単球によるACROBAT全方向移動機構の提案と性能評価

抄録

In this paper, new type of an active-caster with a single ball transmission (ACROBAT-S) is proposed. The new concept of ACROBAT-S gives many advantages compared with the original ACROBAT since the number of ball is reduced, therefore the number of friction drive reduced from five to three. These features may contribute to simplify the mechanism design and to reduce transmission energy losses. To verify the design concept, we derive and analyze a kinematics of a single ball transmission mechanism and a three-wheeled omnidirectional mobile robot. Furthermore the motions of ACROBAT-S and that of an omnidirectional robot are verified by computer simulations. From the results, it is confirmed that the proposed single ball transmission is applicable for omnidirectional wheel mechanism to realize the non-redundant omnidirectional motions.