Abstract:
A radio controlled robotic toy having a main body chassis with at least two middle legs and at least two corner legs attached to the chassis, the legs being interconnected and driven by a linkage drive arm which is, in turn, operated by a radio-controlled electric motor which has computer electronics and software to control and cause movement of the legs for propelling the toy forward and backward. A six-legged walking animatronic robot toy is one of the preferred embodiments, including a moving head with jaw pincers, six moving legs, which yields a versatile, durable, speedy robot toy.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/181,487 filed on Feb. 10, 2000. 
    
    
     COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING 
     A CD-ROM containing a computer program listing appendix has been submitted and is herein incorporated by reference. The CD-ROM contains a single ASII text file named “buy D”, created on Feb. 19, 2003, 20,2 KB in size. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates generally to robotic toys, and more particularly relates to an animatronic, radio-controlled walking robotic toy. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     While the 1980&#39;s were considered the decade of the computer, and the 1990&#39;s were the decade of the internet, it has been predicted that the first decade of the new millennium will be the decade of robots. Robots are being used to mow lawns, vacuum clean houses, deliver mail and other inter office communications in large corporations, as well as many other uses. Of course, robotics and automated manufacturing systems have been in place for decades as their cost became justified. However, robots for everyday entertainment and home consumption have generally been too expensive. 
     Regardless of their cost, however, the Sony robotic dog, priced at approximately $2,000, has received more orders than Sony Corporation can manufacture. As these are times of great personal wealth, the children of the wealthy individuals have toys available to them, such as the Sony dog, which are unaffordable for most middle-class families. Furthermore, general interest in toy robots is at an all time high, as indicated by the television show “Battlebots” which is listed as a “sport” on the Comedy Central cable television channel. Radio-controlled toys, including airplanes, trains, cars and the like, are more popular than ever. Hobby shops are being frequented not only by children, but by adults looking for entertainment. Parents would love to buy “Little Johnnie” a nice radio-controlled robot toy for Christmas, but it has been too expensive. 
     Consequently, there is a market for a radio-controlled robotic toy which is less expensive than the Sony dog and more on the order of a radio-controlled car or airplane. There has been a long felt need for a moderately priced robotic toy for children in middle-income families. It would be advantageous for this robotic toy to be nearly indestructible, as well as being able to receive various outer body shells which can change the appearance of the robot without having to change the motor-driven body or its electronics. 
     Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, effective, durable robotic toy which is useful in these arts. 
     It is also an object of the present invention to provide a robotic toy which is adapted for receiving various outer body shells to portray various insects, animals, winged demons, dinosaurs, and the like. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, in accordance with the objects and advantages listed above, and in achieving those objects, the present invention discloses a walking robotic toy which includes a radio-controlled electrically driven motor within a chassis, a transmission therein coupled to a drive wheel assembly, and at least two motor-driven middle legs and at least two pivotal corner legs, both being attached to drive mechanisms. In one of the preferred embodiments, a robotic head is also included, said head having at least one servo motor attached to a gear assembly for activating movable components, such as teeth clenching, jaw pinching, head up-and-down movement, and head side-to-side movement. Further, in the preferred embodiment, the invention includes a six-legged walking animatronic toy, powered by a rechargeable battery, and controlled via a radio-controlled transmitter and receiver pair. 
     Interchangeable outer body shells depicting various animals and insects may be clipped or easily attached to the top of the robot toy chassis. These shells may be made of rigid plastic materials, or of soft rubber-like materials for depicting various animals, including dinosaurs and the like. Furthermore, the shell may be a three-dimensionally blow-molded material having hard and soft portions for attachment and movement, wherein the hard portions may be attached to the chassis, while the soft portions may receive and cover mechanical components for depicting, for example, a dinosaur with a long neck. The servo motors attached to the legs to engage and cause movement are controlled by a standard transmitter/receiver pair interfaced with control electronics. The servo interface from the receiver includes inputs to a printed circuit board for controlling the individual motors attached to the various legs. A printed circuit board receives input information from the first and second servo motors, and controls individual movements via pulse width modulation position signals. Through this mechanism, the control electronics decode the servo signals and generate proportional direction control for the individual motors in communication with the various legs. 
     Computer software for the motor control input is disclosed in detail further herein below. Servo control and parameters can be mixed for all four quadrants through the computer software. Software for controlling the individual leg movements on both port and starboard sides of the chassis are further described. 
     Therefore, in accordance with the present invention, an inexpensive, effective and durable robotic toy has been disclosed and claimed which meets or exceeds all of the objects and advantages desired as detailed above. 
    
    
     While the invention has been described herein above, the preferred embodiments and best mode of the invention are described below with reference to the appended drawings and disclosure. The following is a brief description of the drawings and a detailed description of the preferred embodiment. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG.  1 . is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention without its outer body shell; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective detail of the head portion of the preferred embodiment; 
     FIG. 3A is an isometric exploded view of the drive wheel assembly; 
     FIG. 3B is an isometric view of the transmission housing of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3C is a top plan view of a drive arm; 
     FIG. 3D is a front elevational view of the fore-aft linkage between the drive gear and the corner legs; 
     FIG. 4A is a side elevational view of a corner leg; 
     FIG. 4B is a perspective view of a corner leg; 
     FIG. 4C is a top view of the corner leg of FIG. 4A, showing the bend of the leg; 
     FIG. 4D is a perspective view of the notched pivot for use with a corner leg; 
     FIG. 5A is a top plan view of the unbent middle leg; 
     FIG. 5B is the middle leg base plate before attachment to the middle leg; 
     FIG. 5C shows the relative placement of the middle leg base plate when attached to the middle leg; 
     FIG. 5D is a perspective view of the assembled middle leg; 
     FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the transmitter/receiver control board configuration; 
     FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of the microcontrol unit for the animatron electronics; 
     FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram of the voltage regulator configuration; 
     FIG. 7C is a schematic diagram of the leg drive motor; 
     FIG. 7D is a schematic diagram of an H-bridge driver circuit, 
     FIG. 7E is a schematic diagram of another H-bridge driver circuit, 
     FIG. 8A is an illustration of the top of the printed circuit board showing the electrical connections; 
     FIG. 8B is an illustration of the bottom of the printed circuit board; and 
     FIG. 8C illustrates the relative placement of the electronic components on the printed circuit board. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In accordance with the present invention, a preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 1 as an animatronic toy generally denoted by the numeral  10  is shown including a main robot body chassis  12 , including a top plate  14 , a bottom plate  16 , side plates  18  on either side, and front and back walls  20  having a substantially longitudinal axis. Attached thereto in a pivotal and/or rotating fashion are corner legs  22  and middle legs  24 . Middle legs  24  are attached to robot body chassis  12  by a doubler  26 , including a standoff  28  engaged to a drive wheel, as disclosed in greater detail further herein below. An optional backbone, or middle plate, may be secured through the middle of the chassis  12 . Although a six-legged walking robot is illustrated, it must be understood that the most basic component of the animatronic toy of the present invention includes robot body chassis  12  and at least two corner legs and at least two middle legs. Furthermore, a single corner leg can be removed as well. One of ordinary skill in the art could remove or add additional legs without undue experimentation. 
     Looking still to FIG. 1, robot body chassis  12  includes indented portions for receiving upwardly extending alignment notches in the sidewalls  18 . Although any securement means which is suitable will work, the preferred method includes using a methylmethacrylate-based epoxy or other adhesive for securing the top and bottom plates  14  and  16 , respectively, to side plates and front and rear plates  18  and  20 , respectively. The upwardly extending alignment tabs on side plates  18  and front and rear plates  20  fit snuggly into the alignment indentations of the top plate  14 . As one can imagine, the final plate securement is done after the pivot extensions  32  are in place so as to hold the pivots for pivoting by top and bottom plates  14  and  16 , respectively. Side plate  18  includes a side plate extension  30  also fitting into an alignment indentation at the center of the sides of top plate  14 . A motor, not shown in this illustration, is mounted within the robot body chassis  12  as described in further detail with reference to FIGS. 3A-3D. 
     Looking again to FIG. 1, there is also shown a head portion attached to top plate  14 , including a top head plate  42 , head bottom plate  48 , the two being separated by standoffs  49 . The height of standoffs  49  is calculated to accommodate jaws  46  and jaw driver wheels  47 . The servo motor  44  is attached to top plate  42  by servo mounting block  40 . Servo motor  44  is in communication with jaw driver wheels  47  and creates an in-and-out motion when the drive wheel is moved back and forth by servo motor  44 . Optional eyes may be attached to the head by eye mount bracket  50 . An additional servo motor may be included for movement of the head of the robotic toy. As can be imagined, further servo motors may be included for up and down movement, and for other desired movements. These servos can receive information and direction in the same manner as the other servo motors. 
     Looking next to FIG. 2, a more detailed illustration of the robot head is shown, with a servo motor  44  for moving jaw pincers  46 . Head top plate  42  and head bottom plate  48  are spaced apart by standoffs  49 , which has a height adapted for receiving jaw pincers  46  and jaw driver wheels  47  therebetween. Servo  44  is in electrical communication with the electronic control board as described later herein below. When activated by a radio-controlled signal, servo  44  moves its jaw driver wheels  47  which is in communication with jaw pincer  46 , thereby moving jaws in and out. Jaw servo  44  may either be a single servo, or potentially may be multiple servos depending upon the actions which are desired. Eye mount bracket  50  acts as a housing for the servo, and is adapted to be attached to top head plate  42  while simultaneously securing standoffs  49  and bottom head plate  48 . As can be seen in FIG. 1, the top head plate  42  has an extension which can be secured to the bottom of top body plate  14 . 
     Looking next to FIGS. 3A through 3D, portions of the drive mechanism are illustrated and will be discussed. FIG. 3A illustrates the drive wheel  52  and drive shaft  54  with relative placement of standoff  56 . After assembly, the drive wheel assembly of FIG. 3A is fit through the openings in the transmission housing  58  shown in FIG.  3 B. As it is fit through one of the holes in the transmission housing  58 , drive shaft  54  is press fit onto a diametral pitch worm-drive gear (not shown) with a bore and a hub. Once the press fit is complete, and drive shaft  54  extends out the opposite side of transmission housing  58 , it is attached to a drive arm  60  as shown in FIG.  3 C. Drive arm  60  is press fit onto drive shaft  54 , taking care that the dihedral angle is 0°, substantially in phase, as defined from the hole through the drive arm  60 , across drive shaft  54 , and into standoff  28 . This guarantees the proper alignment of the legs before operation. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3D, wherein the fore-aft linkage  64  has a different configuration between the drive gear and corner legs  22 . In this diagram, as pivot  66  on drive wheel  52  goes around, it moves the fore-aft linkage  64  from side-to-side, which moves corner legs  22  in proper phase with middle leg  24 . Depending upon the application, the worm-drive gear may be preferably a 0.833″ diameter  48  diametral pitch worm gear drive, having a 0.188″ bore, or a 50:1 worm gear drive or a conventional spur gear drive train. 
     Although many small electric motors available at hobby shops across the country are suitable, the preferred motor was purchased from Sun Motor Industries, Ltd., of  106  King Fuk Street, San Po Kong, KLN, Hong Kong. The motor type is a small PMDC motor, with a 7.2 voltage DC constant rated voltage between motor terminals. The direction of rotation is counter-clockwise when viewed from the output shaft side of the motor. With such a motor, a small bushing may be press fit onto the motor shaft. Spacers, preferably about 5/1,000 thick, may be threaded onto the shaft of the motor to separate the motor housing from the shaft bushing. Thereafter, a worm-drive gear may be press fit onto the bushing. The motor assembly may then be attached to the transmission housing with pan head screws, inserted through the holes from the inside of the transmission housing. Once completed, the motor can be attached to the outside of the transmission housing with the worm and drive gears engaging. With the transmission being complete, and when power is supplied to the motor, the drive shaft spins about its axis and drives the standoff  28  and drive arm  54 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 4A through 4C, there is shown an example of a corner leg such as corner leg  22  of FIG. 1. A corner leg in accordance with the present invention is generally denoted by numeral  70 , and includes structural member  72 , pivot doubler  74 , and pivot  76 . Like numerals will refer to like elements in FIGS. 4A-4C. In FIGS. 4B and 4C, the bend  78  of corner leg  70  can be seen. Although corner leg  70  may not incorporate a bend, such a bend adds to the stability and walking capability of the animatronic toy of the present invention. Referring back to FIG. 1, it can be seen that corner legs  22  are bent outwardly in a radial fashion from the center of the robot body chassis  12 , adding stability and functionality. 
     Looking to FIG. 4D, the pivot generally denoted by numeral  80  is shown with a pivot notch  82  and a pivot extension  84 . Pivot notch  82  is formed in pivot  80  to be received by and secured to corner leg  70  as illustrated in FIG.  4 A. Pivot extension  76  of FIG. 4A is shown having pivot extension  84  extending upwardly and downwardly therefrom. The radius of pivot extension  84  is smaller than the rest of pivot  76  so as to be received in pivot receptor holes  32  of top plate  14  and bottom plate  16  (not shown). The ball joint ends  62  of FIG. 3D are attached to the pivot doubler  74  of corner leg  70  and driven via drive wheel  52 . 
     Looking next to FIGS. 5A through 5D, there is shown a middle leg in accordance with the present invention generally denoted by the numeral  90 , including structural outer shell members  92  and a bend line  94 . Middle leg base plate  96  is illustrated in FIG. 5B showing standoff receptor slot  98  and middle leg securement receptor  100 . When assembling together the middle leg base plate of FIG.  5 B and the middle leg of FIG. 5A, the device of FIG. 5C results with base plate  96  and structural outer shell members  92  being illustrated. FIG. 5D is a perspective view of middle leg  92  with base plate . 96  attached thereto. Reviewing now FIG. 1 in the context of FIGS. 5A-5D, the middle leg is shown as attached to side plate upper extension  30 , through standoff  28  and secured by doubler  26 . 
     In FIG. 6, the transmitter/receiver control board configuration is shown as a block diagram wherein the control board is generally denoted by the numeral  110 , and includes a receiver  112  having four outputs, although any number of outputs are possible, and more or less are also envisioned by the inventors. In the event that there are additional servo motors for more or additional body parts, or directional movement needed, additional outputs would be required. Although there is a limit to the number of signals which can be generated by an off the shelf radio controlled transmitter,  10  channel transmitters are easy to purchase, and could be used for up/down head movement, side-to-side head/body/tail movements, depending upon the number of moving parts in the animatronic robot toy. In the event of a dinosaur animatron, there may be up/down and side/side movements of the head as well as independent neck and tail movements desired, for instance a brontosaurus or the like. Any type of insect, animal or robot is envisioned by the present invention. These possible animatrons may have fingers, toes, grippers, or any other moving parts which will require a servo motor to be activated by a channel on the transmitter. The addition of more inputs in the electronics of the present invention is known in the art and can be managed without undue experimentation. 
     In the preferred embodiment insect animatronic toy shown here in FIGS. 1-6, there is included a jaw servo  114  and a head servo  116  which receive their inputs from receiver outputs  1  and  2 . Leg drive motors  1  and  2  are controlled via the servo motor # 1  input  118  and servo motor # 2  input  120  through printed circuit board  122 . Leg drive motor # 1   124  is in electrical communication with one of the middle legs, as well as the corner legs via the fore-aft linkage as shown earlier. Likewise, leg drive motor # 2   126  operates the opposite side of the robotic toy middle leg, in conjunction with the corner legs also via a fore-aft linkage as described above. 
     FIGS. 7A through 7E illustrate the schematic diagram for the electronics. Included are the microcontrol unit of FIG. 7A, the voltage regulator of FIG.  7 B and the microprocessor as shown in FIG. 7C, as well the H-bridge driver circuits of FIGS. 7D and 7E which control the middle and corner legs of either side of the animatron. The microcontrol unit, voltage regulator, microprocessor and H-bridge driver circuits are standard electronic features selected for their applicability to the present embodiment. Of course, as additional servos would be added to the present invention to yield more animatron body part movements, more of these same controls would be added to make accommodations for those additional servos. 
     FIGS. 8A through 8C illustrate the component layout for the printed circuit board, including an illustration of the printed circuit board top (FIG. 8A) and the layout of the printed circuit board bottom (FIG.  8 B). The component layout is illustrated in FIG.  8 C and shows the relative placement of all of the resistors, MOSFETs, and all of the other transistor components. To operate the printed circuit board, computer software is employed for regulating the radio-controlled transceiver output into messages to control the servo motors, and thereby control the movements of the animatronic robot toy. The following computer software is illustrative of the software which may be used in order to operate the present invention, although as can be imagined by one of ordinary skill in the art, modifications and alterations can be made while still achieving the same purpose. 
     Therefore, in accordance with the present invention, there has been disclosed a robotic toy that meets or exceeds the objects and advantages described above. As one of ordinary skill in the art could envision many modifications, alterations and changes which could be made to the present invention, it must be noted that the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the recitation of the preferred embodiments above, but rather by the scope and breadth of the appended claims.