Multi-unit serial mobile robot designed for obstacle avoidance, inspection or rescue task, should ideally be able to switch the head and tail as supporting stand to move forward wriggly, be lightweight and low energy consumption, aiming at adapting to complex application environment. This paper proposes a novel robot pitching unit based on a parallelogram mechanism, and a robot with the proposed units taking the task of power transmission line inspection as application background. To reduce unit motor number and weight, a single motor and cable driving(SMCD) method is proposed. The unit architecture and robot prototype are designed. The kinematic model is developed and the supporting stand switch process is presented. According to the force analysis of the unit mechanisms, the driving motor energy consumption calculating methods of the proposed unit and the conventional serial unit are presented respectively. The low energy consumption characteristic of the proposed unit is demonstrated through applications respectively on a 4-unit serial immobile robot model and an inspection robot model for power transmission line. Experiments of unit supporting stand switch and robot prototype crossing obstacles are conducted to verify the unit feasibility. The results of analysis and experiments show that comparing with the conventional units, the whole energy consumption of the robot can be reduced clearly by applying the proposed units, the novel unit is capable of switching the supporting stand, based on which the inspection robot meets the application requirements on overhead power transmission line.

专为避障，检查或救援任务而设计的多单元串行移动机器人，理想情况下应能够将头和尾作为支撑架进行切换，以使其向前摆动，重量轻，能耗低，以适应复杂的应用环境。提出了一种基于平行四边形机构的新型机器人俯仰单元，并以输电线路检测为应用背景。为了减少单元电动机的数量和重量，提出了一种单电动机和电缆驱动（SMCD）方法。设计了单元架构和机器人原型。建立了运动学模型，并提出了支撑架切换过程。根据单元机构的受力分析，分别介绍了所提出的单元和常规的串行单元的驱动电机能耗计算方法。通过分别在4单元串联固定式机器人模型和输电线路检查机器人模型上的应用，证明了所提出单元的低能耗特性。进行了单元支撑架开关和机器人原型越过障碍物的实验，以验证单元的可行性。分析和实验结果表明，与常规单元相比，通过使用所提出的单元可以明显降低机器人的整体能耗，该新型单元能够切换支撑架，在此基础上，检查机器人可以与机器人相遇。架空输电线路的应用要求。