, 10, and 11.
A roller 12 having a rotation axis parallel to the rotation axis of the roller 12 is rotatably attached to each roller 12 . This roller 1
2 is made of a material with a high coefficient of friction, such as rubber, to prevent slippage, and a mechanism for lowering the coefficient of friction, such as a spherical bearing (not shown), is removably installed inside. Therefore, by taking the spherical bearing out of the roller 12, the present traveling device can travel in any direction.

Furthermore, a portion of the device main body 3 and the arm 7 directly above the roller 12 is provided with a front-rear direction, that is, a direction of movement (first direction).
A hook 13 consisting of two claws that protrudes in the left-right direction in the upper plane of FIG. 1A is provided. The hook 13
is something that hangs on a tread when moving on a ladder-like running surface.

Therefore, the device main body 3 is placed on a running surface, for example, a floor surface 1.
If the wheels 1 and 2 are rotated while pressing against the wheel 4, the traveling device can travel on a flat surface without overturning (see FIG. 2). At this time, since the two wheels 1 and 2 can rotate independently, there is a rotational speed difference between them.
Various movements can be made by changing the direction of rotation. For example, if the left and right wheels 1 and 2 are simultaneously rotated at the same speed and in the same direction, the traveling device moves straight. However, if the left and right wheels 1 and 2 are rotated at different speeds, the device will move toward the one with the smaller number of rotations while turning. At this time, in order to facilitate the course change, spherical bearings are taken out from the rollers 12 and the stability of the entire device is maintained by contacting at four points. The degree of this bend is determined by the speed ratio, so if you want to make a sudden turn, you can do so by increasing the rotation speed of one wheel and lowering or stopping the rotation speed of the other wheel. It is. Further, when turning around point o, that is, changing direction in a narrow space, it is possible to turn the left and right wheels in opposite directions at the same speed.

To go up and down the running surface of the stairs 15, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the rollers 12 with their spherical bearings retracted are placed on the steps to secure the scaffolding, and then the legs 8 and 9 are moved up and down. , 10, and 11 are bent and stretched. That is, as shown by the solid line in FIG.
The device is placed on the machine and its own weight is supported by the rollers 1 and 2, while the rear left and right legs 8 and 9 are placed on the step 15a two steps below the device body 3 to support it so that it does not fall backwards, and the front left and right legs 10, 11 on the step 15e two steps above and supporting it so that it does not fall forward, move the legs 8, 9, 10, and 11 so that the joints 4 and 5 do not hit the corners of the stairs. By operating the main body 3, the traveling main body 3 is moved to the state of the virtual line. During advancement, only one set of legs moves while the other three sets remain on the steps to prevent the device from tipping over. Each leg 8, 9, 10, 11
The associated operating method may be a master-slave method or a sequence control method. for example,
Step 15e of the next staircase from the virtual line state
To go up to the top, first place the front legs 10 and 11 on the step 15f one step above, then place the rear legs 8 and 9 on the step 15b one step above.
I'll put it on. After that, move the device body 3 to step 15c.
The apparatus main body 3 is moved to the next step 15e in the same manner as it was moved from step 15e to step 15e.
By repeating the above-described operation, the traveling device travels on the stairs. In addition, if you want to get off the train, just reverse the above-mentioned operation. 4 and 5 show the case where the user starts climbing the stairs 15 and the case where the user finishes climbing the stairs 15.

When driving sideways on a running surface consisting of a slope,
As shown in FIG. 6, the front and rear legs 8, 10 located on the downward slope side are extended to prevent the device main body 3 from tilting. The running thrust at this time is one wheel 2
is obtained by contacting the slope 16.

When traveling between vertical walls 17, as shown in FIG. By pressing the wheels 1 and 2, the device is prevented from falling. At this time, the vehicle can be moved in any direction by operating the two wheels 1 and 2 in the same way as when traveling on a plane.

It can be seen that when passing under the obstacle 18, the procedure is the same as when traveling on a plane, as shown in FIG. However, unlike the plane traveling shown in FIG. 2, the legs 8, 9, 10, and 11 are simply spread out and the posture is kept low. In addition, obstacle 18
To overcome this, the stair climbing motion shown in Figure 3 is used. First, as shown in FIG. 9, the front and rear legs 8, 9, 10, and 11 are pulled together to lift the device body 3 upward. Next, as shown in FIG.
The front legs 10 and 11 are placed one by one on the obstacle 18, and then the rear legs 8 and 9 are placed one by one on the obstacle 18, so that the entire device is placed on the obstacle 18. Then, the driver lowers the front legs 10, 11 and then the rear legs 8, 9 one after another to complete overcoming the obstacle 18. If the obstacle 18 is thin, the driver straddles the obstacle 18 and directly overcomes it.

When rotating and traveling within the cylinder 20, as shown in FIG. It is possible. Running thrust is obtained from wheels 1 and 2.

When climbing up or down the vertical ladder 20, use the step 20
The legs 8, 9, 10, 11 and the hook 13 of the main body 3 of the apparatus are hung on a to form a scaffold. And the twelfth
From the state shown by the solid line in the figure, bend the front legs 10, 11 and extend the rear legs 8, 9 to remove the device main body 3.
Remove the hook 13 from the treadle and hang it on the treadle one above it (see the imaginary line in Figure 12a). Next, each of the rear legs 8 and 9 is bent and raised one by one, removed from the treadle, and hung on the treadle one above. Furthermore,
Stretch the front legs 10 and 11 upward, remove them from the treadle, and hang them on the treadle one above. Climb up and down the ladder 20 by repeating the above-described operations.

As described above, according to the traveling device of the present invention, two
By operating four wheels and four pairs of legs, it can not only travel on flat surfaces, but also go up and down stairs and ladders, and travel on slopes.
You can freely and easily pass through and overcome obstacles and run inside a cylinder.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of a traveling device according to the present invention, in which a is a front view, b is a plan view, c is a right side view, and d is a view in the direction of arrow A. FIGS. 2 to 12 are explanatory diagrams showing how the traveling device is used. FIG. 2 shows the case where the vehicle travels on a flat surface, where a is a front view and b is a plan view. FIG. 3 shows the state in the middle of ascending and descending the stairs, FIG. 4 shows the time when the same starts, and FIG. 5 shows the time when the same is completed. FIG. 6 shows the case of moving on a slope, where a is a side view and b is a plan view. FIG. 7 shows the case of going up and down between vertical walls. FIG. 8 shows a case where the vehicle passes through an obstacle, and a is a front view and b is a plan view. FIG. 9 shows a stretched state. FIG. 10 shows a state in which the vehicle overcomes an obstacle. Figure 11 shows the rotating movement inside the cylinder, where a is the front view and b is the B
-B sectional view. FIG. 12 shows the climbing and descending state of the vertical ladder, with a being a front view and b being a left side view. In the drawing, 1 and 2 are wheels, 3 is the device body, 4 and 5
is a joint, 6, 7 is an arm, 8, 9, 10, 11 is a leg, 12 is a roller, 13 is a hook, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 are running surfaces such as floors, stairs, slopes, walls, obstacles, cylinders, and ladders.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Two wheels that can be driven and rotated independently are installed coaxially on the left and right sides of the lower part of the device body, and the two wheels are connected to each other via a driving bendable leg joint having a pivot axis parallel to the rotation axis of these wheels. A total of four legs, each consisting of two connected arms, are attached to the upper left, right, front and back of the device main body via drive-rotatable joints having pivots parallel to the rotational axis of the wheels, respectively. The interval between the joints is set shorter than the length of the arm, and a roller having a rotation axis parallel to the rotation axis of the wheel is rotatably provided at the tip of the leg, and a ladder is attached to the main body of the device and the leg, respectively. A running device characterized by being equipped with a hook capable of hooking a shaped running surface onto a treadle.