CN210525087U

CN210525087U - Modularization software manipulator

Info

Publication number: CN210525087U
Application number: CN201921622145.XU
Authority: CN
Inventors: 褚凯梅; 华超; 朱银龙; 王旭; 刘�英
Original assignee: Nanjing Forestry University
Current assignee: Nanjing Forestry University
Priority date: 2019-09-27
Filing date: 2019-09-27
Publication date: 2020-05-15
Anticipated expiration: 2029-09-27

Abstract

The present technology discloses a modularized soft mechanical arm, which is connected with a plurality of execution units through a connecting terminal. The actuator unit is divided into a torsion unit, a bending unit and a stretching unit. The execution unit is a flexible hollow tubular structure made of silica gel synthetic materials, and the manipulator can realize larger execution space by inflating the cavity, and simulating the arm freedom degree of a human by twisting, bending and stretching the functions of the unit. The execution unit comprises a deformation part and a rigidity adjusting part, wherein the deformation part mainly comprises a soft matrix and peripheral constraint fibers. The modularized soft manipulator is composed of a torsion unit, a bending unit and a stretching unit. The modularized soft manipulator is connected and twisted, extended and bent through the connecting terminal, simulates the degree of freedom of arm joints of a human, can realize larger operation space, realizes grabbing of a complex environment, has high operation efficiency, and ensures high safety when interacting with an external operation object and an operation environment.

Description

Modularization software manipulator

Technical Field

This patent belongs to software robot technical field, specifically relates to is a modularization software manipulator.

Background

With the vigorous development of science and technology, robots have been widely applied to various aspects such as industrial production, medical treatment, exploration, scientific experiments, emergency rescue and the like. The working structure of the traditional robot is mainly a rigid structure, and the traditional robot has wide application in various fields at present, and related technologies are mature. However, the conventional rigid structure-based robot has inevitable drawbacks in structure, safety, sensitivity, and adaptability. With continuous innovation of novel intelligent materials and continuous development of corresponding technologies, the soft robot becomes a research hotspot, has infinite freedom degree, strong continuous deformation capability and good environmental adaptability, can work in a complex working environment, and can pass through narrow gaps, holes, channels and the like by changing the form of the robot.

At present, most robots mostly adopt rigid structures and rigid driver driving designs, have the characteristics of high precision, high speed, high load and the like, and are mainly applied to occasions with specialized and precise requirements. But in the fields of home services, medical rehabilitation, etc., rigid robots are often inadequate due to environmental uncertainty and individual variability. Research into soft robots has been conducted. Unlike a rigid robot, a soft robot has the following characteristics: 1) the flexible material has a plurality of degrees of freedom in space, and the flexible robot can realize continuous and flexible deformation only by a simple structure. 2) The flexibility of the flexible material is good, and the size and the shape of the flexible material can be changed according to the complex and variable working environment. 3) The software robot can ensure better safety when interacting with an external operation object and an operation environment. 4) The whole shape and structure of the soft robot are simple, modular design and assembly can be adopted, and design and manufacturing cost is low.

In 2007, the U.S. department of defense designed a chemical robot Chembots, which has greater flexibility and can adjust its size and shape to pass through the channel according to the size of the channel. In 2014, the RUS subject group in the United states designed a soft robotic fish capable of swimming freely, which can move rapidly by being driven by the tail. Researchers in colleges and universities such as Massachusetts institute of technology and technology develop a soft worm robot which can creep and has strong impact resistance. An inflatable peristaltic soft robot is designed and manufactured by George M, Whiteside research group of Harvard university, has strong impact resistance, and can pass through narrow space through pneumatic driving.

The soft robot is a brand new direction for robot technology research, overcomes the defects of certain functions of the traditional robot, has a strong place for many aspects and has bright future development prospect. However, since the research on the sensor is just started, a series of problems exist in materials, design, processing, sensing to control and use, and the research on the sensor needs to be continued, so that the research on the sensor is also full of difficulties and challenges.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to make up for the defect that a rigid robot cannot give consideration to flexibility and rigidity adjustment, the invention provides a modular soft manipulator which has infinite freedom degree, continuous deformation capability, good environmental adaptability and good human-computer interaction safety.

The technical scheme adopted by the patent for solving the technical problem is as follows:

the modularized soft manipulator is provided with an execution unit, wherein the execution unit is a flexible cylinder, spiral constraint fibers are wound on the periphery of the flexible cylinder, and a cavity is arranged in the flexible cylinder; the execution units are of three types, namely a twisting unit, a bending unit and a stretching unit which realize twisting, bending and stretching by inflating or exhausting the chamber; the modularized soft manipulator at least comprises two execution units of different types, and the end parts of the two adjacent execution units are connected through a connecting terminal; the connecting terminal is provided with an air channel communicated with the internal cavity of at least one of the two execution units connected with the connecting terminal.

The beneficial effect of this patent: this patent combines different kinds of actuators, i.e. torsion units, bending units or stretching units, in an organic manner. When the pneumatic stretching device is used, the cavity on the execution unit is directly connected with an external pneumatic driving system or is connected with an external pneumatic driving system through an air passage on the connecting terminal, and the pneumatic driving system inflates and deflates the cavity of the execution unit to realize stretching (stretching), twisting or bending of the execution unit. Thus, the manipulator can realize at least two functions of stretching, twisting or bending. This patent links to each other the execution unit through the hookup terminal, and simple structure can be connected required execution unit wantonly, has realized the modularization equipment, and is swift convenient. The manipulator consists of all execution units which are flexible cylinders, can realize flexibility and rigidity adjustment, and has infinite freedom degree and continuous deformation capability.

As a further improvement to the above-mentioned modular soft manipulator, the chamber inside the torsion unit cylinder is spiral, and one end of the torsion unit cylinder is provided with a vent hole communicated with one end of the spiral chamber. When the spiral chamber in the torsion unit cylinder is inflated, the radial dimension change of the torsion unit cylinder is limited by the constraint fibers wound by the torsion unit cylinder, and the stretching unit cylinder can only stretch out and draw back along the axial direction of the spiral chamber, so that the torsion unit cylinder is spiral, and can adapt to different external complex environments.

As a further improvement of the modularized soft manipulator, the bending unit is provided with two cylindrical chambers inside a bending unit cylinder, and one end of the bending unit cylinder is provided with vent holes respectively communicated with one ends of the two cylindrical chambers. When the two cylindrical chambers of the bending unit cylinder are inflated, the radial dimension change of the bending unit cylinder is limited by the constraint fibers wound by the bending unit cylinder, and the bending unit cylinder can only stretch out and draw back along the axial direction. When the two cylindrical chambers of the bending unit cylinder are different in inflation amount, one side of the bending unit cylinder with small inflation amount is at the other side of the bending unit cylinder with smaller axial extension amount than the inflation amount, so that the bending unit cylinder bends towards one side of the bending unit cylinder with small inflation amount.

As a further improvement of the modularized soft manipulator, the stretching unit is provided with a cylindrical chamber inside a cylinder body, and one end of the cylinder body of the stretching unit is provided with a vent hole communicated with one end of the cylindrical chamber. When the cylindrical chamber inside the stretching unit cylinder is inflated, the radial size change of the stretching unit cylinder is limited by the constraint fibers wound by the stretching unit cylinder, and the stretching unit cylinder can only axially stretch out and draw back.

As a further improvement to the above-mentioned modular soft manipulator, the periphery of the execution unit is wound with two sets of spiral constraint fibers with opposite spiral directions; the constraining fibers are non-stretchable fibers.

As a further improvement to the modular soft manipulator described above, the coupling terminal is provided with an air passage communicating with the internal chamber of only one of the two execution units coupled thereto.

As a further improvement of the modularized soft mechanical arm, counterbores are formed in both ends of the connecting terminal, and the end of the execution unit is embedded into the counterbores in the connecting terminal.

As a further improvement of the modularized soft manipulator, the number of the execution units is three, wherein the stretching unit, the bending unit and the twisting unit are respectively one.

As a further improvement of the modularized soft manipulator, the number of the execution units is four, wherein one execution unit is arranged in any one of the three execution units of the stretching unit, the bending unit and the twisting unit, and the other two execution units are respectively arranged in one.

As a further improvement to the above modular soft manipulator, it further comprises a soft hand grip connected to the end of an execution unit. The soft hand grab belongs to the prior art, for example, a self-adaptive variable-rigidity soft hand grab disclosed in the Chinese patent with the application number of 2019102784270.

This modularization software manipulator can simulate people's arm joint degree of freedom, can realize bigger operating space, realizes snatching complex environment, has high operating efficiency, has high security when guaranteeing to interact with external operation object and operating environment.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a torsion unit structure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a bending unit structure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a drawing unit;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of a torsion unit coupling terminal structure;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of a bent unit coupling terminal structure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a tension coupling terminal structure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a modular soft robot;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the execution unit of FIG. 7 from another perspective;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of yet another modular soft robot;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the modular soft robot of FIG. 9 from another angle;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of yet another modular soft robot;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the modular soft robot of FIG. 11 from another angle;

fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the torsion unit;

FIG. 14 is a sectional view of the flexure unit;

fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the drawing unit.

Detailed Description

The invention is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings:

the modular soft manipulator has at least two of the three executing units, namely the twisting unit 1, the bending unit 2 and the stretching unit 3. Each of the execution units is a flexible cylinder wound with a helical non-stretchable restraining fiber 7 at the periphery and provided with a chamber inside.

Referring to fig. 1, in the torsion unit 1, a chamber 11 inside a cylinder of the torsion unit is spiral, and one end of the cylinder of the torsion unit is provided with a vent hole 12 communicated with one end of the spiral chamber. When the spiral chamber in the torsion unit cylinder is inflated, the radial dimension change of the torsion unit cylinder is limited by the constraint fibers wound by the torsion unit cylinder, and the stretching unit cylinder can only stretch out and draw back along the axial direction of the spiral chamber, so that the torsion unit cylinder is spiral, and can adapt to different external complex environments.

Referring to fig. 2, the bending unit 2 has two cylindrical chambers 21 and 22 inside the cylinder of the bending unit, and one end of the cylinder of the bending unit is provided with vent holes 23 and 24 respectively communicated with one ends of the two cylindrical chambers. When the two cylindrical chambers of the bending unit cylinder are inflated, the radial dimension change of the bending unit cylinder is limited by the constraint fibers wound by the bending unit cylinder, and the bending unit cylinder can only stretch out and draw back along the axial direction. When the two cylindrical chambers of the bending unit cylinder are different in inflation amount, one side of the bending unit cylinder with small inflation amount is at the other side of the bending unit cylinder with smaller axial extension amount than the inflation amount, so that the bending unit cylinder bends towards one side of the bending unit cylinder with small inflation amount.

Referring to fig. 3, in the stretching unit 3, a cylindrical chamber 31 is formed inside a column of the stretching unit, and a vent 32 is formed at one end of the column of the stretching unit and communicated with one end of the cylindrical chamber. When the cylindrical chamber inside the stretching unit cylinder is inflated, the radial size change of the stretching unit cylinder is limited by the constraint fibers wound by the stretching unit cylinder, and the stretching unit cylinder can only axially stretch out and draw back.

The modularized soft manipulator at least comprises two execution units of different types, and the end parts of the two adjacent execution units are connected through a connecting terminal; the connection terminal is provided with an air passage communicated with the inner cavity of one of the two execution units connected with the connection terminal. The coupling terminal corresponds to the actuator unit, and includes three types of a twisted coupling terminal 4, a bent coupling terminal 5, and a stretched coupling terminal 6. The two ends of the three types of connecting terminals are provided with a first counter bore 8 and a second counter bore 9. The ends of the two actuators are embedded in counterbores on the connection terminal.

Referring to fig. 4, for the twist coupling terminal 4, the first counterbore 8 thereof is inserted into the end of the twist unit 1 having the vent hole 12. The bottom surface of the first counter bore 8 is provided with an air nozzle 41 extending into the vent hole 12; the air passage 42 in the twist coupling terminal 4 is opened at one end on the outer circumference of the twist coupling terminal 4 and at the other end at the air tap 41.

Referring to fig. 5, for the bent coupling terminal 5, the first counterbore 8 thereof is inserted into the end of the bent unit 2 having the vent holes 23, 24.

Air nozzles

53 and 54 respectively extending into the vent holes 23 and 24 are arranged on the bottom surface of the first counter bore 8; the two

air passages

51, 52 in the bent coupling terminal 5 are opened at one ends on the outer circumference of the bent coupling terminal 5, respectively, and at the other ends at air taps 53, 54, respectively.

Referring to fig. 6, for the tension coupling terminal 6, the first counterbore 8 thereof is inserted into the end of the tension unit 3 having the vent hole 32. The bottom surface of the first counter bore 8 is provided with an air nozzle 61 extending into the vent hole 32; the air passage 62 in the tensile coupling terminal 6 opens at one end on the outer periphery of the tensile coupling terminal 4 and at the other end at the air tap 61.

Referring to fig. 7 and 8, the modular soft robot is shown in which a first torsion unit 1, a first bending connection terminal 5, a first bending unit 2, a stretching connection terminal 6, a stretching unit 3, a twisting connection terminal 4, a second torsion unit 101 (reference numeral 101 for distinguishing from the first torsion unit 1), a second bending connection terminal 501 (reference numeral 501 for distinguishing from the first bending connection terminal 5), a second bending unit 201 (reference numeral 201 for distinguishing from the first bending unit 2), and a soft hand grip 10 are connected in sequence.

The vent hole 12 of the first torsion unit 1, the two air passages on the first bent coupling terminal 5, the air passage on the tension coupling terminal 6, the air passage on the torsion coupling terminal 4, and the two air passages on the second bent coupling terminal 501 are all communicated with an external air supply system.

Referring to another modular soft manipulator shown in fig. 9 and 10, a stretching unit 3, a torsion coupling terminal 4, a torsion unit 1, a bending coupling terminal 5, and a bending unit 2 are connected in sequence.

The vent hole 32 of the tension unit 3, the air passage on the torsion connection terminal 4, and the two air passages on the bending connection terminal 5 are all communicated with an external air supply system.

Referring to still another modular soft manipulator shown in fig. 11 and 12, a bending unit 2, a torsion coupling terminal 4, a torsion unit 1, a tension coupling terminal 6, and a tension unit 3 are connected in sequence.

The two

ventilation holes

23, 24 of the bending unit 2, the air passage on the torsion connection terminal 4 and the air passage on the tension connection terminal 6 are communicated with an external air supply system.

The gas circuit driving system comprises a gas pump, a pressure reducing valve, a gate valve, an electromagnetic valve, a distribution joint and the like which are connected through pipelines, belongs to the prior art and is not described.

In this patent, a plurality of execution units are coupled by coupling terminals. The inner layer of the execution unit is a flexible hollow tubular structure made of soft silica gel or other soft materials, the outer side of the execution unit is restrained by fibers wound at a certain angle, and the execution unit is deformed by inflating to achieve the functions of twisting, bending and extending. By changing the amount of inflation, the degree of deformation of the actuator unit is changed.

The execution units are combined, and different execution units execute different actions through inflation, so that a larger execution space is realized, and grabbing work in a complex environment is facilitated.

The torsion unit is internally provided with a spiral track chamber, and the outer side of the torsion unit is wound with constraint fibers at a certain angle. Two ends of the unit are sealed, and one end of the cavity is provided with a vent hole for connecting with an external air path driving system. When the torsion unit is inflated, the spiral cavity is filled with gas and is twisted under pressure due to the outside winding constraint fiber and the stress and flexibility of the material, so that the torsion deformation is realized. The torsion unit can change the torsion degree of the whole actuating unit by adjusting the air inflation amount of the chamber.

Two cylindrical chambers symmetrical about the axis of the substrate are symmetrically distributed in the bending unit, or the bending unit is divided into a plurality of chambers by a plurality of laminates. Two ends of the bending unit are sealed, and one end of each cavity is provided with a vent hole for being connected with an external air path driving system. When the bending unit is inflated, if the left chamber is inflated, the left chamber is filled with gas and is subjected to pressure, the whole left chamber is elongated due to the flexibility of the material and the limitation of the constraint fibers, and the right chamber is not subjected to pressure, so that the length of the left chamber is kept unchanged. Due to the stress and flexibility of the material itself, the whole actuator unit will bend to the right. Similarly, if the right chamber is inflated, the entire execution unit will bend to the left. The bending unit can change the bending degree of the whole executing unit by adjusting the air inflation amount of the left and right chambers.

The outer side of the stretching unit is provided with two groups of constraint fibers wound according to a certain angle, and the inner layer is of a flexible hollow tubular structure made of soft silica gel or other soft materials. The stretching unit is a thin-wall cylinder, two ends of the unit are sealed, and a vent hole is reserved at the sealed end of the cavity and used for being connected with an external air path driving system. When the stretching unit is inflated, the outside is wound with the constraint fibers, and the stress and flexibility of the material are utilized, so that the cylindrical cavity is filled with gas and is subjected to pressure, and the outside fibers are constrained to realize extension deformation. The stretching unit can change the elongation degree of the whole actuating unit by adjusting the inflation amount of the chamber.

And two groups of non-stretchable fibers (wires) wound at a certain angle are arranged outside the execution unit. The non-stretchable fiber (wire) can be generally selected from Kevlar wire or fishing line, and the deformation of the units of stretching, bending and twisting can be realized by adjusting the angle of the fiber.

The connecting terminal is a Tain TAIEN wear-resistant hose or a hose made of other materials, and is connected with the execution unit by glue.

The connecting terminal has different structures for different execution units, and the bent connecting terminal has two air passages for respectively inflating the two chambers because the bent unit has two chambers.

A modularized software manipulator connects a plurality of execution units through a connecting terminal. According to different connection sequences of the execution units, different points can be grabbed.

If the execution unit comprises a stretching unit, a bending unit and a twisting unit, the connection sequence can be stretching and twisting, stretching and bending and twisting, twisting and stretching and twisting.

If the number of the execution units is four, the execution units are a stretching unit, a bending unit and a twisting unit, and 18 different connections can be provided. On the basis of 3 execution units, each has 3 different connection modes.

If the number of the execution units is four, the execution units can also be a stretching unit, a bending unit, a twisting unit combination and a stretching unit, a bending unit, a twisting unit and a bending unit combination, and the connection sequence is respectively 18.

The number of couplings and the coupling sequence can be chosen as appropriate for the different gripping points, depending on the particular situation.

The modularized soft manipulator is an arm freedom degree structure simulating a human, and is combined with the connecting terminals through the number and the types of the execution units, so that the modularized soft manipulator is as flexible as a human arm, larger grabbing space is realized, and grabbing work in a complex environment is facilitated.

Claims

1. The utility model provides a modularization software manipulator which characterized by: the device comprises an execution unit, wherein the execution unit is a flexible cylinder, the periphery of the flexible cylinder is wound with spiral constraint fibers, and a cavity is arranged in the flexible cylinder; the execution units are of three types, namely a twisting unit, a bending unit and a stretching unit which realize twisting, bending and stretching by inflating or exhausting the chamber; the modularized soft manipulator at least comprises two execution units of different types, and the end parts of the two adjacent execution units are connected through a connecting terminal; the connecting terminal is provided with an air channel communicated with the internal cavity of at least one of the two execution units connected with the connecting terminal.

2. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: the chamber in the cylinder of the torsion unit is spiral, and one end of the cylinder of the torsion unit is provided with a vent hole communicated with one end of the spiral chamber.

3. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: two columnar chambers are arranged in the column body of the bending unit, and one end of the column body of the bending unit is provided with a vent hole which is respectively communicated with one ends of the two columnar chambers.

4. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: the stretching unit is characterized in that a cylindrical chamber is arranged in the stretching unit cylinder, and one end of the stretching unit cylinder is provided with a vent hole communicated with one end of the cylindrical chamber.

5. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: two groups of spiral constraint fibers with opposite spiral directions are wound on the periphery of the execution unit; the constraining fibers are non-stretchable fibers.

6. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: the connection terminal is provided with an air passage communicated with the inner cavity of one of the two execution units connected with the connection terminal.

7. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: the connecting terminal is provided with counterbores at two ends, and the end part of the execution unit is embedded into the counterbores on the connecting terminal.

8. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: the actuating units are three in total, wherein the stretching unit, the bending unit and the twisting unit are respectively one.

9. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: the number of the execution units is four, wherein one execution unit is arranged in any one of the three execution units, namely the stretching unit, the bending unit and the twisting unit, and one execution unit is arranged in each of the other two execution units.

10. The modular soft manipulator of claim 1, wherein: it also includes a soft hand grab connected to the end of an execution unit.