Four-Legged Robot Joint Architecture for Faithful Animal Motion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional robot devices are limited in the number of joints, making it difficult to faithfully reproduce the movements of a four-legged animal like a dog.
Innovation Solution
The robot device incorporates a head portion coupled to a trunk with four leg portions, a first joint portion that tilts the head left and right, and a second joint portion that rotates the rear leg portions to the front and rear sides, along with increased joint portions for more versatile movements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the number of joints in the robot device is limited, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ability to faithfully reproduce four-legged animal movements deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The robot device divides its body into multiple segments including a head portion, trunk, and four leg portions, each with independent joints. The leg portions are further segmented into thigh, shin, and foot sections with multiple joints each, enabling complex movements that faithfully reproduce four-legged animal locomotion while managing overall system complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The robot incorporates multiple degrees of freedom with joints that can dynamically adjust their positions and orientations. The leg portions include joints that enable flexion, extension, and rotation, allowing the robot to adapt its body configuration to reproduce various animal movement patterns including walking, running, and posture changes
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of joints is increased to reproduce animal movements, then the movement fidelity improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The joint design incorporates universal joints and multi-axis rotation capabilities that allow the same joint structure to perform multiple functions. For example, the joints in the leg portions can simultaneously control elevation, depression, and rotational movements, enabling a single joint to replace what would otherwise require multiple separate joints, thus maintaining movement fidelity while controlling complexity
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a robot device including: a head portion coupled to a trunk; four leg portions on a front left, a front right, a rear left, and a rear right coupled to the trunk; a first indirect portion that tilts the head portion left and right; and a second joint portion that rotates, with respect to the trunk, one of the leg portions on the rear left and the rear right to a front side, and the other to a rear side. It is possible to faithfully reproduce the movement of the four-legged animal by providing the first joint portion and the second joint portion.