CN108818594A - A kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, which belongs to the technical field of soft robots. It solves the problem of insufficient gripping force of existing soft robots. The soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism includes a plurality of soft joints, an air intake device and a vacuum pumping device, and the plurality of soft joints are connected sequentially. The soft joints include an elastic base and an intake pipe. Intake drive chamber, multiple intake pipes communicate with multiple intake drive chambers in one-to-one correspondence, a tubular rigid section is provided in the vacuum suction chamber, a hose is provided in the tube hole of the rigid section, and a suction cup is provided on the outside of the base body , the suction port of the suction cup communicates with the inner cavity of the hose. The soft joints of the soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism add a vacuum suction cavity outside the intake drive cavity, and set a rigid section in it, "flexible wrapping grip" and "rigid adsorption grip" The combination of "holding" can ensure a stable grip.

Description

A Soft Robot with Rigid-Flexible Coupling Mechanism

technical field

The invention belongs to the technical field of robots, and relates to a soft robot, in particular to a soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism.

Background technique

In recent years, soft robotics has become an emerging and promising research direction in the field of robotics. Soft robot is a continuation of bionic robot research. It imitates mollusks in nature. It has infinite degrees of freedom and continuous deformation ability, and can change its shape and size arbitrarily in a wide range. Due to its excellent flexibility and adaptability, it is widely used in military , detection, medical and other fields have broad application prospects.

Scientific research workers and engineers and technicians use smart materials (such as: silicone rubber, shape memory alloy SMA, electroactive polymer EPA, etc.) and new drive technologies (such as: SMA, pneumatic, magnetorheological, EPA, etc.) A new type of robot structure that does not use or use less rigid mechanisms. This type of soft robot generally has sufficient flexibility, adaptability, super redundancy or unlimited degrees of freedom, and can even change its shape and size arbitrarily to adapt to the environment and goals.

At present, a common soft robot is driven by air, and the compressed gas is passed into the soft robot to change the stiffness and bending degree. However, since the base of the soft robot is made of flexible materials as a whole, its There are deficiencies in function, the grip is average, and some specific areas are not competent.

Contents of the invention

The object of the present invention is to propose a bionic soft robot capable of providing stronger gripping force, aiming at the above-mentioned problems existing in the existing soft robots.

The purpose of the present invention can be achieved through the following technical solutions:

A soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism is characterized in that it includes a plurality of soft joints, an air intake device and a vacuum device, and a plurality of soft joints are sequentially docked, and end caps for closing are arranged at both ends. The soft joint includes an elastic base and an air intake tube. The elastic base is provided with a vacuum suction chamber and a plurality of air intake drive chambers that run through both ends of the base. The air intake drive chamber includes a central drive chamber and at least two side Drive chamber, a plurality of side drive chambers are arranged at intervals around the central drive chamber, and a plurality of intake pipes communicate with a plurality of intake drive chambers in one-to-one correspondence. The vacuum suction chamber is provided with a tubular rigid section. There is a hose in the tube hole of the base body, and a suction cup is provided at the corresponding rigid joint on the outside of the base body. The inner cavity of the hose is connected, and the central drive cavity, side drive cavity, vacuum suction cavity, hose and rigid joints in the two adjacent soft joints are connected to each other in one-to-one correspondence, and the air intake device provides compressed gas for the above air intake pipes , the vacuum device communicates with the inner cavity of the hose.

In the aforementioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, there are at least two rigid joints in each soft joint, and multiple rigid joints are arranged in sequence, leaving a gap between two adjacent rigid joints and passing through Elastic connection. Elastic pieces can be used between multiple rigid sections to realize bending and direction change.

In the above-mentioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, the elastic member is a connecting spring, and both ends of the connecting spring are provided with a connecting head, and one end of the connecting head is provided with an annular slot matching the connecting spring. One end of the connecting spring is clamped in the slot of the corresponding connecting head, and the other end of the connecting head is threadedly connected with the end of the rigid joint.

In the above-mentioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, one side of the rigid section connected to the suction cup is a plane, and a corresponding fitting surface is provided on the inner wall corresponding to the vacuum suction chamber, and the plane corresponds to the fitting surface fit.

In the aforementioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, there are at least two hoses in each soft joint, and multiple hoses are arranged in sequence, with assembly heads fixed at both ends of each hose. Buckles and hooks are provided on the end face of the head, and the buckles and hooks are arranged alternately in a ring, and the hooks can be fastened to the buckles of adjacent hoses.

In the aforementioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, an annular sealing groove is provided on the outer end surface of the assembly head of the hose, and an O-ring is arranged in the sealing groove.

In the aforementioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, the side wall of the hose is fixedly pasted with a metal sheet by a fastener, and the connection end of the suction cup is fixedly connected to the metal sheet.

In the above-mentioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, a number of pipe passages are also provided on the base body, and the above-mentioned air intake pipes are arranged in the pipe passages one by one, and each pipe passage is connected to the corresponding intake drive chamber Air holes are opened on the side walls between them, and air outlet holes are opened on the side of the intake pipe, and the air outlet holes communicate with the corresponding intake drive chamber through the above air holes.

In the above-mentioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, the soft joint also includes an inner constraint and an outer constraint, both of which are ring-shaped, and the inner constraint is set at the inside the outer wall of the cavity, so that the central drive cavity is located inside the inner constraint, and the outer constraint is arranged on the outer wall of the side drive cavity, so that the above-mentioned central drive cavity, side drive cavity, vacuum suction cavity and inner constraint are all Inside the outer constraint.

In the aforementioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, the inner constraint and the outer constraint are both compression springs.

In the aforementioned soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism, the inner constraint and the outer constraint are both annular metal rings, and a plurality of metal rings are arranged at intervals.

Compared with the prior art, this soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism is formed by docking multiple soft joints, and each soft joint is provided with a vacuum suction cavity outside the intake drive cavity, and a rigid When grasping by bending, due to the effect of the rigid joint, the joint can only bend to one side of the vacuum suction chamber, while the softness of the soft matrix enables the joint to realize the adaptive wrapping and grasping of the object shape according to the difference in the shape of the work object , and through the suction cup connected to the vacuum suction chamber, the work object is adsorbed and grasped. The combination of "flexible wrapping grip" and "rigid adsorption grip" can ensure the stable grip of the joint on the work object .

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a three-dimensional structure of a soft body joint.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure after cutting off 1/4 of Fig. 1 .

FIG. 3 is an end view of FIG. 1 .

Fig. 4 is a structural schematic view of the cooperation between the rigid section and the hose.

Fig. 5 is a structural schematic diagram of the connecting spring.

Fig. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of the hose.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the soft body joint after removing the matrix.

In the figure, 1. Base body; 2. Air intake pipe; 3. Center drive chamber; 4. Pipe passage; 5. Side drive chamber; 6. Air vent; 7. Rigid joint; 8. Connecting spring; 9. Connecting head; 10. Card slot; 11. Hose; 12. Assembly head; 13. Buckle; 14. Hook; 15. Sealing groove; 16. O-ring; 17. Fastener; 18. Metal sheet; 19. Suction cup; 20, connecting end; 21, suction port; 22, plane; 23, fitting surface; 24, inner constraint; 25, outer constraint; 26, vacuum suction cavity.

Detailed ways

The following are specific embodiments of the present invention and in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the technical solutions of the present invention are further described, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

The soft robot with a rigid-flexible coupling mechanism includes a plurality of soft joints, an air intake device and a vacuum pumping device. The plurality of soft joints are connected in sequence, and end caps for closing are arranged at both ends.

As shown in Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3, the soft joint includes a cylindrical elastic base 1 and an air intake pipe 2. The base 1 is made of silicon rubber. One of the intake drive chambers is the central drive chamber 3, the other two are side drive chambers 5, and the two side drive chambers 5 are respectively arranged on both sides of the central drive chamber 3. The base 1 is also provided with three pipe passages 4 passing through the two ends of the base 1 and a vacuum suction chamber 26 along the axial direction. The vacuum suction chamber 26 is arranged between the two side drive chambers 5 and the central drive chamber 3. Two The cross-section of the side driving chamber 5 is arc-shaped; the three pipe passages 4 correspond to the above-mentioned central driving chamber 3 and the two side driving chambers 5 one by one, and are communicated through the vent holes 6 provided on the corresponding side walls between them. Each pipe passage 4 is correspondingly provided with an air inlet pipe 2, and the side portion of the air inlet pipe 2 has an air outlet at a place corresponding to the corresponding air hole 6, and the air inlet pipe 2 is connected with the corresponding air inlet through the air outlet and the air hole 6. The pneumatic drive chamber is connected.

As shown in Figure 4, two tubular rigid sections 7 are arranged in the vacuum suction cavity 26, the outer contour shape of the rigid sections 7 matches the cross-sectional shape of the vacuum suction cavity 26, and the rigid sections 7 are made of hard materials. As a result, a plurality of rigid sections 7 are connected end to end in sequence, and there is a gap between two adjacent rigid sections 7 and are connected by elastic members. In the present embodiment, the elastic member is a connecting spring 8. As shown in FIG. One end of the spring 8 is clamped in the slot 10 corresponding to the connector 9 , and the other end of the connector 9 is screwed to the end of the rigid section 7 .

A hose 11 is provided in the tube hole of the rigid section 7. In this embodiment, each section of the rigid section 7 corresponds to a hose 11, and the gap between the hose 11 and the rigid section 7 provides for bending deformation of the hose 11. space. As shown in Figure 6, the two ends of each hose 11 are fixed with an assembly head 12, and the outer end surface of the assembly head 12 is provided with two buckles 13 and two hooks 14, and the buckles 13 and the hooks 14 alternately For setting, the two hoses 11 are butted end to end and then rotated so that the hook 14 can be fastened to the buckle 13 of the assembly head 12 of the adjacent hose 11 to complete the docking. The outer end surface of the assembly head 12 is also provided with an annular sealing groove 15 , and an O-ring 16 is arranged in the sealing groove 15 . The side wall of the hose 11 is fixedly pasted with a metal sheet 18 by a fastener 17, and the connecting end 20 of a suction cup 19 passes through the side wall of the side drive chamber 5 and the side wall of the rigid section 7 in sequence and is fixedly connected with the metal sheet 18, and is located at The suction port 21 on the connecting end 20 communicates with the inner cavity of the hose 11, and the connecting end 20, the metal sheet 18 and the rigid section 7 can be fixedly connected, such as threaded (as shown in FIG. 2 ).

One side of the rigid section 7 connected to the suction cup 19 is a plane 22 , and the inner wall corresponding to the vacuum suction chamber 26 is provided with a corresponding fitting surface 23 , and the plane 22 and the fitting surface 23 are correspondingly fitted.

As shown in Figure 7, this soft body joint also includes an inner restraint 24 and an outer restraint 25, the inner restraint 24 and the outer restraint 25 are both ring-shaped, and the inner restraint 24 is arranged in the outer wall of the central drive cavity 3 , so that the central drive chamber 3 is located inside the inner constraint 24, and the outer constraint 25 is arranged in the lateral walls of the side drive chamber 5 and the vacuum suction chamber 26, so that the above-mentioned central drive chamber 3, the two side drive chambers 5, The vacuum suction chamber 26 , the pipe passage 4 and the inner constraint 24 are all located inside the outer constraint 25 . In this embodiment, both the inner constraint 24 and the outer constraint 25 are compression springs. In addition, the inner constraint 24 and the outer constraint 25 can also be a plurality of metal rings arranged at intervals.

When in use, a plurality of soft joints can be docked in sequence, and end caps are set at both ends to seal them to form a soft robot. The central drive chamber 3, the pipe passage 4, the side drive chamber 5, and the vacuum suction chamber between two adjacent soft joints The air cavity 26, the hose 11, the rigid joint 7, etc. are connected in a one-to-one manner in sequence, and the intake pipe 2 is sequentially penetrated into the connected corresponding pipe passage 4. The intake device communicates with the intake pipe 2 for supplying compressed gas, and the vacuum device communicates with the inner cavity of the hose 11 .

Through the air inlet pipe 2, the compressed gas of different pressures is passed into the central drive chamber 3 and the two side drive chambers 5, so that the stiffness of each soft joint and the soft robot as a whole and the bending in different degrees and directions can be adjusted in real time. When the object to be grasped is a hard material, the object to be grasped can withstand a relatively large grasping force, and can be grasped stably without the work of the suction cup 19 , similar to a human finger grasping an object. When the object to be grasped is a soft material, if the joint grasping force is small, the grasping stability cannot be ensured, and if the grasping force is large, the grasping object will be damaged. Vacuum utilizes the suction force of the suction cup 19 to cooperate with the bending and grasping force of the robot to grasp and suck the object.

It should be understood that in the claims and description of the present invention, all "comprising..." should be understood as an open meaning, that is, its meaning is equivalent to "at least containing...", and should not be understood as a closed Meaning, that is, its meaning should not be understood as "contains only...".

The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the spirit of the invention. Those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs can make various modifications or supplements to the described specific embodiments or adopt similar methods to replace them, but they will not deviate from the spirit of the present invention or go beyond the definition of the appended claims range.

Claims (10)

1. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism, which is characterized in that it includes multiple software joints, inlet duct And vacuum evacuation device, multiple software joints are successively docked, and are used for closed end cap, the software joint packet in both ends setting Elastic matrix (1) and air inlet pipe (2) are included, the vacuum suction chamber through matrix (1) both ends is offered on the elastic matrix (1) (26) and multiple air inlet driving chambers, the air inlet driving chamber include a centre-drive chamber (3) and at least two side driving chambers (5), multiple side driving chambers (5) drive around the setting of centre-drive chamber (3) interval, more air inlet pipe (2) and multiple air inlets Chamber, which corresponds, to be connected to, the rigidity section (7) in the vacuum suction chamber (26) equipped with tubulose, is set in the rigid pore for saving (7) Have hose (11), is equipped with sucker (19) at the corresponding rigidity section (7) in the outside of matrix (1), the connecting pin (20) of sucker (19) is successively Connect after vacuum suction chamber (26) side wall and rigidity section (7) side wall with hose (11), the air entry (21) of sucker (19) and Hose (11) inner cavity is connected to, centre-drive chamber (3), side driving chamber (5), vacuum suction chamber in two neighboring software joint (26), hose (11) is corresponded to be mutually butted and is connected to rigidity section (7), and inlet duct is that above-mentioned air inlet pipe (2) provide pressure Contracting gas, vacuum evacuation device are connected to hose (11) inner cavity.

2. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 1, which is characterized in that each software In joint rigidity section (7) at least there are two, it is multiple rigidity section (7) sequentially docking arrangement, it is two neighboring rigidity section (7) between stays There is gap and is connected by elastic component.

3. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 2, which is characterized in that the bullet Property part be connecting spring (8), the two of connecting spring (8) are equipped with connector (9), offered on the outside of connector (9) one end with even The annular slot (10) that spring (8) matches is connect, one end of connecting spring (8) is fastened on the card slot (10) for being correspondingly connected with head (9) Interior, the other end of connector (9) is connect with the end thread of rigidity section (7).

4. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, which is characterized in that institute The one side for stating rigid section (7) connecting sucker (19) is plane (22), and the inner wall of corresponding vacuum suction chamber (26), which is equipped with, to be corresponded to Binding face (23), plane (22) it is corresponding with binding face (23) fitting.

5. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 2, which is characterized in that each software Hose (11) in joint at least there are two, multiple hoses (11) sequentially dock arrangement, and the fixation of the both ends of each hose (11) is set Have assembly head (12), the end face of assembly head (12) is equipped with buckle (13) and grab (14), buckles (13) and grab (14) annular is handed over For setting, the grab (14) can be snapped at the buckle (13) of adjacent hose (11).

6. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 5, which is characterized in that the hose (11) outer end face of assembly head (12) is additionally provided with the seal groove (15) of annular, is equipped with O-ring seal (16) in seal groove (15).

7. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, which is characterized in that institute It is fixed metal clad piece (18) by fastener (17) to state the side wall of hose (11), the connecting pin (20) of above-mentioned sucker (19) with should Sheet metal (18) is fixedly connected.

8. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, which is characterized in that institute State be also provided on matrix (1) it is several walk tube passage (4), above-mentioned air inlet pipe (2), which is arranged in a one-to-one correspondence, to be walked in tube passage (4), It respectively walks and is provided on the side wall between tube passage (4) and corresponding air inlet driving chamber venthole (6), the side of air inlet pipe (2) is provided with Venthole, the venthole are connected to by above-mentioned venthole (6) with corresponding air inlet driving chamber.

9. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, which is characterized in that institute The software joint stated further includes interior attaching means (24) and outer attaching means (25), and the interior attaching means (24) and outer attaching means (25) are equal In a ring, in the lateral wall of the centrally disposed driving chamber of interior attaching means (24) (3), centre-drive chamber (3) is made to be located at the interior constraint The inside of part (24), outer attaching means (25) are arranged in the lateral wall of side driving chamber (5), drive above-mentioned center driving chamber (3), side Dynamic chamber (5), vacuum suction chamber (26) and interior attaching means (24) are respectively positioned on the inside of outer attaching means (25).

10. a kind of soft robot with Coupled Rigid-flexible mechanism according to claim 9, which is characterized in that described Interior attaching means (24) and outer attaching means (25) are compressed spring.