The movement of pedipulators will occur until the pressure in the cavity ācā
decreases, equal to the initial value. In this case, the speed of movement will not be
constant, in contrast to the first step of moving the robot. However, this disadvantage
is not so significant in comparison with energy savings, which is achieved when the
robot is moved to the next step, but with the engines turned off. If it is necessary to
move the robot in the opposite direction, the engine will operate in the reverse direction
at the first step of the reverse movement of the robot, and at the second step the engine
will be turned off similarly to the above described forward movement.
Thus, there is an accumulation of potential energy at each first step of the robot
and its transformation into the kinetic energy of movement at each second step of
moving the robot, but already with the engines turned off. This effect saves the resource
of autonomous power sources for mobile robots.
To increase the carrying capacity of a mobile robot, a variant with a spring energy
storage device is proposed below (Fig. 3). On the robot body 1 are mounted rotary
pneumatic actuators 2 connected through a gear train 10 with running mechanisms 3.
When the elastic members 4 are compressed due to the rotation of the legs of the robot,
the potential energy is accumulated during the first half of the step, and in the second
half of the step, these elements convert the potential compression energy in the kinetic
energy of the robot's motion [15, 16]. To implement a plane-parallel motion along the
vertical, the robot is equipped with parallelograms 5. The latter connect pedipulators
with vacuum grippers 6 that hold the robot on a surface of arbitrary orientation. Also,
the robot is equipped with a control unit 7 and a power supply module 8. To overcome
obstacles on the moving surface, the robot is additionally equipped with rolling
bearings 9.
Figure 3. The robot model of arbitrary orientation
with the accumulation and transformation of energy
Source: developed by the
authors
- 540 -