Spherical robot
OwnerBruno BELZILE, David ST-ONGEinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A robot may have a sphere-like outer shell defining an inner cavity. An axle unit includes an axle connected at its opposed ends to the outer shell, in the inner cavity, and a transmission to transmit a torque to the axle. A pendulum drive unit is operatively connected to the axle unit and supported in the outer shell by the axle, the pendulum drive unit having actuators to produce torque, the actuators operatively connected to the transmission of the axle unit. The axle unit and the pendulum drive unit concurrently define a cylindrical joint by which the pendulum drive unit is movable in rotation and translation relative to the axle to tilt and drive the sphere-like outer shell via the actuators.
Claims20
A robot comprising:
- a sphere-like outer shell defining an inner cavity;
- an axle unit including an axle connected at its opposed ends to the outer shell, in the inner cavity, and a transmission to transmit a torque to the axle;
- a pendulum drive unit operatively connected to the axle unit and supported in the outer shell by the axle, the pendulum drive unit having actuators to produce torque, the actuators operatively connected to the transmission of the axle unit;
- wherein the axle unit and the pendulum drive unit concurrently define a cylindrical joint by which the pendulum drive unit is movable in rotation and translation relative to the axle to tilt and drive the sphere-like outer shell via the actuators.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.