CuGo V3 introduction example [self-made omnicrawler]
This time, we interviewed Mr. Furusaku, who is a super heavy user of the CuGo series and also a veteran part-time student at CuboRex.
Mr. Furusaku, who owns a total of 10 units of CuGo at home, talked about his history in manufacturing and his latest self-made omnicrawler.
First of all, please introduce yourself.
This is an old part-time work. I originally participated in a technical college robot contest, and am currently developing locomotive mechanisms through school research and personal development.
I joined CuboRex in 2021 after seeing a part-time job opening on their SNS.
I'm sure you use CuGo to create a variety of things, including for work, but could you please tell me what you've created recently?
Yes, it's an "omni-crawler" which is a special crawler that I developed as a hobby and can move in all directions.
Development began when I thought it would be possible to incorporate the Omniwheel rollers used at Robocon into the crawler I was making during my time at a technical college.
Omni-Crawler is a crawler that incorporates the ability of omni-wheels to move in all directions without changing its posture.
It's amazing that it can move freely in all directions, not just forward and backward. Could you please tell us more about its structure?
In order to move in all directions, the crawler tracks must be structured to slide sideways.
For that purpose, you need to install rollers like Omniwheel.
There are multiple ways to attach the rollers, but I use the method of threading a wire through the tracks and using the wire itself as an axis. Since there is no need to assemble rollers, it is possible to reduce man-hours.
This is an omni crawler using CuGo V3.
The aircraft consists of four modified CuGo V3s, mechanisms and control circuits for stabilizing the ground and climbing over bumps.
CuGo V3 will be modified to change the track shoes to unique ones. The original track consists of two rollers attached to a 3D printed part.
The outer periphery of the roller is made of urethane rubber, and the pipe-shaped material is cut to the desired length using a PISCO pipe cutter blade. The bearing part uses a commercially available POM spacer.
It has a structure that bends in the center, and uses a spring-loaded hinge. By arranging this structure in a cross pattern, it is possible to climb over steps in the front, back, left and right directions.
The control system consists of four types: an Arduino-based control circuit, a self-made motor driver, a controller using MC-8/MR-8/microcontroller, and a DC/DC converter as shown below.
The control technique is the same as that of a regular omniwheel.
In the future, we will be equipped with sensors that measure the voltage and current flowing through the motor, as well as the rotational speed, so that we can measure changes in motor load depending on the driving environment and loaded weight.
What were the benefits of using CuGo V3 to build the omnicrawler?
The first is that there are few individual differences. It can operate stably without feedback control.
Second, the tracks are easy to modify. While most other crawler products use dedicated tracks, CuGo V3 uses a method of attaching the tracks to the chain, so you can easily get the structure you want.
How it actually worked
Because the Omni-Crawler can move in all directions like this, it can perform slalom runs without changing its posture, and by bending in the center, it can overcome steps.
This time, the purpose was to create the crawler itself, but I believe that this activity will lead to solving social issues.
The scope of use of robots is expanding year by year, and there are high hopes for robots to play an active role, especially in the primary industry and construction industry, where the labor population is declining significantly. We believe it is very important to develop a mechanism that allows for free movement without restrictions even in rough terrain environments.
I would like to continue research and development and dissemination of information in the future.
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Thank you very much Kosaku-san!
This time, we introduced an example of the use of CuGo V3 by a part-time CuboRex student.
Click here for details on CuGoV3, a crawler unit that enables various developments with a high degree of design freedom!
https://cuborex.myshopify.com/collections/cugo-series/products/cugo-v3
Click here for the CuGoV3i crawler robot development platform with programming functions in CuGo V3
https://cuborex.myshopify.com/collections/cugo-series/products/cugo-v3i