MX2010014030A

MX2010014030A - Insole sensorial system for soles of biped robots.

Info

Publication number: MX2010014030A
Application number: MX2010014030A
Authority: MX
Inventors: Mario Jorge Claros Salgado; Jose De Jesus Rodriguez Ortiz; Rogelio Soto Rodriguez
Original assignee: Itesm
Priority date: 2010-12-16
Filing date: 2010-12-16
Publication date: 2012-06-18
Also published as: MX349506B

Abstract

The present invention consists in an insole sensorial system for soles of biped robots, where said system includes dampening soles made of an elastic and flexible material, which have force sensors FSR. This sole has two surfaces, one smooth where the FSR are arranged under the feet soles of a biped robot which senses the reaction strength between the feet of the robot and the floor, and the remaining surface having a protrusion of the same size and shape than the FSR, which are brought into direct contact with the floor. Besides the dampening soles, the system includes a data acquisition subsystem, based on a microcontroller, fixed resistances and capacitors, which are essential for acquiring the signals obtained by the sensors, also including the processing and interpretation of the obtained information.

Description

Sensory system in templates for soles of Biped Robots FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to equipment or methods of data processing or digital computing, especially adapted to specific applications, for example, systems composed of sensors for different types of data acquisition. In turn, it mentions means for converting the output of one sensor element into another variable.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The invention is a sensory system arranged in templates, under the soles of the feet of a bipedal robot or multipatas. This system allows to obtain the centroid or center of gravity (COG) generated by the weight of the robot, which is evenly distributed under the soles of the feet while walking or standing on flat surfaces. This system allows the implementation of a "control system" of the equilibrium of a biped robot, giving a simpler, cheaper and more efficient approach compared to the current control systems. i. . ...;;; -,. ' ? .N. .

BACKGROUND Since the first development of the biped robot WABOT-1 in 1973 by the university from Waseda Japan, to the most sophisticated humanoid robots of today as ASMO of Honda, HRP-series of AIST and KHR-series of KAIST, all robots have had a common denominator: feet in the form of rigid and bulky blocks, no- anthropomorphic and without touch sensors in plants that allow them to "feel" the forces reaction between the feet and the floor, in addition to not having a cushioning material as we humans have in the layers of skin of our soles. The sensors that are used in these humanoids for balance control are 3 Mainly: Force-torque sensors placed on joints like ankles, knees, elbows and wrists; 3-axis accelerometers normally placed on the torso of the . . . '.' . . . '< robot where the greatest amount of mass is concentrated to measure the inertial forces, and finally, gyroscopes used to measure displacements, speeds and angular accelerations at key points of the robot. There are some documents in the state of art, which speak 'on the subject' motif of this document. The article in SICE-ÍCASE International Joint Conference 2007, entitled: "Fuzzy Posture Control for Biped Walking Robot Based on Force Sensor for ZMP ", describes the use of 'sensors' resistive force (FSR) under the soles of the feet of a bipedal robot to obtain the center average where I know '' concentrates all its weight. The approach in this article is different proposed, 'since this article only mentions the use of FSR sensors without considering the layer of elastic material that protects said sensors and dampens the contact with the floor as does the present invention of this document. On the other hand, the robot humanoid commercial NAO developed by the French company Aldebaran Robotics, It has integrated 4 resistive force sensors in each foot (one sensor in each corner), for what is possible to obtain the digital values of each sensor through a command of programming. However, this proposal differs from the sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots, since it does not have the buffer layer of elastic material, nor does it present an algorithm for obtaining the average pressure center, as they have the proposed system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Figure 1.- Top view of the cushion template. '' '""' Figure 2.- Side view of the cushion template.

Figure 3.- Data acquisition system connected to the SFR sensors of the template shock absorber Figure 4.- View of the damping templates with the SFR sensors. í 1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION , ! "'_ The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots, is composed of various elements, which interact with each other. First, there are templates buffers (2) flat, 'the' which have an irregular geometry, resembling. the. plant of "the human feet, but without the fingers, where one of the cushioning insoles (2) It has the shape of the sole of the right foot, while the other has the shape of the sole of the left foot; said templates are placed on the outer face of the foot of the robot (5). These cushioning insoles (2), are flexible and elastic material, preferably industrial silicone, since this material resembles the texture of human skin, since it is water-repellent, stable in ambient temperature ranges, resistant, elastic and flexible . The cushioning insoles (2), have two faces: a smooth face where mounted FSR sensors (1) under the sole of the robot (5) and a face with protuberances (4), which make direct contact with the floor. Therefore the cushioning insoles (2), have mainly three purposes: to cushion the impact between each foot of the robot (5) and the floor, since like humans we have layers of skin and nerve endings on the feet , robots have sensors that must be protected from the forces of impact that occur when walking or running. Another purpose is to protect the sensorés'FSR ^ iyíSensors of Force) 'of the wear, since Inconstante contact of the feet of the robot (5) with the floor causes a premature wear in them, and consequently, the malfunction of the same. Finally, another purpose of the cushioning templates '(2) is to concentrate the contact forces between the floor and the feet of the robot (5) on the sensors' FSR (1). For this, the spacer template '(2) has' at least four slight protuberances (4) preferably circular, and which are located equidistant from each other, at 45 ° from a point of balance (3) very close to one of the corners. edges of the cushioning templates (2) (see fig. 1); said protrusions protrude from the outer face of the cushioning insoles (2) to ensure that the entire weight of the robot body is concentrated in the sensitive area of the FSR (1), since in said protuberances, the FSR sensors are placed ( 1). Each one of the?;. | · *, (. ..I ·,. ·. ·. .'I '... t, -' ·: ·. | -|, ..; ·. · 'V., ..' ·· '?;' ¾V, ... I!.:. "] _,.., | L * <; i ··!. ·, · «. ! .a ii ·:;. ·: ... isn. -| ':. · .. |' · '· *' · IÜ..I. V. 1 .-. , ?? ?? : '·: .. · : · .. '.... ..... i. / .I "';?.,. ¡? <??. ?? ·. · ... · FSR force sensors (1) are piezoresistive, which change their electrical resistance by applying a source of pressure in the sensitive area, since they are made of two very thin layers of different conductive materials, which are in face-to-face contact, and that when applying a pressure force, the contact surface between these two materials increases at the microscopic level, thus decreasing the electrical resistance in a linear manner, without hysteresis and with a very fast response time, in addition to generating a signal with little noise and easy to manipulate.

Once having the damping jig (2) and the force sensors (1) in it (see figure 4), a program routine is needed to analyze and interpret the information generated by said sensors. Basically what is required to obtain are the cartesian components of the centroid or center of gravity (COG) of the set of forces obtained by the FSR sensors (1) and the distances of said sensors to the equilibrium point (3) as shown in Figure 1. Said program routine is based on the formulas described below: " Where Fj is the force obtained by the nth sensor FSR '(1) and r, is the distance of the sensor to the point of origin already on the x axis or on the axis depending on the case; Thus, the 'sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots, for their operation, is incorporated into some control system that makes use of the COG under the plants of both feet of the robot (5) and allows it to control' its balance either in a static state (while standing on some flat surface) -; b in dynamic 'state' (while walking or running) The above can be achieved through a data acquisition subsystem, based on a microcontroller with analog-digital converters and a resistive circuit consisting of fixed resistors and capacitors that adapt the signal coming from the sensors (see figure 3) Inside the micro-controller is the program routine to generate the COG, for later, once the information is obtained, it is sent to the control system to maintain the balance of the robot.

The advances in knowledge about humanoid robots, are very important, since each time is closer to being able to reproduce in robots, the natural movement that we humans and animals have.

Claims

CLAIMS? 1 Having sufficiently described my invention, I consider it a novelty and therefore claim as my exclusive property, what is contained in the following clauses:

1. A sensory system in templates for bipedal robot soles comprises FSR sensors, a control system, a data acquisition subsystem characterized in that cushioning templates allow a better interaction of these elements with the feet of the bipedal robot.

2. The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that the cushioning insoles are of "," flexible and elastic material, preferably industrial silicone re. ... .... · ... · ... i »: c ^ .. ¡í |. . . ... "·. ? ..:. ? - > ?; ?; .. «. ··. ..; · | .- -

3. The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that the cushioning insoles are flat and of geometry that resembles the soles of the feet of humans but without fingers.

4. The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that the cushioning insoles are placed on the outsole face of the foot of the robot. · · |

The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots according to claim 1, characterized in that the cushioning insoles have at least 4 preferably circular protrusions which are equidistant from each other, preferably at 45 ° from an equilibrium point.

The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots according to claim 5, characterized in that the protrusions protrude from the outer face of the damping jig.

The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that it has at least four FSR sensors which are placed in the protuberances of the buffer template.

The sensory system in templates for biped robot soles according to claim 7 characterized in that the FSR sensors are preferably piezoresistivbsV 1 / "''" '·'

The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots according to claim 1, characterized in that the data acquisition subsystem is formed by a microcontroller with integrated analog-digital converters, fixed resistors and capacitors. '" 5"'*

10. The sensory system in templates for biped robot soles in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that in the data acquisition subsystem, within the microcontroller finds a program routine, responsible for generating the cartesian components of the centroid or center of gravity (COG) of the set of forces obtained by the FSR sensors and the distances of said sensors to a point of equilibrium.

11. The sensory system in templates for soles of bipedal robots in accordance with claim 11, characterized in that the program routine is based on the following formulas ..