CN116985174A

CN116985174A - Multifunctional manipulator

Info

Publication number: CN116985174A
Application number: CN202311121142.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王福林; 唐文涛; 罗静; 赵娟; 邹云峰
Original assignee: Jingchu University of Technology
Current assignee: Jingchu University of Technology
Priority date: 2023-08-30
Filing date: 2023-08-30
Publication date: 2023-11-03

Abstract

The application discloses a multifunctional manipulator, which relates to the technical field of manipulators and comprises a manipulator assembly and an inflation assembly, wherein the manipulator assembly comprises a middle arm, an elastic piece and a plurality of clamping jaws, the clamping jaws are arranged around the periphery of the middle arm, each clamping jaw is rotationally connected to the middle arm through the elastic piece, and the elastic piece can accumulate elastic force when the clamping jaws are folded and can release the elastic force to drive the clamping jaws to open. The inflation assembly comprises a gas storage piece and a plurality of air bags, the gas storage piece is connected with the middle arm, an inflation cavity is arranged in the gas storage piece, the plurality of air bags are arranged around the periphery of the gas storage piece, each air bag is communicated with the inflation cavity, and the inflation cavity can drive the volume of the plurality of air bags to increase when receiving inflation so that the plurality of air bags drive the plurality of clamping jaws to fold. Because the air bag has certain buffering property, the air bag is gradually enlarged in volume to squeeze and drive the clamping jaw to clamp the object, the air bag has a buffering effect on the object, and the surface of the object is not easy to damage.

Description

Multifunctional manipulator

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of manipulators, in particular to a multifunctional manipulator.

Background

The manipulator is a very common tool in industry, is mainly used for simulating a human hand to grasp a target object and transferring the target object to a designated position so as to finish the processing of a product, and saves the trouble of manual carrying.

For example, the prior art with publication number CN212312056U discloses a grabbing and sucking integrated manipulator for multi-scale special-shaped parts, and the working principle of the manipulator is that a head end manipulator is rotated to a proper space position; then adjusting the middle mechanical arm to a proper pose; then adjusting the tail end mechanical arm to enable the pneumatic gripper and the pneumatic suction gripper to be positioned above the object; then selecting a proper grabbing mode according to the size of the part, selecting a pneumatic grab if the object is large, and selecting a pneumatic suction claw if the part is small; then high-pressure gas is introduced to open the gripper to grasp the part or high-pressure gas is discharged to enable the suction gripper to cover the part, and then the high-pressure gripper is introduced; finally, the mechanical arm is properly adjusted according to the space position of the part to be moved, and the part to be grabbed is placed.

However, this prior art has drawbacks such as driving the grip to grip the object by pneumatic means, because pneumatic force is not easy to finely control the force of the grip, and the grip does not have a cushioning effect on the object, resulting in that the grip easily damages the surface of the object when gripping the object.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the foregoing, it is necessary to provide a multifunctional manipulator, which solves the technical problems that in the prior art, the force of the gripper is not easily and finely controlled in the process of gripping an object by pneumatically driving the gripper, and the gripper does not have a buffer effect on the object, so that the gripper is easy to damage the surface of the object when gripping the object.

In order to achieve the technical purpose, the technical scheme of the application provides a multifunctional manipulator, which comprises:

the gripper assembly comprises a middle arm, an elastic piece and a plurality of clamping jaws, wherein the clamping jaws are arranged around the periphery of the middle arm, each clamping jaw is rotationally connected to the middle arm through the elastic piece, the elastic piece can store elastic force when the clamping jaws are closed, and can release the elastic force to drive the clamping jaws to open;

the inflatable assembly comprises an air storage piece and a plurality of air bags, wherein the air storage piece is connected with the middle arm, an inflatable cavity is arranged in the air storage piece, the air bags are arranged around the periphery of the air storage piece, each air bag is communicated with the inflatable cavity, and when the air pressure of the inflatable cavity is increased, the inflatable cavity can drive the air bags to increase in volume, so that the air bags drive the clamping jaws to close.

Further, the gas storage piece comprises an outer cover and a plurality of partition boards, the outer cover is internally provided with the inflating cavity, the partition boards are arranged around the periphery of the outer cover in the inflating cavity, the inflating cavity is partitioned into a plurality of air inflation chambers by the partition boards, and the air bags are correspondingly arranged in the plurality of air inflation chambers.

Furthermore, the outer cover is provided with a chute, and the partition board is detachably inserted into the chute.

Further, the outer cover is funnel-shaped, and all the air bags are positioned on one side of the outer cover facing the clamping jaw.

Further, the gas storage piece further comprises a sliding block, the outer cover is connected with the sliding block, and the sliding block is connected with the middle arm in a sliding mode.

Further, an air inlet cavity is arranged in the sliding block and is simultaneously communicated with a plurality of air blowing chambers, and the air inlet cavity is used for being connected with an external air source through an air pipe so as to simultaneously inflate the air blowing chambers.

Further, the handle assembly further comprises a plurality of linkage rods, the middle arm comprises a first slide rod and a second slide rod, the second slide rod is in sliding connection with the inside of the first slide rod, the clamping jaws are all connected to the periphery side of the first slide rod through elastic pieces in a rotating mode, one end of each linkage rod is connected with the second slide rod in a rotating mode, and the other end of each linkage rod is connected with the corresponding clamping jaw in a rotating mode.

Further, the multifunctional manipulator further comprises a flange plate, the gripper assembly comprises a telescopic rod, one end of the telescopic rod is connected with the middle arm, and the other end of the telescopic rod is connected with the flange plate in a sliding mode.

Further, the multifunctional manipulator further comprises a first grabbing arm and a second grabbing arm, the grabbing component is located between the first grabbing arm and the second grabbing arm, the first grabbing arm and the second grabbing arm are in sliding connection with the flange plate, and the first grabbing arm and the second grabbing arm can clamp objects when being relatively close to each other.

Further, the first grabbing arm and one end, far away from the flange plate, of the second grabbing arm are both rotatably connected with a tray.

Compared with the prior art, the application has the beneficial effects that: when the manipulator disclosed by the application is used for grabbing objects, an external air source can be controlled to inflate the inflation cavity of the air storage piece, the inflation cavity drives the volumes of the plurality of air bags to be enlarged, and the plurality of air bags gradually drive the plurality of clamping jaws to be folded, so that the objects are clamped. Because the air bag has certain buffering property, the air bag is gradually enlarged in volume to squeeze and drive the clamping jaw to clamp the object, the air bag has a buffering effect on the object, and the surface of the object is not easy to damage.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a manipulator according to the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the structure of the gripper assembly of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the structure of the gripper assembly of the present application in one of its states;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the gripper assembly of the present application in another state;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of the structure of the housing of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the application is made in connection with the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and together with the description of the embodiments of the application, are used to explain the principles of the application and are not intended to limit the scope of the application.

The present application provides a multifunctional robot 100, which is capable of selectively switching the robot 100 according to the shape of an object to adapt to the shape of the object to be grasped, thereby grasping the object having a regular or irregular shape and moving the object to a designated position. Wherein the regular shaped object, such as a cuboid shaped, cylindrical shaped object; irregular objects, such as curved objects having surfaces with a variety of different curvatures, or objects having surfaces with large undulations and asperities.

The multifunctional manipulator 100 comprises a gripper assembly 1, a clamping assembly 2, an inflation assembly 3 and a flange 4, wherein the gripper assembly 1 and the clamping assembly 2 are both arranged on the flange 4 in a sliding manner, and the position of the gripper assembly can be adjusted on the flange 4 so as to grasp objects. The inflation assembly 3 is connected with the gripper assembly 1 and is used for inflating the gripper assembly 1 so as to drive the gripper assembly 1 to grasp an object. The gripper assembly 1 obtains a power source for gripping an object through inflation, can buffer the object to be gripped, and is not easy to scratch the surface of the object.

The gripper assembly 1 comprises a telescopic rod 11, a middle arm 12, a clamping jaw 13, an elastic piece 14 and a linkage rod 15, wherein the top end of the middle arm 12 is connected with one end of the telescopic rod 11, and the other end of the telescopic rod 11 is connected with the flange 4 in a sliding mode. The clamping jaw 13 is rotatably connected to the intermediate arm 12 by means of an elastic member 14, such that the clamping jaw 13 can rotate relative to the intermediate arm 12 for clamping an object.

The number of the clamping jaws 13 in the embodiment shown in fig. 1 is three, and in other embodiments, the number of the clamping jaws 13 may be two, four or more, which is not limited herein.

The clamping jaws 13 are arranged around the periphery of the middle arm 12, each clamping jaw 13 is rotatably connected to the middle arm 12 through an elastic piece 14, the elastic piece 14 can accumulate elastic force when the clamping jaws 13 are closed, and can release the elastic force to drive the clamping jaws 13 to open, so that the clamping jaws 13 can be driven to reset when not grabbing objects, and preparation work is carried out for grabbing objects next time. It should be emphasized that one end of the clamping jaw 13 is rotatably connected to the intermediate arm 12 via the elastic member 14, and the other end of the clamping jaw 13 is a free end for gripping an object. The free ends of the plurality of jaws 13 are capable of gripping an object during closing and the free ends of the plurality of jaws 13 are capable of releasing an object during mutual opening.

The elastic member 14 is a torsion spring, which connects the clamping jaw 13 and the intermediate arm 12 at the same time. The torsion spring can accumulate elastic force when the free ends of the plurality of clamping jaws 13 are opened, and can release the elastic force to drive the free ends of the plurality of clamping jaws 13 to be closed.

The intermediate arm 12 includes a first slide bar 121 and a second slide bar 122, the second slide bar 122 being slidably coupled to the interior of the first slide bar 121. The clamping jaws 13 are all connected to the periphery side of the first sliding rod 121 through torsion springs in a rotating mode, the number of the linkage rods 15 is multiple, one end of each linkage rod 15 is connected with the second sliding rod 122 in a rotating mode, and the other end of each linkage rod 15 is connected with the corresponding clamping jaw 13 in a rotating mode.

When the second sliding rod 122 slides in a direction away from the linkage rod 15, the second sliding rod 122 can simultaneously drive the plurality of linkage rods 15 to rotate, so that the plurality of linkage rods 15 simultaneously drive the free ends of the plurality of clamping jaws 13 to close, and the plurality of clamping jaws 13 can be used for grabbing objects.

When the second sliding rod 122 slides towards the direction approaching to the linkage rod 15, the second sliding rod 122 can simultaneously drive the plurality of linkage rods 15 to rotate, so that the plurality of linkage rods 15 simultaneously drive the free ends of the plurality of clamping jaws 13 to open mutually, and the plurality of clamping jaws 13 can be used for releasing objects.

The air charging assembly 3 includes an air storage member 31 and a plurality of air bags 32, and the plurality of air bags 32 are all provided on the air storage member 31 and around the circumferential side of the air storage member 31. The number of the air bags 32 is three in accordance with the number of the clamping jaws 13, and the positions of each air bag 32 and each clamping jaw 13 are correspondingly arranged, so that the air bags 32 can press the clamping jaws 13 when being inflated, and the air bags 32 drive the free ends of the clamping jaws 13 to be closed to clamp an object.

The air container 31 includes a slider 311, a housing 312, and a plurality of partitions 313, wherein the slider 311 is connected to the housing 312, and the plurality of partitions 313 are provided inside the housing 312.

The sliding block 311 is approximately annular, the inner wall of the sliding block 311 is provided with a clamping groove, the outer wall of the first sliding rod 121 is provided with a clamping strip 123 along the length direction of the sliding block, and the sliding block 311 is in sliding clamping connection with the clamping strip 123 of the first sliding rod 121 through the clamping groove so as to slide back and forth along the length direction of the first sliding rod 121, so that the outer cover 312 and the air bag 32 are driven to slide back and forth. In other embodiments, the inner wall of the sliding block 311 may be provided with a clamping strip 123, and the outer wall of the first sliding rod 121 may be provided with a clamping groove, so that the sliding connection between the sliding block 311 and the first sliding rod 121 may be realized.

The housing 312 is funnel-shaped, and in other embodiments, the housing 312 may be designed in other shapes, such as a cylinder. An air inflation cavity 314 is arranged in the outer cover 312, the bottom of the air inflation cavity 314 is closed, the top of the air inflation cavity is open, and the top of the air inflation cavity is used for communicating with the sliding block 311.

The plurality of partition plates 313 are disposed in the air-filling chamber 314 and disposed around the periphery of the outer cover 312 in the air-filling chamber 314, and three partition plates 313 are provided in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and in other embodiments, the number of partition plates 313 may be other numbers, for example, two, four or more, which is not limited herein. The three partition plates 313 partition the inflation chamber 314 into three inflation chambers 315, and the three airbags 32 are correspondingly communicated with the three inflation chambers 315. The three air bags 32 are exposed from the inner wall of the housing 312, and when the air is blown to the three air blowing chambers 315, the three air bags 32 can be inflated toward the three jaws 13, thereby pressing the three jaws 13, and bringing the free ends of the three jaws 13 together.

The partition 313 can be fixedly connected to the outer cover 312 by welding or the like, can be detachably arranged on the outer cover 312, for example, a chute can be formed in the outer cover 312, and the partition 313 can be detachably arranged on the outer cover 312 by sliding and pulling, so that the installation number of the partition 313 can be adjusted according to the requirement.

The middle arm 12 is connected to the gas storage piece 31, is equipped with the gas filling chamber in the gas storage piece 31, and a plurality of gasbags set up around the week side of gas storage piece 31, and every gasbag all communicates the gas filling chamber, and the volume that the gas filling chamber can order about a plurality of gasbags when receiving to aerify increases to make a plurality of gasbags order about a plurality of clamping jaws to close.

The slider 311 is provided with an air inlet cavity, the slider 311 is connected with the outer cover 312, and the air inlet cavity is simultaneously communicated with three air blowing chambers 315. The air inlet cavity is connected with an external air source through two air pipes 316, the external air source can charge the air inlet cavity through the two air pipes, the air inlet cavity charges three air-blowing chambers 315 simultaneously, and simultaneously, three air bags 32 are driven to be inflated to drive the free ends of the three clamping jaws 13 to be closed.

The number of the gripper assemblies 1 in the embodiment shown in fig. 1 is two, and the two gripper assemblies 1 can work independently or simultaneously without interference. In other embodiments, the number of the gripper assemblies 1 may be one, three or more, which is not limited herein.

Referring to fig. 3 and 4, two operating states of the gripper assembly 1 are shown, respectively:

the sliding block 311 of the gripper assembly 1 of the embodiment shown in fig. 3 is not moved upwards, the air bags 32 are close to the clamping jaws 13 at this time, and when the air bags 32 are inflated, the air bags 32 can drive the free ends of the clamping jaws 13 to close to grip an object. The gripper assembly 1 in this state is generally suitable for gripping objects with high requirements on surface quality, and the air bags 32 drive the clamping jaws 13 to grip the objects, so that the surfaces of the objects are not easy to damage.

The slider 311 of the gripper assembly of the embodiment shown in fig. 4 is moved upward, and it should be emphasized that the slider 311 may be controlled by other control structures for controlling the up-and-down sliding of the slider, which are not shown in the drawing for simplicity of the drawing.

The air bag 32 of the embodiment shown in fig. 4 is located away from the clamping jaw 13, and in this embodiment, the free ends of the clamping jaws 13 are closed or opened by controlling the second slide bar 122 to slide back and forth relative to the first slide bar 121. It should be emphasized that the telescopic rod 11 is formed by sliding multiple rod bodies, and the rod body at the lowest side is connected with the second sliding rod 122 and used for controlling the second sliding rod 122 to slide back and forth relative to the first sliding rod 121, so as to drive the clamping jaw to clamp or release an object. The other multi-section rod body of the telescopic rod 11 is used for controlling the whole gripper assembly 1 to move up and down so as to enable the gripper assembly 1 to approach an object.

The clamping assembly 2 is mainly used for grabbing regular objects with larger volumes, and grabbing objects in a clamping mode.

The clamping assembly 2 further comprises a first grabbing arm 21, a second grabbing arm 22 and two trays 23, wherein the number of the trays 23 is two, the two trays 23 are respectively connected with the first grabbing arm 21 and the second grabbing arm 22 in a rotating mode, and the trays 23 are used for assisting the first grabbing arm 21 and the second grabbing arm 22 to grab objects so that the objects are not easy to fall off when being clamped by the clamping assembly 2.

The first gripping arm 21 and the second gripping arm 22 are both slidably connected to the flange 4, and the first gripping arm 21 and the second gripping arm 22 are connected to corresponding cylinder driving devices (not shown in the figure) capable of driving the first gripping arm 21 and the second gripping arm 22 to slide relatively along the flange 4 to approach each other so as to grip an object. The cylinder drive is also able to drive the first gripper arm 21 and the second gripper arm 22 back to back along the flange 4 away from each other to release the object.

It should be emphasized that the flange 4 of the present application is used for connecting with other moving devices (not shown in the drawings), and after the gripper assembly 1 or the clamping assembly 2 on the flange 4 grips the object, the moving devices drive the flange 4 to move, so as to drive the object to move to the target position.

The anti-slip sheets 24 are arranged on the opposite side surfaces of the first grabbing arm 21 and the second grabbing arm 22, the anti-slip sheets 24 are used for being in friction connection with an object when the first grabbing arm 21 and the second grabbing arm 22 clamp the object, so that friction force between the anti-slip sheets and the object is enhanced, the object can be clamped more stably, and the anti-slip sheets are not easy to fall. The antiskid sheet 24 can be made of rubber or silica gel material, and can be effectively antiskid. Further, protrusions may be added to the surface of the non-slip sheet 24 to further enhance the friction between the non-slip sheet 24 and the object.

The trays 23 on the first gripping arm 21 and the second gripping arm 22 are further connected to corresponding motors (not shown in the figure), and the motors are used for driving the trays 23 to rotate, so that the trays 23 support the objects held by the first gripping arm 21 and the second gripping arm 22, and an auxiliary supporting function is achieved. The rotation angle of the tray 23 can be freely adjusted, so that objects of various shapes can be lifted.

In addition, the tray 23 may be provided with a slip preventing sheet for preventing slipping of the object during lifting of the object.

The first gripping arm 21, the second gripping arm 22 and the tray 23 of the embodiment shown in fig. 1 are all planar in shape, and in other embodiments may be configured to be arc-shaped or continuously bent so as to be adapted to grip objects of different shapes.

In an embodiment, the gripper assembly 1 is located between the first gripper arm 21 and the second gripper arm 22, where the first gripper arm 21 and the second gripper arm 22 generally grip two sides of an object, and if there is a portion of the middle of the object that can be gripped by the gripper assembly 1, the gripper assembly 1 can be controlled to move down to grip the object. In this embodiment, by gripping the object by the gripper assembly 1 and the clamp assembly 2 together, a more stable gripping effect can be achieved on the object.

It should be noted that, the object held by the holding component 2 is not an object directly placed on the ground, the object is usually placed on a certain machine or platform, and two sides of the object extend from the edge of the platform, so that the object in this state can be conveniently grasped by the holding component 2.

The present application is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily understood by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present application are intended to be included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A multi-functional manipulator, characterized by comprising:

2. The multifunctional manipulator according to claim 1, wherein the gas storage member comprises an outer cover and a plurality of partition plates, the outer cover is internally provided with the gas filling chamber, the plurality of partition plates are arranged around the peripheral side of the outer cover in the gas filling chamber, the gas filling chamber is partitioned into a plurality of gas filling chambers by the plurality of partition plates, and the plurality of gas bags are correspondingly arranged in the plurality of gas filling chambers.

3. The multifunctional manipulator according to claim 2, wherein the housing is provided with a chute, and the partition is detachably inserted into the chute.

4. The multi-purpose robot of claim 2, wherein the housing is funnel-shaped and all of the air cells are located on a side of the housing facing the jaws.

5. The multi-purpose robot as recited in claim 4, wherein the gas storage further comprises a slider, the housing is coupled to the slider, and the slider is slidably coupled to the intermediate arm.

6. The multifunctional manipulator according to claim 5, wherein an air inlet cavity is arranged in the sliding block, the air inlet cavity is simultaneously communicated with a plurality of air blowing chambers, and the air inlet cavity is used for being connected with an external air source through an air pipe so as to simultaneously inflate the plurality of air blowing chambers.

7. The multi-purpose robot of claim 5, wherein the gripper assembly further comprises a plurality of links, the intermediate arm comprises a first slide bar and a second slide bar, the second slide bar is slidably connected to the first slide bar, the plurality of jaws are rotatably connected to the circumferential side of the first slide bar through the elastic member, one end of each link is rotatably connected to the second slide bar, and the other end of each link is rotatably connected to the corresponding jaw.

8. The multi-function manipulator of claim 1, further comprising a flange, wherein the gripper assembly comprises a telescoping rod, one end of the telescoping rod is connected to the intermediate arm, and the other end of the telescoping rod is slidably connected to the flange.

9. The multi-function manipulator of claim 8, further comprising a first gripper arm and a second gripper arm, wherein the gripper assembly is positioned between the first gripper arm and the second gripper arm, wherein the first gripper arm and the second gripper arm are each slidably coupled to the flange, and wherein the first gripper arm and the second gripper arm are capable of gripping an object when in relative proximity.

10. The multifunctional manipulator of claim 9, wherein the first gripping arm and the second gripping arm are each rotatably connected to a tray at an end thereof remote from the flange.