Stepper Patents (Class 180/8.1)
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Patent number: 7441614Abstract: In a legged mobile robot, each hip joint that connects a body with a thigh link comprises a first rotary shaft that provides a degree of freedom to rotate about a yaw axis, a second rotary shaft that provides a degree of freedom to rotate about a roll axis, and a third rotary shaft that provides a degree of freedom to rotate about a pitch axis, and in addition thereto, a fourth rotary shaft that provides a redundant degree of freedom. Owing to this configuration, the amount of body bending and the movable range of the legs can be increased, thereby improving the degree of posture and gait freedom.Type: GrantFiled: May 18, 2004Date of Patent: October 28, 2008Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Yoshinari Takemura, Tadaaki Hasegawa, Takafumi Fukushima
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Publication number: 20080257615Abstract: One embodiment of the invention includes an application of multilayer thermo-reversible dry adhesives in climbing devices.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 18, 2008Publication date: October 23, 2008Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATION, INC.Inventors: Tao Xie, Xingcheng Xiao
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Publication number: 20080245584Abstract: To provide a leg type mobile robot, in which a downsizing and wait-saving of floor reaction force detector to be installed on the foot is enabled. The center Pb of the force sensor is disposed on the position Pa where the distance to the remotest position of ground area provided on the bottom of each plate spring part S1 to S4 is minimum in the standing-still state of the robot R, and the distance L1, L2, L3, and L4 to the remotest point of the ground area of each plate spring part S1, S2, S3, and S4 is equal. The center Pc of the ankle joint is offset in a rearward direction with respect to the position Pa in a plane view.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 25, 2005Publication date: October 9, 2008Inventors: Toru Takenaka, Keizo Matsumoto, Hiroshi Gomi, Kazushi Hamaya
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Patent number: 7424923Abstract: A mobile robot having wheels which maintain contact forces against a surface even when the mobile robot meets an obstacle on the surface and a body of the mobile robot is forced up against the obstacle. The mobile robot easily surmounts the obstacle on the surface, without requiring any sensors, any specific controller, any specific traveling unit to surmount over the obstacle, or any specific drive unit to drive the specific traveling unit. The mobile robot includes the body, the wheels connected with the body which move arcuately relative to the body, and a wheel guide unit coupled at a first end to the body and at a second end to a hub of each of the wheels. The wheel guide unit is contracted when the body is spaced apart from the surface on which the robot moves. However, the wheel guide unit expands to allow the wheel to be in contact with the surface when the body comes into contact with the surface.Type: GrantFiled: March 15, 2004Date of Patent: September 16, 2008Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Inventors: Soo-Sang Yang, Yeon-Taek Oh
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Patent number: 7409265Abstract: It is arranged such that displacement sensors (70) are installed at a position in or vicinity of elastic members (382), to generate outputs indicating a displacement of the floor contact end of a foot (22) relative to a second joint (18, 20), and a floor reaction force acting on the foot is calculated based on the outputs of the displacement sensors by using a model describing a relationship between the displacement and stress generated in the elastic members in response to the displacement, thereby enabling to achieve accurate calculation of the floor reaction force and more stable walking of a legged mobile robot (1). Further, a dual sensory system is constituted by combining different types of detectors, thereby enabling to enhance the detection accuracy. Furthermore, since it self-diagnoses whether abnormality or degradation occurs in the displacement sensors etc. and performs temperature compensation without using a temperature sensor, the detection accuracy can be further enhanced.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2002Date of Patent: August 5, 2008Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Toru Takenaka, Hiroshi Gomi, Satoshi Shigemi, Takashi Matsumoto
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Patent number: 7398843Abstract: A robot including a robot body, a plurality of wheels on the robot body for propelling the robot body, and an axle for each wheel. Each wheel is configured to alternately attach to an axle at or proximate the center of the wheel for high efficiency mobility on flat terrain and also configured to attach to an axle at a position offset from the center of the wheel for better mobility on rougher terrain.Type: GrantFiled: August 30, 2005Date of Patent: July 15, 2008Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.Inventors: Martin Buehler, Aaron Saunders, Felix Grimminger
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Patent number: 7384046Abstract: Powered wheeled vehicle (1), capable of travelling both on level ground and over uneven surfaces, comprising at least one driving tread (BR11) as well as two pairs of front wheels (R61) and rear wheels (R21), of which at least one is a driving pair, wherein each wheel of the driving wheel pair is mounted on a swing arm, each arm of the swing arms (B21) of the rear wheels (R21) is secured to an actuator (V2) for placing said wheels in at least two positions, namely: a first lower position in which the ground-engaging surface of the wheels is below the ground-engaging surface of the tread so that said wheeled vehicle is moved by the wheels alone, and a second position in which the ground-engaging surface of the wheels remains in contact with the ground so that the vehicle is moved by a combination of the tread and said driving wheels.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 2004Date of Patent: June 10, 2008Assignee: HMCZ DeveloppementInventor: Hervé Marie Georges Le Masne De Chermont
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Patent number: 7380618Abstract: A platform wheeled apparatus that incorporates an intelligent wheel configuration for each wheel in which each wheel can dynamically change its radius to negotiate various obstacles. The intelligent wheel has a rotational hub and support disc that carries a series of arcuately spaced extendable, weight bearing radial spoke mechanisms that can be controllably extended and retracted in response to the anticipated terrain surface over which the wheel is to travel. The hub of the intelligent wheel carries a microcontroller for a set of obstacle proximity sensors, force and position sensors and an appropriate electrical power supply for operation of the spokes and control components.Type: GrantFiled: February 22, 2005Date of Patent: June 3, 2008Assignee: Gamma Two, Inc.Inventors: Louise F. Gunderson, Christian Brown, James P. Gunderson
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Patent number: 7366587Abstract: The characteristics of actuators themselves and the characteristics of controllers for the actuators are dynamically or statically controlled to achieve stable and highly efficient movements. In a stage in which a leg in the flight state is uplifted such that the reactive force from the floor received by the foot sole of the leg is zero, the characteristics of the respective actuators for the knee joint pitch axis and the ankle pitch and roll axes of the leg in the flight state are set for decreasing the low range gain, increasing the quantity of phase lead and for decreasing the viscous resistance of the actuators, in order to impart mechanical passiveness and fast response characteristics. The followup control for the high frequency range may be achieved as the force of impact at the instant of touchdown is buffered.Type: GrantFiled: December 4, 2003Date of Patent: April 29, 2008Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Masatsugu Iribe, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 7337040Abstract: Based on a detected or estimated value of an actual posture of a predetermined part, such as a body 3, of a robot 1 and a deviation the actual posture from a posture of a desired gait, a posture rotational deviation's variation is determined as the temporal variation of the deviation, and the position of the robot 1 (for example, the position where the robot comes into contact with a floor) is estimated on the assumption that the robot 1 rotates about a rotation center by the rotational deviation's variation. In addition, in accordance with the difference between the estimated position and the estimated position of the robot 1 determined by an inertial navigation method using an accelerometer or the like, the estimated position of the robot 1 determined by the inertial navigation method is corrected, thereby improving the precision of the estimated position.Type: GrantFiled: April 28, 2003Date of Patent: February 26, 2008Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Toru Takenaka, Takashi Matsumoto
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Patent number: 7328087Abstract: A bipedal robot of the present invention has a trunk consisting of an upper trunk and a lower trunk which are rotatable around a rotation axis relative to one another. The upper trunk has shoulders on the right and left sides. An arm is provided at each shoulder. A pair of right and left legs is attached to lower ends of the lower trunk. A storage battery is mounted to the back of the upper trunk, positioned within a shoulder width. The storage battery is positioned below the top of a head mounted on the upper trunk. When the robot walks a narrow passage or corridor having a width slightly larger than the width thereof, for example, this arrangement prevents the storage battery from interfering with the passage or the like.Type: GrantFiled: July 10, 2006Date of Patent: February 5, 2008Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Yasuhisa Saito, Teruyuki Oka, Toratsugu Kuwahara, Atsushi Demachi, Toshiyuki Higashi, Kenichi Ogawa, Takuro Koyanagi, Susumu Miyazaki
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Patent number: 7319919Abstract: A landing position/orientation of a foot (22) to be landed in a landing action of a robot (1) such as a biped mobile robot or the like is estimated, and a desired footstep path for the robot (1) is set up. Based on the estimated landing position/orientation and the desired footstep path, a future desired landing position/orientation is determined in order to cause actual footsteps of the robot (1) (a sequence of landing positions/orientations of the foot (22)) to approach desired footsteps. Using at least the determined desired landing position/orientation, a desired gait for the robot (1) is determined, and the robot (1) is controlled in operation depending on the desired gait. For determining the desired landing position/orientation, mechanism-dependent limitations of the robot (1) such as an interference between the legs thereof, etc., and limiting conditions of an allowable range in which a desired ZMP can exist are taken into consideration.Type: GrantFiled: April 28, 2003Date of Patent: January 15, 2008Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Toru Takenaka, Takashi Matsumoto
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Patent number: 7303031Abstract: Provided is an anthropomorphic robot having two legs and which is capable of walking upright. Each of the two legs has a foot which comprises an upper plate on which an ankle joint is installed and which is similar to a foot of a human, and a lower plate attached to a lower surface of the upper plate and having a plurality of contact portions which contact a ground and which are separated from one another.Type: GrantFiled: March 30, 2005Date of Patent: December 4, 2007Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Inventors: Leonid Maslov, Yonng Son, Joo-young Kwak
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Patent number: 7280890Abstract: A surface clinging robotic device. The device includes a supporting structure or base, on which is mounted (a) a lead pivoting support surface, such as a pivoting wheel, and (b) two or more traction drives, such as drive wheels. Each of the traction drives are independently driven by a separate drive motor. A plurality of vacuum cups are mounted on the bottom of the base. The vacuum cups each have a low friction foot designed for movement over a surface with minimal friction while vacuum is maintained. The low friction foot portion is provided by a generally surface direction oriented C-shaped Teflon skin. The robotic device can move over gaps or obstructions in the surface without losing vacuum in all of the vacuum cups, using a fluid limiting valve at each vacuum cup to interrupt flow in the event of loss of vacuum in that vacuum cup.Type: GrantFiled: October 22, 2004Date of Patent: October 9, 2007Assignee: Advanced Robotics Vehicles, Inc.Inventor: Henry R. Seemann
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Publication number: 20070215394Abstract: The embodiments of the present invention disclose a spherical walking robot, the spherical walking robot comprises a spherical coronal; a spherical housing which has a surface groove; a walking and transmission mechanism in the spherical housing; a lift and transmission mechanism; mechanical arms located in the surface groove, and the mechanical arm comprises a little arm and an upper arm connected the little arm by an elbow joint motor. The embodiments of the present invention also disclose a spherical walking robot, the spherical walking robot does not comprise the lift and transmission mechanism, but a fastness mechanism and a rotating mechanism rotatably connected with the fastness mechanism.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 15, 2007Publication date: September 20, 2007Inventors: Hanxu SUN, Qingxuan JIA
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Patent number: 7249640Abstract: The present invention relates to novel, highly mobile small robots called “Mini-WHEGS™” that can run and jump. They are derived from our larger WHEGS™(“wheel-like lecis”) series of robots, which benefit from abstracted cockroach locomotion principles. Part of their success is derived from the three spoked appendages, called “WHEGS™”, which combine the speed and simplicity of wheels with the climbing mobility of legs. To be more compact than the larger WHEGS™ vehicles, Mini-WHEGS™ uses four wheel-like legs in an alternating diagonal gait. These 9 cm long robots can run at sustained speeds of over 10 body lengths per second and climb obstacles that are taller than their leg length. They can run forward and backward, on either side. Their robust construction allows them to tumble down a flight of stairs with no damage and carry a payload equal to twice their weight. A jumping mechanism enables Mini-WHEGS™ to surmount much larger obstacles such as stair steps.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 2004Date of Patent: July 31, 2007Inventors: Andrew D. Horchler, Roger D. Quinn, Bram Lambrecht, Jeremy M. Morrey
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Patent number: 7240747Abstract: A legged mobile robot leg structure is provided in which a lower leg part (24) is connected to the lower end of an upper leg part (23) through a knee joint (27), a foot part (25) having a six-axis force sensor (60) is connected to the lower end of the lower leg part (24) through an ankle joint (28), and the ankle joint (28) supports the foot part (25) so that the foot part (25) can pitch around a lateral axis (Ly) and roll around a fore-and-aft axis (Lx) relative to the lower leg part (24). A pitch motor (34) for making the foot part (25) pitch around the lateral axis (Ly) is supported on the lower leg part (24) at a position above the ankle joint (28), and a roll motor (35) for making the foot part (25) roll around the fore-and-aft axis (Lx) is supported on the lower leg part (24) at a position above the ankle joint (28).Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2001Date of Patent: July 10, 2007Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Susumu Miyazaki, Hideaki Takahashi
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Patent number: 7221999Abstract: When an operator attempts to move a robot from a current position to a desired position, she/he operates a manipulator lever (26) corresponding to a desired direction of a manipulator (23) of a remote control device (22), for example, a number of times corresponding to a predetermined moving amount in the moving direction. At this point, the moving amount for each moving direction depending on this number of operations is set, and a leg of the robot is actuated according to a setting value of the moving amount for each moving direction to move the robot. The moving amount that can be set by the operation of the manipulator lever (26) has a relatively small moving amount that the robot may be moved by performing a lifting/landing action once for each of the legs of the robot, and a relatively large moving amount requiring multiple walking steps of the lifting/landing action for each leg of the robot.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 2002Date of Patent: May 22, 2007Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Shigeo Sano
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Patent number: 7182163Abstract: The invention contemplates a selectably operable hydraulic means for laterally shifting one end of a non-moving vehicle in order to provide a desired alignment. The present invention is particularly applicable to vehicle-mounted equipment which has an invariant lateral mounting position on the vehicle and which must be laterally aligned with a stationary workpiece axis. An example of such a need occurs with mobile workover rigs used in well maintenance.Type: GrantFiled: January 24, 2006Date of Patent: February 27, 2007Inventor: Tommie Carroll Gipson
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Patent number: 7168513Abstract: A legged robot having a robot structure (20) in the form of a closed kinematic chain and an actuator (26) that contracts when activated. The contraction of the actuator extends a foot element (30) such that it can excerpt a pushing force against a ground surface. When the foot element excerpts sufficient force the legged robot can separate from the ground surface and achieve a dynamic hopping motion.Type: GrantFiled: February 26, 2005Date of Patent: January 30, 2007Assignee: The Regents of the University of CaliforniaInventor: Nathan J. Delson
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Patent number: 7155307Abstract: A surface clinging robotic device. The device includes a supporting structure or base, on which is mounted (a) a lead pivoting support surface, such as a pivoting wheel, and (b) two or more traction drives, such as drive wheels. Each of the traction drives are independently driven by a separate drive motor. A plurality of vacuum cups are mounted on the bottom of the base. The vacuum cups each have a low friction foot designed for movement over a surface with minimal friction while vacuum is maintained. The low friction foot portion is provided by a generally surface direction oriented C-shaped Teflon skin. The robotic device can move over gaps or obstructions in the surface without losing vacuum in all of the vacuum cups, using a fluid limiting valve at each vacuum cup to interrupt flow in the event of loss of vacuum in that vacuum cup.Type: GrantFiled: September 9, 2002Date of Patent: December 26, 2006Inventor: Henry R. Seemann
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Patent number: 7143850Abstract: An assist device is provided with a spring device that generates an auxiliary driving force, by an elastic energy, acting on a joint of a leg. The spring device includes a gas spring having a cylinder and a piston. Bending/stretching motion between link members and at the joint is transmitted to the spring device through a motion transmission device that includes a link arm. The spring device is provided so that the auxiliary driving force increases as a knee bending angle ? increases until the knee bending angle ? reaches a predetermined angle, and so that, once the knee bending angle ? exceeds the predetermined angle, the auxiliary driving force becomes smaller than or equal to the driving force obtaining at the predetermined angle, effectively reducing a burden on an actuator of the legged mobile robot joint.Type: GrantFiled: October 7, 2002Date of Patent: December 5, 2006Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Toru Takenaka, Hiroshi Gomi, Kazushi Hamaya, Yoshinari Takemura
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Patent number: 7133744Abstract: An input motion acquiring unit acquires a motion trajectory of an object from an image recognizing unit. A dynamic modelling processor models a plurality of robot motion patterns stored in a robot motion pattern storage unit in a dynamic system form, and stores the modelled robot motion patterns into a robot-motion-pattern-model storage unit. A motion converting unit linearly transforms the plurality of robot motion dynamic models stored in the robot-motion-pattern-model storage unit into prediction motion trajectories. A motion comparing unit compares the input motion trajectory acquired by the motion acquiring unit with the prediction motion trajectories transformed by the motion converting unit. A robot motion selecting unit selects a robot motion pattern having the highest similarity from the robot motion pattern storage unit.Type: GrantFiled: August 15, 2005Date of Patent: November 7, 2006Assignee: Sony CorporationInventor: Masato Ito
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Patent number: 7111696Abstract: In a legged mobile robot (10) having a motor (42) that rotates the ankle joint (26R (26L)) about a right-and-left axis of the robot (26RY (26LY)) and a speed reducer (58) that reduces speed of an output of the motor, wherein the motor is disposed at a same position as the knee joint (22R (22L)) or at the thigh link (16R (16L)) such that the speed reducer is disposed at the shank link. With this, it becomes possible to reduce the weight of the distal end of the leg (12R (12L)) can be reduced, whereby enabling to reduce the inertial force generated in the leg during movement or locomotion of the robot.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 2004Date of Patent: September 26, 2006Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Susumu Miyazaki, Tomoko Otani
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Patent number: 7096983Abstract: The height from floor surface contact ends of leg linkages 2 to shoulder joints of a biped robot 1 when the biped robot is in an upright posture is defined to be a value falling within a range (Havg±½?) set based on an averaged value Havg obtained by averaging the heights of a group of objects (subject to operation) from the floor surface and the standard deviation ? thereof, specifically a value in a range of from approximately 700 mm to 1000 mm. By this, the installation height of shoulder joints from the floor surface can be optimally determined in accordance with the heights of the objects, thereby improving operating efficiency in an existing operating space.Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2001Date of Patent: August 29, 2006Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kazuo Hirai, Kenji Morii, Masato Hirose
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Patent number: 7099747Abstract: To implement a dynamic, elegant motion performance of an actual robot, a motion editing system is provided which includes a motion editor to edit motions of an upper body and whole body of the robot and a foot trajectory editor to create a gait pattern and lower-body motion to stabilize the entire robot. The foot trajectory editor includes the same gait pattern generator and motion stabilized as those installed in the actual robot. Before performing the edited motions on the actual robot, the motions are created, corrected and stabilized on a 3D viewer.Type: GrantFiled: October 22, 2004Date of Patent: August 29, 2006Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Tatsuo Mikami, Atsushi Miyamoto, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 7076338Abstract: A predetermined action sequence is generated by using basic motion units which include time-sequential motion of each joint and compound motion units in which basic motion units are combined. Motion natterns of a robot including walking are classified into motion units, each motion unit servins as a unit of motion, and one or more motion units are combined to generate various complex motions. Dynamic motion units are defined on the basis of basic dynamic attitudes, and a desired action sequence can be generated by using the dynamic motion units. This is a basic control method necessary for a robot to autonomously perform a continuous motion, a series of continuous motions, or motions which are chanaed in real-time by commands.Type: GrantFiled: August 16, 2004Date of Patent: July 11, 2006Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Yoshihiro Kuroki, Tatsuzo Ishida, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 7076337Abstract: The stability of attitude of a robot can be recovered by an ambulation control apparatus and an ambulation control method if it is lost in the course of a gesture for which the upper limbs take a major role. The apparatus and the method obtain the pattern of movement of the entire body for walking by deriving the pattern of movement of the loins from an arbitrarily selected pattern of movement of the feet, the trajectory of the ZMP, the pattern of movement of the trunk and that of the upper limbs. Therefore, a robot can determine the gait of the lower limbs so as to realize a stable walk regardless if the robot is standing upright or walking. Particularly, if the robot is made to gesture, using the upper body half including the upper limbs and the trunk while standing upright, it can determine the gait of the lower limbs so as to make a stable walk in response to such a gait of the upper body half.Type: GrantFiled: August 8, 2003Date of Patent: July 11, 2006Assignees: Sony Corporation, Jinichi YamaguchiInventors: Yoshihiro Kuroki, Tatsuzo Ishida, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 7072740Abstract: In a mobile robot, the actuator characteristics are dynamically or statically controlled, during motions of an entire robot body in the course of falldown or descent, to realize stable highly efficient motions. In each stage of the falldown motions, the characteristics of each joint site taking part in controlling the stable area are set so that the low range gain is low, the quantity of phase lead is large and the viscous resistance of the motor is large, in such a manner that these joint sites may be positioned to high accuracy in a controller manner to increase orientation stability. This assures the positioning accuracy of the joints as main component for controlling the quantity ?S/?t as a reference in controlling the falldown motions of the robot body to increase the motion stability.Type: GrantFiled: December 11, 2003Date of Patent: July 4, 2006Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Masatsugu Iribe, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 7054718Abstract: A motion editing system for a robot in which the motion of a robot edited is corrected as the movements performed by an actual robot are checked. An optional range of motion data is reproduced using an actual robot. At this time, an output from each sensor mounted to the actual robot, that is, the sensor information, is transmitted to the motion editing system. The robot's movements are evaluated on the motion editing system based on the sensor information acquired during motion reproduction. If, as a result of the robot's movements, a predetermined evaluation criterium is not met, the motion correction processing is carried out. If the predetermined evaluation criterium is met, a motion data file, in which is embedded the reference sensor information, is formulated.Type: GrantFiled: October 9, 2003Date of Patent: May 30, 2006Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Atsushi Miyamoto, Tatsuo Mikami, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 7013201Abstract: A legged mobile robot possesses degrees of freedom which are provided at roll, pitch, and yaw axes at a trunk. By using these degrees of freedom which are provided at the trunk, the robot can smoothly get up from any fallen-down posture. In addition, by reducing the required torque and load on movable portions other than the trunk, and by spreading/averaging out the load between each of the movable portions, concentration of a load on a particular member is prevented from occurring. As a result, the robot is operated more reliably, and energy is used with greater efficiency during a getting-up operation. The invention makes it possible for the robot to independently, reliably, and smoothly get up from various fallen-down postures such as a lying-on-the-face posture, a lying-on-the-back posture, and a lying sideways posture.Type: GrantFiled: February 10, 2004Date of Patent: March 14, 2006Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Yuichi Hattori, Tatsuzo Ishida, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 6980889Abstract: An input motion acquiring unit acquires a motion trajectory of an object from an image recognizing unit. A dynamic modeling processor models a plurality of robot motion patterns stored in a robot motion pattern storage unit in a dynamic system form, and stores the modeled robot motion patterns into a robot-motion-pattern-model storage unit. A motion converting unit linearly transforms the plurality of robot motion dynamic models stored in the robot-motion-pattern-model storage unit into prediction motion trajectories. A motion comparing unit compares the input motion trajectory acquired by the motion acquiring unit with the prediction motion trajectories transformed by the motion converting unit. A robot motion selecting unit selects a robot motion pattern having the highest similarity from the robot motion pattern storage unit. The present invention is applicable to a robot apparatus.Type: GrantFiled: October 6, 2004Date of Patent: December 27, 2005Assignee: Sony CorporationInventor: Masato Ito
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Patent number: 6964309Abstract: A vehicle that is propelled by as few as one actuator through a compliant drive train can move quickly on relatively smooth terrain and can climb obstacles. The body of the vehicle may consist of a single segment or multiple segments connected by articulating joints. The driving appendages can take different forms including legs or specialized legs with multiple spokes attached to a rotating hub. The driving appendages can be propelled by as few as one actuator. The driving appendages are each serially connected to their actuator(s) by a compliant device. The compliant devices permit relative motion between driving appendages that share the same actuator. A springably biased compliant device maintains nominal-desired phasing among driving appendages until one of them is forcibly perturbed. The phasing of the driving appendages, or gait, adapts to the terrain. Mechanical stops limit the excursion of the compliant device such that a new desirable leg phasing is reached for climbing large obstacles.Type: GrantFiled: June 3, 2002Date of Patent: November 15, 2005Assignee: BioRobots, LLCInventors: Roger D. Quinn, Daniel A. Kingsley, John T. Offi, Roy E. Ritzmann
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Patent number: 6962220Abstract: An assist device that applies an auxiliary driving force to a joint in parallel with a driving force of a joint actuator between a thigh portion and a crus portion, which are a pair of link members of a leg. The assist device generates the auxiliary driving force by use of spring device, such as a solid spring or an air spring. A member supporting a rod member connected to the spring device is provided with a device for transmitting a bending and stretching motion of the leg at the joint (a relative displacement motion between the thigh portion and the crus portion) to the spring device to generate an elastic force of the spring device, and for discontinuing the transmission of the bending and stretching motion to the spring device. This transmitting device is controlled in accordance with a gait of a robot. Thus, a burden on the joint actuator is reduced where necessary and favorable utilization efficiency of energy can be stably ensured.Type: GrantFiled: September 24, 2002Date of Patent: November 8, 2005Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Toru Takenaka, Hiroshi Gomi, Kazushi Hamaya, Yoshinari Takemura, Takashi Matsumoto, Takahide Yoshiike, Yoichi Nishimura, Kazushi Akimoto
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Patent number: 6961640Abstract: A predetermined action sequence is generated by using basic motion units which include time-sequential motion of each joint and compound motion units in which basic motion units are combined. Motion patterns of a robot including walking are classified into motion units, each motion unit serving as a unit of motion, and one or more motion units are combined to generate various complex motions. Dynamic motion units are defined on the basis of basic dynamic attitudes, and a desired action sequence can be generated by using the dynamic motion units. This is a basic control method necessary for a robot to autonomously perform a continuous motion, a series of continuous motions, or motions which are changed in real-time by commands.Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2001Date of Patent: November 1, 2005Assignees: Sony Corporation, Jinichi YamaguchiInventors: Yoshihiro Kuroki, Tatsuzo Ishida, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 6959776Abstract: The present invention provides a biped (two-footed) walking humanoid robot easily capable of such full body movement as, for example, protective action when tumbling down, arising action and rolling action. The body part (11) is configured with a waist part (11b) below, a breast part (11a) attached biaxially movably to said waist part, and a drive means (11d, 11e) to move said breast part biaxially, and a controller (50) makes full body movement performed by drive controlling each drive means in mutual coordination. A walk controller (50) drive controls each drive means in mutual coordination, whereby moving the breast part (11a) biaxially with respect to the waist part (11b), namely moving longitudinally or rotating horizontally, and thus makes it possible to move totally the upper part configured with the breast part and arm parts with respect to the lower part configured with the waist part (11b) and leg parts (12) by so-called stoop forward and twisting of a waist.Type: GrantFiled: September 19, 2002Date of Patent: November 1, 2005Assignee: Japan Science and Technology AgencyInventors: Takayuki Furuta, Yu Okumura, Tetsuo Tawara, Hiroaki Kitano
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Patent number: 6945341Abstract: A bipedal robot has an upper body that includes a higher upper body and a lower upper body. The higher upper body and the lower upper body are coupled to each other by a rotating mechanism so as to be rotatable with respect to each other about a vertical axis of rotation. Two legs extend from the lower upper body, and two arms extend from respective shoulders on opposite sides of the higher upper body. The higher upper body of the robot has a thickness in a forward/rearward direction and the lower upper body has a width in a lateral direction, the thickness and the width being smaller than the width in a lateral direction of the robot at the shoulders. An electric energy storage device, which serves as a power supply for operating the robot is mounted in the higher upper body, and an electronic circuit unit for controlling operation of the robot are mounted in the lower upper body.Type: GrantFiled: September 20, 2001Date of Patent: September 20, 2005Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kenichi Ogawa, Takuro Koyanagi, Susumu Miyazaki
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Patent number: 6918811Abstract: A robotic toy has a pedestal, a stand assembly, a transmission device, a shoulder, an arm assembly and a body casing assembly. The stand assembly is mounted on the pedestal and has an upper bracket. The transmission device is mounted pivotally on the upper bracket of the stand assembly and has a hollow body, a motor and a gear assembly. The shoulder is mounted movably on the hollow body and oscillates in response to the motor. The arm assembly is attached to the shoulder and has a forearm pivoting up and down in response to the transmission device. The operating motor causes the transmission device to rock, the shoulder to oscillate and the forearm to pivot up and down. Thereby the robotic toy with a decorative musical instrument looks like a lively person or creature playing a musical instrument.Type: GrantFiled: October 1, 2004Date of Patent: July 19, 2005Inventor: Sheng-Chien Wang
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Patent number: 6917175Abstract: A humanoid robot including upper limbs, lower limbs, and a trunk. Hip joints which connect the lower limbs and the trunk each possess degrees of freedom provided in correspondence with a hip joint yaw axis, a hip joint roll axis, and a hip joint pitch axis. The humanoid robot is a leg-movement-type robot which walks on two feet. By arbitrarily offsetting the hip joint yaw axes in a roll axis direction, the effects of the movement of the center of gravity occurring when the mode of use of the robot is changed are accommodated to in order to flexibly balance the weights of the upper and lower limbs. The waist is made more compact in order to form a humanoid robot which is well proportioned and which makes it possible to prevent interference between the left and right feet when the direction of a foot is changed. Accordingly, a robot which moves naturally and in a way sufficiently indicative of emotions and feelings using fewer degrees of freedom is provided.Type: GrantFiled: April 15, 2003Date of Patent: July 12, 2005Assignees: Sony Corporation, Jinichi YamaguchiInventors: Yuichi Hattori, Yoshihiro Kuroki, Tatsuzo Ishida, Junichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 6901313Abstract: A legged mobile robot controls the posture of the body thereof in a stable manner using a ZMP stability determination criterion with a relatively long sampling period. The legged mobile robot has a stable ZMP region which is a supporting polygon formed of the ground contact point of a sole of a movable leg and a walking surface, and a ZMP behavior space in which a momentum of the robot body is generated so that the ZMP shifts to the approximate center of the stable ZMP region. In the ZMP behavior space, the momentum of the robot shifts in a positive direction or in a negative direction. In the negative direction, a space distortion shifts the ZMP to the periphery of the stable region, and in the positive direction, a space distortion shifts the ZMP to the center of the stable region.Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2001Date of Patent: May 31, 2005Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Naoto Mori, Yuichi Hattori, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 6832131Abstract: A legged mobile robot possesses degrees of freedom which are provided at roll, pitch, and yaw axes at a trunk. By using these degrees of freedom which are provided at the trunk, the robot can smoothly get up from any fallen-down posture. In addition, by reducing the required torque and load on movable portions other than the trunk, and by spreading/averaging out the load between each of the movable portions, concentration of a load on a particular member is prevented from occurring. As a result, the robot is operated more reliably, and energy is used with greater efficiency during a getting-up operation. The robot independently, reliably, and smoothly gets up from various fallen-down postures such as a lying-on-the-face posture, a lying-on-the-back posture, and a lying sideways posture.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2002Date of Patent: December 14, 2004Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Yuichi Hattori, Tatsuzo Ishida, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 6832132Abstract: A legged mobile robot is adaptively controlled in its attitude against variable external forces to continue the operation without inversion. When the legged mobile robot kicks an object having a certain mass, such as a ball, the robot is to be prevented from being fallen down by the reactive force from the object. Even if the mass or the repulsion coefficient of the object kicked is unknown, the operation of kicking the object at a sufficiently low speed is carried out at the outset to predict the reactive force produced on actual kicking in order to predict the reactive force produced on actual kicking. The result is that the stability in attitude can be maintained on kicking at an arbitrary speed. The legged mobile robot is able to take part as one of the players in athletic games, such as soccer games, in which each player performs his or her role as the or she is subjected to an external force.Type: GrantFiled: December 20, 2002Date of Patent: December 14, 2004Assignees: Sony CorporationInventors: Tatsuzo Ishida, Yoshihiro Kuroki, Jinichi Yamaguchi
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Publication number: 20040238240Abstract: In a legged mobile robot having at least a body and a plurality of legs each connected to the body through a first joint and a foot each connected to a distal end of each of the legs through a second joint, a floor reaction force detector is installed between the second joint and a contact end of the foot. More specifically, an upper portion of the floor reaction force detector is connected at a location near the second joint, and the contact end of the foot or thereabout is constituted by a spring mechanism that is lower in rigidity than a member constituting the second joint or thereabout such that a lower portion of the floor reaction force detector is connected to the contact end through the spring mechanism.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 26, 2004Publication date: December 2, 2004Inventors: Masato Hirose, Hiroshi Gomi
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Publication number: 20040211603Abstract: The present invention provides a biped (two-footed) walking humanoid robot easily capable of such full body movement as, for example, protective action when tumbling down, arising action and rolling action. The body part (11) is configured with a waist part (11b) below, a breast part (11a) attached biaxially movably to said waist part, and a drive means (11d, 11e) to move said breast part biaxially, and a controller (50) makes full body movement performed by drive controlling each drive means in mutual coordination. A walk controller (50) drive controls each drive means in mutual coordination, whereby moving the breast part (11a) biaxially with respect to the waist part (11b), namely moving longitudinally or rotating horizontally, and thus makes it possible to move totally the upper part configured with the breast part and arm parts with respect to the lower part configured with the waist part (11b) and leg parts (12) by so-called stoop forward and twisting of a waist.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 23, 2004Publication date: October 28, 2004Inventors: Takayuki Furuta, Yu Okumura, Tetsuo Tawara, Hiroaki Kitano
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Patent number: 6805504Abstract: Apparatus for printing, scanning engraving or cutting a flat horizontal surface, particularly when the surface is of non-standard dimensions or is supplied in an non-standard manner. The apparatus is suitable for following outside electromechanically commanded instruction and contains an instrument for printing, scanning, engraving or cutting in a stepwise manner by being accurately raised and lowered to the surface and a component for treating the surface.Type: GrantFiled: February 6, 2002Date of Patent: October 19, 2004Assignee: Kandelshein Ltd.Inventor: Lev Nisnevich
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Patent number: 6741912Abstract: A flexible tool for handling small objects, as well as a method for handling small objects using the flexible tool. The flexible tool comprises one or more mini robots, such as a free arm robot and one or more hexapod(s) working in an internal workspace when performing operations on small objects. Furthermore, an external space can be used for storing the objects during non-operation. The hexapods are to engage with a small object and to move a small object between the internal workspace and the external space, and the free arm robot is to move one or more hexapod(s). Fast measurements of robot positions are included, the measurements being feed back to a computer system controlling the mini robots. The computer system further comprises vision and motion planning.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2002Date of Patent: May 25, 2004Assignee: Microbotic A/SInventors: Tom Olesen, Søren Olesen, Henrik Andersen, Preben Damgård Jensen
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Publication number: 20040074679Abstract: A legged mobile robot leg structure is provided in which a lower leg part (24) is connected to the lower end of an upper leg part (23) through a knee joint (27), a foot part (25) having a six-axis force sensor (60) is connected to the lower end of the lower leg part (24) through an ankle joint (28), and the ankle joint (28) supports the foot part (25) so that the foot part (25) can pitch around a lateral axis (Ly) and roll around a fore-and-aft axis (Lx) relative to the lower leg part (24). A pitch motor (34) for making the foot part (25) pitch around the lateral axis (Ly) is supported on the lower leg part (24) at a position above the ankle joint (28), and a roll motor (35) for making the foot part (25) roll around the fore-and-aft axis (Lx) is supported on the lower leg part (24) at a position above the ankle joint (28).Type: ApplicationFiled: November 3, 2003Publication date: April 22, 2004Inventors: Susumu Miyazaki, Hideaki Takahashi
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Publication number: 20040050595Abstract: A bipedal robot of the present invention has a trunk consisting of an upper trunk and a lower trunk which are rotatable around a rotation axis relative to one another. The upper trunk has shoulders on the right and left sides. An arm is provided at each shoulder. A pair of right and left legs is attached to lower ends of the lower trunk. A storage battery is mounted to the back of the upper trunk, positioned within a shoulder width. The storage battery is positioned below the top of a head mounted on the upper trunk. When the robot walks a narrow passage or corridor having a width slightly larger than the width thereof, for example, this arrangement prevents the storage battery from interfering with the passage or the like.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 11, 2003Publication date: March 18, 2004Inventors: Yasushisa Saito, Teruyuki Oka, Toratsugu Kuwahara, Atsushi Demachi, Toshiyuki Higashi, Kenichi Ogawa, Takuro Koyanagi, Susumu Miyazaki
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Patent number: 6705917Abstract: An apparatus that is capable of achieving self-synchronized walking and turning includes a first motor that is attached to the apparatus that is in communication with a first limb and a second motor, independent from the first motor, that is attached to the apparatus and is in communication with a second limb. Initially, the lateral phase differential is set at 180 degrees and is maintained by a dampening mechanism that is interposed between the two limbs, or other movable members mechanically linked thereto, making sure that apparatus walks in a straight line. Regulators may forcibly upset this balance by speeding up one of the motors, thereby overcoming the force exerted by the damper mechanism, causing one limb to move faster than the other limb. This results in the apparatus turning in a prescribed radius.Type: GrantFiled: December 6, 2001Date of Patent: March 16, 2004Inventor: Andrew S. Filo
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Publication number: 20040003950Abstract: A bipedal robot has an upper body 1 which comprises a higher upper body 5 and a lower upper body 6. The higher upper body 5 and the lower upper body 6 are coupled to each other by a rotating mechanism 13 so as to be rotatable with respect to each other about a vertical axis C of rotation. Two legs 2 extend from the lower upper body 6, and two arms 3 extend from respective shoulders 14 on opposite sides of the higher upper body 5. The higher upper body 5 of the robot has a thickness D in a forward/rearward direction and the lower upper body 6 has a width Wd in a lateral direction, the thickness D and the width Wd being smaller than the width Wu in a lateral direction of the robot at shoulders 14 (shoulder width Wu). An electric energy storage device 8 as a power supply for operating the robot is mounted in the higher upper body 5, and an electronic circuit unit 11 for controlling operation of the robot is mounted in the lower upper body 6.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 15, 2003Publication date: January 8, 2004Inventors: Kenichi Ogawa, Takuro Koyanagi, Susumu Miyazaki