US 11,787,068 B2
Robot joint structure
Takeshi Yamagishi, Kanagawa (JP); Keiji Togawa, Tokyo (JP); Norio Nagatsuka, Saitama (JP); and Naoki Numaguchi, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 16/623,483
Filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Jun. 29, 2017, PCT No. PCT/JP2017/024053
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 17, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/003402, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 3, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0189125 A1, Jun. 18, 2020
Int. Cl. B25J 9/16 (2006.01); B25J 19/02 (2006.01); B25J 17/00 (2006.01); B25J 5/00 (2006.01); B25J 9/00 (2006.01)
CPC B25J 17/00 (2013.01) [B25J 5/00 (2013.01); B25J 9/0006 (2013.01); B25J 9/1641 (2013.01); B25J 19/02 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A joint structure for a robot, the joint structure comprising:
a joint portion including a first part coupled to a main body side link and a second part coupled to a distal side link;
a driving force transmitting mechanism configured to transmit, to the joint portion, a rotational driving force causing relative rotation of the second part with respect to the first part and rotation of the distal side link relative to the main body side link; and
a biasing mechanism operating to apply a rotational biasing force coaxial with the relative rotation to the second part, wherein:
the rotational biasing force counters gravity acting on the distal side link when the distal side link constitutes a cantilever having the joint portion as a fulcrum,
the joint portion comprises a rotational joint formed from at least one of a pitch joint enabling pitch rotation, a roll joint enabling roll rotation, and a yaw joint enabling yaw rotation, wherein at least one of pitch, roll, and yaw rotational axes are defined with reference to the robot standing in an upright posture, and
a control device for the robot refers to detected values of at least one of a distance measuring sensor, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), grounding confirming sensors, a load sensor, and a power control device.