Development of Aerial Acrobat Robot Utilizing Mechanical Potential Energy

摘要

This paper describes a theory and experimental results concerning a passive aerial acrobat robot without electric power. As the robot performs hand-to-hand on its flying trapeze, it utilizes no electricity but simply draws power from the mechanical potential energy of its swings. The robot, holding onto the trapeze, overcomes the rotation moment by aid of a counterbalance that is on the opposite side of the swing and the robot begins to move. When the counterbalance is set on the frame of the swing at offsetting distance, a large rotation moment is generated, even when the robot gets to the most inferior point. As the result, the robot rises at an accelerated rate through the bottom point. When the robot reaches up to the height of the next swing, the hand of the robot slips from the handrail and the robot is released from the swing. At that time, the robot's arms extend forward by a spring installed inside the body of the robot, and the robot can catch hold of the handrail of the next swing. The angle of the handrail is adjusted to stabilize movement. It was confirmed from the experiment that the robot was able to transfer continuously throughout a set of the swings.