Establishment of design theory for tendon-driven mechanism using synthetic fiber ropes, and its application to ultra light weight arm with gravity compensation by propellers

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K04044
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 20020:Robotics and intelligent system-related
• Research Institution: Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Endo Gen 東京工業大学, 工学院, 准教授 (70395135)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 高強度化学繊維 / ワイヤ駆動 / マニピュレータ / 自重補償

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, we studied basic properties of synthetic fiber ropes such as (1) durability against heat due to friction, (2) structure of synthetic fiber rope that maximizes output power of the wire-driven system, (3) scalability of the diameter of the synthetic fiber rope. Additionally, we investigated a feasibility of a super lightweight, super long reach articulated manipulator driven by thrusters using a wire-pulley parallel link mechanism. A 12.4-meters long, 19.2 kg weight prototype model succeeded to float in the air. Moreover, we proposed a new mechanical structure which achieve higher rigidity around the longitudinal axis, and demonstrated its effectiveness by experiments with a prototype model.

Free Research Field

ロボット工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

化学繊維ロープの基礎特性について３つの観点から検討を行った．現在データと取りまとめ中であり，まとまり次第順次論文化し，公知化してゆく予定である．このような基礎的データはロボット工学のみならず汎用的な機械設計の指針となり得る．また従来の金属製ワイヤロープでは実現しえないロボット機構を創出することが出来る可能性がある．