JP2740766B2 - Multi-legged working robot with legs convertible to arms - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-legged work system in which an arm (manipulator) is provided with a leg that can be diverted to an arm so that not only an object can be gripped, moved, and transported, but also can perform various operations. It is about a robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When working with a manipulator mounted on a mobile robot, it is often required to move while holding a larger working range or an object. In such a case, the manipulator is mounted on a moving trolley or walking robot, so that it is located above the ground by the height of the trolley or walking robot's legs, so even if you try to grip an object placed on the ground, If the bogie etc. do not approach the object sufficiently, the gripping part of the manipulator will not reach,
Alternatively, the user's legs may not be able to reach the object due to obstacles. However, making the manipulator too long in order to solve this problem is not advantageous for stabilizing the posture of the mobile robot and facilitating manipulator operation.

On the other hand, in many cases, a manipulator picks up an object placed on the ground, lifts it, and places it on the rear side of the mobile robot or at another position close to the mobile robot. However, when the direction of a walking robot is changed by stepping on a leg, the task becomes extremely slow. Therefore, simply mounting a manipulator on a mobile robot can be effectively used for those moving operations. It does not matter.

[0004]

A technical problem of the present invention is that a part of a leg in a multi-legged walking robot is configured to be usable as an arm (manipulator), and the stabilization of the posture of the walking robot is not impaired. By using it as an arm within the range, it is not necessary to separately mount a manipulator, and at the same time, it is possible to easily suppress interference with other legs, and an object held by a leg used as an arm To
An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-legged working robot capable of easily and quickly moving to an arbitrary position around the walking robot main body without changing directions by stepping on a leg or the like.

[0005]

A multi-legged working robot according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems comprises a walking robot in which a main body of a walking robot is installed so as to be rotatable around a leg base and a center pivot axis thereof. And a pedestal, wherein the leg pedestal includes at least three legs driven for a walking motion, and the rotating pedestal includes at least two or more legs capable of being used as an arm. The auxiliary legs are provided with an object gripping function to be used as an arm, and they are driven so that there is no mutual contact between the legs and the auxiliary legs.
It constituted by Rukoto a control device for controlling the movement.

[0006]

In the working multi-legged robot having the above-mentioned structure, the auxiliary leg which can be diverted to the arm is also used for walking, but when using the arm as an arm to grasp an object, the arm grasps the object on the ground. By lifting the object, rotating the rotating pedestal in that state, and dropping the object on the ground at the required position, the object can be moved to an arbitrary position around the robot body at high speed without stepping on the legs. .

In this case, an object on the ground is originally grasped by using the auxiliary legs installed as legs, so that it is not necessary to individually mount and control the manipulators. Not only is it easy to reach the object to make it an arm, but of course, the drive of those legs is controlled so that there is no mutual contact between the auxiliary leg and other legs that are diverted to the arm Therefore, interference between the legs can be easily suppressed. Also, when gripping an object, auxiliary legs that are not used for gripping can be used together with the original legs to stabilize the posture of the robot body. Stabilization can be achieved.

[0008]

1 to 3 show different operation states of a multi-legged working robot according to the present invention. In this multi-legged robot, a walking robot main body 10 includes a lower leg pedestal 11 and a lower leg pedestal 11.
It comprises a rotating pedestal 12 rotatably mounted around its central pivot 13, and although not shown, a drive device for rotating the rotating pedestal 12 with respect to the leg pedestal 11 is provided. . The leg pedestal 11 has three legs 15 that are driven for a walking motion, and the rotary pedestal 12 has a function that can be used as an arm.
The book has an auxiliary leg 16. At least three legs 15 are required for stable walking, and at least two auxiliary legs 16 are required for gripping the object 1.

The leg 15 can have various existing leg mechanisms, and the auxiliary leg 16 is desirably a mechanism as described later with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. Other suitable mechanisms that have been enabled may be employed. Therefore, although not shown, a driving device for driving the legs 15 and the auxiliary legs 16 and a control device for controlling the driving of these driving devices for the walking operation of the multi-legged robot are inevitably provided. Will be provided. The control by the control device controls the driving for walking so that each of the leg 15 and the auxiliary leg 16 does not contact with the other leg, thereby suppressing interference between the legs.

The auxiliary leg 16 must have an object gripping function for use as an arm. Therefore, an appropriate gripping mechanism that grips the object 1 is attached to the tip of the auxiliary leg 16 within a range that does not hinder use as a leg. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in order to clamp the object 1 between the two auxiliary legs 16, the auxiliary legs 16 are rotated in a horizontal plane at a portion where the auxiliary legs 16 are attached to the rotating pedestal 12. Alternatively, it is necessary to provide a driving device for bringing the distal end portion of the auxiliary leg 16 closer to pinch the object. Since these specific configurations are within a range that can be designed very easily, they will not be described in detail here.

[0011] The working multi-legged robot having the above configuration is
In the walking state as shown in FIG. 1, the auxiliary leg 16 which can be diverted to the arm is also used for walking,
In order to grasp the object 1, as shown in FIG. 2, the object 1 on the ground is grasped and lifted with the arm, and in this state, the rotating pedestal 12 is rotated as shown in FIG. By lowering, the object 1 can be moved to an arbitrary position around the robot body 10 at high speed without stepping on the leg.

In this case, since the object 1 on the ground is originally grasped by using the auxiliary leg 16 installed as a leg, there is no need to individually mount and control the manipulator. In order to use the auxiliary leg 16 used as a leg as an arm, it is not only easy to reach the object, but also, naturally, there is no mutual contact between the auxiliary leg 16 diverted to the arm and another leg 15. And their legs 15, 16
, The interference between the legs can be easily suppressed. When the object 1 is gripped, the auxiliary legs 16 not used for gripping the object 1 together with the original legs 15
Since the function can be made to stabilize the posture of the walking robot, the posture of the walking robot can be stabilized even if the auxiliary leg 16 becomes longer to some extent.

Next, an example of the auxiliary leg 16 will be described with reference to FIGS. The leg mechanism shown in the figure can be used for the walking operation of the multi-legged walking robot,
As shown by a solid line in FIG. 4, the first and second robots are rotatably mounted on the robot body 20.
Input link 21, 22, a connecting link 23 connected to the tip of the second input link 22 extending upward among the input links, one end is connected to the tip of the connecting link 23, and the intermediate portion is And an output link 24 connected to one input link 21. The second input link 22 is provided with an adjusting mechanism 26 for adjusting the length.

The adjusting mechanism 26 can be constructed by providing a screw shaft 27 which is driven to rotate and a female screw member 28 which moves on the screw shaft 27 with its rotation at the links at both ends. The mechanism is not limited to a simple mechanism, and any link extension mechanism can be adopted. This second
The adjustment mechanism 26 of the input link 22 is for making the leg mechanism which originally needs low speed and high torque have characteristics suitable for arm work which requires high speed and low torque. When used as a leg mechanism that outputs a signal, the second input link 22 is shortened so that the links 21 to 24 are connected in a parallelogram shape as shown by a chain line in the drawing, and used at high speed and low torque. In the case of a manual operation, the second input link 22 is extended as shown by the solid line.

When such an auxiliary leg 16 is used, it is necessary to provide a drive device for rotating the first and second input links 21 and 22 in the robot body 20, although not shown. is there. This driving device individually drives the first and second input links 21 and 22 in a plane including the links 21 to 24, respectively. Accordingly, the tip (leg) of the output link 24 can be moved to a desired position in the plane by the drive control of the drive device by the control device, and the walking operation required for the leg can be performed.
Arm work can be performed.

In order to convert the leg to an arm, the leg shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the connecting link 23 exceeds the geometric singularity where the connecting link 23 and the output link 24 are in a straight line.
3 and the output link 24 can be shifted to a state where the angle formed by the angle is 180 °. In this case, since the arm is used at high speed and low torque, the second input link 22 is held in the extended state as described above.

When the leg mechanism having such a configuration is used as a leg, the leg mechanism can be used as a normal parallel closed link as a first parallel closed link.
By driving one or both of the second input link 21 and the second input link 22, the end of the output link 24 is caused to perform a desired movement, and the walking robot performs a necessary walking movement.
In this case, the length of the second input link 22 is maintained in a shortened state, so that the output link 24 is driven at a low speed and a high torque, and the legs are driven with a large force while supporting their own weight.

[0018]

As described in detail above, according to the multi-legged working robot of the present invention, a part of its legs can be used as an arm (manipulator), so that the posture of the walking robot can be stabilized. By using it as an arm within a range that does not impair the construction, it is not necessary to separately mount a manipulator, and at the same time, interference with other legs can be easily suppressed, and a leg used as an arm Without changing the direction of the object held by
Easy around the walking robot body or any other position,
You can move quickly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a walking state in an embodiment of a multi-legged robot according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an object gripping state in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a moving state of an object in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram for explaining a walking state of a leg mechanism suitable for use in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram for explaining a manner in which the leg mechanism is used as an arm.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Walking robot body 11 Leg pedestal 12 Rotating pedestal 13 Rotating axis 15 Leg 16 Auxiliary leg

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takeo Arai 1-2-2 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki Pref. Machinery Research Laboratory, Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (56) References JP-A-59-134068 (JP, A) 1984-152080 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A walking robot body comprising a leg base and a rotary base rotatably mounted around a center pivot axis thereof, wherein the leg base is driven for walking. The rotary pedestal is provided with at least two or more auxiliary legs having a function that can also be used as an arm, and the auxiliary legs have an object gripping function for use as an arm. It was given, the driving of them so that there is no mutual contact of the leg with the support jack
A multi-legged working robot having a leg which can be diverted to an arm, comprising a control device for controlling .