Legged Robot Protrusion Control for Uneven Terrain Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legged mobile robots face challenges in achieving stable movement due to uneven surfaces, and existing solutions often complicate the structure and operation control.
Innovation Solution
A legged mobile robot design featuring legs with protrusions that can move in multiple directions, including laterally, and a control system that adjusts these protrusions up and down to enhance contact with the surface, ensuring stability by locking movement after landing and following the surface shape.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a foot support mechanism with movable claw portions is used to follow ground unevenness, then walking stability is improved, but the structure and operation control become complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The foot support mechanism is divided into multiple independent movable claw portions that can individually follow ground unevenness. Each claw portion acts as a separate segment that independently adapts to the terrain, simplifying the overall control while maintaining stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The claw portions are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing them to dynamically adapt to ground unevenness. The movable structure enables automatic adjustment to terrain variations without complex control systems.
2Reliability
If a foot support mechanism with movable claw portions is used to follow ground unevenness, then walking stability is improved, but operation control becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The movable claw portions are designed to automatically follow ground unevenness through their own mechanical structure, without requiring complex external control. The mechanism serves itself by using the ground reaction forces to drive the claw portions into the appropriate positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The dynamic movable structure allows the claw portions to automatically adjust to terrain changes, reducing the need for complex operation control while maintaining walking stability.
3Area of stationary object
If protrusions are designed to move in multiple directions including laterally, then contact area with surface is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Protrusions are added in multiple directions including lateral directions, transforming the contact interface from a single-plane structure to a multi-dimensional array. This increases the contact area with the ground surface while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The foot support mechanism is segmented into multiple protrusions distributed in different directions, allowing each protrusion to independently contact the ground and contribute to the overall contact area without requiring complex interconnections.
Data Source
AI summary
A legged mobile robot includes at least two legs. The legs are movable in a front-rear direction of the legged mobile robot. Each of distal end portions of the legs is provided with a plurality of protrusions. Protruding directions of the protrusions are a plurality of directions including a lateral direction intersecting with the front-rear direction. The protrusions can come into contact with a moving surface on which the legs move. Further, the legged mobile robot includes a drive device that displaces each of the protrusions up down with respect to a sole in contact with the moving surface in the leg. The legged mobile robot further includes a control device that controls movement of the protrusions.