2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Soft Continuous Track Mechanism That Enables Omnidirectional Motion by Generating Traveling Waves on a Track
Project/Area Number |
19K21061
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Project/Area Number (Other) |
18H05880 (2018)
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund (2019) Single-year Grants (2018) |
Review Section |
0301:Mechanics of materials, production engineering, design engineering, fluid engineering, thermal engineering, mechanical dynamics, robotics, aerospace engineering, marine and maritime engineering, and related fields
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Research Institution | Tohoku University |
Principal Investigator |
Watanabe Masahiro 東北大学, タフ・サイバーフィジカルAI研究センター, 助教 (00823452)
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Project Period (FY) |
2018-08-24 – 2020-03-31
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Keywords | 全方向移動機構 / 進行波推進 |
Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The aim is to realize a traveling wave crawler that can move in rough terrain and in extreme environments where dust-proofing and waterproofing are required, and can move in all directions by driving both endless tracks and traveling waves. Through the study, we developed a propulsion mechanism for a traveling wave actuator as an elemental technology that forms the basis of a traveling wave generation crawler. In addition, we modeled a moving body for implementing the drive system and constructing the design method. In particular, regarding the traveling wave generation actuator, continuous and smooth peristaltic motions are generated by rotating multiple spiral axes arranged around the circumference, and the movement characteristics are clarified by a theoretical model and measurement by a prototype.
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Free Research Field |
ソフトロボティクス,ロボット機構
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Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
学術的な意義は,これまで開発例のほとんど無い無限軌道と進行波の組み合わせによる全方向移動機構の具現化方法を明らかにし,また構造の違いにより一般的な車輪やクローラ型ロボットとの特性の違いを整理した.特に本研究で開発した進行波推進機構は,連続的で滑らかな蠕動運動を生成できること,単一のモータで 無限回転させることで高速駆動ができること,円形断面で高剛性なデバイスを構成できること,という従来には無い特徴を実現できた点に価値がある.また社会的な意義としては,本成果を一つの機械要素として,様々な不整地や防塵・防水が要求される産業・工業分野の現場に応用可能な点である.
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