National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan

Mitsuharu Izaki

Seizo Suzuki

Isao Yamaguchi

Teruomi Nakaya

Osamu Okamoto

Katsuhiko Renbutsu

Jyunichi Ueno

Yasuoki Usui

Hiroaki Nagano

Kazuyoshi Yabuuchi

Heihachiro Kamimura

Tadashi Kishimoto

An offset rotary joint unit equipped with a rotation correction mechanism, in which a bending motion can be executed in a two-dimensional plane only by virtue of a rotary mechanism and which can support a high-load weight and is applicable for two-arm mechanisms such as nursing assistant robots. One offset rotary joint unitis composed of a first arm, a rotation correction armrotationally driven around the axial line of the first arm, and a second armrotationally driven around an axial line obliquely intersecting with the rotation correction arm. A rotation correction joint mechanismlinking the first armand the rotation correction armand an offset rotary joint mechanismlinking the rotation correction armand the second armare driven by a single motor, and the rotation correction joint mechanismrotates synchronously and in the reverse direction, following the rotation of the offset rotary joint mechanism, thereby allowing the second armto execute a bending motion in a two-dimensional plane with respect to the first armonly by virtue of rotary mechanisms.

Offset rotary joint unit equipped with rotation correction mechanism

The present invention provides contact sensors capable of determining the pressure distribution over the whole surface of each of joint units having a cylindrical shape, both end portions of which are cut at an offset angle, and constituting robot arms. In order to provide a technology enabling real-time drive control of the robot arms by using detected values from these sensors, the points of intersection of the electrodes are distributed across the whole surface of each joint by forming a pressure-sensitive sheet sensor in which column electrodes arranged in parallel, and row electrodes arranged in a wound-string shape, are combined, these joints having a cylindrical shape, both end portions of which are cut at an offset angle. In addition, by making an electrode structure that covers a prescribed width in both rows and columns, the number of signal output terminals is reduced and the operation processing load is lightened. Moreover, after executing local processing, through the use of an encoder and pressure-sensitive sheet sensor provided in each of the joints, in addition to the information processing means, &lsqb;this data&rsqb; is sent to the CPU, whereby the central operation processing load is lightened.

Pressure-distribution sensor for controlling multi-jointed nursing robot

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Kawanishi, Japan

Mitsuharu Izaki