For legged robots, aerial motions are the only option to overpass obstacles that cannot be circumvent with standard locomotion gaits. In these cases, the robot must perform a leap to either jump onto the obstacle or fly over it. However, these movements represent a challenge because during the flight phase the Center of Mass (CoM) cannot be controlled, and the robot orientation has limited controllability. This paper focuses on the latter issue and proposes an Orientation Control System (OCS) consisting of two rotating and actuated masses (flywheels or reaction wheels) to gain control authority on the robot orientation. Because of the conservation of angular momentum, their rotational velocity can be adjusted to steer the robot orientation even when there are no contacts with the ground. The axes of rotation of the flywheels are designed to be incident, leading to a compact orientation control system that is capable of controlling both roll and pitch angles, considering the different moment of inertia in the two directions. We tested the concept with simulations on the robot Solo12.
翻译:对于腿上的机器人来说,空中运动是克服无法用标准移动的动作来绕过的障碍的唯一选择。 在这种情况下, 机器人必须跳跃, 跳到障碍处或飞过障碍处。 然而, 这些移动是一个挑战, 因为在飞行阶段无法控制质量中心( COM ), 机器人方向的可控性有限。 本文侧重于后一个问题, 并提议一个方向控制系统, 由两个旋转和操作的物体( 飞轮或反应轮) 组成, 以便在机器人方向上获得控制权力。 由于保护角动力, 它们的旋转速度可以调整, 以指导机器人方向, 即使与地面没有接触 。 旋翼的轴被设计成意外事件, 导致一个能够控制滚动和投放角度的紧凑方向控制系统。 考虑到两个方向的不同惯性时刻, 我们用模拟机器人Solo12 测试了这个概念 。