Guide Dog Robot Harness Damping for Stable User Intention Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional guide dog robots face issues with unstable control due to low harness refinement, leading to shortened mechanism lifetime and difficulty in intuitively interpreting user intentions, which can cause inconvenience and instability for visually impaired users.
Innovation Solution
A guide dog robot system incorporating a harness unit, spring damper unit, and body part with inertia measurement units (IMUs) to measure position and speed, allowing for stable control and intuitive interaction by transferring external forces smoothly and immediately, using a mass-spring-damper model to calculate interaction forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a simple harness structure is used, then device complexity is reduced, but control stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a spring damper unit as an intermediary component between the harness unit and the body part. This spring damper unit acts as a mediator that smoothly transmits external forces from the user to the robot while filtering out sudden shocks and vibrations, thereby maintaining control stability without requiring a complex harness structure. The spring damper unit includes a spring element and damper element that work together to provide mechanical filtering of force transmissions.
2Device complexity
If the harness unit is directly connected to the body part, then device complexity is reduced, but the lifetime of mechanism units is shortened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies beforehand cushioning by incorporating a spring damper unit that proactively absorbs and dampens external forces before they reach the mechanism units in the body part. The spring element provides elastic cushioning while the damper element provides viscous damping, working together to protect the mechanism units from wear caused by sudden impacts and repetitive stresses, thereby extending their operational lifetime.
3Measurement precision
If IMU sensors are installed in each component, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the sensor system into multiple independent IMU units, each installed in specific components (harness unit, spring damper unit, and body part). Each IMU independently measures position and speed at its local location, providing distributed measurement data that improves overall measurement precision. This segmented sensor architecture allows for localized measurements that can be processed independently, reducing the complexity of a single centralized sensor system while achieving higher overall measurement accuracy.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables stable and safe guidance for visually impaired individuals by minimizing external forces, reducing wrist burden, and ensuring smooth interaction, thus enhancing user comfort and safety during navigation.
Implementation Method 1
a spring damper unit connected to the harness unit and configured to move in an axial direction, based on an external force acting between the visually impaired person and the guide dog robot
Implementation Method 2
a spring damper unit connected to the harness unit and configured to move in an axial direction, based on an external force acting between the visually impaired person and the guide dog robot
Implementation Method 3
each of the harness unit, the spring damper unit, and the body part includes an inertia measurement unit (IMU), and the IMU measures a position and a speed at a position at which the IMU is equipped
Data Source
AI summary
A guide dog robot for visually impaired persons is provided. The guide dog robot includes a harness unit configured to grip a visually impaired person, a spring damper unit connected to the harness unit and configured to move in an axial direction, based on an external force acting between the visually impaired person and the guide dog robot, and a body part configured to perform movement based on a movement intention of the visually impaired person and a moving motion of the guide dog robot, the body part including an upper surface with the spring damper unit mounted thereon. Each of the harness unit, the spring damper unit, and the body part comprises an inertia measurement unit (IMU), and the IMU measures a position and a speed at a position at which the IMU is equipped.