Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Asahi Kasei Fibers Corporation

Hnoda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Hiroyuki Makino

Toru Takenaka

Hiroshi Gomi

Kazushi Akimoto

Shunji Tatsumi

Naoyuki Saito

Shinichi Kitajima

Atsushi Matsubara

Yoichi Nishimura

Koji Okazaki

Makoto Uda

Kouhei Ohsono

Takashi Nakayama

Satoshi Kaneko

Shunichi Nakabayashi

Yasunori Yuuki

Masaaki Muromachi

Kenji Muto

Keisuke Koitabashi

Taihei Setoguchi

Teruo Wakashiro

Kazutomo Sawamura

Shinichiro Kobashi

Yutaka Tamagawa

Takeshi Koshiishi

Hideyuki Oki

Hideyuki Takahashi

Kan Nakaune

Kenji Matsumoto

Makoto Hirano

Yoichi Kojima

Taro Yokoyama

Taiji Koyama

Katsuhiko Masuda

Hideharu Izumi

Kazuya Kuwabara

Shigeru Koyama

Kenichiro Sugiyama

Yoshihiro Katagiri

Naoki Itoh

Masami Takano

Masao Sasaki

Yoshinobu Edure

Norio Neki

Teruhisa Kidokoro

Yasuyo Kosugi

Masaharu Goto

Susumu Saito

Shotaro Takano

Makoto Katagiri

Tadashi Kawada

Tomoyuki Takano

In a mobile vehiclehaving a vehicle body, a front wheel, and a rear wheel, the steering control wheelcan be steered by a steering actuatorabout a steering axis Csf which is tilted backward. The steering actuatoris controlled by a control device. The height a, from a ground surface, of the intersection point Ef of the steering axis Csf of the steering control wheeland a virtual straight line connecting the ground contact point of the steering control wheeland the center of axle of the steering control wheelin a basic posture state of the mobile vehicleis set to satisfy a prescribed condition.

Mobile vehicle

An object of the present invention is to provide an elastic signal transmission cable having a length of several centimeters to several meters that has a shape deformation tracking ability and enables high-speed signal transmission. The inventive elastic signal transmission cable has an elasticity of 10% or more and transmission loss of 10 dB/m or less in a relaxed state at 250 MHz, and comprises an elastic cylindrical body having an elasticity of 10% or more and a conductor portion containing at least two conductor wires wound in the same direction around the elastic cylindrical body.

Elastic signal transmission cable

A two-wheeled vehicleincludes a steering sectionwhich steers a front wheel. The steering section includes a steering shaft linkwhich turns about a first steering axistogether with a second steering axis, a front-wheel support sectionwhich turns the front wheelabout the second steering axis, and a first motorwhich causes the steering shaft linkto turn. A caster angle &#x3b8; based on the first steering axisis positive or 0. A trail tbased on the second steering axisis positive. When the two-wheeled vehicleis in a basic posture state on a ground surface, the intersection point Pof the second steering axisand the ground surfacelies in front of the intersection point Pof the first steering axisand the ground surface

Disclosed is an extensible optical signal transmission cable having an extensity of 10% or more and an optical transmission loss of less than 20 dB/m when the cable is loosened. The cable comprises an elastic cylinder having the extensity of 10% or more and at least one optical fiber wound around the elastic cylinder. The optical fiber has a bending diameter (R) which is not smaller than the bending limit diameter (Re). The extensible optical signal transmission cable is compliant with shape deformation, can transmit an optical signal when the cable is extended or contracted, and can be used in repetitive extension and contraction.

Extensible optical signal transmission cable

[Task] To allow a wheel that provides a performance required for use in an omni-directional vehicle to be manufactured in an efficient manner. [Solution] An annular member () comprises a C-shaped main body () and a complementary member () defining an endless annular shape jointly with the main body (), a joint () between the main body () and complementary member () includes mating surfaces that are non-perpendicular to the cross sectional center line of the annular member, and the main body () and the complementary member () are fixedly joined to each other by using a threaded bolt () passed radially through the mating surfaces.

Wheel, and friction drive device and omni-directional vehicle using the same

In a frictional drive device comprising a pair of drive disks each rotatably supported by a frame around a central axial line (A) in a mutually opposing relationship and configured to be individually rotatively actuated by a pair of actuators, a plurality of drive rollers arranged along an outer periphery of each drive disk so as to be rotatable along a prescribed plane of rotation, and an annular main wheel disposed at least approximately coaxially with respect to the central axial line and engaged by the drive rollers of the drive disks, the main wheel comprising an annular member and a plurality of driven rollers supported along the annular member so as to be rotatable around a tangential line of the annular member, each drive roller includes at least a pair of individually rotatable disk members coaxially disposed to each other and having different diameters, the diameters being selected so that the disk members engage the corresponding driven roller at outer peripheral parts thereof. Typically, each drive roller include a plurality of disk members coaxially stacked upon one another in a mutually freely rotatable manner so as to jointly define a substantially hourglass shaped outer profile. Thereby, the slippage in the frictional engagement between the drive rollers and driven rollers can be minimized so that the drive efficiency can be improved and the drive force capacity can be maximized.

Frictional drive device and inverted pendulum type vehicle using the same

The autonomous mobile robot having an openable and closable gripper for gripping goods, cameras, an autonomous mobile means, and a control means for making the robot carry the goods to a destination from an acquisition source, the control means comprising: a grip position recognition means configured to recognize a predetermined position suitable for gripping a carrier container of a predetermined specification configured to place the goods to carry, based on an image of the acquisition source taken by the cameras; a grip control means configured to drive the gripper to the predetermined position of the carrier container and to control gripping the predetermined position; and a grip-success-or-not determination means configured to determine whether or not the gripping is successful, based on an external force acting on the gripper.

Autonomous mobile robot and goods carrying method of using the same

A charging system for a legged mobile robot that facilitates positioning of a robot to be charged and does not put a load on the robot is provided. The charging system includes a battery, a power receiving connectorand a movable shutter membercapable of being opened and closed on a rear cover, which are provided on a robot, and a holder, a power supplying connector, a slide mechanism, a base plate, a charging power supplyand the like, which are provided on a charging station. The robotperforms a predetermined positioning on the base plateand then moves the center of gravity rearward to connect the power receiving connectorto the power supplying connector. In this step, when the rear coverof the robotis guided by a first guide sectionof the holder, the slide mechanismallows the holderto move horizontally. Thus, even if the robotand the charging stationare slightly misaligned with each other, the robotcan be easily positioned correctly.

Charging system for legged mobile robot

An apparatus capable of charging a battery mounted on a robot while allowing the robot to remain stably still in the state of standing on its legs is provided. Driving a first connector backward while it is connected with a second connector would cause a body of the robot to tilt as if being pulled by the first connector. However, it is possible to prevent the posture of the robot from becoming unstable by utilizing the fact that the connected state of first signal terminals and second signal terminals is maintained in that state. The backward driving of the first connector is restricted when a charge control unit is capable of communicating with a control system via the first signal terminals and the second signal terminals. This prevents the undesirable event that the posture of the robot becomes unstable due to the first connector being driven backward unconditionally.

Charging apparatus

An expander (M) employing steam as a working medium is formed from a first radially inner group of axial piston cylinders () arranged annularly on a rotor () so as to surround the axis (L) of an output shaft (), and a second radially outer group of axial piston cylinders () arranged annularly so as to surround the first group of axial piston cylinders (). The first and second groups of axial piston cylinders () are driven by a common swash plate (), and the first and second groups of axial piston cylinders () are arranged with circumferentially displaced pitches. High-temperature, high-pressure steam firstly operates the first group of axial piston cylinders (), then operates the second group of axial piston cylinders (), and the outputs from the two are combined to drive the output shaft (). This achieves a further reduction in the size and a further increase in the output of the axial type expander (M).

Expander

A rotary fluid machine includes a first operating part () and a second operating part (), which are groups of axial piston cylinders, wherein a rotary valve () for controlling the intake and discharge of a working medium to and from the first and second operating parts () is formed from a first valve part that has a flat sliding surface () perpendicular to a rotational axis (L) of the rotor () and controls the intake and discharge of the working medium to and from the first operating part (), and a second valve part that has a cylindrical sliding surface () centered on the rotational axis (L) of the rotor () and controls the intake and discharge of the working medium to and from the second operating part (). Since the intake and discharge of the working medium to and from the first and second operating parts () are controlled by the common rotary valve (), the size of the rotary fluid machine can be reduced.

Rotary hydraulic machine

An expander that converts the thermal energy and the pressure energy of a working medium into mechanical energy includes, within a casing (), an operating part such as a group of axial piston cylinders operated by the working medium introduced into an operating chamber, and a hermetically sealed lubrication chamber () in which oil for lubricating at least the operating part resides. Breather chambers () are provided in an upper part of the lubrication chamber (), and a working medium discharge chamber () into which the working medium is discharged from the operating chamber is made to communicate with the breather chambers () via breather passages (Bto B). A mixture of oil and the working medium that has leaked from the operating chamber into the lubrication chamber () is separated in the breather chambers (), the oil is returned to the lubrication chamber (), and the working medium is returned to the working medium discharge chamber () via the breather passages (Bto B). This enables the influence of mixing of the oil and the working medium within the casing of the expander to be minimized.

A torque variation control device for a vehicle which has a motor providing rotational torque to a drive shaft of a vehicle, a motor control means controlling the motor based on drive torque, and a rotational velocity detection means detecting a rotational velocity of the drive shaft or a rotational shaft of the motor. The device has a feature that the device includes a torque variation detection means detecting a torque variation of the vehicle caused by a variation of the rotational velocity, and a compensation torque setting means setting compensation torque in an opposite phase relative to the torque variation.

Torque variation control device and computer program

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Wako, Japan

Hiroyuki Makino