Sun Bo, Jing Xingjian
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China.
Robotics Biomim. 2017;4(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s40638-017-0070-6. Epub 2017 Nov 13.
For track-based robots, an important aspect is the suppression design, which determines the trafficability and comfort of the whole system. The trafficability limits the robot's working capability, and the riding comfort limits the robot's working effectiveness, especially with some sensitive instruments mounted on or operated. To these aims, a track-based robot equipped with a novel passive bio-inspired suspension is designed and studied systematically in this paper. Animal or insects have very special leg or limb structures which are good for motion control and adaptable to different environments. Inspired by this, a new track-based robot is designed with novel "legs" for connecting the loading wheels to the robot body. Each leg is designed with passive structures and can achieve very high loading capacity but low dynamic stiffness such that the robot can move on rough ground similar to a multi-leg animal or insect. Therefore, the trafficability and riding comfort can be significantly improved without losing loading capacity. The new track-based robot can be well applied to various engineering tasks for providing a stable moving platform of high mobility, better trafficability and excellent loading capacity.
对于履带式机器人而言，一个重要方面是其减震设计，这决定了整个系统的通过性和舒适性。通过性限制了机器人的工作能力，而乘坐舒适性则限制了机器人的工作效率，尤其是在安装或操作了一些精密仪器的情况下。为了实现这些目标，本文系统地设计并研究了一种配备新型被动仿生悬架的履带式机器人。动物或昆虫具有非常特殊的腿部或肢体结构，这些结构有利于运动控制并能适应不同环境。受此启发，设计了一种新型履带式机器人，它带有用于将负重轮连接到机器人主体的新型“腿部”。每条腿都采用被动结构设计，能够实现很高的承载能力，但动态刚度较低，这样机器人就能像多腿动物或昆虫一样在崎岖地面上移动。因此，在不损失承载能力的情况下，通过性和乘坐舒适性能够得到显著提升。这种新型履带式机器人可以很好地应用于各种工程任务，以提供一个具有高机动性、更好通过性和出色承载能力的稳定移动平台。
