tailieunhanh - InTech-Climbing and walking robots towards new applications Part 9

Tham khảo tài liệu 'intech-climbing and walking robots towards new applications part 9', kỹ thuật - công nghệ, cơ khí - chế tạo máy phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | 240 Climbing Walking Robots Towards New Applications Fig. 4. left Spherical water craft by W. E. Wilson . Patent 2 838 022 right Spherical vehicle by S. E. Cloud . Patent 3 428 015 Fig. 5. left Spherical vehicle by C. Maplethorpe and K. E. Kary . Patent 4 386 787 right Yet another spherical vehicle by L. R. Clark Jr. and H. P. Greene Jr. . Patent 4 501 569 Ball-shaped Robots 241 Fig. 6. left Mobile sphere by J. S. Sefton . Patent 4 729 446 right Spherical vehicle by A. Ray . Patent 3 746 117 Electrical 1 and 2-dof. Models A mechanical spring as a power source was displaced by a battery and an electric motor in two almost parallel patents one by E. A. Glos . Patent 2 939 246 filed 1958 and another by . Easterling . Patent 2 949 696 filed 1957 . The design by Glos also included a gravity-operated switch that activated and de-activated the motor in desired positions. Easterling notes that upon contact with objects the motor is capable of driving the counter mass over the upper dead centre which makes the ball autonomously reverse for a halfrevolution. At the same time as Easterling notes the ball may also change its rolling direction. This property makes the ball move almost endlessly this was referred to in several later patents and also modern-day toys such as the Squiggleball Weaselball and Robomaid as well as the Thistle concept of Helsinki University of Technology to be presented later . Fig. 8 presents a Squiggleball opened to show the battery compartment and electric motor and gears enclosed inside a plastic housing. The design is not very different from that of Easterling. One specific property of the Squiggleball is a thick rubber band not shown in the figure that is placed along the rolling circumference on the outer surface. The thick band adds friction to the floor but also makes the rolling axis tilt slightly to one side or the other. This makes the ball run along slightly curved paths and upon collision and autonomous .