JP2016203330A - Autonomous muscle robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an autonomous muscle robot which can perform operation independently.SOLUTION: An autonomous muscle robot, in which either one or both of arms and legs thereof are connected to a truck part and the arms and legs are controlled at arbitrary positions by an actuator which is actuated by supplied liquid pressure, comprises at the truck part a liquid pressure control portion constituted of a tank and a pump for supplying liquid pressure to the arms and the legs and an electromagnetic unit including a plurality of electromagnetic valves and a control unit which gives control signals for controlling a power source and the electromagnetic valves.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an autonomous muscular robot that is driven by hydraulic pressure and can operate autonomously.

  In recent years, various robots have been developed for performing various operations in places where human access is difficult. As such a robot, for example, a muscle robot that simulates the movement of the arm muscles with a plurality of cylinder bodies and drives the plurality of cylinder bodies with a supplied hydraulic pressure to control to a free position has been developed and proposed. .

  Patent Document 1 shows an example of a muscular robot. Patent Document 1 states that “a first cylinder body and a second cylinder body that are filled with a liquid medium in a cylinder chamber, a piston body that includes a hollow portion that is filled with a liquid medium, a first cylinder body, A hydraulically driven actuator having a hydraulic pressure supply mechanism for supplying hydraulic pressure into a liquid medium space formed by a piston body and a second cylinder body, and the piston body is a flexible bending material. It can be expanded and contracted by a cylinder-piston drive while bending the actuator as a whole. "

JP 2011-106529 A

  The actuator described in Patent Document 1 has a configuration in which a piston body is operated by a fluid pressure control unit provided outside, and it is necessary to connect the fluid pressure control unit and the piston using a fluid pressure supply mechanism. There is. Therefore, for example, when passing through a narrow part, it is necessary to consider the handling of this hydraulic pressure supply mechanism. Further, a cable or the like for supplying power or the like is necessary as necessary, and the handling becomes complicated.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous muscular robot in which the robot itself can work independently.

  As described above, in the present invention, either or both of the arm and the leg are connected to the body part, and the arm and the leg are controlled to an arbitrary position by the actuator that is operated by the supplied hydraulic pressure. In order to control a power source and a solenoid valve, a hydraulic pressure control unit configured by a solenoid valve unit including a tank, a pump, and a plurality of solenoid valves for supplying fluid pressure to the body and the arm, and a plurality of solenoid valves. It is an autonomous muscular robot characterized by including a control unit that gives a control signal.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an autonomous muscular robot in which the robot itself can work independently.

The figure which shows the Example of the muscular robot of this invention. The figure which shows a typical example of the robot provided with the arm. The figure which shows a typical example of the robot provided with the leg instead of the arm. The figure which shows typically the example of 1 structure of the actuator 100 of a hydraulic drive. The figure which decomposed | disassembled and showed each component of the actuator 100 of a hydraulic drive. The figure which shows the AA cross section of the hydraulic-drive robot arms 1a and 1b of FIG. The figure which shows CC cross section of FIG. The figure which shows the structural example of the hydraulic-pressure control part of FIG. The figure which shows the Example of the muscular robot which replaced the communication function of FIG. 1 from the wireless to the wire. The figure which shows the Example of the muscular robot which provided the hydraulic drive robot leg 21 in the autonomous muscular robot of FIG. 1, FIG. The figure which looked at the autonomous muscular robot with the leg 21 of FIG. 8 from the front. The figure which shows the example which comprised the tank by the some small tank. The figure which shows the example created with the elastic bag which can deform | transform a tank. The figure which shows the countermeasure when the radiation environment is included in the working environment of a robot.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  Prior to the description of the present invention, an example of the structure and function of an actuator and a conventional robot configuration applicable to the autonomous muscle robot of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows a typical example of a robot having an arm. The robot is configured by including hydraulically driven robot arm portions 1a and 1b, a hand portion 31, and a joint portion 41 as required, and these portions are placed in the work site environment 200. 2 is a hydraulic pressure control unit, and 80 is a hydraulic cable for transporting driving hydraulic pressure to the hydraulic driving robot arm units 1a and 1b on the work site environment side. The hydraulic pressure control unit 2 may be placed in the work site environment 200, but in many cases, the hydraulic pressure control unit 2 is often placed in a place isolated from the work site 200 from the viewpoint of maintenance management problems.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a robot that constitutes a leg 21 instead of the arm 1. Only the arm 1 is replaced with a leg 21.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration example of the actuator. The actuator of this figure constitutes the hydraulic drive robot arm portions 1a and 1b of FIG. 2, or the leg 21 of FIG. FIG. 4A is a diagram schematically illustrating one configuration example of the hydraulic drive actuator 100, and FIG. 4B is an exploded view of each component of the hydraulic drive actuator 100. FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 a and 4 b, the hydraulically driven actuator 100 includes a first cylinder body 10, a second cylinder body 20, a piston body 30, a hydraulic pressure supply mechanism 40, an interval limiter mechanism 50, and an elastic body 60. It is the composition provided with. The elastic body 60 shows only the elastic body 60a and the elastic body 60b one by one on the left and right so that the first cylinder body 10, the second cylinder body 20 and the piston body 30 at the center can be easily understood. In actuality, in the cross section, n pieces are provided at equal intervals around the central piston body 30.

  FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the hydraulic drive robot arm 1a, 1b of FIG. In the cross section shown in FIG. 5a, for example, four sets of first cylinder bodies 10 are arranged. FIG. 5b shows a CC cross section of FIG. 5a. When the plurality of piston bodies 30 expand and contract differently, the other end 220 can be bent in the vertical direction when the one end 210 is set to a fixed position. This indicates that a free position can be adopted.

  FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of the hydraulic pressure control unit in FIG. The hydraulic pressure control unit 2 includes a tank 3, a pump 4, a solenoid valve unit 5, and a control panel 6. The solenoid valve unit 5 is composed of a plurality of solenoid valves, and the hydraulic pressure necessary for each of the plurality of first cylinder bodies 10 necessary for realizing the movement of FIG. Adjusted to supply hydraulic pressure to the actuator.

  As described above, in the conventional muscular robot described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6, the on-site robot is driven by the hydraulic control unit 2 provided at a remote position, and thus the movable range of the muscular robot is limited. It was a thing.

  The muscular robot of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 can move more freely than a conventional muscular robot, and has improved autonomy. In the autonomous muscle robot of FIG. 1, for example, four sets of arms 1 (1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D), a support portion 7, and a robot body portion 16 are integrally formed. Unless otherwise specified, the entire configuration including the hand portion 31 and the arm portions 1a and 1b is hereinafter simply referred to as an arm.

  The configuration of the four sets of arms 1 (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) is the same as that illustrated in FIG. 2, and the support portion 7 accommodates the hydraulic cable 80 and the four sets of arms 1 ( 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) and the robot body 16 are connected and supported.

  The robot body portion 16 is configured to include all the functions and equipment possessed by the hydraulic pressure control portion 2 of FIG. 1 except for the control panel 6. That is, the robot body unit 16 includes the tank 3, the pump 4, and the electromagnetic valve unit 5. The robot body 16 further includes a battery 15, a control unit 14, and a communication module 17, and the battery 15 supplies necessary power to the control unit 14, the communication module 17, the pump 4, and the electromagnetic valve unit 5. For this reason, the battery 15 is preferably a high-power lithium ion battery. The autonomous muscular robot of FIG. 1 is preferably equipped with a camera at an appropriate position, for example, a position where the tip of the arm 1 of the support portion 7 can be seen, and used for monitoring and control as appropriate.

  The control unit 14 has an arithmetic function, and controls the pump so as to supply a proper hydraulic pressure to the plurality of actuators shown in FIG. Furthermore, the opening / closing or opening degree of a plurality of solenoid valves in the solenoid valve unit 5 is controlled. Further, the control unit 14 reports the monitoring result of the work state by communication with a central control device (not shown) via the communication module 17, or performs the work according to an instruction from the central control device. It is feasible. It can be said that the control unit 14 replaces the function of the conventional control panel 6.

  It is desirable that the function and configuration in the robot body 16 shown in FIG. The muscular robot is expected to perform various tasks in places where human access is difficult. In this sense, it is desirable to use a multiplex system that is configured with high reliability against failure. However, it is inevitable to increase the size and weight. The autonomous muscular robot of the present invention is suitable for completing the initial work by the work sharing in the work site environment 200, and even if one is stopped due to a failure, is it removed from the work? Alternatively, it is possible to carry out and repair from the work site environment 200 using another autonomous muscle robot. Therefore, there is no problem even if it is a single weight system. Rather, there is a great merit in reducing the load by reducing the weight, and thus making it possible to extend the usage time of the battery 15.

  Next, modifications and alternative examples of the autonomous muscular robot according to the present invention will be described. First, FIG. 7 is obtained by replacing the communication function of FIG. 1 from wireless to wired. A communication cable 19 is arranged in place of the communication module 17 in the robot body 16 of FIG. 1 of the wireless communication system, and the monitoring result of the work state is obtained by communication with a monitoring controller on the central side (not shown). The work can be executed by reporting or by an instruction from the monitoring control device on the central side.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram in which a hydraulically driven robot leg 21 is provided in the autonomous muscle robot of FIGS. 1 and 6. In the example shown in the figure, the legs are four legs, so that they can stand on their own and move freely. Similarly to the arm 1, the hydraulic pressure robot leg 21 is supplied with hydraulic pressure from the tank 3 via the pump 4 and the electromagnetic valve unit 5, and the internal actuator is driven by a signal from the control unit 14. It should be noted that how to form the arm 1, the leg 21, and the support portion 7 with respect to the robot body 16 may be appropriately optimized according to the work site environment, work content, and the like. Is possible.

  FIG. 9 is a front view of the autonomous muscular robot with legs 21 of FIG. The arm 21 is moved to an arbitrary position by the leg 21 and can be operated by an arm at the place.

  Next, as an alternative example of the present invention, an improvement plan for reducing the size of the robot body 16 will be described. The robot body 16 is equipped with a large number of devices having various functions and various shapes. For this reason, the larger the space between devices, the larger the robot body 16. On the other hand, when a narrow part is included in the work site environment or the route leading to the work site environment, it is necessary to reduce the size so that the work can be performed in the narrow part.

  In FIG. 10, attention is focused on a tank (water tank) that stores the pressurized liquid to be sent to the actuator, as the apparatus having the largest capacity and easy to change the shape among the apparatuses in the robot body 16. As apparent from the configuration of FIG. 1, the tank 3 is divided into three small tanks 3A, 3B, 3C and interconnected by a connecting pipe 101. In this case, the divided small tank can be arranged in an arbitrary space in the robot body unit 16, which can contribute to downsizing.

  FIG. 11 is also an example focusing on the tank. The tank 3 is made of a deformable elastic bag and has a structure that can be placed in an arbitrary space. In this case, the space between the devices in the robot body 16 can be filled by utilizing the flexibility of the tank, which can contribute to downsizing.

  FIG. 12 shows a countermeasure when the work environment of the robot includes a radiation environment. This is a technique for suppressing radiation irradiation deterioration caused by the control unit 14 and the communication module 17 being electronic devices in the robot body 16 being placed in a radiation environment. In the example of FIG. 12, the tank 3 is disposed on the outer periphery of the body 16 of the robot, and the control unit 14 and the communication module 17 are disposed in the center of the body, so that the robot is damaged due to irradiation deterioration from the surrounding radiation environment. To prevent.

  In the example of FIG. 12, electronic devices such as the control unit 14 and the communication module 17 are stored in the trunk internal storage container 22. In addition, a tank portion for storing the pressure liquid is formed between the outer wall of the body internal storage container 22 and the outer wall of the robot body portion 16. The equipment stored in the body internal storage container 22 is the equipment stored in the robot body 16 in FIGS. 1 and 7. Electronic devices such as the control unit 14 and the communication module 17 stored in the fuselage internal storage container 22 are irradiated with radiation from the surrounding radiation environment via the pressurized liquid in the tank. Can prevent the robot from being damaged.

  According to the present invention described above, the robot body 16 includes the hydraulic control unit 2, the battery 15, the control unit 14, and the communication function, so that independent processing functions can be executed. A muscular robot is realized.

  The present invention is suitable as a robot for performing various operations in a place where it is difficult for humans to enter, and is particularly suitable for a decommissioning work site of a nuclear power plant.

1: Arm 1a, 1b: Hydraulic drive robot arm unit 2: Hydraulic control unit 3: Tank 4: Pump 5: Solenoid valve unit 6: Control panel 7: Support unit 14: Control unit 15: Battery 16: Robot body 17: communication module 18: camera 19: communication cable 21: leg 22: fuselage internal storage container 10: first cylinder body 20: second cylinder body 30: piston body 31: hand unit 40: hydraulic pressure supply mechanism 41: Joint part 50: Spacing limiter mechanism 60: Elastic body 80: Hydraulic cable 100: Hydraulic drive actuator 101: Communication pipe 200: Work site environment 210: One end 220: The other end

Claims (8)

One or both of arms and legs are connected to the torso, and the arms and legs are autonomous muscular robots that are controlled to an arbitrary position by an actuator that operates by the supplied hydraulic pressure,
A fluid pressure control unit composed of a solenoid valve unit including a tank, a pump, and a plurality of solenoid valves for supplying fluid pressure to the arms and legs, and a power source for controlling the solenoid valve. An autonomous muscular robot comprising a control unit that gives a control signal. The autonomous muscular robot according to claim 1,
The autonomous muscular robot, wherein the control unit communicates with a central supervisory control device by a wireless communication unit or a communication cable. The autonomous muscular robot according to claim 1 or 2,
The power source supplies power to the pump, an electromagnetic valve unit including the plurality of electromagnetic valves, and a control unit that provides a control signal for controlling the electromagnetic valves. The autonomous muscular robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The autonomous muscle robot according to claim 1, wherein the device housed in the torso part is constituted by a single weight system.   The autonomous muscle robot according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a plurality of the autonomous muscle robots are arranged in the work site environment and execute the work assigned to the work. robot. The autonomous muscular robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The autonomous muscular robot, wherein the tank is composed of a plurality of small tanks, is installed at an arbitrary part of the body part, and the plurality of small tanks are connected by a connecting pipe. The autonomous muscular robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
2. The autonomous muscle robot according to claim 1, wherein the tank is made of a deformable elastic bag. The autonomous muscular robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A fuselage internal storage container is disposed in the body part, and a hydraulic pressure control unit including a pump and a solenoid valve unit including a plurality of solenoid valves, a power source, and the solenoid valve are controlled in the fuselage internal storage container. And a control unit for supplying a control signal for performing the operation, and a tank for supplying hydraulic pressure to the arm and the leg is formed between the body part and the body internal storage container. Type muscle robot.

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