US 12,479,607 B2
Flying robot
Kaoru Hoshide, Tokyo (JP); Masaki Shibuya, Tokyo (JP); Jun Kawasaki, Tokyo (JP); Tomonari Furukawa, Earlysville, VA (US); and Abdullah Abdul-Dayem, Toronto (CA)
Assigned to THK CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 18/024,402
Filed by THK CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Aug. 19, 2021, PCT No. PCT/JP2021/030429
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 2, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/050070, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 10, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/074,149, filed on Sep. 3, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0312144 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. B64U 60/50 (2023.01); B60F 5/02 (2006.01); B64D 45/00 (2006.01); B64U 10/14 (2023.01); B64U 10/70 (2023.01); B64U 30/20 (2023.01)
CPC B64U 10/70 (2023.01) [B60F 5/02 (2013.01); B64D 45/00 (2013.01); B64U 10/14 (2023.01); B64U 30/20 (2023.01); B64U 60/50 (2023.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A flying robot comprising:
a body portion;
a propulsion portion including a plurality of propulsion units configured to generate propulsion force by driving rotor blades, wherein the plurality of propulsion units are provided at the body portion;
a plurality of leg portions configured to support the body portion, wherein each leg portion of the plurality of leg portions includes at least one joint and is configured to be able to change a posture of the leg portion; and
a controller configured to control the plurality of leg portions when landing on a landing surface from a flying state,
wherein each leg portion of the plurality of leg portions includes a first link portion and a second link portion provided closer to the body than the first link portion,
the joint includes a first joint that rotatably connects the first link portion and the second link portion, and a second joint that rotatably connects the second link portion and the body,
wherein the controller controls part or all of at least one leg portion among the plurality of leg portions to adjust a tilt of the body portion from when the at least one leg portion comes into contact with the landing surface until when landing on the landing surface is completed,
wherein the controller executes:
first processing of recognizing, as a first leg portion, a leg portion that comes into contact with the landing surface first among the plurality of leg portions in a process of causing the body portion to descend by the propulsion portion for landing on the landing surface from the flying state; and
second processing of causing the body portion to further descend after the first processing to bring another leg portion into contact with the landing surface while moving the first joint and the second joint of the first leg portion while keeping contact between the first leg portion and the landing surface after the first processing such that an angle of the first joint and the second joint of the first leg portion changes as the body portion descend,
in the second processing, the controller configured to control the first joint of the first leg portion such that the angle formed by the first link portion and the second link portion becomes smaller as the body portion descends and control the second joint of the first leg portion such that the second link portion moves obliquely upward from the second joint as the body portion descends, and
in the second processing, the controller configured to individually change propulsion force of the plurality of propulsion units while moving the first joint and the second joint to maintain the body portion in a horizontal state.