CN106985163B

CN106985163B - Robot head and spherical robot

Info

Publication number: CN106985163B
Application number: CN201710170789.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 贺智威; 童敏; 袁戎; 张玉明
Original assignee: Candela Shenzhen Technology Innovations Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hunan candela Innovation Technology Co.,Ltd.
Priority date: 2017-03-21
Filing date: 2017-03-21
Publication date: 2020-04-14
Anticipated expiration: 2037-03-21
Also published as: CN106985163A

Abstract

The invention discloses a robot head which is magnetically connected with a sphere of a spherical robot, and comprises a base, a tray support, a functional device and a transmission gear set, wherein the base is magnetically connected with the sphere, the transmission gear set is arranged on the base, the tray support is positioned on the base and is rotationally connected with the base through the transmission gear set, the functional device is fixed on the tray support, the functional device is used for identifying a working environment, and the transmission gear set drives the tray support and the functional device to rotate relative to the base. The invention also discloses a spherical robot. The robot head pivoted load is little, and the electric quantity consumption is little, has strengthened spherical robot's duration to reduced the rotation of head and delayed, rotation efficiency is higher, and spherical robot is intelligent higher, and user experience is good, satisfies family robot's operation requirement.

Description

Robot head and spherical robot

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to a robot head and a spherical robot.

Background

The spherical robot is a robot which realizes movement by utilizing the rolling of a sphere, can realize all-dimensional movement, is in single-point contact with the ground, has small friction resistance and high energy utilization efficiency, has the tumbler characteristic, and can avoid the phenomenon of toppling and instability easily occurring in the conventional robot. Important parts of the robot are contained in the sphere, are well protected by the sphere shell and are not easy to lose effectiveness due to damage. By adopting proper sealing measures, the shell of the spherical robot has waterproof capability, and then is used under severe weather conditions, and has all-weather adaptability. Furthermore, the spherical robot generally comprises a head arranged outside the sphere, the head is provided with functional devices to realize the intelligent human-computer communication function of the functional devices such as the camera and the like, and the affinity of the spherical robot for a user is improved, so that the spherical robot can be used as a family robot.

Among the prior art, under spherical robot's quiescent condition, spherical robot's head is controlled to head drive assembly in the spheroid is rotatory at the relative spheroid in spheroid surface, thereby make the built-in functional device of head change operating condition, for example, the camera passes through head rotation change shooting angle etc., because still be equipped with magnetic means in the head, devices such as universal gyro wheel, the whole weight of head is great, the whole load of rotating head drive assembly is great for head, the power consumption is big, spherical robot's duration has been reduced, and there is great rotation delay in the whole rotation of head, the rotation efficiency is low, spherical robot is intelligent lower, influence user experience, can't satisfy family robot's operation requirement.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problems that the whole rotation of the head has large load on a head driving assembly, the electric consumption is large, the cruising ability of a spherical robot is reduced, the whole rotation of the head has large rotation delay, and the rotation efficiency is low in the prior art.

In order to solve the technical problems, the invention provides a robot head, which is a spherical body magnetically connected with a spherical robot, and is characterized in that the robot head comprises a base, a tray support, a functional device and a transmission gear set, wherein the base is magnetically connected with the spherical body, the transmission gear set is installed on the base, the tray support is positioned on the base and is rotatably connected with the base through the transmission gear set, the functional device is fixed on the tray support and is used for identifying a working environment, and the transmission gear set drives the tray support and the functional device to rotate relative to the base.

Further, the robot head further comprises an upper cover rotatably connected with the base, the upper cover is fixedly connected with the tray support, and the upper cover and the base form a closed shell and contain the tray support, the functional device and the transmission gear set.

Further, the tray support is provided with a positioning groove, the upper cover is provided with a positioning bulge corresponding to the positioning groove, and the positioning bulge is in interference fit with the positioning groove.

Further, the cross section of the positioning groove is rectangular.

Furthermore, the upper cover is connected with the base through a spigot, and a polytetrafluoroethylene layer is arranged between the convex spigot and the concave spigot and used for reducing the friction force of relative rotation between the upper cover and the base.

Further, the robot head further comprises a power supply device and a conductive slip ring, the power supply device is fixed in the base, the conductive slip ring is located on the central rotating shaft of the driven gear and electrically connected with the power supply device and the functional device, and therefore the situation that a lead connected with the power supply device and a lead connected with the functional device are wound and knotted is avoided.

Further, the upper cover is made of polyurethane foam materials and used for reducing the weight of the upper cover.

Further, the base adopts the combination of polyurethane foam material and plastics for reduce the base weight strengthens the connection fastness of interior device of robot head simultaneously.

Further, the functional device comprises a camera and a laser radar.

The invention also provides a spherical robot, which comprises a sphere and any one of the robot heads, wherein the robot head is magnetically connected with the sphere.

The invention has the following beneficial effects: the base rotates with the tray support to be connected, the function device is fixed in on the tray support and through the relative base rotation of the built-in drive gear group drive tray support of head, the magnetism device, device connection base such as universal gyro wheel and relative spheroid are static, only make the function device rotation that needs relative spheroid to rotate in order to realize the interactive function of man-machine promptly, other device irrotations, robot head pivoted load is little, the power consumption is little, the duration of spherical robot has been strengthened, and the rotation that has reduced the head is delayed, rotation efficiency is higher, the intelligent higher of spherical robot, user experience is good, satisfy family robot's operation requirement.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and other obvious modifications can be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an overall structure of a robot head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 and 3 are schematic diagrams of internal structures of a robot head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a robot head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a joint between a tray support and an upper cover of a robot head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a seam allowance connection part between an upper cover and a base of a robot head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a spherical robot provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 and 7, a robot head 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a spherical robot, and further, the spherical robot includes a head 2 and a sphere 1, the head 2 is magnetically connected to the sphere 1, a walking driving component, a head driving component, a power supply, and the like are supported in the sphere 1, the walking driving component is used for driving the sphere 1 to rotate, the spherical robot is driven to walk by friction between an outer surface of the sphere 1 and the ground, and the head driving component is magnetically connected to the head 2 and used for controlling the head 2 to be adsorbed on the outer surface of the sphere 1 to move. When the sphere 1 is in a static state, the head driving assembly in the sphere 1 controls the head 2 to move to any position on the surface of the sphere 1, that is, the head 2 can move in XYZ directions with the surface of the sphere 1 as a track, and at the same time, the functional device 204 in the robot head 2 autonomously rotates with the central axis of the head 2 as an axis, so as to change the working state of the functional device 204 in the head 2, for example, the shooting angle of the camera in the head 2 is changed by changing the position of the head 2, thereby improving the intelligence of the spherical robot.

Referring to fig. 2, 3 and 4, the robot head 2 includes a base 200, a tray support 202, a functional device 204 and a transmission gear set 206. The base 200 is magnetically connected to the ball 1, specifically, the base 200 is provided with a plurality of magnetic devices 2002, the magnetic devices 2002 are uniformly distributed, and the magnetic devices 2002 on the base 200 correspond to the magnetic devices 2002 on the shield of the head driving assembly one by one, so that the base 200 and the shield are uniformly adsorbed, and the head 2 is prevented from being separated from the ball 1. In a preferred embodiment, the magnetic device 2002 employs a permanent magnet or an electromagnet. Further, one side of the base 200 contacting the sphere 1 is further provided with a plurality of uniformly distributed universal rollers 2004, and the universal rollers 2004 are in rolling contact with the sphere 1 to reduce friction between the head 2 and the surface of the sphere 1 when the head driving assembly drives the head 2 to move on the surface of the sphere 1, thereby reducing energy loss.

Further, the transmission gear set 206 is installed on the base 200, the transmission gear set 206 includes a driving gear 2062 and a driven gear 2064, which are engaged with each other, a head driving motor 2060 for driving the driving gear 2062 and the driving gear 2062 to rotate is installed on the base 200 through a support of the base 200, the driven gear 2064 is also installed on a support of the base 200, and the head driving motor 2060 drives the driving gear 2062 to rotate so as to drive the driven gear 2064 and the device fixed on the driven gear 2064 to rotate. In a preferred embodiment, the axis of rotation of driven gear 2064 is the centerline of base 200. The tray support 202 is fixed to the driven gear 2064 of the transmission gear set 206 and is rotatably connected with the base 200 through the driven gear 2064, specifically, the tray support 202 is provided with a plurality of fixing holes for fixedly mounting the functional devices 204, in order to ensure that the tray support 202 has enough strength to bear the functional devices 204, the tray support 202 is made of a high-strength metal material or a carbon fiber material, and meanwhile, the tray support 202 is designed to be hollow so as to reduce the weight of the tray support 202 and reduce the rotating load. In a preferred embodiment, the central axis of the tray support 202 is fixed to the rotational axis of the driven gear 2064 so that the tray support 202 rotates in the same manner as the driven gear 2064. The functional device 204 is fixed on the tray support 202, the driving gear 2062 of the transmission gear set 206 rotates the connection base 200 and drives the tray support 202 and the functional device 204 to rotate relative to the base 200, the magnetic device 2002, the universal idler wheel 2004 and other devices are connected with the base 200 and are static relative to the sphere 1, namely, only the functional device 204 which needs to rotate relative to the sphere 1 to realize the man-machine interaction function is rotated, other devices are not rotated, the rotating load of the robot head 2 is small, the electric quantity consumption is small, the cruising ability of the spherical robot is enhanced, the rotation delay of the head 2 is reduced, the rotation efficiency is high, the intelligentization of the spherical robot is high, the user experience is good, and the use requirement of the household robot is met.

In this embodiment, the robot head 2 further includes an upper cover 208 rotatably connected to the base 200, the upper cover 208 is fixedly connected to the tray support 202, the upper cover 208 and the base 200 form a closed housing and accommodate the tray support 202, the functional device 204 and the transmission gear set 206, so as to protect each mechanism and device in the head 2, so that the spherical robot has certain wind, water and dust preventing capabilities, and the environmental adaptability of the spherical robot is improved. Further, the upper cover 208 is fixedly connected with the tray support 202, so that the upper cover 208 and the tray support 202 can rotate together relative to the base 200, meanwhile, a transparent viewing window is formed in the upper cover 208 and used for being matched with the functional device 204 in the head 2 to carry out man-machine communication, the upper cover 208 and the functional device 204 rotate together relative to the base 200, namely the upper cover 208 and the functional device 204 are always kept relatively static, and the upper cover 208 does not influence the normal work of the functional device 204.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a connection portion between the tray bracket and the upper cover according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in the figure, the tray bracket 202 has a positioning groove 2022, the upper cover 208 has a positioning protrusion 2082 corresponding to the positioning groove 2022, and the positioning groove 2022 is matched with the positioning protrusion 2082 to fixedly connect the tray bracket 202 and the upper cover 208. Further, the positioning protrusion 2082 and the positioning groove 2022 are in interference fit, so as to reduce the delay of the rotation of the upper cover 208 relative to the rotation of the tray support 202 when the tray support 202 drives the upper cover 208 to rotate, and improve the reaction speed of the rotation of the upper cover 208.

In this embodiment, the cross section of the positioning groove 2022 is rectangular, so as to reduce the delay of the rotation of the upper cover 208 relative to the rotation of the tray support 202 when the tray support 202 drives the upper cover 208 to rotate. Further, the upper cover 208 is made of a Polyurethane foam material, the weight of Polyurethane (PU) is light, the overall weight of the head 2 is reduced, and the plastic material is low in price so as to be formed by processing, so that the production cost is reduced. In a preferred embodiment, the tray support 202 and the upper cover 208 are fixed to each other at the positions of the positioning protrusions 2082 and the positioning grooves 2022 by screws, the positioning protrusions 2082 are provided with connecting holes, and the connecting holes are provided with hot-melt nuts 2024, the hot-melt nuts 2024 are firmly connected to the upper cover 208 made of plastic material after being heated, and compared with the method that the connecting holes are made into threaded holes, the hot-melt nuts 2024 are not easy to damage the upper cover 208 made of plastic material due to repeated screw assembly and disassembly.

In this embodiment, the upper cover 208 is connected with the base 200 through the tang, and the tang design can be in close connection with upper cover 208 and base 200, improves the closed effect of the head 2 casing that upper cover 208 and base 200 formed, and better prevent wind, waterproof, dustproof do benefit to during spherical robot is applied to different operational environment, do not influence the relative rotation of upper cover 208 and base 200 simultaneously again. Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a seam allowance connection between the upper cover and the base according to an embodiment of the present invention, where a Polytetrafluoroethylene layer 2000 is disposed between the male seam allowance 2088 and the female seam allowance 2008, and Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), generally called "non-stick coating" or "easy-to-clean material," has characteristics of acid and alkali resistance and resistance to various organic solvents, and is almost insoluble in all solvents. Meanwhile, the polytetrafluoroethylene has the characteristic of high temperature resistance, has extremely low friction coefficient and can be used for lubrication. In this embodiment, the teflon layer 2000 is used to reduce the friction force between the upper cover 208 and the base 200 at the seam allowance connection, so that the upper cover 208 and the base 200 can rotate relatively more flexibly.

In this embodiment, the robot head 2 further includes a power supply device and a conductive slip ring 210, the power supply device is fixed in the base 200 and is used for supplying power to the motor in the head 2 and the functional device 204, the conductive slip ring 210 is located on the rotation shaft of the driven gear 2064 and electrically connects the power supply device and the functional device 204, specifically, a through hole is formed in the central shaft of the driven gear 2064 and is used for installing the conductive slip ring 210, and the conductive slip ring 210 prevents a lead wire connecting the power supply device and the functional device 204 from being wound and knotted when the functional device 204 on the tray support 202 rotates relative to the base 200.

In this embodiment, the base 200 is made of a combination of a polyurethane foam material and a plastic material, and in a preferred embodiment, the plastic material is Polycarbonate (PC). Specifically, the part of the base 200 used for connecting the components such as the transmission gear set 206 and the like is made of polycarbonate materials, and the other parts are made of polyurethane foam materials, so that the firmness of connection is ensured, and the weight of the robot head 1 can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the functional device 204 includes a camera, a laser radar, etc. and is used for detecting a working environment, taking a picture, etc. so that the spherical robot can realize more human-computer communication functions and an adaptive function of the spherical robot to the environment.

The base 200 is connected with the rotation of tray support 202, functional device 204 is fixed in on the tray support 202 and drives the tray support 202 to rotate relative to the base 200 through the built-in drive gear group 206 of head 2, magnetic means 2002, devices such as universal gyro wheel 2004 connect base 200 and static relative spheroid 1, only make the functional device 204 that needs relative spheroid 1 to rotate in order to realize the interactive function of man-machine rotatory promptly, other devices irrotational, robot head 2 pivoted load is little, the electric quantity consumption is little, the duration of a journey of spherical robot has been strengthened, and the rotation delay of head 2 has been reduced, the rotation efficiency is higher, the spherical robot is intelligent higher, user experience is good, satisfy the operation requirement of family robot.

Referring to fig. 7, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a spherical robot, where the spherical robot includes a sphere 1 and the head 2, the head 2 is magnetically connected to the sphere 1, the sphere 1 bears a walking driving component, a head driving component, a power supply, and the like, the walking driving component is used to drive the sphere 1 to rotate, the spherical robot is driven to walk by friction between the outer surface of the sphere 1 and the ground, and the head driving component is magnetically connected to the head 2 and used to control the head 2 to move by being adsorbed on the outer surface of the sphere 1. When the sphere 1 is in a static state, the head driving assembly in the sphere 1 controls the head 2 to move to any position on the surface of the sphere 1, that is, the head 2 can move in XYZ directions with the surface of the sphere 1 as a track, and at the same time, the functional device 204 in the robot head 2 autonomously rotates with the central axis of the head 2 as an axis, so as to change the working state of the functional device 204 built in the head 2, for example, the shooting angle of the camera built in the head 2 is changed by changing the position of the head 2, thereby improving the intelligence of the spherical robot.

While the invention has been described with reference to a number of illustrative embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A robot head, the spheroid of spherical robot is connected to magnetism, its characterized in that, the robot head includes base, tray support, functional device and drive gear group, base magnetism is connected the spheroid, drive gear group install in on the base, the tray support is located on the base and through drive gear group with the base rotates to be connected, the functional device is fixed in on the tray support, the functional device is used for discerning operational environment, drive gear group drive the tray support and the functional device rotates relatively the base, the robot head still includes with the upper cover that the base rotates to be connected, upper cover fixed connection the tray support, the upper cover with the base forms confined casing and holds the tray support, the functional device and the drive gear group, the upper cover is connected with the base through the seam allowance, and a polytetrafluoroethylene layer is arranged between the convex seam allowance and the concave seam allowance and used for reducing the friction force of relative rotation between the upper cover and the base.

2. The robot head according to claim 1, wherein the tray support is provided with a positioning groove, the upper cover is provided with a positioning protrusion corresponding to the positioning groove, and the positioning protrusion is in interference fit with the positioning groove.

3. A robot head according to claim 2, characterized in that the cross-section of the positioning groove is rectangular.

4. The robot head according to claim 1, wherein the transmission gear set includes a driving gear and a driven gear which are engaged with each other, the tray support is fixed to the driven gear of the transmission gear set, the robot head further includes a power supply device fixed in the base, and a conductive slip ring which is located on a central rotation shaft of the driven gear and electrically connects the power supply device and the functional device to prevent a wire connecting the power supply device and the functional device from being entangled and knotted.

5. A robot head according to claim 1, characterized in that the upper cover is of polyurethane foam for reducing the weight of the upper cover.

6. The robot head of claim 1, wherein the base comprises a combination of polyurethane foam and plastic to reduce the weight of the base while enhancing the connection security of the components inside the robot head.

7. A robot head according to claim 1, characterized in that the functional devices comprise a camera and a lidar.

8. A spherical robot comprising a sphere and a robot head according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the robot head is magnetically coupled to the sphere.