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US 4,775,289 AGranted
Statically-balanced direct-drive robot arm
AssigneeRegents of the University of Minnesota
InventorHomayoon Kazerooni
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A robot (10) includes a statically-balanced direct-drive arm (14) having three degrees of freedom, all of which are independent articulated drive joints, the driving axes of two of which intersect at the center of gravity of the arm to eliminate gravity forces on the drive system without counterweights.
Claims9
A statically-balanced robot arm, which comprises:
- a four-bar linkage having base, input, connecting, and output links;
- first drive means mounted on the base link for effecting pivotal movement of the input link of said linkage;
- said linkage and said first drive means having a predetermined center of gravity;
- means for supporting said linkage for independent pivotal movement about generally vertical and horizontal axes, said axes intersecting at said center of gravity;
- and
- second drive means for effecting independent pivotal movement of said linkage about the vertical and horizontal axes.
3 more elements
A statically-balanced robot arm, which comprises:
- a four-bar linkage having base, input, connecting, and output links;
- control drive means mounted on the base link for effecting pivotal movement of the output link of said linkage;
- said linkage and said control drive means having a predetermined center of gravity;
- means for supporting said linkage for independent pivotal movement about generally vertical and horizontal axes, said axes intersecting at the said center of gravity;
- first drive means mounted on said supporting means for effecting pivotal movement of said linkage about the said horizontal axis;
- and
- second drive means for effecting pivotal movement of said supporting means about the said vertical
4 more elements
A statically-balanced robot arm, comprising:
- a four-bar linkage having base, input, connecting, and output links;
- a first drive motor having a housing and a drive shaft, the housing being mounted on the base link and the shaft being drivingly connected to the input link of said linkage;
- said linkage and said first drive motor having a predetermined center of gravity;
- means for supporting said linkage for independent pivotal movement about intersecting perpendicular axes, said axes intersecting at the said center of gravity;
- a second drive motor having a housing and a drive shaft, the housing being mounted on said supporting means and the shaft being connected directly to the base link of said linkage for selective rotatable movement about one of said axes;
- and
- a third drive motor having a housing and a rotatable drive shaft, the drive shaft being connected directly to said supporting means for selective pivotal movement about the other one of said perpendicular axes.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.