CN115476379A - A kind of flexible robot and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a flexible robot and a control method thereof, relating to the field of mechanical automation; the robot comprises a flexible manipulator with a plurality of manipulator clamping jaws, a visual recognition module and a control module; the manipulator clamping jaw is at least provided with a first joint, a second joint and a third joint, wherein the first joint and the second joint are arranged to be similar to a steering engine structure, the third joint is composed of an SMA spring assembly, the first joint is used for changing the clamping posture of the flexible manipulator, the second joint is used for driving the paw to completely grab and move, and the third joint is used for adjusting the position of the paw; the visual recognition module is used for acquiring visual information of the object to be picked, processing and recognizing the visual information, and then feeding back a recognition result to the control module, and the control module calls a corresponding manipulator working program to drive the manipulator to work according to the recognition result so as to complete the picking of the object to be picked. The invention adopts the SMA spring assembly to form the drive of the knuckle, controls the working current thereof to adjust the clamping force of the paw, and has good flexibility, sufficient power and simple control.

Description

A kind of flexible robot and its control method

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of mechanical automation, in particular to a flexible robot and a control method thereof.

Background technique

In the early stage of the development of manipulators, it was intended to be used in special scenarios that are not suitable for human work, and to ensure personal safety through manual manipulation in safe areas; Repeated and heavy labor operations to achieve mechanization and automation of production, widely used in machinery manufacturing, metallurgy, electronics, light industry and atomic energy and other fields. For example, it is applied to automatic production lines, automatic machine tools and machining centers in production workshops for loading and unloading or automatic inspection.

Based on the application environment of the existing manipulator, the manipulator is usually designed as a large-scale and high-strength structure, the installation and control are very complicated, and it is used to grasp large and heavy structures. With the advancement of science and technology, manipulator castings have been improved from bulky and complex structures to flexible and simple structures. Flexible manipulators are a typical development direction; flexible manipulators can not only maintain the functions of the original manipulators, but also have more flexibility. The flexible robot is an indispensable part of the automation development of emerging industries such as the medical field, logistics and warehousing, and the technology is becoming more and more mature.

Flexible manipulators include pneumatic, hydraulic and electric. Among them, pneumatic flexible manipulators are widely used in automobile manufacturing, semiconductor and home appliance industries, fertilizers and chemicals, and food because of their simple structure, light weight, speed, energy saving and pollution-free And pharmaceutical packaging, precision instruments and other fields; with the application of pneumatic flexible manipulators, it is found that there are some problems, that is, insufficient power and unstable control; while hydraulic flexible manipulators not only have pollution problems, but also have sealing difficulties, Phenomenon with risk of seepage.

At present, there is a lack of a new type of robot that can solve the problems of insufficient power, low control and equipment stability, high development cost, and complex control of existing flexible manipulators.

Contents of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a flexible robot and its control method. The disclosed flexible manipulator solves the problems of insufficient power, low control and equipment stability, high development cost, and complicated control of the existing flexible manipulator, and can be applied to fragile robots. and gripping of tiny objects.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the present invention proposes the following technical solutions: a flexible robot, including a flexible manipulator, a visual recognition module and a control module;

The flexible manipulator includes several manipulator jaws, and any manipulator jaw is provided with at least three joints, which are denoted as the first joint, the second joint and the third joint, and the first joint and the third joint are configured as a steering gear structure ; The first joint is used for the flexible manipulator to adjust the mutual position of several manipulator jaws, and change the gripping posture of the flexible manipulator; the second joint is the knuckle of the manipulator jaw, and the knuckle is composed of an SMA spring assembly, It is used to drive the claws on the grippers of the manipulator to perform grabbing actions; the third joint is used to adjust the positions of the grippers on the grippers of the manipulators so that the grippers are close to the items to be picked up or grasp the items to be picked up by the grippers later mentioned;

The control module includes an Arduino expansion board, a steering gear controller connected to the Arduino expansion board, and an SMA drive module, the steering gear controller is connected to the first joint and the third joint, and the SMA drive module is connected to the SMA drive module. spring assembly;

Described visual recognition module comprises picture acquisition unit and controls the raspberry pie that is connected to Arduino expansion board; Described picture acquisition unit signal is connected with raspberry pie, is used to obtain the visual information of article to be picked up and sends to raspberry pie; So The Raspberry Party processes and recognizes the visual information it receives, and sends the recognition results to the Arduino expansion board;

According to the recognition result received by the Arduino expansion board, the control module calls the preset manipulator work program corresponding to the recognition result and sends a control signal to the steering gear controller and the SMA driver module, and the steering gear controller and the SMA driver module respectively according to The control signal it receives drives the first joint, the third joint and the SMA spring assembly to work to complete the picking of the item to be picked.

Further, it also includes a bluetooth module and a mobile terminal, the bluetooth module is connected to the Arduino expansion board, and the mobile terminal is connected to the bluetooth module for remote control of the soft robot.

Further, the flexible manipulator also includes a first connecting part and a second connecting part;

The plurality of grippers of the manipulator are connected to the output end of the first joint through the first connection part, the grippers of the manipulator are distributed in a circular array on the same horizontal plane of the output end, and any two adjacent grippers of the manipulator are on the first joint. Driven by a joint, there are at least a first included angle and a second included angle; the first included angle and the second included angle constitute two gripping postures of the manipulator;

The manipulator jaw also includes a connecting arm, one end of the connecting arm is fixed to the first connecting part, and the other end is movably connected to the gripper by using an SMA spring assembly, and the gripper is connected to the third joint through the second connecting part. The output end, and the claw has the freedom to move in the vertical direction under the drive of the third joint;

When the SMA drive module drives the SMA spring assembly to extend and work, the grippers of the grippers of the manipulator close to the item to be picked are close to each other and close together, so that the item to be picked up is picked up.

Further, the first joint and the third joint are sequentially arranged in the flexible manipulator from top to bottom, constituting the main body of the manipulator;

The first joint includes a first casing and an electric rotating unit arranged in the first casing, and the third joint includes a second casing and an electric telescopic unit arranged in the second casing; the first casing Fixed above the second casing, the electric rotation unit is provided with a first output shaft vertically penetrating through the bottom surface of the first casing, and the bottom end of the first output shaft extends above the second casing;

The manipulator jaw includes three, and the first connection part includes a first connection unit, a second connection unit and a third connection unit that are respectively fixed to a manipulator jaw; the first connection unit is set as a fixed part , the fixing part is connected to the top of the manipulator jaw, and is used to fix the manipulator jaw fixedly connected to it on the upper surface of the second housing; the second connection unit includes a driving gear connected to the top of the manipulator jaw, so The driving gear is fitted on the upper surface of the second housing, and a first through hole is provided at the axial center of the tooth surface, and the first through hole is closely matched with the bottom end of the first output shaft; the third The connection unit includes a driven gear connected to the top of the gripper jaw of the manipulator, the driven gear is attached to the upper surface of the second housing, and the driven gear is engaged with the driving gear; the tooth surface of the driven gear A second through hole is provided at the axial center, and a positioning part is provided on the upper surface of the second housing, and the positioning part adopts a bearing to fit into the second through hole;

When the electric rotating unit is started, it drives the driving gear to drive the driven gear to rotate, and then drives the jaws of the manipulator connected to it to rotate and change the gripping posture.

Further, the gripper of the manipulator also includes a link unit;

The bottom end of the connecting arm is provided with a first installation position and a second installation position, and the gripper is provided with a third installation position and a fourth installation position, and the first installation position is rotatably connected to the The third installation position and the second installation position are rotatably connected to the fourth installation position using a connecting rod unit, and the SMA spring assembly is parallel to the connecting rod unit;

If the closing direction of the flexible manipulator is defined as the inner side, the claw is provided with a working surface facing the inner side; when the SMA drive module drives the SMA spring assembly to elongate and work, it drives the bottom of the working surface to turn inward, and makes the The working surface is in contact with the item to be picked up.

Further, the second connecting part includes a rotating part and three fourth connecting units with the same structure;

The electric telescopic unit is provided with a second output shaft vertically penetrating through the bottom surface of the second casing, and the rotating part is arranged at the bottom end where the second output shaft extends out of the second casing; the rotating part includes a rotating disk, A third through hole is provided in the middle of the rotating disk, and the third through hole of the rotating disk is connected to the second output shaft via a bearing;

The fourth connecting unit array is arranged on the rotating disk, and its position corresponds to the position of the gripper of the manipulator; the fourth connecting unit is provided with a movable connection part, and the movable connection part is rotatably connected to the manipulator The linkage unit of the jaw;

When the electric telescopic unit is started, it drives the rotating part to reciprocate in the vertical direction, and then drives the connecting rod unit and the claw connected to it to move up and down in the vertical direction.

Further, the first through hole is configured as an elliptical hole, and the shape of the bottom end of the first output shaft is adapted to the first through hole.

The present invention also discloses a method for controlling the above-mentioned flexible robot, the method comprising:

Obtain a number of picture information for various items picked up by the flexible robot, and construct a picture training set for each item;

Preprocess the training set of each picture to obtain an optimized picture training set to remove unrecognizable pictures;

Train the visual recognition classification model of the item according to the optimized picture training set;

receiving the first instruction, and acquiring visual information of the item to be picked up;

Classify the visual information according to the target recognition and classification model, and obtain the category information and item type corresponding to the item to be picked up;

According to the type of items to be picked up, the corresponding manipulator work program is called to control the work of the flexible manipulator.

Further, the working program of the manipulator is used to determine the gripping posture and gripping force of the flexible manipulator, wherein the gripping posture of the flexible manipulator is determined by controlling the first joint of the steering gear controller, and the gripping of the flexible manipulator The force is controlled by the duty ratio of the output voltage of the SMA drive module to realize the control of the working temperature of the SMA spring assembly.

Further, the method further includes: receiving a Bluetooth communication request sent by the mobile device, and establishing Bluetooth communication; receiving a second instruction sent by the mobile terminal, and controlling the flexible robot to enter a working state.

As can be seen from the above technical solutions, the technical solution of the present invention has obtained the following beneficial effects:

In the flexible robot and its control method disclosed in the present invention, the robot includes a flexible manipulator with several manipulator jaws, a visual recognition module and a control module; wherein, the manipulator jaws are at least provided with a first, a steering gear-like structure, The second joint, the second joint and the third joint composed of SMA spring components. The first joint is used for the flexible manipulator to adjust the mutual position of several manipulator jaws and change the gripping posture of the flexible manipulator. The second joint is the position of the manipulator jaw. The knuckles are used to drive the claws to fully grab the action, and the third joint is used to adjust the position of the claws on the grippers so that the claws are close to the items to be picked up or lifted after the claws grab the items to be picked up; the visual recognition module includes pictures The acquisition unit and the Raspberry Pi connected to the Arduino expansion board are used to obtain the visual information of the items to be picked up, process and identify them, and then feed back the recognition results to the control module; the control module includes the Arduino expansion board and the rudder connected to the Arduino expansion board. The machine controller and the SMA drive module are used to call the corresponding manipulator working program to drive the manipulator to work according to the recognition result, and complete the picking of the items to be picked up. The invention adopts the SMA spring assembly to form the driving of the finger joints of the gripper of the flexible manipulator, and the SMA drive module adjusts the clamping strength of the hand claw by controlling the working current of the SMA spring assembly, so as to realize the flexible picking of objects.

The flexible robot proposed in the present invention adopts an electric flexible manipulator. Compared with pneumatic or hydraulic flexible manipulators, it not only has the advantages of good flexibility, sufficient power, low cost and simple control, but is more suitable for holding fragile items and micro items. safe and efficient. In addition, the flexible robot can also use the Bluetooth module to realize the remote control of the mobile terminal, which further meets the needs of most control scenarios.

It should be understood that all combinations of the foregoing concepts, as well as additional concepts described in more detail below, may be considered part of the inventive subject matter of the present disclosure, provided such concepts are not mutually inconsistent.

The foregoing and other aspects, embodiments and features of the present teachings can be more fully understood from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Other additional aspects of the invention, such as the features and/or advantages of the exemplary embodiments, will be apparent from the description below, or learned by practice of specific embodiments in accordance with the teachings of the invention.

Description of drawings

The drawings are not drawn to scale according to the true reference objects. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures may be represented by a like reference numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. Embodiments of the various aspects of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a structural schematic diagram 1 of the flexible manipulator of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a structural schematic diagram II of the flexible manipulator of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a downward plan view of the flexible manipulator of the present invention from the first connecting part;

Fig. 4 is the bottom view of the flexible manipulator of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is the three-dimensional schematic view of the manipulator jaw of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of the flexible robot control method of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is an organizational structure diagram of the flexible robot of the present invention.

In the figure, the specific meaning of each mark is:

1-manipulator gripper, 11-connecting arm, 12-hand claw, 121-working surface, 13-SMA spring assembly, 14-link unit; 2-first joint, 21-first housing; 3-third Joint, 31-second housing, 32-second output shaft; 4-first connecting part, 41-first connecting unit; 42-second connecting unit, 421-driving gear; 43-third connecting unit, 431 - driven gear; 5 - second connecting part, 51 - rotating part, 511 - rotating disc; 52 - fourth connecting unit.

detailed description

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. Based on the described embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without creative work shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention. Unless otherwise defined, the technical terms or scientific terms used herein shall have the usual meanings understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs.

"First", "second" and similar words used in the specification and claims of the patent application of the present invention do not indicate any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components. Likewise, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, words such as "a", "an" or "the" in the singular do not denote a limitation of number, but mean that there is at least one. "comprises" or "comprises" and similar words mean that the elements or items presented before "comprises" or "comprises" include the features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or items listed after "comprises" or "comprises" or component, does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or collections thereof. "Up", "Down", "Left" and "Right" are only used to indicate relative positional relationship. When the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.

Based on the emergence of flexible manipulators with higher flexibility, they are widely used in scenarios with more complex environments and standard requirements. Some flexible manipulators have some disadvantages in the application, such as insufficient power of pneumatic soft manipulators, and difficult sealing of hydraulic soft manipulators. However, although the electric manipulator does not have the above-mentioned problems, it has the common problems of existing manipulators, such as complex structure and control, and high cost; therefore, the present invention proposes a flexible manipulator with a relatively simple structure and control, and applies the manipulator On the flexible robot, on the one hand, the robot combines visual recognition to realize the automatic picking process. On the other hand, the flexible manipulator it uses uses SMA springs as the finger drive, which is not only flexible and easy to control, but also can be applied to fragile and Safe and smooth gripping control of items.

The flexible robot and its control method disclosed in the present invention will be further specifically introduced below in conjunction with the specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Figure 7, the flexible robot disclosed in the present invention includes a flexible manipulator, a visual recognition module and a control module, the visual recognition module is used as the eyes of the sex robot to confirm the items to be picked up, and the control module is used as the brain of the flexible robot to issue a working program according to the confirmation result , the soft manipulator is used as the limb of the soft robot to realize the execution of the working program.

Specifically, structurally, the flexible manipulator includes several manipulator jaws 1, and any manipulator jaw 1 is provided with at least three joints, denoted as the first joint 2, the second joint and the third joint 3, and the first joint 2 and the third joint 3 are set as a steering gear structure; the first joint 2 is used for the flexible manipulator to adjust the mutual position of several manipulator jaws 1, and change the gripping posture of the flexible manipulator; the second joint is the finger joint of the manipulator jaw, the The finger joint is composed of SMA spring assembly 13, which is used to drive the gripper 12 on the gripper 1 of the manipulator to perform grabbing action; the third joint 3 is used to adjust the position of the gripper 12 on several gripper grippers 1 of the manipulator, so that the gripper 12 is close to the waiting position. Pick up the item or lift it after the claw 12 grabs the item to be picked up; when working, the first joint 2, the second joint and the third joint 3 receive the control command of the control module and act according to the command.

As shown in the figure, the control module includes an Arduino expansion board, a steering gear controller connected to the Arduino expansion board, and an SMA drive module. The steering gear controller is connected to the first joint 2 and the third joint 3, and the SMA drive module is connected to the SMA spring component 13; the visual recognition module is built by the Raspberry Pi to build the Tensorflow framework for visual recognition, including the image acquisition unit and the control of the Raspberry Pi connected to the Arduino expansion board. Sending and receiving of data between them; the image acquisition unit signal is connected to the Raspberry Pi to obtain the visual information of the item to be picked up and send it to the Raspberry Pi; the Raspberry Pi processes and recognizes the visual information it receives, and sends the recognition result to the Arduino Expansion board; furthermore, according to the recognition result received by the Arduino expansion board, the control module calls the preset manipulator working program corresponding to the recognition result and sends the control signal to the steering gear controller and the SMA driver module, and the steering gear controller and the SMA driver module respectively According to the received control signal, the first joint 2, the third joint 3 and the SMA spring assembly 13 are driven to work to complete the picking of the item to be picked.

In this scheme, the action response of the flexible mechanical finger mainly depends on the temperature change of the SMA spring. The main factors that affect the temperature change of the SMA spring are: the temperature of the SMA spring, the heat exchange between the SMA spring and the environment, and the phase change latent heat of the SMA spring; therefore , in order to ensure the action response speed of the flexible mechanical finger end, the material of the SMA spring adopted in the embodiment is Ni-Ti-Cu series shape memory alloy wire; The driving current signal with a value of 430mA, a period of 7.7s, and a pulse width of 2.7s makes it heat up and elongate in the energized state. After the input signal is turned off, it will recover and shrink after natural cooling, with high precision and low cost.

In the embodiment, the control module uses the Arduino expansion board as the core of the control system, which allows developers to customize and adjust, which can effectively improve the development efficiency of the robot arm function, so that the flexible robot arm can be better used in daily life and industrial control. The overall idea of the control module is: use the steering gear controller, SMA driver module, and Arduino expansion board. The steering gear controller can have built-in Bluetooth, handle interface, interface for user debugging and bus execution module. The Arduino expansion board can also be connected to sensors. Modules, handles and other analog gyroscope devices realize communication with external modules, and develop the functions of the flexible manipulator by writing different programs. Optionally, the control handle or mobile terminal can also be used to transmit control signals through Bluetooth to achieve flexible The manual control of the manipulator and the development of functions such as automatic sensing and grasping of the equipment as a whole, realize positioning and grasping.

For example, the soft robot also includes a Bluetooth module and a mobile terminal, wherein the Bluetooth module is connected to the Arduino expansion board, and the mobile terminal is connected to the Bluetooth module for remote control of the soft robot. The Bluetooth module can choose BT06 Bluetooth module, which supports UART interface and SPP Bluetooth serial port protocol. It has the advantages of low cost, small size, low power consumption, and high sensitivity of sending and receiving. It only needs to be equipped with a few peripheral components to realize its powerful functions. When implementing, first connect the BT06 Bluetooth module through the Arduino expansion board, configure the Bluetooth name and password according to the AT command set, and see a successful prompt message in the serial port window; after the pairing is successful, reconnect RTX and TXD to the Arduino expansion The transceiver pins of the board, by setting the switch judgment statement in the Arduino expansion board, control the action of the flexible manipulator on the received instruction information; at the same time, connect the Bluetooth module with the Bluetooth serial port assistant on the mobile terminal, send control information, and the flexible manipulator can complete Corresponding grabbing and releasing; the Bluetooth module responds quickly, and the response range is within 10-30m. It can transmit a long distance without obstructions, and can further adapt to the needs of most control scenarios.

As shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the flexible manipulator also includes a first connecting part 4 and a second connecting part 5; when the flexible manipulator is assembled, several manipulator jaws 1 are connected to the output end of the first joint 2 through the first connecting part 4 , the manipulator jaws 1 are distributed in a circular array on the same horizontal plane of the output end of the first joint 2, and any two adjacent manipulator jaws 1 have at least the first angle and the second angle under the drive of the first joint 2 Angle; the first angle and the second angle constitute two gripping postures of the manipulator; the gripper jaw 1 of the manipulator includes a connecting arm 11, a hand claw 12 and an SMA spring assembly 13. When installing, one end of the connecting arm 11 is fixed to the first One connecting part 4 and the other end are movably connected to the gripper 12 by using an SMA spring assembly 13, and the gripper 12 is connected to the output end of the third joint 3 through the second connecting part 5, and the gripper 12 is driven by the third joint 3 It has a degree of freedom to move in the vertical direction; the control center is electrically connected to the first joint 2, the third joint 3 and the SMA spring assembly 13; when the SMA drive module drives the SMA spring assembly 13 to extend and work, the The grippers 12 of the manipulator gripper 1 approach and close together, so that the item to be picked up is picked up.

The working process of the flexible manipulator disclosed by the present invention is as follows: the first joint 2 drives the gripper 1 of the manipulator to change the gripping posture of the manipulator, the third joint 3 drives the hand claw 12 of the manipulator to approach the object to be gripped, and the SMA spring assembly 13 drives when working. Claw 12 is clamped on the surface of the item to be picked up.

During specific implementation, as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the first joint 2 and the third joint 3 are sequentially arranged in the flexible manipulator from top to bottom to form the main body of the manipulator; the first joint 2 includes a first housing 21 and a The electric rotating unit in the first housing 21, the third joint 3 includes the second housing 31 and the electric telescopic unit arranged in the second housing 31; as shown in Figure 1, the first housing 21 is fixedly arranged in the Above the second housing 31, in the embodiment, the first housing 21 is connected to the second housing 31 using a symmetrically arranged support column, and the electric rotation unit is provided with a first output shaft vertically penetrating through the bottom surface of the first housing 21. The bottom end of the first output shaft extends above the second housing 31 . In the embodiment, the main body of the manipulator constitutes the core structure of the flexible manipulator, the electric rotating unit can choose a rotating motor, and the electric telescopic unit can choose a telescopic motor.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the flexible manipulator is provided with three manipulator jaws 1, so the first joint 2 can drive the three manipulator jaws 1 to change under the gripping posture of 120° or 180°.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the first connection part 4 includes a first connection unit 41, a second connection unit 42 and a third connection unit 43 respectively fixedly connected to a manipulator jaw 1; during design, the first connection unit 41 is set as a The fixed part, the fixed part is connected to the top of the manipulator jaw 1, and is used to fix the manipulator jaw 1 fixedly connected to it on the upper surface of the second housing 31; the second connection unit 42 includes a The driving gear 421 of the driving gear 421 is fitted on the upper surface of the second housing 31, and a first through hole is arranged at the axial center of the tooth surface; The driven gear 431, the driven gear 431 is attached to the upper surface of the second housing 31, and the driven gear 431 meshes with the driving gear 421; when assembled, the first through hole is closely matched with the bottom end of the first output shaft, and the driving The gear 421 is only connected to the first joint 2 through the first output shaft; a second through hole is provided at the axial center of the tooth surface of the driven gear 431, and a positioning part is provided on the upper surface of the second housing 31, and the positioning part adopts a bearing suitable for Matched to the second through hole.

In the embodiment, the first through hole is set as an elliptical hole, the shape of the bottom end of the first output shaft is adapted to the first through hole, and the first output shaft will not slide after being matched with the elliptical hole; the positioning part is designed as a second shell The upper surface of the body 31 is a cylinder protruding toward the first housing 21 , and the outer wall of the cylinder is fitted with a rolling bearing in cooperation with the second through hole. In order to facilitate installation in the embodiment shown in the drawings, the driving gear 421 and the driven gear 431 are both arranged in a plate-shaped structure, and the driving gear 421 and the driven gear 431 are respectively formed by a number of continuous teeth arranged around one end of the plate-shaped structure. , the other end of the plate-like structure is connected to the upper end of the connecting arm 11 on the gripper jaw 1 of the manipulator using a connecting piece.

When the first joint 2 is working, its electric rotation unit is activated to drive the driving gear 421 to drive the driven gear 431 to rotate, and then drive the manipulator jaw 1 connected to it to rotate and change the gripping posture. In this embodiment, the manipulator gripper 1 connected to the first connection unit 41 is fixed on the upper surface of the second housing 31 as a non-moving claw, and the manipulator gripper connected to the second connection unit 42 and the third connection unit 43 1 is the movable claw, therefore, the electric rotation unit realizes the adjustment and transformation of the gripping posture of the manipulator by driving the movable claw.

Combined with the specific structure shown in Figure 5, the gripper 1 of the manipulator also includes a link unit 14; during installation, a first installation position and a second installation position are provided at the bottom of the connecting arm 1, and a third installation position is provided on the gripper 12. and a fourth installation position; during installation, the first installation position is rotatably connected to the third installation position using the SMA spring assembly 13, and the second installation position is rotatably connected to the fourth installation position using the connecting rod unit 14, and the SMA spring assembly 13 is parallel Based on the connecting rod unit 14; if the closing direction of the flexible manipulator is defined as the inner side, the gripper 12 is provided with a working surface 121 facing inward; when the SMA drive module drives the SMA spring assembly to elongate and work, the bottom of the working surface 121 is driven to turn inwardly, And make the working surface 121 contact the items to be picked up; in the flexible manipulator as a whole, the SMA spring assemblies 13 of the three manipulator jaws 1 work at the same time and make the jaws 12 tighten and close inwardly to complete the clamping action of the items to be picked up.

1 and 2, in the initial state of the gripper 1 of the manipulator, the length of the SMA spring assembly 13 should not be less than the length of the connecting rod of the link unit 14, otherwise the working surface 121 of the gripper 12 will be turned outward, The elongation of the SMA spring assembly 13 required during work is greatly increased, which is not conducive to the realization of the clamping action; therefore, the length of the designed connecting rod unit is equal to the length of the SMA spring assembly 13 in the embodiment, so as shown in Figure 1 The unit 14 and the SMA spring assembly 13 form a parallelogram after the first installation position to the fourth installation and fixation, and then when the SMA spring assembly 13 is energized and stretched, it can easily drive the claw 12 to turn inwards to complete the object gripping.

The second connecting part 5 includes a rotating part 51 and three fourth connecting units 52 with the same structure, as shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 4 and Fig. 5; structurally, the electric telescopic unit is provided with a vertical connection through the second shell The second output shaft 32 on the bottom surface of the body 31, the rotating part 51 is arranged on the bottom end where the second output shaft 32 extends out of the second housing 31; the rotating part 51 includes a rotating disc 511, and a third channel is arranged in the middle of the rotating disc 511 The third through hole of the rotating disk 511 is connected to the second output shaft 32 via a bearing; the fourth connecting unit 52 is arranged in an array on the rotating disk 511 , and its position corresponds to the position of the gripper 1 of the manipulator. The mating bearing of the rotating disk 511 and the second output shaft 32 generally adopts a rolling bearing, and the rolling bearing cooperates with the first joint 2, so that the fourth connecting unit 52 connects the connecting rod unit and the gripper jaw 1 of the manipulator to rotate synchronously without affecting the third joint normal expansion.

During installation, the fourth connection unit 52 is provided with a movable connection part, and the movable connection part is rotatably connected to the connecting rod unit of the manipulator jaw 1; The link unit and the claw 12 connected thereto move up and down in the vertical direction.

As an optional embodiment, the upper part of the connecting arm 11 is set as a type of L-shaped bracket, and the bending part of this type of L-shaped bracket is set as a rounded corner to improve the structural strength of the connecting arm 11; the bottom end of the connecting arm 11 is set to A two-level stepped structure extending from the inside, the two-level stepped structure includes a first step on the outside and a second step on the inside, and the bottom surface of the second step is higher than the bottom surface of the first step; when connected, there is a middle part of the first step The opening of the first installation groove facing downwards, the first installation groove and the groove walls on both sides constitute the first installation position, and the second step constitutes the second installation position. The upper part of the claw 12 is provided with a second installation groove with an opening facing upwards. The second installation groove and the groove walls on both sides constitute the third installation position and the fourth installation position respectively, wherein the third installation position is located under the fourth installation position. side, and the third installation position and the fourth installation position correspond to the first installation position and the second installation position in the vertical direction. During specific implementation, in order to avoid the phenomenon that the gripper 1 of the manipulator is close to the object to be picked up and collides with its storage surface and hinders the turning of the gripper 12, an arc-shaped transition surface is provided on the side of the gripper 12 opposite to the working surface 121; for example, the accompanying drawings The gripper 12 shown in is designed as a triangular prism structure, one side of the triangular prism constitutes the working surface 121, the edge opposite to the side and its adjacent two sides adopt an arc transition, and the second installation groove starts from the edge of the edge. One opposite side passes through to the working surface 121, and the working surface 121 is designed as a vertical plane.

Optionally, considering that the shape of fragile items or miniature items is a spherical structure, the clamping effect of the plane on the items is poor, the working surface 121 can also be designed as an arc surface concave toward the inside of the claw 12, so as to accommodate The shape of the article increases the contact area between the working surface 121 and the article, effectively improving the clamping effect. In some embodiments, a rubber layer is attached to the working surface 121 of the gripper 12, and the friction force between the gripper 12 and the object is improved through the rubber layer, so as to prevent the manipulator from falling out of the manipulator when gripping an object that is too smooth.

As an optional embodiment, the SMA spring assembly 13 includes an SMA spring, which is respectively affixed to the first connection head and the second connection head at both ends of the SMA spring; wherein, the end of the first connection head away from the SMA spring is arranged in a ring structure, The annular structure is installed in the first installation groove by rotating the rotating shaft assembly; the end of the second connecting head away from the SMA spring is set as a semi-cylindrical structure, and the semi-cylindrical structure is provided with a fourth through hole parallel to its axial direction. The four through holes are arranged in the second installation groove by rotating the shaft assembly, and the arc-shaped surface of the semi-cylindrical structure abuts against the groove bottom surface of the second installation groove. When the SMA spring is energized and elongated, the SMA spring assembly 13 is elongated as a whole, and the claw 12 is pushed inward from the abutment between the second connector and the second installation groove to adapt to the elongation of the SMA spring and realize the grip 12 attitude transformation. In the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, the first connector and the second connector are made of ceramics. When fixed, the first connector and the second connector are respectively provided with slots, and the two ends of the SMA spring are respectively fixed and fixed. in the preset card slot.

As an optional embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5 , the fourth connection unit 52 includes an L-shaped bracket and a cross bar. The upper end of the L-shaped bracket is fixedly connected to the disk surface of the rotating disk 511, and the bottom end is rotatably connected to the rotating disk 511 by a rotating shaft assembly. One end of the cross bar; the connecting rod unit 14 of the manipulator jaw 1 includes a pair of connecting rods arranged in parallel, the connecting rods are symmetrically arranged outside the first installation groove and the second installation groove, and the two ends of the connecting rods are respectively connected by rotating shaft components On the groove wall of the first installation groove and the second installation groove; when assembled, the other end of the cross bar is arranged between the two connecting rods arranged in parallel, and is connected to the middle part of the two connecting rods by a rotating shaft assembly, that is, the cross bar constitutes the fourth The movable connection part of the connection unit 52 .

As an optional embodiment, the shaft assembly is designed as a double-ended stud and at least two nuts fitted therewith; for the SMA spring assembly 13, the double-ended stud goes through the first or second installation groove symmetrically On both sides of the groove wall, the first connector and the second connector are respectively set on the rod section of the double-ended stud located in the groove, and the two ends of the double-ended stud protruding from the outer side of the groove wall are locked by nuts; Rod unit, the double-ended studs symmetrically penetrate the two sides of the second step or the second installation groove wall, and the two ends of the symmetrical connecting rod are respectively connected to one end of the double-ended stud protruding from the second step or the second installation groove wall , and then locked with bolts; for the cross bar, it is connected at a position similar to that of the SMA spring during installation; when the above-mentioned shaft assembly composed of double-ended studs is installed, all the double-ended studs are parallel to each other. Currently, for larger manipulators, the rotating shaft assembly can be composed of a rotating shaft and other locking units.

As shown in Fig. 6, another embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for controlling the above-mentioned flexible robot, the method includes the following steps:

Step S102, obtaining a number of picture information for various items picked up by the flexible robot, and constructing a picture training set for each item;

Generally, the types of items picked up by the flexible robot are pre-selected, such as batteries, vegetables, fruits, plastic bottles, cans, etc. After determining the specific items of each type, the items are photographed from multiple angles, and the photos of each item are formed into an independent training set.

Step S104, preprocessing the training set of each picture to obtain an optimized picture training set, so as to remove unidentifiable pictures;

Step S106, training the visual recognition classification model of the item according to the optimized picture training set;

During the implementation, the Lobx software is used for preprocessing and model training. Unrecognizable photos in the Lobx software need to be deleted to obtain a visual recognition classification model; in this scheme, after the visual recognition classification model is obtained, it is imported into the Raspberry Pi for effect testing.

Step S108, receiving the first instruction, and obtaining the visual information of the item to be picked up;

The first command is the start command of the input flexible robot, such as pressing the start button; when the control module receives the command to start working, it controls the picture acquisition unit, such as the camera takes pictures of the objects to be picked up, and obtains visual information composed of pictures. The information is sent to the Raspberry Pi.

Step S110, classify the visual information according to the target recognition and classification model, and obtain the category information and item type corresponding to the item to be picked up;

The Raspberry Pi invokes the stored target recognition and classification model to classify the received visual information of the items to be picked up, that is, the Arduino expansion board reads the pre-stored category information of the Raspberry Pi through the serial port, so that the items to be picked up can be judged based on the comparative analysis category information type of item.

Step S112, according to the type of the item to be picked up, call the corresponding manipulator working program to control the flexible manipulator to work. Wherein, the working program of the manipulator is stored in the control module, which is used to determine the gripping posture and gripping force of the flexible manipulator. The gripping posture of the flexible manipulator is determined by the steering gear controller controlling the first joint. The duty cycle of the output voltage is set by the SMA drive module to control the working temperature of the SMA spring assembly, and then realize the precise control of the clamping force of each item.

As an optional embodiment, the control method further includes: receiving a Bluetooth communication request sent by the mobile, and establishing Bluetooth communication; receiving a second instruction sent by the mobile terminal, controlling the soft robot to enter a working state; and realizing remote control of the soft robot. When the BT06 Bluetooth module connected to the control module receives a Bluetooth communication request and establishes communication with the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal can directly send a work command to the control module remotely through the second command to realize the process of flexible robot recognition action.

In the above-mentioned flexible robot and its control method disclosed in the present invention, the fingertips of the robot are driven by SMA springs to realize the gripping work of objects, the power is sufficient, the structure and control are simple, and it is applicable to the gripping of fragile and miniature objects. And the control is stable; the control method of the present invention pre-constructs the visual recognition classification model, and then selects the working program of the manipulator after identifying the object to be picked up through the model, and then accurately controls the gripping posture of the flexible manipulator and the gripping force of the claws , and finally achieve stable and safe picking of items.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art of the present invention can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be defined by the claims.

Claims (10)

1. A flexible robot, characterized in that, comprises a flexible manipulator, a visual identification module and a control module; The flexible manipulator includes several manipulator jaws, and any manipulator jaw is provided with at least three joints, which are denoted as the first joint, the second joint and the third joint, and the first joint and the third joint are configured as a steering gear structure ; The first joint is used for the flexible manipulator to adjust the mutual position of several manipulator jaws, and change the gripping posture of the flexible manipulator; the second joint is the knuckle of the manipulator jaw, and the knuckle is composed of an SMA spring assembly, It is used to drive the claws on the grippers of the manipulator to perform grabbing actions; the third joint is used to adjust the positions of the grippers on the grippers of the manipulators so that the grippers are close to the items to be picked up or grasp the items to be picked up by the grippers later mentioned; The control module includes an Arduino expansion board, a steering gear controller connected to the Arduino expansion board, and an SMA drive module, the steering gear controller is connected to the first joint and the third joint, and the SMA drive module is connected to the SMA drive module. spring assembly; Described visual recognition module comprises picture acquisition unit and controls the raspberry pie that is connected to Arduino expansion board; Described picture acquisition unit signal is connected with raspberry pie, is used to obtain the visual information of article to be picked up and sends to raspberry pie; So The Raspberry Party processes and recognizes the visual information it receives, and sends the recognition results to the Arduino expansion board; According to the recognition result received by the Arduino expansion board, the control module calls the preset manipulator work program corresponding to the recognition result and sends a control signal to the steering gear controller and the SMA driver module, and the steering gear controller and the SMA driver module respectively according to The control signal it receives drives the first joint, the third joint and the SMA spring assembly to work to complete the picking of the item to be picked. 2. The flexible robot according to claim 1, further comprising a bluetooth module and a mobile terminal, the bluetooth module is connected to the Arduino expansion board, and the mobile terminal is connected to the bluetooth module for communication to the flexible robot remote control. 3. The flexible robot according to claim 1, wherein the flexible manipulator further comprises a first connecting portion and a second connecting portion; The plurality of grippers of the manipulator are connected to the output end of the first joint through the first connection part, the grippers of the manipulator are distributed in a circular array on the same horizontal plane of the output end, and any two adjacent grippers of the manipulator are on the first joint. Driven by a joint, there are at least a first included angle and a second included angle; the first included angle and the second included angle constitute two gripping postures of the manipulator; The manipulator jaw also includes a connecting arm, one end of the connecting arm is fixed to the first connecting part, and the other end is movably connected to the gripper by using an SMA spring assembly, and the gripper is connected to the third joint through the second connecting part. The output end, and the claw has the freedom to move in the vertical direction under the drive of the third joint; When the SMA drive module drives the SMA spring assembly to extend and work, the grippers of the grippers of the manipulator close to the item to be picked are close to each other and close together, so that the item to be picked up is picked up. 4. The flexible robot according to claim 3, wherein the first joint and the third joint are sequentially arranged in the flexible manipulator from top to bottom, constituting the main body of the manipulator; The first joint includes a first casing and an electric rotating unit arranged in the first casing, and the third joint includes a second casing and an electric telescopic unit arranged in the second casing; the first casing Fixed above the second casing, the electric rotation unit is provided with a first output shaft vertically penetrating through the bottom surface of the first casing, and the bottom end of the first output shaft extends above the second casing; The manipulator jaw includes three, and the first connection part includes a first connection unit, a second connection unit and a third connection unit that are respectively fixed to a manipulator jaw; the first connection unit is set as a fixed part , the fixing part is connected to the top of the manipulator jaw, and is used to fix the manipulator jaw fixedly connected to it on the upper surface of the second housing; the second connection unit includes a driving gear connected to the top of the manipulator jaw, so The driving gear is fitted on the upper surface of the second housing, and a first through hole is provided at the axial center of the tooth surface, and the first through hole is closely matched with the bottom end of the first output shaft; the third The connection unit includes a driven gear connected to the top of the gripper jaw of the manipulator, the driven gear is attached to the upper surface of the second housing, and the driven gear is engaged with the driving gear; the tooth surface of the driven gear A second through hole is provided at the axial center, and a positioning part is provided on the upper surface of the second housing, and the positioning part adopts a bearing to fit into the second through hole; When the electric rotating unit is started, it drives the driving gear to drive the driven gear to rotate, and then drives the jaws of the manipulator connected to it to rotate and change the gripping posture. 5. The flexible robot according to claim 4, wherein the gripper of the manipulator further comprises a link unit; The bottom end of the connecting arm is provided with a first installation position and a second installation position, and the gripper is provided with a third installation position and a fourth installation position, and the first installation position is rotatably connected to the The third installation position and the second installation position are rotatably connected to the fourth installation position using a connecting rod unit, and the SMA spring assembly is parallel to the connecting rod unit; If the closing direction of the flexible manipulator is defined as the inner side, the claw is provided with a working surface facing the inner side; when the SMA drive module drives the SMA spring assembly to elongate and work, it drives the bottom of the working surface to turn inward, and makes the The working surface is in contact with the item to be picked up. 6. The flexible robot according to claim 5, wherein the second connecting part comprises a rotating part and three fourth connecting units having the same structure; The electric telescopic unit is provided with a second output shaft vertically penetrating through the bottom surface of the second casing, and the rotating part is arranged at the bottom end where the second output shaft extends out of the second casing; the rotating part includes a rotating disk, A third through hole is provided in the middle of the rotating disk, and the third through hole is connected to the second output shaft via a bearing; The fourth connecting unit array is arranged on the rotating disk, and its position corresponds to the position of the jaws of the manipulator; the fourth connecting unit is provided with a movable connection part, and the movable connection part is rotatably connected to the manipulator The linkage unit of the jaw; When the electric telescopic unit is started, it drives the rotating part to reciprocate in the vertical direction, and then drives the connecting rod unit and the claw connected to it to move up and down in the vertical direction. 7. The flexible robot according to claim 4, wherein the first through hole is configured as an elliptical hole, and the shape of the bottom end of the first output shaft is adapted to the first through hole. 8. A control method for a flexible robot, applied to the flexible robot according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that the method comprises: Obtain a number of picture information for various items picked up by the flexible robot, and construct a picture training set for each item; Preprocess the training set of each picture to obtain an optimized picture training set to remove unrecognizable pictures; Train the visual recognition classification model of the item according to the optimized picture training set; receiving the first instruction, and acquiring visual information of the item to be picked up; Classify the visual information according to the target recognition and classification model, and obtain the category information and item type corresponding to the item to be picked up; According to the type of items to be picked up, the corresponding manipulator work program is called to control the work of the flexible manipulator. 9. The control method of the flexible robot according to claim 8, wherein the manipulator working program is used to determine the gripping posture and the gripping strength of the flexible manipulator, wherein the gripping posture of the flexible manipulator is controlled by the rudder The machine controller controls the first joint to determine, and the clamping force of the flexible manipulator is set by the SMA drive module to control the working temperature of the SMA spring assembly by setting the duty cycle of its output voltage. 10. The control method of flexible robot according to claim 8, is characterized in that, also comprises: Receive the Bluetooth communication request sent by the mobile, and establish Bluetooth communication; Receive the second instruction sent by the mobile terminal, and control the flexible robot to enter the working state.

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