Design Of Flexible Variable Diameter Wheel Based On Tensegrity Structure

With the rapid development of social economy and the progress of modern civilization,people have more and more requirements and expectations for mobile robots,both in working life and in scientific research.In the past few years,great progress has been made in the field of mobile robots.Through the investigation of the present situation of various mobile robots in domestic and foreign scientific research institutions and universities,it is found that at present,the mobile robots occupying most market share in many fields mainly include traditional single-mode robots such as wheeled robots,legged robots and crawler robots.Wheeled robots have the ability to move quickly on structured terrain,but have poor maneuverability on unstructured terrain.On the contrary,the legged robot has good maneuverability on unstructured terrain,but the moving speed on structured terrain is insufficient.Due to the limitation of the structure of the traditional robot,it is difficult to improve its comprehensive ability,and it is difficult to adapt to multi-terrain conditions.Relatively speaking,the compound robot can have the structural advantages of multiple robots at the same time,and its comprehensive performance has been improved,and its adaptability to the environment is stronger.In order to take advantages of fast moving speed of wheeled robot and strong maneuverability of legged robot,At the same time,the whole structure based on tension has the structural characteristics of self-adaptation,self-stability and flexibility.a new tension variable-diameter walking wheel which can switch between wheeled robot and legged robot was proposed.By equivalent replacement of tension and compression members in two-bar and three-cable plane tensegrity structure,a new type of tensegrity structure was proposed.On this basis,The basic unit structure,unit connection method and optimum number of wheel hubs of the tension variable-diameter walking wheel were given.In order to overcome the disadvantage of poor rigidity caused by multiple degrees of freedom,The Method of degree of freedom constraint and Equivalent integrated of elastic component.of tension variable-diameter walking wheel were given,Therefore,the tension variable-diameter walking wheel has Convenient assembly,stable movement and Loadable support.Combining with the principle of minimum potential energy,analysis the kinematics of the tension unit of the tension variable-diameter walking robot,and the structural parameters and the expansion and contraction ratio of the tension variable-diameter walking wheel were obtained.Experiments were carried out to verify the realization of various functions of the tension variable diameter walking wheel.In the aspect of shape design,through a series of design practices,such as pre-design conception,brainstorming to produce a preliminary sketch scheme,then finalizing the sketch scheme,using 3D modeling software to model the tension variable-diameter walking wheel,and then rendering the model,building and manufacturing the prototype,the shape design of the tensioned variable-diameter walking wheel is completed,and carry out experimental analysis on it.