CN107363811B

CN107363811B - Exoskeleton lower limb and wearable robot

Info

Publication number: CN107363811B
Application number: CN201710584285.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李满天; 邓静; 李生广; 王鑫; 蒋振宇; 蔡昌荣; 刘国才
Original assignee: Shenzhen Long Hit Robot Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Long Hit Robot Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2017-07-18
Filing date: 2017-07-18
Publication date: 2020-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 2037-07-18
Also published as: CN107363811A

Abstract

An exoskeleton lower limb having an upper connection end, a leg movement device and a foot connection device: the upper connecting end is used for receiving the load born by the upper body of the user; the leg movement device is provided with a first body and a second body, the first body is hinged with the upper connecting end through a first hinge part, and the first body and the second body have relative linear movement; the foot connecting device is worn on the foot of the user and is hinged with the second body through a second hinge, and the relative linear motion is along the direction of a connecting line between the first hinge and the second hinge. The wearable robot is provided with a bearing device and exoskeleton lower limbs which are respectively arranged on two legs of a user, wherein the bearing device is worn on the upper trunk of the user and is connected with an upper connecting end. The invention provides an exoskeleton lower limb and a wearable robot which are strong in self-adaptive capacity and good in movement flexibility.

Description

Exoskeleton lower limb and wearable robot

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of machinery, and particularly relates to an exoskeleton lower limb and a wearable robot.

Background

The lower limb exoskeleton robot is a mechanical device for providing assistance to lower limbs of a human body, has the functions of assisting load carrying, enhancing human body functions and the like, has a good development prospect, and increasingly becomes a research focus in the field of robots.

The existing lower limb exoskeleton robot adopts a multi-joint structure, namely has complete hip joints, knee joints and ankle joints so as to fit the structural form of the lower limbs of a human body. Meanwhile, the human-computer connection part is provided with the thighs, the shanks and the feet of a user, the mechanism is complicated, the connection matching parts are numerous, the human body is easy to generate motion interference, the self weight is large, and the motion flexibility and the comfort of a wearer are seriously influenced.

A more serious problem is that the knee joint of the human body is a synovial joint, and when the lower leg rotates relative to the thigh, the center of rotation of the lower leg has a positional change according to the knee joint. The knee joint of the lower limb exoskeleton robot is a mechanical joint, and the rotation center of the knee joint is fixed. Obviously, the knee joints of the human and machine are not synchronized in their movement during the walking process of the user. Meanwhile, the sizes of the structural parts of the lower limb exoskeleton robot and a human body are deviated, so that man-machine motion interference is caused, and the motion of a wearer is interfered.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the defects of the prior art, the invention provides the exoskeleton lower limb and the wearable robot which have good self-adaptive capacity and movement flexibility.

The purpose of the invention is realized by the following technical scheme:

an exoskeleton lower limb having an upper connection end, a leg movement device and a foot connection device:

the upper connecting end is used for receiving the load born by the upper body of the user;

the leg movement device is provided with a first body and a second body, the first body is hinged with the upper connecting end through a first hinge part, and the first body and the second body have relative linear movement;

the foot connecting device is worn on the foot of the user and is hinged with the second body through a second hinge, and the relative linear motion is along the direction of a connecting line between the first hinge and the second hinge.

As an improvement of the above technical solution, the first hinge is a kinematic pair having at least two rotational degrees of freedom.

As a further improvement of the above technical solution, the second hinge is a kinematic pair having at least two rotational degrees of freedom.

As a further improvement of the above technical solution, the first body and the second body further have a rotational degree of freedom with a movement direction of the relative linear movement as an axis.

As a further improvement of the above technical solution, the first hinge portion is provided on an inner side of a thigh of the user, and/or the second hinge portion is provided on an inner side of a foot of the user.

As a further improvement of the above technical solution, the exoskeleton lower limb further comprises an angular displacement sensor for measuring an angular displacement between the leg exercise device and the upper connecting end.

The wearable robot is provided with a bearing device and exoskeleton lower limbs which are respectively arranged on two legs of a user, wherein the bearing device is worn on the upper trunk of the user and is connected with an upper connecting end.

As an improvement of the above technical solution, the carrying device has a wearing portion and a carrying portion for carrying a heavy object, one end of the carrying portion is connected to the wearing portion, and the other end is connected to one end of the upper connecting end away from the first hinge portion.

As a further improvement of the above technical solution, the wearing portion has a shoulder-back wearing portion and/or a waist-hip wearing portion, the shoulder-back wearing portion is worn on a shoulder-back of the user, the waist-hip wearing portion is worn on a hip of the user, and a side of the shoulder-back wearing portion and/or the waist-hip wearing portion away from the user is connected to the loading portion.

As a further improvement of the above technical solution, the backpack device is provided with a control unit and a power unit, the control unit is used for controlling the motion state of the leg exercise device, and the power unit is used for providing power and energy to the wearable robot.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

have telescopic shank telecontrol equipment, shank telecontrol equipment both ends are articulated link and foot connecting device respectively, get rid of the knee joint that has in traditional design, avoid taking place the rotation center and do not coincide and take place the motion and interfere, reduce the dead weight and the space of ectoskeleton low limbs simultaneously by a wide margin and occupy to have the self-adaptation ability of motion process, avoid taking place the motion because of the long deviation of leg and interfere, self-adaptation ability is strong, the motion flexibility is good.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and for those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive efforts.

Fig. 1 is a first schematic view of an exoskeleton lower limb provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a second schematic view of an exoskeleton lower limb provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a mechanical analysis diagram of the exoskeleton lower limbs provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a first schematic view of a wearable robot provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a second schematic view of the wearable robot provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Description of the main element symbols:

1000-wearable robot, 0100-exoskeleton lower limb, 0110-upper connecting end, 0120-leg movement device, 0121-first body, 0122-second body, 0130-foot connecting device, 0140-first hinge, 0150-second hinge, 0200-backpack device, 0210-wearing part, 0211-shoulder and back wearing part, 0212-waist and hip wearing part, 0220-carrying part.

Detailed Description

In order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, the exoskeleton lower limbs and the wearable robot will be described more fully below with reference to the related drawings. The preferred embodiment of the exoskeleton lower limb and the wearable robot is shown in the attached drawings. However, exoskeleton lower limbs and wearable robots can be implemented in many different forms and are not limited to the embodiments described herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete for the exoskeleton lower extremities and the wearable robot.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "secured to" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on" another element, there are no intervening elements present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "left," "right," and the like as used herein are for illustrative purposes only.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used herein in the description of the exoskeleton lower limbs and the wearable robot is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, an exoskeleton lower limb 0100 has an upper connection end 0110, a leg movement device 0120 and a foot connection device 0130, which are used to improve the movement flexibility of the exoskeleton robot, avoid the inter-robot movement interference during the walking process of the human body, provide ideal assistance and ensure the safety of the human body. The main structure of exoskeleton lower limb 0100 is detailed below.

The upper connecting end 0110 of exoskeleton lower limb 0100 is used for receiving the load borne by the upper body of the user. The upper connecting end 0110 belongs to a bearing part and has enough rigidity. It can be constructed in various ways, such as a rod, a plate, etc. In an exemplary embodiment, the upper link end 0110 is made of a rigid rod with no bending deformation for better force transmission sensitivity. In another embodiment, the upper connecting end 0110 can be made of an elastic member, can elastically deform along the force transmission direction, and has better buffering performance.

The leg motion device 0120 of the exoskeleton lower limb 0100 is a main assisting part, is used for bearing the load input from the upper connecting end 0110, has a motion freedom degree corresponding to the motion of the lower limb of the user, and reduces the motion obstruction of the lower limb of the user in walking.

The leg exercising device 0120 has a first body 0121 and a second body 0122, the first body 0121 and the upper connecting end 0110 are hinged by a first hinge 0140, the second body 0122 is connected with the foot connecting device 0130. The first body 0121 and the second body 0122 have relative linear motion, so that the leg moving device 0120 has the telescopic ability, and can be synchronously telescopic with the lower limbs of the user in the walking process, thereby avoiding the mechanism obstruction.

The relative linear motion between the first body 0121 and the second body 0122 can be implemented in various forms, including a telescopic cylinder, an electric push rod, an electric cylinder, a screw rod transmission mechanism, etc. which can implement linear motion. Obviously, the first body 0121 and the second body 0122 provide, on the one hand, transmission capability and, on the other hand, telescopic adjustment capability.

In practical applications, the load inputted from the upper connecting end 0110 is transmitted to the foot connecting device 0130 through the first body 0121 and the second body 0122, and the supporting force obtained by the foot connecting device 0130 on the ground provides a structural support for the upper body of the user, so as to reduce the load on the body of the user.

Because the first body 0121 and the upper connecting end 0110 are hinged, the first body 0121 and the upper connecting end 0110 have relative rotational freedom, so that the leg moving device 0120 has rotational adjustment capability, such as forward swing and side swing along with the lower limbs of the user. Here, the degree of freedom of rotation of the first body 0121 and the upper connecting end 0110 depends on the kinematic pair configuration of the first hinge 0140.

Preferably, the first hinge 0140 is a kinematic pair with at least two rotational degrees of freedom. Specifically, the first hinge 0140 at least has two of a forward swing degree of freedom, a lateral swing degree of freedom and a self-rotation degree of freedom, so that the first body 0121 and the upper connecting end 0110 can rotate flexibly.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first hinge 0140 has at least a forward swing degree of freedom to achieve the basic function of walking on the lower limbs of the user. The front swing freedom degree, the side swing freedom degree and the spin freedom degree are all rotational freedom degrees and respectively correspond to front swing motion, side swing motion and spin motion of thighs of a user. In practical applications, the first hinge 0140 may be implemented as a ball hinge, a universal joint, etc.

Preferably, the first body 0121 and the second body 0122 further have a rotational freedom with the moving direction of the relative linear motion as the axis. Specifically, the first body 0121 and the second body 0122 can rotate relatively to adapt to the self-rotating motion of the knee joint of the user, so as to avoid the motion interference of the exoskeleton lower limb 0100 caused by the respective self-rotating of the thigh and the calf.

Exoskeleton lower limb 0100 has foot coupling device 0130 for transferring load from leg locomotion device 0120 to ground. The foot connecting means 0130 is worn on the foot of the user and is hinged with the second body 0122 by a second hinge 0150. As further defined herein, the relative linear motion between the first body 0121 and the second body 0122 is along the direction of the connecting line between the first hinge 0140 and the second hinge 0150.

Specifically, the foot connecting device 0130 can adopt various structural forms, such as a shoe body, a magic tape, a bandage and the like, and can be tightly worn on the foot of the user. In an exemplary embodiment, foot coupling device 0130 has a support surface positioned below the ball of the foot to protect the ball of the foot and transfer loads in direct contact with the ground.

The foot attachment means 0130 is in hinged relationship with the second body 0122 for rotational freedom and rotational adjustment therebetween to accommodate movement of the user's ankle joint. For example, when the foot and the lower leg of the user rotate, the foot connecting device 0130 and the second body 0122 can rotate adaptively, so as to avoid the interference of movement and the obstruction to the walking of the user.

Here, the degree of freedom of rotation of foot link 0130 with second body 0122 depends on the kinematic pair configuration of second knuckle 0150. Preferably, second articulating portion 0150 is a kinematic pair having at least two rotational degrees of freedom. Specifically, the second hinge 0150 has at least two of a swinging-up degree of freedom, a swinging-side degree of freedom and a spinning degree of freedom, so as to adapt to the relative motion form which can occur between the foot and the lower leg of the user, and avoid the occurrence of mechanism interference and locking.

In one exemplary embodiment, second hinge 0150 has at least a lateral pendulum degree of freedom to accommodate lateral pendulum steering of the user's foot relative to the user's lower leg. The upper swing freedom degree, the side swing freedom degree and the spin freedom degree are all rotational freedom degrees and respectively correspond to the upper swing motion and the side swing motion of the foot of the user and the spin motion of the lower leg of the user. In practical applications, second hinge 0150 can be implemented in the form of a ball hinge, a universal joint, or the like.

Preferably, the first hinge 0140 is provided at the inner thigh of the user. Specifically, the first hinge 0140 is located between the legs of the user, the first hinges 0140 on the legs are oppositely arranged when the legs are worn, and the strokes of the leg moving device 0120 are correspondingly matched.

Further preferably, second articulating portion 0150 is provided on the medial side of the user's foot. Specifically, the second hinge 0150 is disposed at one end of the foot connecting device 0130 close to the inner side of the foot of the user, and the first hinge 0140 is also disposed at the inner side of the thigh of the user, so that the whole leg exercise device 0120 is disposed at the inner side of the lower limb of the user, thereby effectively reducing the force arm of gravity and ground supporting force relative to the hip joint, reducing the moment of lateral swing, and avoiding the user from violent left-right swing during walking, thereby ensuring the body safety of the user.

Preferably, exoskeleton lower limb 0100 also has an angular displacement sensor for measuring angular displacement between leg movement device 0120 and upper connecting end 0110. Specifically, the angular displacement sensor may be disposed on the first hinge portion 0140 for directly measuring the relative angular displacement, so as to accurately determine the relative rotation state between the first body 0121 and the upper connecting end 0110.

Preferably, the exoskeleton lower limbs 0100 also has pressure sensors for measuring the output force of the leg exercise device 0120. Specifically, the pressure sensor may be disposed on the first body 0121 or the second body 0122, and is configured to directly measure the output force of the leg exercise device 0120, so as to accurately determine the bearing state of the exoskeleton lower limb 0100 and adjust the bearing state in time.

Please refer to fig. 4 to 5, which together with the above description, a wearable robot 1000 is introduced, which has a backpack device 0200 and exoskeleton lower limbs 0100 separately disposed on both legs of the user, wherein the backpack device 0200 is worn on the upper torso of the user and connected to an upper connecting end 0110, so as to provide a wearable power assisting device with good movement flexibility and ensure the use safety of the user.

Specifically, bear device 0200 has the dress formula structure of laminating human body, provides comfortable wearing experience. Meanwhile, the bearing device 0200 has a loading function and is used for loading heavy objects and providing a bearing and carrying function for users. Wherein the weight may include a control unit, a power unit, an article to be carried, etc. of the wearable robot 1000.

As described above, since the leg exercising device 0120 is located between the legs of the user, the distance between the first hinge portions 0140 respectively provided on the legs of the user is smaller than the distance between the legs of the user, and the distance between the second hinge portions 0150 respectively provided on the feet of the user is smaller than the distance between the feet of the user, thereby ensuring the shape of wearing the inside and obtaining a small side-sway moment.

Preferably, the backpack device 0200 has a wearing part 0210 and a carrying part 0220 for carrying a heavy object, wherein the carrying part 0220 is connected to the wearing part 0210 at one end and to the upper connecting end 0110 at the end away from the first hinge part 0140 at the other end.

Specifically, the wearing part 0210 is used for providing a wearing function, and is worn on a human body in a fitting manner. The wearing part 0210 can be connected to the upper body of a human body in various structures. Further preferably, the wearing part 0210 has a shoulder-back wearing part 0211 and/or a waist-hip wearing part 0212, the shoulder-back wearing part 0211 is worn on the shoulder-back of the user, the waist-hip wearing part 0212 is worn on the hip of the user, and a side of the shoulder-back wearing part 0211 and/or the waist-hip wearing part 0212 away from the user is connected to the carrier part 0220.

Wherein, the shoulder and back wearing part 0211 and the waist and hip wearing part 0212 can adopt various structures, such as a rigid bracket, an elastic bracket, a flexible connecting belt, etc. In an exemplary embodiment, the shoulder-back wearable part 0211 can be a shoulder belt, and the hip-waist wearable part 0212 can be a waist belt, which provides a more comfortable wearing experience and can fit the body structure of different users properly. Further preferably, the shoulder-back wearing part 0211 and the waist-hip wearing part 0212 have adjusting functions respectively to adjust to a connection state adapted to the posture characteristics of the current user.

The object-carrying part 0220 can adopt various structural forms including an object-carrying frame, an object-carrying basket and an object-carrying box, so that the heavy object can be firmly kept on the object-carrying part 0220 to avoid falling.

Preferably, the backpack device 0200 is provided with a control unit and a power unit, the control unit is used for controlling the motion state of the leg portion motion device 0120, and the power unit is used for providing power and energy for the wearable robot 1000.

Further preferably, the control unit is electrically connected to the angular displacement sensor and the pressure sensor, respectively, and is configured to receive measurement data from the angular displacement sensor and the pressure sensor, and adjust the motion state, especially the output force, of the leg moving device 0120 according to the measurement data.

It should be noted that, as the knee joint, the hip joint and the ankle joint of the exoskeleton robot in the traditional form are removed from the exoskeleton lower limb 0100, the self weight and the energy consumption of the exoskeleton lower limb 0100 can be effectively reduced, and the motion performance of the exoskeleton lower limb 0100 can be improved.

In all examples shown and described herein, any particular value should be construed as merely exemplary, and not as a limitation, and thus other examples of example embodiments may have different values.

It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.

The above examples are merely illustrative of several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. An exoskeleton lower limb comprising an upper connection end, a leg locomotion device and a foot connection device:

the leg movement device is provided with a first body and a second body, the first body is hinged with the upper connecting end through a first hinge part, the first body and the second body have relative linear movement, the first hinge part is arranged on the inner side of thighs of the user, and the first hinge part is a kinematic pair with at least two rotational degrees of freedom;

the foot connecting device is worn on the foot of the user and is hinged with the second body through a second hinge, the relative linear motion is along the direction of a connecting line between the first hinge and the second hinge, and the second hinge is arranged on the inner side of the foot of the user.

2. The exoskeleton lower limb of claim 1 wherein said second hinge is a kinematic pair with at least two rotational degrees of freedom.

3. The lower exoskeleton limb of claim 1 wherein said first body and said second body further have rotational freedom about the direction of motion of said relative linear motion.

4. The lower exoskeleton limb of claim 1 further comprising an angular displacement sensor for measuring the angular displacement between said leg mover and said upper link end.

5. A wearable robot, characterized in that it has a carrying device and the exoskeleton lower limbs of any one of claims 1 to 4 respectively arranged on the legs of a user, the carrying device is worn on the upper trunk of the user and is connected with the upper connecting end.

6. The wearable robot of claim 5, wherein the backpack device has a wearing portion and a carrying portion for carrying a heavy object, the carrying portion having one end connected to the wearing portion and the other end connected to an end of the upper connecting end remote from the first hinge portion.

7. The wearable robot of claim 6, wherein the wearing portion has a shoulder-back wearing portion and/or a waist-hip wearing portion, the shoulder-back wearing portion is worn on a shoulder of the user, the waist-hip wearing portion is worn on a hip of the user, and a side of the shoulder-back wearing portion and/or the waist-hip wearing portion away from the user is connected to the loading portion.

8. The wearable robot of claim 5, wherein the backpack device is provided with a control unit and a power unit, the control unit is used for controlling the motion state of the leg exercise device, and the power unit is used for providing power and energy for the wearable robot.