CN107498538A - A kind of high-adaptability it is new from deformation module soft robot - Google Patents

Abstract

A new type of self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability, which involves a robot to solve the problem that the existing rigid modular robot has high stiffness, which leads to difficulty in self-deformation, poor adaptability, and the existing soft robot has a complex cavity, but The function is single, or the module needs to be manually disconnected to achieve reconfiguration. It includes an elastic deformation body and two connectors. The two connectors are respectively arranged at opposite ends of the elastic deformation body. Each of the connectors It includes a shell cover, a shell, a spherical magnet, an elastic fixed body, an elastic connector and an external connection piece of the trachea; a spherical magnet is arranged in the inner cavity of the shell, and the shell cover, the shell and the elastic fixed body are embedded in the inner cavity of the elastic connector, and the elastic The fixed body is fixedly connected to the elastic connector, the elastic body fixed body and the elastic connector are provided with a vent pipe communicating with the inner cavity of the housing, and the elastic deformable body is fixedly connected to the elastic connector. The invention is used for making soft robots.

Description

A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability

technical field

The invention relates to a robot, in particular to a novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability.

Background technique

Robots have been widely used in military, industrial, scientific exploration, disaster relief and many other fields. Traditional robots are generally composed of rigid modules connected by kinematic pairs, and each kinematic pair provides one or more translational degrees of freedom or rotational degrees of freedom. The movement combination of all kinematic pairs forms the working space of the robot end effector. This kind of robot has the advantage of precise movement, but the rigidity of the structure makes it less adaptable to the environment. Channels with complex dimensions or shapes, these shortcomings restrict the application of rigid robots in certain fields, such as military reconnaissance, for the sake of concealment, it is hoped that reconnaissance robots can drill through small and complex-shaped channels such as wall cracks and door cracks; 1. In earthquake disaster rescue, robots are required to go deep into the ruins for detection; during scientific detection, robots are often required to enter spaces with narrow openings, etc. In recent years, researchers have used mollusks as prototypes to propose soft robots, which are a new type of bionic continuum robots. Soft robots imitate molluscs in nature, and most of them are made of soft materials that can withstand large strains. Multiple degrees of freedom, continuous deformation capability and low resistance to pressure. However, some of the existing software robots have complex cavities, but single functions, and the characteristics of modular software are insufficient. Most of the modular software are reconfigurable, requiring manual disconnection of the modules, which is cumbersome to operate.

Contents of the invention

The present invention is to solve the problem that the existing rigid modular robot has high rigidity, which leads to difficulty in deformation and poor adaptability, and the problem that the existing soft robot either has a complex cavity but a single function, or needs to manually disconnect the modules to realize reconfigurability , and then provide a highly adaptable new self-deformable modular soft robot.

A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability of the present invention includes an elastic deformable body and two connectors, the two connectors are respectively arranged at opposite ends of the elastic deformable body, and each of the connectors includes a shell Cover, shell, spherical magnet, elastic fixed body, elastic connector and external connection piece of trachea; one end of the shell is closed by the shell cover, the inner cavity of the shell is arranged with a spherical magnet, and the other end of the shell is arranged with a The elastic fixed body, the shell cover, the shell and the elastic fixed body are buried in the inner cavity of the elastic connector, the elastic fixed body is fixedly connected with the elastic connector, and the elastic fixed body and the elastic connector are provided with a passage connecting the inner cavity of the housing The trachea, the casing is provided with a vent hole communicating with the inner cavity of the elastic connector;

The elastic deformation body is fixedly connected with the elastic connector, and the elastic deformation body is provided with three drive inner cavities extending toward the elastic connector, and the three drive inner cavities are evenly distributed along the same circumference, and each of the three drive inner cavities is provided with an external connection trachea.

The beneficial effect of the present invention compared with the prior art is: the highly adaptable novel self-deformation modularized soft robot of the present invention is that the robot is designed into multiple modules, each module has an independent and complete function, and the modules can be connected according to The needs of the work are organically combined to enhance the functionality of the soft robot. The elastic fixing body, elastic connecting piece and elastic deforming body are elastic, can withstand great extrusion force, are easy to self-deform, have strong adaptability, and are safer in industrial operation. The modules adopt a uniform configuration and can realize multi-module connections; the modules adopt Pneumatics can realize configuration changes independently, directly control pneumatics, realize automatic disconnection to change configurations, and at the same time complete deformed movement capabilities; robots with different configurations can form more abundant configurations through docking, with good flexibility. The bionic movement has various forms and can complete complex tasks; compared with other soft robots, some have complex cavities but single functions, which highlights the characteristics of the modular software of the present invention.

The elastic deformable body has three driving air chambers whose centerlines are 120 degrees, which can form omnidirectional torsional motion. Compared with the ultra-redundant robots made of hard materials, they have little resistance to pressure and can be compatible with obstacles through soft deformation, which can greatly reduce the contact force, so that soft robots can handle soft or Fragile items.

The invention uses pneumatic drive and active deformation to make the robot in different shapes and realize movement. Combining active deformation and passive deformation, the robot can squeeze through the gap smaller than its normal size and enter the space that traditional robots cannot enter.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the three-dimensional structure schematic diagram of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of an elastomer of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is the schematic diagram of connector structure;

Fig. 4 is the cross-sectional structure schematic diagram of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the connection structure of the housing cover, the housing, the spherical magnet and the elastic fixed body;

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of FIG. 5 .

detailed description

The technical solutions of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and through specific implementation methods.

Referring to Fig. 1-Fig. 6, a new self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability includes an elastic deformable body 6 and two connectors. The two connectors are respectively arranged at opposite ends of the elastic deformable body 6. Each The connector includes a housing cover 1, a housing 2, a spherical magnet 3, an elastic fixing body 5, an elastic connector 7 and an external connection piece 8 for the trachea; one end of the housing 2 is closed by the housing cover 1, and the inner cavity of the housing 2 is arranged There is a spherical magnet 3, the other end of the housing 2 is arranged with an elastic fixed body 5 connected with the housing 2, the housing cover 1, the housing 2 and the elastic fixed body 5 are embedded in the inner cavity of the elastic connector 7, elastically fixed The body 5 is fixedly connected to the elastic connector 7, and the elastic body 5 and the elastic connector 7 are provided with a vent pipe 8 communicating with the inner cavity of the housing 2, and the housing 2 is provided with a vent hole communicating with the inner cavity of the elastic connector 7 4;

The elastic deformation body 6 is fixedly connected with the elastic connector 7, and the elastic deformation body 6 is provided with three drive inner cavities 9 extending toward the elastic connector 7, and the three drive inner cavities 9 are evenly distributed along the same circumference, and the three drive inner cavities Each cavity 9 is provided with an external trachea 10 . The housing cover 1 is fixed by gluing the surface of the housing 2, and the spherical magnet 3 is put into the housing 2 without fixing. With the help of the magnetic advantages of the spherical magnet 3, the alignment between the two modules is realized by rotating in the housing 2. In connection, the spherical magnet 3 can be replaced by a magnet. When gas is pumped in through the ventilation pipe 8, the surface of the elastic connecting piece 7 expands, but the entire bottom surface of the elastic connecting piece 7 is firmly connected to the elastic fixing body 5, so that it does not move.

The elastic fixing body 5 is made of silicone rubber or superelastic silicone rubber composite material. The elastic connector 7 is made of silicone rubber or superelastic silicone rubber composite material. The elastic deformation body 6 is made of silicone rubber or superelastic silicone rubber composite material. So set, the material is soft and easy to use. The three drive inner cavities 9 are evenly distributed at 120 degrees along the same circumference.

Referring to Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, the shell 2 is cylindrical, and the elastic connecting member 7 is rectangular parallelepiped. The elastic connector 7 has an integral cavity, as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, a cuboid with six sides, when inflated, only the five sides of the top, front, back, left side, and right side expand, The bottom surface is fixedly connected with the elastic fixing body 5 made of silica gel and cannot be expanded. Therefore, when it needs to be disconnected from other modules, the elastic connecting piece 7 is inflated, inflated, and then the elastic body 6 is inflated to bend, thereby realizing the directional module disconnection. Open and connect.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 , the elastic deformation body 6 is cylindrical, and the two ends of the elastic deformation body 6 are fixedly connected to the elastic connectors 7 respectively. So set, easy to use.

When any single driving cavity 9 is fed with air pressure, the elastic deformation body 6 is in a unidirectional bending state. Two or three driving inner cavities 9 are fed with air pressure, and when the air pressure of each driving inner cavity 9 is different, the elastic deformation body 6 is in a twisted state. When two or three driving cavities work together, the module will generate a torsional moment on any cross-section due to the difference in the air pressure of the two or three driving cavities, thereby driving the module to deviate from the unidirectional bending direction. By controlling each cavity The air pressure difference between them can drive the module to any position in the movement space, realizing bending and twisting in all directions. The three driving inner cavities 9 are fed with air pressure, and when the air pressure of each driving inner cavity is the same, the elastic body is in an elongated state.

The ventilation pipe 8 is externally connected with an air pump, and the driving air pressure of the air pump is 0-50KPa; the external air pipe 10 is externally connected with a driving air pump, and the driving air pressure of the driving air pump is 0-50KPa. Such setting meets actual needs.

Working principle: Various configuration robots such as snake-like, quadruped, hexapod, and closed-loop can be formed through different combinations of modules. The module can not only independently complete the configuration change of the robot through reliable pneumatic drive to form a variety of configuration robots, but also pneumatically drive the robot to complete different movement modes. The module adopts a uniform configuration, and multiple robots can also be docked to form a richer configuration to complete complex tasks.

The present invention has been disclosed above with preferred implementation examples, but it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any skilled person who is familiar with the profession can use the structure and technical content disclosed above to make some The changes or modifications are equivalent implementation cases with equivalent changes, but any simple modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above implementation cases according to the technical essence of the present invention without departing from the content of the technical solutions of the present invention are still The scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot of high adaptability, is characterized in that: it comprises elastic deformation body (6) and two connectors, and two connectors are respectively arranged on the relative two sides of elastic deformation body (6). Each connecting piece includes a housing cover (1), a housing (2), a spherical magnet (3), an elastic fixing body (5), an elastic connecting piece (7) and an external trachea piece (8); the shell One end of the body (2) is closed by the casing cover (1), the inner cavity of the casing (2) is arranged with a spherical magnet (3), and the other end of the casing (2) is arranged with an elastic magnet connected with the casing (2). The fixed body (5), the shell cover (1), the shell (2) and the elastic fixed body (5) are embedded in the inner cavity of the elastic connector (7), and the elastic fixed body (5) and the elastic connector (7) are fixed Connected, the elastic body fixed body (5) and the elastic connector (7) are provided with a vent pipe (8) connected to the inner cavity of the housing (2), and the housing (2) is provided with a vent pipe (8) connected to the inner cavity of the elastic connector (7). The vent hole (4) of cavity; The elastic deformation body (6) is fixedly connected with the elastic connector (7), and the elastic deformation body (6) is provided with three drive inner cavities (9) extending toward the elastic connector (7), and the three drive inner cavities (9) ) are evenly distributed along the same circumference, and each of the three drive inner cavities (9) is provided with an external air pipe (10). 2. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 1, characterized in that: the elastic fixing body (5) is made of silicone rubber or superelastic silicone rubber composite material. 3. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 2, characterized in that: the elastic connector (7) is made of silicone rubber or superelastic silicone rubber composite material. 4. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 3, characterized in that: the elastic deformation body (6) is made of silicone rubber or superelastic silicone rubber composite material. 5. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 4, characterized in that: the shell (2) is cylindrical, and the elastic connector (7) is cuboid. 6. According to claim 5, a novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability is characterized in that: the elastic deformable body (6) is cylindrical, and the two ends of the elastically deformable body (6) are respectively connected to the elastic connectors (7) Fixed connection. 7. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 6, characterized in that: when any single drive cavity (9) is fed with air pressure, the elastic deformable body (6) is in a unidirectional bending state . 8. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 7, characterized in that: two or three drive chambers (9) are fed with air pressure, and each drive chamber (9) When the air pressure is different, the elastic deformable body (6) is in a twisted state. 9. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 6, characterized in that: three drive inner cavities (9) are fed with air pressure, and when the air pressure of each drive inner cavity is the same, the elastic The deformable body (6) is in an elongated state. 10. A novel self-deformable modular soft robot with high adaptability according to claim 9, characterized in that: the vent pipe (8) is externally connected with an air pump, and the driving air pressure of the air pump is 0-50KPa; the external air pipe (10) The drive air pump is externally connected, and the drive air pressure of the drive air pump is 0-50KPa.