A study on a flexible mobile robot with versatile shape control based on multiple link-wheel mechanism (1st report, fundamental mechanism and motion of vroid i and its joint load distribution control method with the redundancy consideration)

Abstract

This paper presents a new concept of a flexible mobile and versatile shape reconfigurable control mechanism of a robot, called a versatile robotnoid (Vroid), which can be applied forplant maintenance works and other outdoor operational works, where its working environments are restricted due to mobil space and terrain. The Vroid I based on the multiple link-wheel mechanism has abilities of passing through rough terrains, passing over obstacles and going up and down stairway? Compared the Vroid I with conventional wheel, crawler and legged locomotion types of the mob le mechanisms the proposed one is considered to be superior to those from the viewpoint of flexibility and adaptability to working environments. Utilizing the redundancy of joints in degrees of freedom a method of the joint static control sequence is proposed to minimize the torques required to joint rotation under some constraints, which can easily be solved by the linear programming approach. © 1986, The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All rights reserved.