Appliance stabilized by a gyroscope, in particular a two-wheeled robot
AssigneeCommissariat a l'Energie Atomique
InventorEric Villedieu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Appliance such as a two-legged robot made up of a system giving ground support and an upper body (30), equipped with a gyroscopic rotor wheel (31) which acts as a fulcrum to balance the appliance when positioned in reverse pendulum. A satisfactory equilibrium is guaranteed, thereby releasing from this function the command system in charge of robot locomotion or pathway.
Claims20
Appliance comprising at least one supporting leg (13, 33) and an upper body (11, 30) connected to the supporting leg, and configured in reverse pendulum relative to gravity, in which the upper body comprises a gyroscopic rotor wheel (2, 3) rotating about a rotor axle (4) and housed in a casing (1), characterized in that the casing is connected to the upper body by a mechanical connection which permits rotational movements about two non-parallel axes, the appliance comprises two sensors (18, 19) disposed in an orthogonal fashion around the appliance, for the measurement of an off-balance effect produced by gravity on the appliance, and means to balance the appliance by exerting opposing forces opposing the off-balance effect, which comprise:
- two actuators (16, 17), for imparting the rotational movements about the two non-parallel axes to the casing (1) and the gyroscopic rotor wheel;
- and a command system to which measurements by the sensors are transmitted and which commands the actuators.
Appliance comprising at least one supporting leg (13, 33) and an upper body (11, 30) connected to the supporting leg, and configured in reverse pendulum relative to gravity, in which the upper body comprises a gyroscopic rotor wheel (2, 3) rotating about a rotor axle (4) and housed in a casing (1), characterized in that the casing is connected to the upper body by a mechanical connection which permits rotational movements about two non-parallel axes, the appliance comprises two sensors (18, 19), for the measurement of an off-balance effect produced by gravity on the appliance, and means to balance the appliance by exerting opposing forces using the support of the gyroscopic rotor wheel via actuators (16, 17), and an associated command system able to take advantage of the actuators and sensors of the appliance to give it equilibrium, characterized in that an off-balance effect produced by gravity on the appliance is measured by gyrometers (18, 19) to measure tilt velocity, or tilt meters, wherein the command system (45) is sensitive to the measurements of these gyrometers or tilt meters and causes opposing moments dependent on tilt velocity to be applied via actuators (16, 17), wherein the command system comprises means for calculating the time average of moments of tilt, connected to servo-control means (20,21) for the actuators, calculating the opposing moments to have applied by the actuators such that the moments of tilt have a zero time average.
Appliance comprising at least one supporting leg (13, 33) and an upper body (11, 30) connected to the supporting leg, and configured in reverse pendulum relative to gravity, in which the upper body comprises a gyroscopic rotor wheel (2, 3) rotating about a rotor axle (4) and housed in a casing (1), characterized in that the casing is connected to the upper body by a mechanical connection which permits rotational movements about two non-parallel axes, the appliance comprises two sensors (18, 19) for the measurement of an off-balance effect produced by gravity on the appliance, and means to balance the appliance by exerting opposing forces using the support of the gyroscopic rotor wheel via actuators (16, 17), and an associated command system able to take advantage of the actuators and sensors of the appliance to give it equilibrium, wherein the gyroscopic rotor wheel (2, 3) is a sole source of energy for the appliance, and wherein said gyroscopic rotor wheel is driven by a reversible motor (7, 8) further able to operate as electricity generator.
Appliance comprising at least one supporting leg (13, 33) and an upper body (11, 30) connected to the supporting leg, and configured in reverse pendulum relative to gravity, in which the upper body comprises a gyroscopic rotor wheel (2, 3) rotating about a rotor axle (4) and housed in a casing (1), characterized in that the casing is connected to the upper body by a mechanical connection which permits rotational movements about two non-parallel axes, the appliance comprises two sensors (18, 19) for the measurement of an off-balance effect produced by gravity on the appliance, and means to balance the appliance by exerting opposing forces using the support of the gyroscopic rotor wheel via actuators (16, 17), and an associated command system able to take advantage of the actuators and sensors of the appliance to give it equilibrium, wherein the gyroscopic rotor wheel (2, 3) is housed in a vacuum casing (1), and wherein the rotor axle (4) is supported by bearings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.