This invention presents a scalable spherical robot designed for teleoperation in densely cluttered indoor environments. The robot features a two-pendulum-based gearless steering mechanism, providing precise maneuverability and stability. Customizable in size, with diameters ranging from 100 to 200 mm, the robot is equipped with an impact-resistant polycarbonate shell that protects internal components, including sensors, actuators, and circuitry. Teleoperation via Android devices enables easy control and monitoring. The design incorporates a modular approach, allowing for the integration of various sensors for diverse applications, such as military reconnaissance, civilian surveillance, and hazardous environment inspection. This innovative design ensures adaptability, robustness, and operational efficiency, addressing the challenges of existing robotic solutions.
Figure 1. Spherical robot
Navigating and operating standard wheeled robots in densely cluttered indoor environments presents significant challenges. These robots often get stuck due to restricted motions; drones too are unsuitable for operations requiring minimal noise and low-lying movement.
Therefore, there is a critical need for a customizable, easily deployable, size-scalable, teleoperated spherical robot that can efficiently perform in such conditions, providing effective surveillance and inspection capabilities. The scalability is important to customize the robot for a particular payload requirement of an application.
- Impact-resistant transparent shell: The robot’s polycarbonate hull is a protective, impact-resistant spherical shell that can sustain impacts, making it throwable, with a 360-degree surveillance capability. This shell ensures that mechatronic components are safe from mechanical damage and environmental hazards such as moisture and hazardous gases.
- Two-pendulum-based steering mechanism: Its two-pendulum-based gearless steering mechanism offers precise maneuvering and stability.
- Stability: The design ensures the robot returns to its operational position when disturbed.
- Teleoperation via Android devices: It can be teleoperated via Android mobile devices, thus allowing for easy control and monitoring.
- Scalability: This invention is customizable in size to suit different applications. Adjusting just the size of the components to scale up or down the robots is not enough, as it gives an inaccurate distribution of the mass required for the motion of the robot. This patent overcomes this challenge with the design flow for scaling up or down the robot for various applications. It takes multiple aspects into consideration instead of scaling all the components by a given factor i.e. 2x or 0.5x etc.
- Modular design: The design of the robot is adaptable to include various sensors (e.g., gas sensors, GPS) for specific use cases.
- Size: Two variants – palm-sized (100 mm diameter) and football-sized (200 mm diameter) have been prototyped.
- Capacity: The prototype is designed to house various environmental and application-specific sensors within a compact spherical shell.
- Components: It includes a fisheye camera, Raspberry Pi Zero W with onboard Wi-Fi, motor driver, and utility PCB for power management.
- Construction: The upper and lower polycarbonate hulls protect the internal assembly, which includes yoke, drive motor, and pendulum motors for propulsion and steering.
The functionality and all major elements of end use have been achieved, along with the GUI development.
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The robot can significantly enhance surveillance & inspection in hazardous environments and reconnaissance missions, reducing human risk and improving operational efficiency.
- Military reconnaissance: This robot can be used for silent, low-profile operations in cluttered environments.
- Civilian surveillance and security: It is effective for monitoring in indoor settings with household equipment.
- Hazardous environment inspection: It can be deployed to safely examine hazardous or unexplored indoor areas, reducing human risk and improving operational efficiency.
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