Worm-like soft crawling robot driven by exergonic chemical reaction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12570010-B2
Application number	US-202117909437-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2021
Priority date	Jun 24, 2020
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

A worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction, including a body system, an exothermic reaction system and a vacuum system. The body system includes a left head shell, a left flexible body shell, a left reaction chamber, a right reaction chamber, a right flexible body shell and a right head shell. Elastic transmission parts are installed in the flexible body shells in a matched way. The exothermic reaction system includes chemical fuel storage units and exothermic reaction stimulation devices. The vacuum system includes vacuum suction cups, vacuum exhaust tubes and vacuum pumps.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction, comprising
a body system, wherein the body system comprises a left head shell, a left flexible body shell, a left reaction chamber, a right reaction chamber, a right flexible body shell and a right head shell connected in sequence, elastic transmission parts are installed in the flexible body shells in a matched way, an inner cavity of the left reaction chamber communicates with an inner cavity of the left flexible body shell, and an inner cavity of the right reaction chamber communicates with an inner cavity of the right flexible body shell; an exothermic reaction system, comprising chemical fuel storage units configured to provide chemical fuels for the reaction chambers and exothermic reaction stimulation devices configured to stimulate the reaction chambers to perform the exothermic reaction therein; and a vacuum system, comprising vacuum suction cups installed at bottoms of the head shells in a matched way, vacuum exhaust tubes connected with the vacuum suction cups and vacuum pumps connected with the vacuum exhaust tubes, wherein the elastic transmission parts are springs, each with one end connected with an inner wall of an outer end of the corresponding flexible body shell and the other end connected with an inner wall of an inner end of the corresponding reaction chamber.

2 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein the reaction chambers are of a disk-shaped structure corresponding to the shape of the flexible body shells.

3 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein the left reaction chamber and the right reaction chamber are of an integral structure.

4 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible body shells are flexible corrugated tubes capable of extending and retracting.

5 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein the head shells are of a rigid structure.

6 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein the chemical fuel storage units are installed in inner cavities of the corresponding head shells, and are connected with chemical fuel inlets formed in the corresponding reaction chambers by tubelines.

7 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum pumps are installed at upper ends of the corresponding head shells.

8 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum suction cups have the function of filtration.

9 . The worm-like soft crawling robot driven by an exergonic chemical reaction according to claim 1 , wherein information acquisition units are arranged on the head shells.

Assignees

• Univ Zhejiang
• Ocean Research Center Of Zhoushan Zhejiang Univ
• Ocean Researchc Enter Of Zhoushan Zhejiang Univ

Inventors

• He Zhiguo
• Yang Yang
• Wang Haipeng
• Jiao Pengcheng

Classifications

• B62D57/02 Primary

  with ground-engaging propulsion means, e.g. walking members · CPC title

• B25J9/065 Primary

  Snake robots · CPC title

• B25J9/1095

  chemically actuated · CPC title

• B25J19/0029 Primary

  arranged within the different robot elements · CPC title