結合多感測器之直立式全自動爬樓梯與室內服務應用機器人

Abstract

隨著科技的發展，服務型機器人將漸漸進入我們的日常生活中。為了能在室內環境幫人們工作，服務型機器人必須具備在不同室內地形之間移動的能力。因此，本論文的目的在於研發一個以服務應用為目標並具備爬樓梯功能的室內行動機器人系統。 爬樓梯一直是機器人領域中的熱門主題，因此履帶型、輪腿型、或是人形等各種爬樓梯機構都已被研發出來。然而，對於室內服務型機器人執行跨樓層的任務來說，許多需求或限制是現存的爬樓梯機器人無法達成的。舉例來說，服務型機器人最好有與人類相近的身高，才好跟人們自然地互動。且為了能在室內環境順暢地四處移動，機器人的佔地面積應該要小且機動性高。不幸的是，履帶型爬樓梯機器人通常都平躺在地面上，而那些輪腿型爬樓梯機器人比起基本的差速輪平台來說，也沒有小的佔地面積或是好的機動性。人形機器人或許是好的解決方案，但是他們太過於複雜且穩定性有疑慮。因此，我們朝向此需求設計了一台擁有適當移動方式和控制策略的行動機器人來達成所有服務型機器人爬樓梯的需求。 我們設計的這台機器人有許多優點。高重心的設計、接近地面的傾斜轉軸、以及三角形的輪腿結構使得這台機器人可以用動態且自我平衡的方式來爬樓梯。三角形的輪腿機構也保留了差速輪移動平台在平地上行動的優點，例如控制簡單、節省能量、以及能夠原地旋轉等。而且，整體的機構設計符合服務型機器人適當高度以及相對的占地面積的需求較小，使得人機互動更加自然舒適。因為室內3D感測與控制系統的整合都十分完善，我們成功的展示爬樓梯的功能並證明我們的設計與實作是可行且有效率的。

With the development of technology, service robots will gradually come into our daily life. To work for people in indoor environment, service robots must have the ability to move across various indoor terrains and cope with different indoor environment. As a result, the purpose of this thesis is to develop an indoor mobile robot system with focus on stair climbing ability for service applications. Since stair climbing is always a hot topic in robotics, various stair-climbing mechanisms, such as track-based, wheel-legged, or humanoid solutions, are developed. However, for indoor service robots to perform tasks across floors, there are some requirements or limitations that those existed robot platforms cannot match. For example, to interact with human naturally, it is better for a service robot to have similar height as humans. And to move around indoor environment smoothly, the robot should have small footprint and high mobility. Unfortunately, those track-based stair-climbing robots usually lie on the floor, and the wheel-legged stair-climbing robots do not have small footprint or good mobility comparing to basic differential-wheeled platforms. Humanoid robots may be good solutions, but they are too complicated and stability is a concern. As a result, we design a mobile robot with proper locomotion and control strategy to meet all the requirements for stair-climbing service robots. There are several advantages of our robot. The design of high center of mass, tilt axis near ground, and the triangular wheel-legged structure enable the robot to climb stairs in a dynamic and self-balancing way. The triangular-shaped wheel-legged mechanism also keep the advantages of differential-wheeled mobile platforms when moving on flat ground, such as easy to control, saving power, and zero turning radius. Moreover, the overall mechanical design fits the requirements for a service robot to have proper height and small footprint, which can make human-robot interaction more natural and comfortable. Since the 3D perceptual and control system of the robot are both well integrated, we successfully demonstrate the stair-climbing function and prove that the design and implementation of our work are feasible and efficient.