JP2633666B2 - Walking robot - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a walking robot applied to inspection and monitoring work in, for example, a nuclear power plant or various factories.

(Prior Art) In recent years, research and development of various types of moving mechanisms have been performed. In particular, in a nuclear power plant, etc., a moving mechanism that crosses various pipes, moves through narrow passages and stairs while avoiding equipment and obstacles, and can reach the target place, performs inspections and work on behalf of humans. It is important as a development element of the robot to perform.

For example, in a nuclear power plant, the operation is stopped once a year, and a periodic inspection is performed according to a predetermined schedule. The items of this periodic inspection are extremely large, but it is desired that the inspection be completed in as short a period as possible in order to improve the operation rate. Depending on the place of inspection and inspection,
There are some places where the entry time of one worker is limited due to the influence of radiation, so that many workers are required and work efficiency is poor. In addition, it is important to check and inspect the devices and devices during the operation of the plant, because it enables early detection of abnormal events and early response. However, there are many places where humans are usually difficult to access during operation.

Against this background, various robots have been developed that perform inspections and inspections on behalf of humans. For example, there are inspection and working robots such as a monorail robot, a wheel robot, and a crawler robot equipped with a TV camera, a manipulator, various detectors such as a radiation dose rate meter, a thermometer, and the like.

However, these robots have various difficulties. For example, in the case of a monorail system, a track must be laid, which requires time and effort for ancillary equipment and further limits the range of action of the robot. In particular, it is extremely difficult to lay a track in an existing plant in terms of the space for installing the track, environmental conditions such as work for installing the track device, and the like. A wheel-type robot cannot get over a weir, a step, a pipe, a cable, and the like, and a crawler-type robot may hurt an opponent who gets over the weir, a step, a pipe, a cable, and the like. Furthermore, a robot of a wheel type, a crawler type, or the like often has a cable for control and power supply, so that an action range is limited, and a device for performing a cable process according to the movement of the robot is also required. .

In recent years, legged walking robots have been developed which can move over weirs and steps and can straddle cables and pipes without damaging them. For example, a two-legged type simulating human walking or a four-legged type similar thereto is typical.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, walking robots developed so far lack stability and high speed, are inadequate for changing directions and changing directions, and have extremely complicated mechanisms and weight. There is a problem that it becomes large. For this reason, as a practical robot that enters various places and performs inspections and the like, it is necessary to rely on the above-described wheel type or the like, and in fact, sufficient results have not always been obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object excellent stability and high-speed performance, a wide range of action, and also damages roads where obstacles such as weirs, steps, pipes, cables, and the like exist. To provide a walking robot that can easily move over without running, and that is relatively simple and lightweight.In addition, by controlling from a remote location, any operation can be performed based on a certain visual sense, It is an object of the present invention to provide a walking robot for inspection that can easily perform practical operations such as monitoring and can easily replace leg units and can easily perform repairs or change specifications according to a place of use.

[Configuration of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a robot body provided with a control unit integrally or separately, and at least six robots attached at substantially equal intervals around the robot body. A walking robot having a leg unit of the present invention and a driving mechanism for driving each of the leg units based on a command from the control unit, wherein each of the leg units is on a horizontal plane and a vertical plane with respect to the robot body. A base link consisting of a pair of upper and lower substantially parallel links connected with a degree of freedom above, and connected with a degree of freedom on a vertical plane to the tip of the base link by a pin connection. And a driving mechanism for driving each of the leg units, the driving mechanism having a configuration including one end link,
A vertical swivel shaft attached to the robot body, a pair of ball screws provided at the upper and lower ends of the swivel shaft, the axes of which incline downward and upward, respectively; A pair of nuts that move in the tilting direction, and a motor that individually rotates and drives these turning shafts and each ball screw. While one end is pivotally supported via a bracket rotatable on a vertical surface, the lower nut is pivotally supported at one end of the lower link of the base link, thereby allowing the distal end of the leg unit to be supported. A setting in which the link is moved within a certain angular range on a horizontal plane by the rotation of the turning shaft, and within a range of an upper concave distortion square assumed on a vertical plane by the movement of each nut. A walking operation by the leg unit while maintaining the robot body at a constant height by floating and moving the other leg unit while always maintaining the landing state with one of the adjacent leg units. Are performed alternately, and the vertical projection point of the center of gravity of the robot main body is set in a rectangular area formed by the installation point of the leg unit in the walking operation, and further, data transfer with the outside of the robot main body And a general controller for controlling all of the leg units, a plurality of local controllers for individually controlling the movements of the leg units, and a plurality of local controllers for driving a driving mechanism of the leg units. A driver, a visual device provided on the robot body, and a control unit thereof. A video transmitter for transmitting a video by the visual device, a visual device driving controller for changing a viewing direction by the visual device, a detector for detecting environmental information arranged by the robot main body, and the robot main body A power source for driving each of the driving parts, and a remote command device provided separately from the robot body, wherein the remote command device is a main unit for processing data to be sent to the robot body side. It has a control device, a wireless transmission / reception device for transferring data to / from a wireless transmission / reception device of the robot body, and a monitor device for monitoring an image of a visual device of the robot body.

(Operation) According to the present invention, the robot main body can be stably moved and supported, and the configuration of the leg unit for that purpose can be simplified, and the leg unit can be easily replaced and the like. Greater effects in terms of practicality, reliability, economy, etc., especially as reactor inspection robots, etc., such as reduction of labor related to robots and the range of parts setting corresponding to the use environment and work type of the robot Is played. That is, a base unit link consisting of a pair of upper and lower substantially parallel links connected with a degree of freedom on a horizontal plane and a vertical plane with respect to the robot body,
This is a configuration having a single distal link connected to the distal end of the proximal link by a pin connection with a degree of freedom on a vertical plane, and a simple link configuration having no motor at the joint. I have.

The drive mechanism for driving each of the leg units includes a vertical pivot shaft attached to the robot body, and a pair of pivot shafts provided at the upper and lower ends of the pivot shaft, the axes of which are inclined downward and upward, respectively. , A pair of nuts that respectively engage with these ball screws and move in the inclined direction, and motors that individually rotate and drive these turning shafts and each of the ball screws. All are provided on the robot main body side, and when the leg unit is replaced, replacement of the motor and the like is not necessarily required.

Further, one end of the upper link of the proximal link is pivotally supported on the nut located on the upper side via a bracket rotatable on a vertical plane, while the lower nut is connected to the lower link of the proximal link by the nut located on the lower side. One end is pivotally supported, whereby the tip link of the leg unit is moved within a certain angular range on the horizontal plane by the rotation of the pivot axis, and the upper concave concave square area assumed on the vertical plane by the movement of each nut. The robot unit is set in such a way that it can be moved inside, and the leg unit consisting of a link with a relatively simple structure that does not have a motor in the joint part is stably supported by the robot body by the turning shaft, inclined ball screw, nuts engaging with it, etc. , And the whole structure can be made compact.

In addition, by constantly lifting and moving the other leg unit while keeping the landing state of one of the adjacent leg units, the walking operation by the leg unit is alternately performed while holding the robot body at a constant height. By setting such that the vertical projection point of the center of gravity of the robot main body falls within the rectangular area formed by the installation points of the leg units in the walking operation, the walking operation can be stabilized.

Furthermore, the walking robot of the present invention includes a wireless transceiver, a general controller, a local controller, a plurality of drivers, a visual device, a control unit, a video transmitter, a visual device driving controller, and a detector for detecting environmental information. It has a power source for driving the driving part and a remote command device, and the remote command device exchanges data with a main control device for processing data to be sent to the robot body and a wireless transceiver of the robot body. Wireless transmission and reception device and a monitor device for monitoring the image of the visual device of the robot body, so that various types of remote control can be performed in a space where workers cannot enter, such as in a nuclear reactor. Inspection and monitoring of items can be performed easily.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control system of a walking robot according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a side view showing a mechanical configuration of the walking robot, FIG. 3 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the walking robot according to the present embodiment is roughly composed of a remote command unit 1 as a control unit, and a moving unit 2 that moves separately from the remote command unit 1. The remote command unit 1 processes control data to be sent to the moving unit 2 and receives data representing the state of the moving unit 2, a wireless transmitting / receiving device 4 and its antenna 4 a, It comprises a TV monitor 5 for receiving the transmitted video and its antenna 5a.

The moving unit 2 has a robot body 6 and six leg units 7 for moving the robot body.

The system configuration of the moving unit 2 is as shown in FIG.
Drivers 11a, 11b, 11c, 12a,... 16a, 16b, 16c for driving the leg unit 7 as directly related elements for movement, and local controllers 11 to 16 for directly driving and controlling the leg unit 7
16, a supervising controller 17 for managing and controlling the local controllers 11 to 16, a wireless transceiver 18 and its antenna 18 a, and a battery 19. Also,
As inspection components, a TV camera 20, which is a visual device,
The camera includes a camera control 20, a video transmitter 20b, an antenna 20c, a camera platform 21, a camera platform driver 21a, and a camera platform controller 22.

The leg unit 7 has three degrees of freedom as described later. In order to control the three operations, the leg unit 7 has three DC motors, three encoders (position detectors), six limit switches and 3b. Each has a brake.

Although not particularly shown, the moving unit 2 is equipped with a temperature / humidity meter, a radiation dose rate meter, and the like as various detectors, transmits measurement data to the remote command unit 1, and monitors environmental information. I have.

Next, the mechanical configuration of the moving unit 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the robot main body 6 has a regular hexagonal column shape, and six leg units 7 are mounted around the robot main body 6 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Each leg unit 7 includes a remote command unit 1 as a control unit.
Are driven by the controllers 11 to 16 and 11a to 16a as actuators and actuators which operate based on commands from the controller.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, each leg unit 7 has a pair of upper and lower substantially parallel members connected to the robot body 6 with a degree of freedom on a horizontal plane and a vertical plane. The base unit has a base end link 7a including links 29 and 30, and one end link 7b connected to the end of the leg unit 7a by a pin connection with a degree of freedom on a vertical plane. . A drive mechanism for driving each leg unit 7 includes a vertical pivot shaft 23 attached to the robot body 6 and this pivot shaft 23.
A pair of ball screws 24, 25 provided at the upper and lower ends of 23 and having their axes inclined downward and upward, respectively, and a pair of ball screws 24, 25 engaging with these ball screws 24, 25 and moving in the inclined direction. , And motors for individually rotating and driving the turning shaft 23 and the ball screws 24, 25.

Further, one end of the upper link 29 of the proximal link 7a is pivotally supported on the nut 26 located on the upper side via a bracket 28 rotatable on a vertical plane, while the lower link of the proximal link 7a is One end of the lower link 30 is pivotally supported, whereby the tip link 7b of the leg unit 7 is rotated within a certain angular range on a horizontal plane by the rotation of the pivot shaft 23, and the nuts 26, 27
Is set so as to be moved within the range of an upper concave distortion square assumed on the vertical plane by the movement of.

That is, the base end link 7a is composed of a vertical pivot shaft 23, a pair of ball screws 24, 25 and nuts 26, 27 having inclined axes provided at the upper and lower ends of the pivot shaft 23, and the nuts 2
A triangular plate-shaped bracket 28 with two points supported on 6,27,
It comprises parallel links 29 and 30 connected to the bracket 28.

The connecting portions of the links 7a, 7b are all rotatable pin connections. End point P for supporting the proximal link 7a to the nuts 26 and 27
_A, is P _B, by each of the ball screw 24, 25 is rotated by the DC motor 31, by a fixed stroke to slide along the axis of the ball screw 24. End point P _A
When is the slides in the fourth diagram of A 'direction, the bracket 28 is pivoted to the end point P _B as a fulcrum, via a parallel link 29, 30 the lower end of the end link 7b moves in the A direction in FIG.
When the end point P _B is slid in the direction B ′, the bracket 28 rotates about the end point P _A as a fulcrum, and the parallel links 29 and 3 are moved.
The lower end of the leading link 7b moves in the B direction via 0. That is, the movable range of the end link 7b is a portion surrounded by the points P _1, P _2, P ₃ and P ₄ in the vertical plane as shown in the figure, thus, the end link 7b are , The rotation of the pivot shaft 23 within a certain angular range on the horizontal
It is set to move within the range of the upper concave concave rectangle assumed on the vertical plane by the movement of 26 and 27.

The stroke positions of the end points P _A and P _B of the base link 7a are detected by an encoder, and the limit position of the stroke is detected by a limit switch. The entire link mechanism is rotationally driven by a DC motor around a pivot 23 shown in the drawing, that is, within a certain range on a horizontal plane.
The rotation position of the leg turning shaft 23 is also detected by the encoder, and the rotation limit position is detected by the limit switch. As described above, each leg unit 7 has a total of three degrees of freedom, ie, two degrees of freedom for swinging the leg on the vertical plane and one degree of freedom for turning the leg on the horizontal plane. The states of the legs O, P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ and P ₄ in FIG. 2 correspond to the points O,
They correspond to the states of P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ and P ₄ respectively. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, an arbitrary leg unit 7 is turned on a horizontal plane to be divided into two groups, a front leg and a rear leg. One of the leg units 7 adjacent to each other is set so that it always lands and performs a walking operation.

Then, by transmitting control data from the main control device 3 to the moving unit 2, the leg unit 7 is driven, the control unit 2 reaches a target location, and the image captured by the TV camera 20 is displayed on the TV monitor 5. To send to.

In this embodiment, a TV camera is selected as the visual device. However, the present invention is not limited to the TV camera, and other visual means using light rays or the like can be applied.

 Next, the operation will be described.

In the above configuration, an arbitrary set of three legs formed of every other one of the six leg units 7 is grounded, and the vertical projection point of the center of gravity of the robot body 6 is set within a triangle formed by the grounding points of the three legs. By controlling to enter, a stable posture can always be maintained. As a basic movement method of this robot, while constantly maintaining such a state, two sets of three legs alternately alternate between a ground contact state and a state in which the legs are lifted, so that the floor surface movement and weirs, steps, It can get over pipes, cables, etc. However, 3
The leg of the book controls each degree of freedom so that it moves in the direction of movement, and the three legs with the legs lifted send the three legs in the direction of movement,
Move to ground.

Such movement control is achieved by sending walking data from the main control unit of the remote command unit to the general controller of the moving unit, and since it is cableless, the range of action is limited to every corner in nuclear power plants and various factories. The inspection work by the visual device is achieved by remote control without being performed. Further, as various detectors for environmental information, a temperature / humidity meter, a radiation dose rate meter, an oxygen concentration meter, and the like are mounted on a moving unit, and the environmental information can be monitored by sending measurement data to a remote command unit.

According to the above embodiment, the robot main body 6 can always walk in a stable state by the three leg units 7, and the operation of moving over obstacles and the high speed can be easily performed. It can be done easily by turning on the horizontal plane of 7a. Therefore, the range of action is wide, and it is easy even on a road surface or a winding road where obstacles are damaged,
And can walk quickly.

Further, since each leg unit 7 has a link structure in which the proximal link 7a has a degree of freedom on a horizontal plane and a vertical plane, and the distal link 7b has a degree of freedom on a vertical plane, the configuration is relatively simple. The drive motor and the like can also have a simple configuration, and can be easily made compact and lightweight.

Moreover, according to the configuration of the embodiment in which the leg units 7 are equally arranged around the robot body 6 having the rotationally symmetric configuration, the direction of movement is not particularly limited, and the course direction can be changed very easily. .

Furthermore, cableless remote control becomes possible by wireless transmission and reception, and the degree of freedom of action is increased, and by adding a data processing function and an external environment detection function, it is extremely effective for inspection of nuclear power plants. Become.

In the above-described embodiment, the robot main body 6 has a hexagonal column shape. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The robot main body 6 may have another polygonal column shape or a columnar shape, and may have an arbitrary shape.

Further, the number of the leg units 7 is not limited to six, and can be increased in consideration of the size and weight of the robot body 6.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied as an inspection robot. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to various operation robots by incorporating some operation mechanism.

According to the present embodiment having the above configuration, the robot main body 6 can be stably moved and supported, the configuration of the leg unit 7 for that purpose can be simplified, and the leg unit can be easily replaced. This reduces the time and effort involved in maintenance, etc., and the range of parts setting corresponding to the operating environment and type of work of the robot is expanded.In particular, in terms of practicality, reliability, economy, etc., as a reactor inspection robot, etc. A great effect is achieved.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the walking robot according to the present invention,
Excellent stability and high speed, with a wide range of movement.Even on a road surface with obstacles such as weirs, steps, pipes, cables, etc., it can easily walk over without damaging them, making it relatively simple and lightweight. In addition, by controlling from a remote location, any operation can be performed based on a certain visual sense, practical operations such as inspection and monitoring can be easily performed, and leg units can be easily replaced and repaired. The effect that the specification change etc. according to a use place etc. can be performed easily etc. is produced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system showing one embodiment of a walking robot according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view showing the configuration of the robot, FIG. 3 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. It is a block diagram showing a unit. 1 Remote command unit (control unit), 2 Moving unit, 4 Wireless transmitter / receiver, 5 TV monitor, 6 Robot body, 7 Leg unit, 7a Base link, 7b: Tip link, 8: Main controller, 11-16: Local controller, 17: General controller, 18: Wireless transceiver, 20: Camera control unit, 23: Rotating axis, 24 , 25 ... ball screw, 26,27 ... nut, 28 ... bracket, 31 ... DC motor (drive mechanism).

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued from the front page (72) Ryoichi Nakayama, Inventor Ryoichi Nakayama 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside the head office of Toshiba Corporation (56) References JP-A-61-30385 (JP, A) JP-A-62-251284 (JP, A) JP-A-59-156877 (JP, A) JP-A-62-251096 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A robot body having a control unit integrally or separately, at least six leg units attached at substantially equal intervals around the robot body, and based on a command from the control unit. A walking mechanism having a drive mechanism for driving each leg unit, wherein each leg unit is a pair of upper and lower substantially connected to the robot body with a degree of freedom on a horizontal plane and a vertical plane. A base link comprising a parallel link, and one end link connected to the distal end of the proximal link by a pin connection with a degree of freedom on a vertical plane; and each leg unit The drive mechanism for driving the robot body, a vertical pivot shaft attached to the robot body, a pair of ball screws provided at the upper and lower ends of the pivot shaft, the axis is inclined downward and upward respectively. , Each of the ball screws is configured to include a pair of nuts that move in the inclined direction by engaging with the ball screws, and a motor that individually rotates and drives the pivot shaft and each of the ball screws. While one end of the upper link of the proximal link is pivotally supported via a bracket rotatable on a vertical plane, the lower nut is pivotally supported by one end of the lower link of the proximal link. Thereby, the tip link of the leg unit is moved within a certain angular range on a horizontal plane by the rotation of the pivot axis, and within a range of an upper concave concave square assumed on a vertical plane by the movement of each nut. The robot is set to be moved, and the robot is lifted and moved while the other leg unit is kept in a landing state at any one of the adjacent leg units. While the main body is kept at a constant height, the walking operation by the leg units is alternately performed, and the vertical projection point of the center of gravity of the robot main body falls within the rectangular area created by the installation points of the leg units in the walking operation. And furthermore, a wireless transceiver for transferring data to and from the outside of the robot body, a general controller for controlling all of the leg units, and a plurality of local controllers for individually controlling the movement of the leg units. A plurality of drivers for driving a drive mechanism of the leg unit, a visual device provided in the robot body and a control unit thereof, an image transmitter for transmitting an image by the visual device, and a visual device. A visual device driving controller for changing the viewing direction and the robot body A detector for detecting environmental information, a power source mounted on the robot body for driving each of the drive units, and a remote command device provided separately from the robot body.
The remote commander is a main controller for processing data to be sent to the robot body, a wireless transceiver for transferring data to and from a wireless transceiver of the robot body, and a visual device for the robot body. And a monitor device for monitoring an image of the walking robot.