WO2021004179A1

WO2021004179A1 - Composite lower leg structure, and humanoid robot comprising same

Info

Publication number: WO2021004179A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/092715
Authority: WO
Inventors: 黄强; 张春雷; 高峻峣; 高建程; 王家琪; 石选阳; 田定奎
Original assignee: 北京理工大学
Priority date: 2019-07-11
Filing date: 2020-05-27
Publication date: 2021-01-14
Also published as: CN110394782A; CN110394782B

Abstract

Provided are a composite lower leg structure and a humanoid robot comprising the same. The composite lower leg structure comprises: support side plates, an embedded filler structure sandwiched between the support side plates, and a housing enclosing an outer periphery of the support side plates and the embedded filler structure. The support side plates comprise an outer lower leg side plate and an inner lower leg side plate spaced apart by a preset distance and fixedly installed at a left and right side, and the outer lower leg side plate and the inner lower leg side plate have upper ends provided with upper connection support portions used to support and connect a knee joint assembly, and have lower ends provided with lower connection support portions. The embedded filler structure comprises: an upper plug located below the upper connection support portions and fixedly connected to the support side plates; a lower plug located above the lower connection support portions; and an internal structural cavity member fixed between the upper plug and the lower plug and fixedly connected to the support side plates, the internal structural cavity member having an accommodation cavity. The structure has superior strength and rigidity in all directions, and fully utilizes the internal lower leg space.

Description

Calf composite structure and humanoid robot containing the calf composite structure

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of humanoid robots, in particular to a calf composite structure and a humanoid robot containing the calf composite structure.

Background technique

Humanoid robot is an advanced development stage of advanced robot technology. It comprehensively embodies the research and development level of advanced robots in many aspects such as mechanism, motion and dynamics. It is a very complex integrated system. Among them, the leg body structure of the humanoid robot is an important link in the design of the humanoid robot. At present, the design of the leg connection structure of the humanoid robot is required to be as streamlined as possible under the conditions that can meet the motion and operation, so as to achieve the requirements of reducing control complexity and improving control accuracy. The legs of humanoid robots must not only realize flexible rotation function, but also have certain strength in sports collisions, and at the same time have the characteristics of light weight.

Generally speaking, the leg mechanism is related to the output torque of the drive motor. The greater the weight of the leg connection structure, the greater the motor output torque required to achieve the same speed. At present, in order to reduce the weight of the body mechanism of the humanoid robot, when the body mechanism of the humanoid robot is processed, part or all of the skeleton of the body mechanism is made of aluminum alloy. Aluminum alloy materials are traditional materials. Although aluminum alloy is lighter than ordinary metals in weight, it does not have a weight advantage.

The leg connecting structure of the humanoid robot in the prior art is generally a semi-closed connecting structure. For example, an integral U-shaped bracket or aluminum alloy push plate is used to clamp the motor in the calf joint part, and the calf body part generally only plays a supporting role. If the internal space of the calf torso is entirely hollow, it will easily lead to insufficient front and rear support strength; if the internal space of the calf torso is all densely filled with aluminum alloy, it will easily cause the overall weight of the leg structure to increase greatly. The required motor output increases, which increases the design difficulty and cost. In addition, the drive motors, motor drives, and various lines of the joints cannot be reasonably distributed, and the internal space is not effectively used. If the line is routed outside the body of the robot, it will affect the appearance and easily cause damage to the line. In summary, at present, the leg structure of humanoid robots has many shortcomings, which are in great need of improvement to meet the needs of design and application.

Summary of the invention

In order to solve or alleviate the problems of insufficient front and rear support strength of the prior art humanoid robot leg connecting structure, and insufficient use of the internal space of the calf, the present invention provides a calf composite structure and a calf composite structure containing the calf composite structure. Humanoid robot.

The technical scheme of the present invention is as follows:

According to an aspect of the present invention, in some embodiments, the calf composite structure includes: a supporting side plate, an in-line filling structure sandwiched between the supporting side plates, and a supporting side plate and the inner Insert the outer shell of the filling structure. Wherein, the supporting side plate includes a lower leg outer plate and a lower leg inner plate fixedly installed on the left and right sides at a predetermined distance, and the upper ends of the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate are provided with an upper end connection for supporting and connecting the knee joint assembly The lower end of the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate have a lower end connecting support portion. The embedded filling structure includes: an upper plug located below the upper end connecting support portion and fixedly connected to the supporting side plate; a lower plug located above the lower end connecting support portion; An inner cavity structure fixedly connected to the supporting side plate between the plug and the lower plug, and the inner cavity structure has a containing cavity.

In some embodiments, the upper end connecting support portion is an upper end ring portion, and the upper end ring portion of the lower leg outer plate and the upper end ring portion of the lower leg inner plate are coaxially matched.

In some embodiments, the outer calf plate and the inner calf plate are molded parts of PEEK material; the inner cavity structure is molded parts of PMI material; and the outer shell is a carbon fiber shell.

In some embodiments, the calf composite structure further includes a knee joint assembly installed at the upper annular portion of the calf lateral plate and the calf medial plate.

In some embodiments, the knee joint assembly includes a motor, a transmission wheel, and a joint sleeve that houses the motor and the transmission wheel and is actuated by the transmission wheel; The upper ring part of the side plate is fixedly connected with a collar.

In some embodiments, the upper plug has a left and right through hole, a connecting column is inserted in the through hole, and two end faces of the connecting column have threaded holes; the outer plate of the lower leg and the lower leg The inner side plate is matched with the position where the upper plug is connected, and has a counterbore and a connecting screw for fixing the connecting column.

In some embodiments, the upper plug and the lower plug have threading holes that penetrate up and down.

In some embodiments, the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate of the supporting side plate have transparent heat dissipation grooves at locations corresponding to the receiving cavity of the inner cavity structure.

In some embodiments, the lower leg composite structure further includes a heat sink installed at the heat dissipation groove.

In some embodiments, the inner cavity structure is connected with the outer calf plate and the inner calf plate by screws.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a humanoid robot is also provided, which includes the above-mentioned calf composite structure.

According to the calf composite structure of the present invention, it has good strength and rigidity in all directions, fully utilizes the internal space of the calf, and realizes a fully enclosed connection at the leg.

The additional advantages, objects, and features of the present invention will be partially explained in the following description, and will become partially obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after studying the following, or can be learned from the practice of the present invention. The objects and other advantages of the present invention can be realized and obtained through the structures specified in the written description, claims, and drawings.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the objects and advantages that can be achieved by the present invention are not limited to the specific descriptions above, and the above and other objects that can be achieved by the present invention will be more clearly understood based on the following detailed description.

Description of the drawings

The drawings described here are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention, constitute a part of this application, and do not constitute a limitation to the present invention. The components in the drawings are not drawn to scale, but merely to illustrate the principle of the present invention. In order to facilitate the illustration and description of some parts of the present invention, corresponding parts in the drawings may be enlarged, that is, other components in the exemplary device actually manufactured according to the present invention may become larger. In the attached picture:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the left leg structure of a humanoid robot in an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the calf composite structure and the knee joint assembly in an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the combined structure of the calf composite structure in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an exploded structure of the calf composite structure in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the outer calf plate in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the inner calf plate in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of the upper ring portion of the supporting side plate and the embedded filling structure in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an embedded filling structure in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an upper plug in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a lower plug in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a housing in an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the embodiments and the drawings. Here, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention and the description thereof are used to explain the present invention, but not as a limitation to the present invention.

Here, it should also be noted that, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention due to unnecessary details, only the structure and/or processing steps closely related to the solution according to the present invention are shown in the drawings, and the Other details not relevant to the present invention.

It should be emphasized that the term "including/comprising" when used herein refers to the existence of features, elements, steps or components, but does not exclude the existence or addition of one or more other features, elements, steps or components. Here, it should also be noted that, if there is no special description, the term "connection" herein can not only refer to a direct connection, but also an indirect connection with an intermediate. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference signs represent the same or similar components or the same or similar steps.

The semi-closed leg connection structure in the prior art uses U-shaped brackets or aluminum alloy leg plates. In order to solve or alleviate the problem of insufficient front and rear support strength of the connection method and insufficient use of the internal space of the calf, the present invention provides A composite structure of the lower leg of a humanoid robot is presented.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the left leg structure of a humanoid robot in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the left leg structure includes a thigh body 3, a knee joint assembly 2 and a lower leg body 1. When the humanoid robot moves, the lower leg body 1 can be used as the lower leg to rotate around the knee joint assembly 2 within a certain angle range. .

According to an aspect of the present invention, in some embodiments, FIGS. 3 and 4 are respectively a schematic diagram of a combined structure and a schematic diagram of an exploded structure of the calf composite structure in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 3 (excluding the shell) and Figure 4, the calf composite structure includes: a supporting side plate, an embedded filling structure sandwiched between the supporting side plates, and an outer periphery of the supporting side plate and the embedded filling structure. shell. Among them, the supporting side plates are used as supporting plates on the left and right sides of the calf composite structure, which play the role of a skeleton. That is, the outer calf plate 110 and the inner calf plate 120 mainly play the role of left and right support and vertical support. The embedded filling structure is used as a lateral support structure to support the side plate, and also functions as a built-in motor driver and various circuits. In addition, the embedded filling structure can enhance the front and rear support strength of the calf composite structure. The outer shell is used to protect and seal the internal structure of the calf composite structure. According to the calf composite structure of the present invention, it has good strength and rigidity in all directions, makes full use of the internal space of the calf, realizes a fully enclosed connection at the leg, and reduces weight.

In some embodiments, the supporting side plate includes the outer calf panel 110 and the inner calf panel 120 fixedly installed on the left and right sides at a predetermined distance. The upper ends of the outer calf panel 110 and the inner calf panel 120 are provided with support and connection components for the knee joint. The upper end is connected to the support part. In addition, the lower ends of the outer calf plate 110 and the inner calf plate 120 have a connecting support part for supporting and connecting the ankle joint assembly. The upper connecting support part mentioned here is the part that fixes the joint assembly on the two ends of the side plate, which may be a ring part, a semi-ring part, or a two-point fixing, a three-point fixing structure, etc., preferably a ring part. In some embodiments, the upper connecting support part may be an upper annular part, and the lower connecting support part may be a lower annular part. The annular portion 111 of the outer calf plate 110 and the upper annular portion 121 of the inner calf plate 120 are coaxially matched, and can be used to connect and fix the knee joint assembly 2, and can also be connected to the thigh body 3 by means of the knee joint assembly 2.

In some embodiments, the embedded filling structure includes: an upper plug 210 located below the upper ring portion (111/121) and fixedly connected to the supporting side plate, and a lower plug located above the lower ring portion (112/122) 220. An inner cavity structure 230 fixed between the upper plug 210 and the lower plug 220 and fixedly connected to the supporting side plate. The inner cavity structure 230 has a containing cavity therein. The upper plug 210 and the lower plug 220 are mainly used to connect the two supporting side plates, and also play a role of limiting the inner cavity structure 230, that is, the inner cavity structure 230 is fixed up and down in the inner space in the middle of the leg composite structure. The accommodating cavity of the inner cavity structure 230 can be used for placing a motor driver, and the inner space of the calf composite structure can be reasonably used. In addition, the embedded filling structure is fixedly connected with the supporting side plate, which can also enhance the front and rear support strength and the left and right support strength of the calf composite structure.

In some embodiments, the outer calf plate 110 and the inner calf plate 120 may be molded parts made of PEEK; the inner cavity structure 230 may be molded parts made of PMI; and the outer shell 310 may be a carbon fiber shell. The upper plug 210 and the lower plug 220 may also be molded parts made of PMI. In the present invention, the PEEK material on both sides of the calf composite structure, the PMI material in the middle and the outermost carbon fiber can form a PMI-PEEK-carbon fiber composite structure. The composite structure not only has a certain strength and rigidity, but also makes full use of new materials. Utilize the space on the inner side of the leg to achieve a fully enclosed connection at the leg. While improving the strength and rigidity of the legs, it also reduces the weight of the legs of the humanoid robot, thereby improving the motion capability of the humanoid robot.

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) resin is a linear aromatic polymer compound with chain links in the main chain of the molecule. Compared with other special engineering plastics, it has more significant advantages. It has a positive high temperature resistance of 260 degrees, excellent mechanical properties, and self-lubricating. Good, chemical resistance, flame retardant, peeling resistance, abrasion resistance, not resistant to strong nitric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid, radiation resistance, super mechanical properties can be used in high-end machinery, nuclear engineering and aviation technology.

Polymethacrylimide (PMI) foam is a cross-linked rigid structural foam material. The foam is currently the heat-resistant foam with the highest strength and rigidity (180～240℃), which can meet the requirements of medium and high temperature, High pressure curing and prepreg process requirements. It has good compatibility with various types of resins and is suitable for use as a core material in a high-performance sandwich structure. It is easy to be machined into various complex cross-sectional shapes.

Carbon fiber is a special fiber mainly composed of carbon elements. Carbon fiber has the characteristics of general carbon materials, such as high temperature resistance, friction resistance, electrical conductivity, heat conduction and corrosion resistance. Carbon fiber is a new material with excellent mechanical properties. The specific gravity is less than 1/4 of steel. The tensile strength of carbon fiber resin composites is generally above 3500Mpa, which is 7-9 times that of steel, and the tensile modulus of elasticity is 23000-43000Mpa, which is also higher than steel.

The invention adopts the carbon fiber shell to wrap, the PEEK material as the skeleton, and the PMI foam as the filling to realize a lightweight and high-strength robot calf structure.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the calf composite structure of the present invention may further include a knee joint assembly 2 installed at the upper annular portion of the calf lateral plate and the calf medial plate. The knee joint assembly 2 may include a motor, a transmission wheel, and a joint sleeve in which the motor and the transmission wheel are sleeved and actuated by the transmission wheel; the joint sleeve has a collar fixedly connected to the upper ring portion of the supporting side plate.

In this embodiment, the joint sleeve may be a sleeve member with one side open and one end with a small opening, and two collars fixed to the supporting side plate are provided on both sides of the outer circumference of the joint sleeve, and the shoulder end surface of the collar It can be provided with evenly-circularly distributed threaded holes, which can be fixedly installed with the upper ring part of the supporting side plate by screws.

In this embodiment, the motor and the reducer can be fixedly installed in the inner space of the joint sleeve, and a transmission wheel installed on the motor shaft is arranged inside. The transmission wheel and the joint sleeve can form a transmission structure, such as a planetary gear mechanism or a harmonic wave. Gear transmission mechanism. The transmission wheel drives the joint sleeve to rotate, which can drive the supporting side plate of the calf composite structure to drive the calf body to move. In specific implementation, the motor cover can be sleeved and installed in the joint cover, the motor cover and the motor can be fixed on a side plate of the thigh body, and the joint cover rotates relative to the motor cover to drive the lower leg body to move. When the harmonic gear transmission mechanism is adopted, the rigid wheel can be fixedly installed with the joint sleeve, and the flexible wheel can be fixedly installed with the joint sleeve. The flexible wheel rotates in the rigid wheel to drive the joint sleeve to rotate, thereby driving the supporting side plate of the calf composite structure and driving the calf The body exercises.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5, the outer calf plate 110 mainly includes an upper ring portion 111 and a lower ring portion 112 of the lower leg outer plate. The structure of the middle part can be shaped like a human calf, and the middle part can be provided with an upper plug Countersunk hole 114 and lower plug countersunk hole 115. As shown in Fig. 6, the inner calf plate 120 mainly includes an upper annular portion 121 and a lower annular portion 121 of the inner calf plate. The structure of the middle part can be shaped like a human calf, and the middle part can be provided with an upper plug countersunk hole 124 and a lower Plug countersunk hole 125.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, the parts of the outer leg plate 110 and the inner leg plate 120 that support the side plate corresponding to the receiving cavity 231 of the inner cavity structure 230 are transparent The radiating groove 113/123; the calf composite structure also includes a radiating fin installed at the radiating groove 113/123, so that the motor driver installed in the receiving cavity 231 of the inner cavity structure 230 for heat dissipation.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 8, and FIG. 9, the upper plug 210 has a relatively large thickness, and has through holes penetrating through the left and right sides, and connecting posts 211 are penetrated in the through holes to connect The two end surfaces of the column 211 have threaded holes 212. At the position where the outer calf plate 110 and the inner calf plate 120 are connected to the upper plug 210, there is a counterbore for fixing the connecting post 211 and a connecting screw. The upper plug 210 has a threading hole 213 penetrating vertically. As shown in Figure 10, the lower plug 220 has a relatively small thickness, and its left and right sides are slotted so that it can be clamped between the two supporting side plates. The lower plug 220 has threading holes 223 that penetrate the upper and lower sides to achieve Electrical connection of ankle joint components and knee joint components. In addition, the upper plug 210 and the lower plug 220 may be provided with air inlets that are transparent up and down, so that the electrical components of the inner cavity structure 230 can dissipate heat and ventilate.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the inner cavity structure 230 may have a threaded hole 232 for connecting with the heat sink and the supporting side plate. The inner cavity structure 230 can be screwed to the outer calf plate 110 and the inner calf plate 120. The threaded hole 232 at the upper end is used to fix the heat sink and the supporting side plate, and the threaded hole 232 at the lower end is only used to fix the supporting side plate.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the upper plug 210 may be provided with an electrode groove, and the calf electrode 214 is installed for connection with the electrode of the thigh body.

In some embodiments, FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a housing in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 11, the housing 11 can be a carbon fiber housing with a gap for installing the heat sink. In actual application, the shell 11 may be formed by wrapping a single layer of carbon fiber cloth around layers, and then curing it after winding. The carbon fiber shell 11 can wrap the supporting side plate and the embedded filling structure in it, which is beneficial to improve the rigidity and strength of the robot leg, and is beneficial to protect the internal structure, electronic devices and circuits.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a humanoid robot including the above-mentioned calf composite structure.

The calf composite structure and the humanoid robot containing the calf composite structure of the present invention use a large number of new non-metallic materials. The supporting side panels on the left and right sides of the calf are made of PEEK material, the outer side of the side panel is a carbon fiber shell, and the inside of the side panel is a PMI inner Embedded filling structure, the PMI embedded filling structure connects the filling plug up and down, and the joint motor and reducer are connected to the upper and lower ends of the left and right side plates of the calf. This design is imitating the structure of human bones to ensure mechanical properties while reducing weight and increasing the strength of the robot.

The carbon fiber outer shell layer of the calf composite structure of the present invention is wound and solidified to support and protect. The internal PMI embedded filling structure effectively utilizes the space between the leg plates. The PEEK material supporting side plate skeleton structure is The weight is reduced while ensuring the connection.

In the present invention, the features described and/or exemplified for one embodiment can be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments, and/or combined with the features of other embodiments or substituted for other embodiments. Features of the embodiment.

The foregoing descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present invention may have various modifications and changes. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc., made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

A composite structure of the lower leg of a humanoid robot, characterized in that the composite structure of the lower leg comprises: a supporting side plate, an embedded filling structure sandwiched between the supporting side plates, and an embedded filling structure wrapped between the supporting side plates and the supporting side plates. The outer shell of the embedded filling structure;

Wherein, the supporting side plate includes a lower leg outer plate and a lower leg inner plate fixedly installed on the left and right sides at a predetermined distance, and the upper ends of the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate are provided with an upper end connection for supporting and connecting the knee joint assembly A support part, the lower end of the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate have a lower end connecting support part;

Wherein, the embedded filling structure includes:

An upper plug located below the upper end connecting support portion and fixedly connected to the support side plate;

A lower plug located above the lower end connecting support part;

An inner cavity structure body fixed between the upper plug and the lower plug and fixedly connected with the supporting side plate, and the inner cavity structure body is provided with a receiving cavity.
The lower leg composite structure of a humanoid robot according to claim 1, wherein the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate are molded parts made of PEEK; the inner cavity structure is a molded part made of PMI; The shell is a carbon fiber shell.
The lower leg composite structure of a humanoid robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the upper end connecting support portion is an upper end ring portion, the upper end ring portion of the lower leg outer plate and the upper end ring portion of the lower leg inner plate Department coaxial fit.
The lower leg composite structure of a humanoid robot according to claim 3, wherein the lower leg composite structure further comprises a knee joint assembly installed at the upper annular portion of the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate;

The knee joint assembly includes a motor, a transmission wheel, and a joint sleeve that sleeves the motor and the transmission wheel and is actuated by the transmission wheel;

The joint sleeve is provided with a collar fixedly connected with the upper end annular portion of the supporting side plate.
The lower leg composite structure of a humanoid robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the upper plug has a left and right through hole, and a connecting column is penetrated in the through hole, and the connecting column Two end faces have threaded holes;

At the position where the outer calf plate and the inner calf plate are matched to connect the upper plug, there is a counterbore for fixing the connecting post and a connecting screw.
The lower leg composite structure of the humanoid robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the upper plug and the lower plug have threading holes that penetrate up and down.
The lower leg composite structure of the humanoid robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lower leg outer plate and the lower leg inner plate of the supporting side plate have a transparent portion corresponding to the receiving cavity of the inner cavity structure.的radiator.
The lower leg composite structure of a humanoid robot according to claim 7, wherein the lower leg composite structure further comprises a heat sink installed at the heat dissipation groove.
The lower leg composite structure of a humanoid robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the inner cavity structure is connected with the outer leg plate and the inner leg plate by screws.
A humanoid robot, characterized by comprising the calf composite structure according to any one of claims 1-9.