一种仿婴儿欠自由度四足爬行机器人

A Baby-mimic Insufficient-DOF Quadruped Crawling Robot

  • 摘要: 受婴儿爬行时独特的躯体形态的启发,设计了具有柔性脊柱和弹性膝关节的欠自由度四足爬行机器人BabyBot,其脊柱为变截面通体柔顺结构,膝关节为无自由度可变形被动关节.利用伪刚体法对柔性脊柱和弹性膝关节的结构参数进行设计,采用中枢模式发生器(CPG)运动控制模型生成对角爬行步态轨迹,柔顺机构与仿生控制有机结合形成了BabyBot机器人“以膝着地、腰髋耦合”的仿婴儿爬行步态.对欠自由度仿婴儿机器人的机构可行性,以及柔性脊柱对机器人运动性能的影响进行仿真及实验,结果表明,具有弹性膝关节的欠自由度四足机器人可以实现平稳的爬行运动,变截面柔性脊柱能够减小机器人行走时躯干在横滚及偏转方向的姿态波动程度,提高了机器人运动的协调性和轨迹准确性,并揭示出婴儿爬行时脊柱的柔顺运动对稳定视觉的潜在作用.

     

    Abstract: Inspired by the unique body configuration when a baby crawls, a quadruped crawling robot with flexible spine and elastic knees is designed, named BabyBot. The spine is a variable cross-section structure of elastic material and the knees are passively deformable joints without active DOFs (degrees of freedom). The flexible spine and elastic knees are designed using pseudo rigid body modeling approach. The central pattern generator (CPG) is employed to generate trot gait trajectories for BabyBot. Combining the compliant mechanical structure with the biologically-inspired control approach, the “supporting on knees and waist-hip motion coupling” gait in baby crawling is developed. The dynamic simulations and physical experiments are conducted to evaluate the feasibility of Babybot's mechanical configuration and the influence of the flexible spine on its performance of the baby-mimic insufficient-DOF robot. The results show that the insufficient-DOF quadruped crawling robot with passive elastic knees is capable of crawling stably. Variable cross-section flexible spine can reduce the trunk's postural instability in roll and yaw directions when the robot crawls. That means the flexible spine enables the robot to crawl naturally and to maintain its direction. And it implies the spine's compliant swinging has active role on stabilizing the vision of a baby.

     

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