Development of 3 DOF Spherical Motor by Means of Walking Drive

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A new 3 degrees-of-freedom spherical motor driven by means of Walking Drive has been developed and its performances are examined. The Walking Drive is a new driving mechanism invented by the researchers of current project, which utilizes piezo-electric actuators. Three pairs of driving units, or total six driving units are arranged around a 3-inch diameter steel ball made of stainless steel SUS-J, which is supported by three supporting balls. Each pair of the driving units hold the ball and drive the ball surface in two orthogonal directions. The ball can be rotated around the three perpendicular axes by combining the driving motions of the three pairs of the driving units, which are controlled independently. As the stroke of each piezo-electric actuator is limited, the driving motion of each pair of the driving units is activated alternatively so that the surface of the ball can be driven continuously.Major results obtained are as follows :1. 3 DOF spherical motor has been designed and the prototype of the motor has been fabricated.2. The computer programs have been developed and implemented to drive the driving units of the spherical motor.3. The performances of the spherical motor developed have been analyzed. Some typical data of the performances are 0.92 Nm in maximum rotating torque, 1.06 degrees per second in the maximum rotational speed, and 0.16 mdeg in the tracking error.