Variable Reduction-ratio Gear for Environmentally Adaptive Robots

Legged robots have the potential to be useful in rescue operations during disasters but their mobility is not adequate. Hydraulic and elastic actuators have been used for leg robots in the past but they have problems such as high weight and being not suitable for long-hour operation. This study aims to solve these problems by applying a variable reduction-ratio gear to robots. To confiSm the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism, we conducted experiments, no load experiment and throwing experiment on a one-degree-of-freedom robot. These experiments showed that the reduction-ratio can be changed and the performance of the throwing motion can be improved by changing the reduction-ratio.