Multi-degree-of-freedom continuum robot with flexible target grasping function

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11945110-B2
Application number	US-202017282656-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2020
Priority date	Apr 1, 2020
Publication date	Apr 2, 2024
Grant date	Apr 2, 2024

Abstract

A multi-degree-of-freedom continuum robot with a flexible target grasping function comprises a driving device module, a trunk simulation module and a nimble finger module. The trunk simulation module is composed of a rotary compression module and a bending compression module. Each module has a unified connection interface reserved at the end, and is combined and assembled according to actual needs. The driving module is arranged on the base of the robot to realize the driving operation of all cables to control the motion of the robot. The rotary compression module can simultaneously generate the motion in the forms of rotation and compression, thereby compensating for the defect of blind angle of the bending compression module. The bending compression module can realize compression deformation and bending deformation of the module independently. The nimble finger module realizes a grasping function by multi-finger collaboration.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A multi-degree-of-freedom continuum robot with a flexible target grasping function, wherein a basic structure of the multi-degree-of-freedom continuum robot is formed by combining and assembling a plurality of modules, comprising four parts: a driving device module, a rotary compression module, a bending compression module and a nimble finger module; the driving device module and the rotary compression module are connected through an upper connecting plate; the rotary compression module and the bending compression module are connected through a lower connecting plate; and the bending compression module and the nimble finger module are connected through an inter-finger connecting plate;
a wire spool, a gear set and a generator set needed for cable control are integrated in the driving device module to realize centralized control of driving cables I, driving cables II and driving cables III;
the rotary compression module is used for realizing circumferential rotation and axial contraction of the robot, and comprises a module structure, the driving cables I, elastic elements I, the upper connecting plate and the lower connecting plate; the shape of the module structure is formed by six cross helical hinges resulting in a DNA helix structure; each hinge comprises two fixed spherical hinges, three movable spherical hinges and four connecting rods; the twelve fixed spherical hinges are divided equally into two groups, and uniformly distributed on the upper connecting plate and the lower connecting plate respectively; the fixed spherical hinges are used as a head and a tail of each hinge; the movable spherical hinges are used as middle hinges; each hinge is connected in series through the connecting rods as connecting members; and a wire through hole is arranged beside each spherical hinge; in the module structure, transverse adjacent movable spherical hinges are connected through the elastic elements I, and longitudinal adjacent movable spherical hinges are connected through the driving cables I; the module structure comprises six driving cables I evenly distributed along the module structure; one end of each driving cable I successively penetrates through the wire through holes and is fixed on an end of the module, and another end is fixed on a motor spindle;
the bending compression module is used to realize a winding motion and axial telescopic motion of the robot to realize the function of winding large-volume targets, and comprises a multilayer tensegrity unit, interlayer connecting rods, rotating hinges and the driving cables II; a structure of the bending compression module is formed by splicing multilayer prismatic tensegrity units in series through imitation of horizontal and vertical muscles of trunk muscles; each layer of the tensegrity unit comprises three planar connecting rods and three elastic elements II which are alternately connected; the six parts are alternately arranged to form tensegrity layer units; and adjacent tensegrity layer units are connected through six interlayer connecting rods; the rotating hinges are installed on both sides of the interlayer connecting rods, and the rotating hinges and the planar connecting rods are connected through fixing bolts; wire through holes are formed in the planar connecting rods; one end of each driving cable II penetrates through each wire through hole longitudinally, and is fixed on an end of the module and another end is fixed on a motor spindle;
the nimble finger module having characteristics of a thick bottom and a thin tip of a human finger, and comprises three equal-specification fingers and inter-finger connecting plate; and the three fingers are distributed on the inter-finger connecting plate to realize the grasping function for a small-volume target; each finger comprises two parts: a finger root and a fingertip; the finger root is divided into three layers; each layer is composed of two transverse connecting rods and two elastic elements III which are alternately connected, and two adjacent layers are connected through finger root oblique connecting rods; the basic structure of the fingertip is similar to the structure of the finger root; each layer is composed of two transverse connecting rods and two elastic elements III which are alternately connected, and two adjacent layers are connected through fingertip oblique connecting rods; the fingertips and the finger roots are connected through the finger root oblique connecting rods and two fingertip oblique connecting rods; rotating hinges are installed on both sides of the finger root oblique connecting rods and the fingertip oblique connecting rods; the transverse connecting rods and the finger root oblique connecting rods are connected by the rotating hinges, and the transverse connecting rods and the fingertip oblique connecting rods are connected by the rotating hinges; the wire through holes are formed on both sides of the transverse connecting rods; one end of four driving cables III is respectively fixed on a motor spindle, and another end successively penetrates through the wire through holes on both sides of the transverse connecting rods of the finger roots and the fingertips, and is fixed on an end of the fingertips.

2. The multi-degree-of-freedom continuum robot with the flexible target grasping function according to claim 1 , wherein the connecting rods are connected through the elastic elements I with elastic deformation capacity.

3. The multi-degree-of-freedom continuum robot with the flexible target grasping function according to claim 1 , wherein the driving cables I, the driving cables II and the driving cables III are polyethylene nylon cables.

Assignees

• Univ Dalian Tech

Inventors

• Peng Haijun
• Zhang Jie
• Wu Zhigang
• Kan Ziyun
• Li Fei
• Yang Jinzhao

Classifications

• B25J9/065 Primary

  Snake robots · CPC title

• B25J9/06

  characterised by multi-articulated arms · CPC title

• B25J9/1045

  comprising tensioning means · CPC title

• B25J9/1612

  characterised by the hand, wrist, grip control · CPC title

• B25J15/0009

  comprising multi-articulated fingers, e.g. resembling a human hand · CPC title