A Study on a Flexible Mobile Robot with Versatile Shape Control Based on Multiple Link-wheel Mechanism : 1st Report, Fundamental Mechanism and Motion of Vroid 1 and Its Joint Load Distribution Control Method Consideration the Redundancy

Abstract

This paper presents a new concept of a flexible and versatile shape reconfigurable control mechanism of a robot, called a versatile robotnoid (Vroid), which can be applied for plant maintenance work and other outdoor operational works, where the working environments are restricted due to mobile space and terrain. The Vroid I based on the multiple link-wheel mechanism has abilities of passing through rough terrains, passing over obstacles and going up and down stairways. Compare with the conventional wheel, crawler and legged locomotion types of the mobile mechanisms, the proposed Vroid I is considered superior with respect to flexibility and adaptability to working environments. Utilizing the redundance of joints in degrees of freedom, a method of the joint static control sequence is proposed to minimize the torques required to joint rotation under some constraints, which can easily be solved by the linear programming approach.