Electricity: motive power systems – Positional servo systems – Program- or pattern-controlled systems
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-06
2003-06-24
Dang, Khanh (Department: 2837)
Electricity: motive power systems
Positional servo systems
Program- or pattern-controlled systems
C318S568110, C318S568190, C318S568200, C700S245000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06583595
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a realistic robot having a structure which emulates the mechanisms and movements of an organism, and, more particularly, to a leg-movement-type robot having a structure which emulates the body mechanisms and movements of, for example, a human being or a monkey, which walks while it is in an erect posture.
Even more specifically, the present invention relates to a leg-movement-type robot which walks on two feet while it is in an erect posture and which includes what one calls the upper half of the body, including the trunk, the head, the arms, and the like, provided on the legs. Still more specifically, the present invention relates to a robot which can move naturally in a way close to that of a human being and in a way sufficiently indicative of emotions and feelings with considerable fewer degrees of freedom than the actual mechanism of, for example, the human body.
2. Description of the Related Art
A robot is a mechanical device which emulates the movement of a human being by making use of electrical and magnetic actions. The term robot is said to be derived from the Slavic word ROBOTA (slavish machine). In our country, the use of robots began from the end of the 1960s, most of which were industrial robots, such as manipulators and conveyance robots, used, for example, for the purpose of achieving automatic industrial operations in factories without humans in attendance.
In recent years, progress has been made in the research and development of leg-movement-type robots which emulate the movements and mechanisms of the body of an animal, such as a human being or a monkey, which walks on two feet while it is in an erect posture. Therefore, there has been greater-expectation for putting such leg-movement-type robots into practical use. A superior feature of leg-movement-type robots which move on two feet while they are in an erect posture is that they can walk flexibly, for example, up and down steps or over obstacles.
In the history of leg-movement-type robots, research regarding leg movement was started by studying as elemental technology leg movement using only the lower limbs. Accordingly, robots of this type are not provided with all parts of the body which are positioned vertically.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-184782 discloses a joint structure applied to the structural part below the trunk of a robot which walks using the legs.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-305579 discloses a controller for controlling the walking of a leg-movement-type robot. The controller disclosed in this document controls the walking of the robot so that the ZMP (zero moment point) matches a target value. The ZMP is the point on the floor surface where the moment resulting from the floor reaction force when the robot walks is zero. However, as can be seen from
FIG. 1
in this document, a trunk
24
on which the moment acts is formed using a black box, so that not all parts of the body are provided. Therefore, the document is confined to proposing leg movement as elemental technology.
It goes without saying that the ultimate purpose of constructing leg-movement-type robots is to provide these robots with all parts of the body. More specifically, the ultimate purpose is to provide these robots which walk while they are in an erect posture on two feet with the lower limbs used for walking on two feet, the head, the upper limbs (including the arms), and the trunk which connects the upper and lower limbs. In such robots provided with all parts of the body, it is presupposed that work is carried out by moving the two legs while the robots are in an erect posture. In all cases where such work is carried out in the living space of human beings, it is necessary to control the robots so that the upper and lower limbs and the trunk move harmoniously in a predetermined order of priority.
Leg-movement-type robots which emulate the mechanisms and movements of human beings are called humanoid robots. Humanoid robots can, for example, help people in life, that is, help them in various human activities in living environments and in various circumstances in everyday life.
As is conventionally the case, leg-movement-type robots are roughly divided into those for industrial purposes and those for entertainment.
Industrial robots are intended to carry out various difficult operations, such as in industrial tasks or production work, in place of human beings. For example, they carry out in place of human beings maintenance work at nuclear power plants, thermal power plants, or petrochemical plants, or dangerous/difficult work in production plants or tall buildings. The most important theme is to design and manufacture industrial robots so that they can be industrially used as specified and can provide the specified functions. Industrial robots are constructed on the assumption that they walk on two feet. However, as mechanical devices, they do not necessarily have to faithfully reproduce the actual body mechanisms and movements of animals, such as human beings or monkeys, which walk while they are in an erect posture. For example, the freedom of movement of particular parts (such as the finger tips), and their operational functions are increased and enhanced, respectively, in order to produce an industrial robot for a particular use. On the other hand, the freedom of movement of parts considered comparatively unrelated to the use of the industrial robot (such as the head and arms) is limited or such parts are not formed. This causes the industrial robot to have an unnatural external appearance when it works and moves, although it is a type of robot which walks on two feet. However, for convenience in designing such a robot, such a compromise is inevitable.
In contrast, leg-movement-type robots for entertainment provide-properties closely connected to life itself, rather than help people in life such as by doing difficult work in place of human beings. In other words, the ultimate purpose of producing robots for entertainment is to make these robots faithfully reproduce the actual mechanisms of, for example, human beings or monkeys, which walk on two feet while they are in an erect posture, and to make them move naturally and smoothly. Since entertainment robots are structured to emulate highly intelligent animals, such as human being or monkeys, which stand in an upright posture, it is desirable that they move in a way sufficiently indicative of emotions and feelings. In this sense, entertainment robots which emulate the movements of human beings are rightly called humanoid robots.
In short, it is no exaggeration to say that entertainment robots, though intently called a leg-movement-type robot, shares the elemental technologies of industrial robots, but are produced for a completely different ultimate purpose and uses completely different hardware mechanisms and operation controlling methods to achieve the ultimate purpose.
As is already well known in the related art, the human body has a few hundred joints, so that it has a few hundred degrees of freedom. In order to make the movements of leg-movement-type robots as close to those of human beings, it is preferable that the leg-movement-type robots be allowed to move virtually as freely as human beings. However, this is technologically very difficult to achieve. This is because, since one actuator needs to be disposed to provide one degree of freedom, a few hundred actuators needs to be disposed for a few hundred degrees of freedom, thereby increasing production costs and making it virtually impossible to design them in terms of, for example, their weight and size. In addition, when the number of degrees of freedom is large, the number of calculations required for, for example, positional/operational control or balance control is correspondingly increased exponentially.
Restating what has been stated in another way, humanoid robots must emulate the mechanisms of the human body equipped with a limited number of degrees of freedom. Entertain
Hattori Yuichi
Ishida Tatsuzo
Kuroki Yoshihiro
Dang Khanh
Frommer William S.
Frommer & Lawrence & Haug LLP
Ryan Matthew K.
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