A study of the Brachiation type of mobile robot. (1st Report, Analysis of dynamics and simulation).

摘要

This paper deals with a new type of mobile robot, the "Brachiation Robot", that makes use of the swing of the pendulum due to gravity, and shows a simulation method with some results of its continuous mode during one period from the initial static condition to compute one cycle of the transfer motion. The difficult problem to be solved in this study is to show the simulation method for the discontinuous motion, since the brachiation motion involves the switching of the swing. supporting arms as a monkey exhibits in branch transfer motion. This paper shows a computational method of this discontinuous motion, so that it becomes possible to evaluate such an oscillation effect during a period of brachiation motion, including the motion behavior and consumed energy depending on motion modes. In particular, this paper clarifies the dynamics and the joint selection in the proposed brachiation robot model, by which the oscillation can be easily generated due to the resonance frequency of the robot structure. The difference of upper and lower directional swing motions of arms as "brachiation" is also given in the comparison with the consumed energy. Thus, this paper gives some insight for desigining the structure and control method of a new brachiation type of robot.