Improvement of operation speed for the legged robot with wheels by intelligent motion control

Abstract

Actuator miniaturizations for reducing robot weight have been mainly discussed as an improvement of operation speed of the robot. However, it only expects the performance improving of actuator, so it is difficult to point contribution of robotics technology such as intelligent control. We have been trying to design the actuator small, examining the motion pattern and detail torque and necessary power for the movement of the robot, and we aim at the miniaturization of the robot. Furthermore, we proposed the design method using maximum torque of motor instead of using allowable continuous torque. In case of the proposed technique, the motor torque is higher than allowable continuous torque, and the temperature of the motor rises more than the tolerance. Therefore, motor temperature-rise should be estimated if the operation is possible under the allowable temperature of the motor. It means the motor temperature-rise is needed to estimate before operation. Then, the estimation method of the temperature-rise was proposed when the robot was operated. The method was also applied for the 4-legged robot with 6 wheels. The task model of five terrain floors and mission model of integrated terrain floors simulated for a power plant were chosen for the movement object of the robot, and computer simulation was done for that. In addition, the experiment was done to verify the computer simulation using the experiment equipment of the temperature-rise. As a result, we showed the proposed the model of the motor temperature-rise. As a result, we showed the proposed the model of the motor temperature-rise was useful, and we could design using maximum motor torque. When the motor temperature-rise was assumed to be 40/spl deg/C for the mission model, the improvement of the robot operation speed was 4.4 times. When the motor temperature-rise was assumed to be 20/spl deg/C, the improvement of the robot operation speed was 1.6 times.