Patent Application
20250050918
The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Taiwan application number 112129652, filed Aug. 8, 2023, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present disclosure belongs to the field of robots, and in particular to a track-type robot that can smoothly go uphill and downhill and make a turn.
A track-type robot (overhead crane) is a robot device that moves by means of a track arranged below the ceiling, and is mainly a robot for carrying goods or inspecting factory premises and laboratory environments.
However, an existing track-type robot travels on tracks with the same height when in use, and cannot perform uphill and downhill movements, which results in a limited application range of the track-type robot. Moreover, when the track-type robot makes a turn, because wheels are prone to offset due to centrifugal factors, a design turning angle of the track can not be too large, otherwise causing conditions that the track-type robot fails to corner or is disengaged from the track, and further limiting the application range of the track-type robot.
As a result, at present, there are still many portions that need improvements and can be further refined in terms of track-type robot technology. Therefore, to solve the above problems, the present inventor is eager to make improvements and innovations, and after many years of dedicated research, finally successfully developed and completed the track-type robot.
To overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it is an objective of the present disclosure to provide a track-type robot that can smoothly go uphill and downhill and make a turn.
In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the track-type robot of the present disclosure mainly comprises a body, at least one running mechanism, a driving device, a support restoring device, a braking mechanism, a track, two positioning wheels, and a locator.
The running mechanism travels on the track, and is connected to the body by a pivoting element. The driving device is disposed on the body, and the driving device comprises at least a power source for driving the running mechanism to travel. The support restoring device comprises at least one support device and a shaft rotating element, the support device being connected between the body and the shaft rotating element.
The driving mechanism further comprises at least one drive wheel, and the drive wheel is connected to the power source by a power transmission unit.
The braking mechanism is disposed on at least one side of the drive wheel.
The two positioning wheels are disposed on two opposite sides of the body or the running mechanism by holding mechanisms respectively.
The locator is disposed on the body and extends to one side of the track, and a plurality of locating elements sensed by the locator are disposed on at least any surface of the track, the locating elements being a two-dimensional code, a Quick Response Code (QR Code), a radio-frequency identification (RFID), a scan code or a sensor.
The track-type robot of the present disclosure further comprises at least one sensing device disposed on the body or an external platform provided by the body, and the sensing device may be an image sensing device, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a light sensor, and/or a gas detector.
The techniques of the present disclosure would be more understandable from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying figures are provided for better illustration, and thus description and figures are not limitative for the present disclosure, and wherein:
To facilitate Examiners to understand technical features, content, and advantages of the disclosure and its achievable effects, the present disclosure is hereby described in detail as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and annexes, and in the form of embodiments. The drawings used herein only aim to illustrate and assist in the description, and are not necessarily true proportions and precise configurations of the present disclosure after being implemented, so the present disclosure shall not be construed in regard to the proportions and configuration relationships of the accompanying drawings, and shall not be limited to the scope of rights in the actual implementation, as described herein.
In the description of this implementation, it is to be understood that terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “top”, “bottom”, “inside”, “outside” and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are intended only to facilitate the description of the present disclosure and to simplify the description, rather than to indicate or imply that devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated with a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be construed as a limitation of the present disclosure.
Referring to
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When the track-type robot of the present disclosure performs uphill and downhill movements along the track, through the pivoting element 21 connecting the running mechanism 2 and the body 1, the running mechanism 2 performs relative deflection motions in forward and reverse directions in an axial rotating direction of the pivoting element 21 connecting the running mechanism 2 with the body 1, so as to keep the running mechanism 2 and the drive wheel 32 in contact with the track 6 when the track-type robot of the present disclosure goes uphill and downhill and to restore, through a restoring element (not shown in the figure) disposed on the pivoting element 21, the pivoting element to the initial state when the track-type robot of the present disclosure ends uphill and downhill movements and enters a plane for operation.
In addition, because the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure generates a centrifugal offset when making a turn, the positioning wheels 7, of the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure, contacting side edges of the track 6 are provided with holding mechanisms. the positioning wheels 7 are pushed by the holding mechanisms 71 to generate a reverse force that counteracts the centrifugal offset, so that the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure is avoided from the situation of left and right swinging.
Furthermore, a support restoring device 4 is disposed in the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure, and the body 1 is connected to the shaft rotating element 42 mainly utilizing the support device 41 such as a support spring, an oil pressure mechanism, a hydraulic mechanism, a telescopic cylinder structure, or any other telescopic structure with a supportive force. Therefore, in the process that the body 1 is swayed or deflected due to the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure going uphill or downhill or making a turn, the body is supported by a supportive force generated by the support device, and at the same time, the body 1 will be pushed by the shaft rotating element through the support device 41 back to the original state.
From the above, the aforementioned mechanism can enable the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure to maintain smooth operation whether during the process of going uphill and downhill or making a turn no matter the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure is used to handle goods, or to inspect a factory building by installing a camera device, an image sensing device, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a light sensor and/or a gas detector on the body 1 or an external platform provided by the body 1.
Besides, in the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure, a braking device 5 is disposed on at least one side of the drive wheel 32, so that when the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure encounters a problem in its traveling process, rotation of the drive wheel 32 can be interfered directly through disposing the braking device 5, thereby stopping the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure from traveling soon. Also, the factory or place where the track-type robot is generally installed for handling goods or inspecting is very large in area, so there is often a trouble of not being able to locate the track-type robot, therefore, in the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure, a plurality of locating elements such as a two-dimensional code, a Quick Response Code (QR Code), a Radio-frequency identification (RFID), a scanning code or a sensor are disposed on at least any surface of the track 6, and at least one locator 8 is disposed at positions corresponding to the locating elements of the body 1, so that when the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure travels on the track 6, the position of the track-type robot can be instantly known from the positions of the locating elements scanned by the locator.
In summary, through the mechanism of the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure, the track-type robot can be kept smooth when going uphill and downhill or making a turn, and through disposing the locator 8, the position of the track-type robot can be controlled at any time. Therefore, the track-type robot provided by the present disclosure can perform the handling or inspecting work of goods in any type of factories or places without any limitation.
The above content only expresses some embodiments of the present disclosure, but is not a limitation of the patent scope of the disclosure. For those with common knowledge in the art, a number of variations and improvements can be made without departing from concepts of the present disclosure, which are all within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 112129652 | Aug 2023 | TW | national |
