Development of Robotic System without Wired Connections at Joints by Wireless Communication and Wireless Power Transfer

We propose a new “wire-free robotic system” applicable to an articulated robot that realizes both control and power lines wirelessly at the same time in the joints. The wire-free robotic system consists of a wireless communication system, a wireless power transfer system, and a robot operation system. Control lines are realized by wireless communication in the 60 GHz band with selection-based transmission site diversity. Power lines are realized by wireless power transfer of the magnetic resonance method with load-independence. We developed a prototype robot and verified the communication quality and the operation. It is confirmed that the prototype robot can achieve more than 99% of packet delivery ratio in almost all operating areas. It is also confirmed that the prototype can be controlled and powered wirelessly.