TY - JOUR
T1 - Bundled Rotary Helix Drive Mechanism Capable of Smooth Peristaltic Movement
AU - Watanabe, Masahiro
AU - Tadakuma, Kenjiro
AU - Konyo, Masashi
AU - Tadokoro, Satoshi
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received October 15, 2019; accepted March 31, 2020. Date of publication April 13, 2020; date of current version July 17, 2020. This letter was recommended for publication by Associate Editor J.-S. Koh and Editor C. Laschi upon evaluation of the reviewers’ comments. This work was supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up Grant 18H05880 and MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, Science of Soft Robot Interdisciplinary integration of mechatronics, material science, and bio-computing, Grant 18H05471. (Corresponding author: Kenjiro Tadakuma.) The authors are with the Graduate School of Information Sciences, Applied Information Sciences Department, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan (e-mail: watanabe.masahiro@rm.is.tohoku.ac.jp; tadakuma@rm.is.tohoku.ac.jp; konyo@rm.is.tohoku.ac.jp; tadokoro@rm.is.tohoku.ac.jp). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LRA.2020.2986993
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 IEEE.
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - Herein, we focus on the design method of a robot, named Wave Wheel, capable of generating a smooth continuous peristaltic wave, which is driven by a bundled rotary helix drive mechanism. Wave Wheel mainly consists of a braided mesh tube, multiple helices that are arranged on the circumference, and spur gears. When a single motor rotates the helices, the wheel generates peristaltic waves. The proposed mechanism has some unique characteristics: (i) In principle, smooth peristalsis can be generated with a simple structure. (ii) It can be driven by a single motor and can propagate waves at high speed by infinite rotation of the shaft. (iii) The structure is a circle in the transversal plane and can be used as an omnidirectional drive wheel. The basic design method, such as waveform, velocity, and the collision condition are discussed from a geometrical point of view. Based on the model accounting for the mechanical constraints, we have designed and fabricate a prototype robot and experimentally tested it. The prototype (diameter of 57 mm) reached the top speed of the peristaltic locomotion of 43 mm/s when angular velocity of the helix was 60 rad/s. We obtained the trajectory of the mesh surface by motion capture, and the result showed that the velocity was not constant on the whole surface but periodically changed with time due to the sliding between the mesh and the helix.
AB - Herein, we focus on the design method of a robot, named Wave Wheel, capable of generating a smooth continuous peristaltic wave, which is driven by a bundled rotary helix drive mechanism. Wave Wheel mainly consists of a braided mesh tube, multiple helices that are arranged on the circumference, and spur gears. When a single motor rotates the helices, the wheel generates peristaltic waves. The proposed mechanism has some unique characteristics: (i) In principle, smooth peristalsis can be generated with a simple structure. (ii) It can be driven by a single motor and can propagate waves at high speed by infinite rotation of the shaft. (iii) The structure is a circle in the transversal plane and can be used as an omnidirectional drive wheel. The basic design method, such as waveform, velocity, and the collision condition are discussed from a geometrical point of view. Based on the model accounting for the mechanical constraints, we have designed and fabricate a prototype robot and experimentally tested it. The prototype (diameter of 57 mm) reached the top speed of the peristaltic locomotion of 43 mm/s when angular velocity of the helix was 60 rad/s. We obtained the trajectory of the mesh surface by motion capture, and the result showed that the velocity was not constant on the whole surface but periodically changed with time due to the sliding between the mesh and the helix.
KW - Soft robot materials and design
KW - mechanism design
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U2 - 10.1109/LRA.2020.2986993
DO - 10.1109/LRA.2020.2986993
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85088707689
VL - 5
SP - 5537
EP - 5544
JO - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
SN - 2377-3766
IS - 4
M1 - 9064570
ER -