CN118106944A - Rope-driven continuum robot - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a rope-driven continuum robot, comprising: the mechanical arm comprises a plurality of section discs and flexible supporting bodies for supporting the section discs, each section disc is connected with a plurality of rope bodies, the first end of each rope body can pull the section disc to swing, and the rope bodies on each section disc are arranged in a staggered manner along the circumferential direction of the section disc; the driving mechanism comprises a frame and a plurality of driving components, the flexible supporting body is arranged on one side of the frame, and the driving components are used for winding and pulling the second end of the rope body; the driving components are sequentially arranged relative to the circumferential direction of the flexible support body and correspond to the positions of the rope body one by one; and the controller is used for controlling the action of the driving assembly and is in communication connection with the driving assembly. According to the robot provided by the invention, the rope body is used for controlling two degrees of freedom of the single joint disc, then the three-dimensional space motion of the mechanical arm can be realized through the arrangement of the plurality of joint discs, the operation is convenient, the remote control of the mechanical arm can be realized through the arrangement of the controller, the control precision is high, and the cost is low.

Description

Rope-driven continuum robot

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of robots, in particular to a rope-driven continuum robot.

Background

The continuum robot is a novel bionic robot, adopts an 'invertebrate' flexible structure similar to biological organs such as octopus tentacles, trunk and the like, has excellent bending performance which is incomparable with the traditional rigid robot, has extremely strong adaptability to a narrow working space and a plurality of unstructured environments of obstacles, and is suitable for working in various unknown environments.

In the prior art, a continuous robot has various driving control methods, such as pneumatic muscle driving, shape memory alloy driving and rope driving, and compared with the prior art, the rope driving configuration can transmit larger driving force, so that the loading capacity of the mechanical arm is improved, and meanwhile, the traditional control device can be arranged on a base, thereby being beneficial to realizing the light weight of moving parts and being more suitable for complex environment operation and man-machine interaction.

However, on one hand, the characteristics of low rigidity of the flexible support of the continuum robot also bring problems of complex modeling and poor control precision; on the other hand, redundancy of the end drive structure complicates control of the number of ropes, and the problem that the rope winding causes unstable force transmission and inaccurate length extension is liable to occur.

Therefore, how to improve the control accuracy of the rope-driven continuum robot is a technical problem that needs to be solved by those skilled in the art at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a rope-driven continuum robot which can effectively improve control precision, has reasonable structural layout and is convenient to model.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

A rope-driven continuum robot comprising:

The mechanical arm comprises a plurality of joint discs and flexible supporting bodies for supporting the joint discs, each joint disc is connected with a plurality of rope bodies, the first end of each rope body can pull the joint disc to swing, and the rope bodies on each joint disc are arranged in a staggered manner along the circumferential direction of the joint disc;

The driving mechanism comprises a frame and a plurality of driving components arranged in the frame, the flexible supporting body is arranged on one side of the frame, and the driving components are used for winding and pulling the second end of the rope body so as to drive the joint disc to act; the driving assemblies are sequentially arranged relative to the circumferential direction of the flexible support body and correspond to the positions of the rope body one by one;

And the controller is used for controlling the action of the driving assembly and is in communication connection with the driving assembly.

Preferably, the mechanical arm further comprises a plurality of rope connecting pieces, wherein the rope connecting pieces are used for fixing the first ends of the ropes, and the rope connecting pieces are clamped with the joint plates and can rotate relative to the joint plates.

Preferably, the joint disc is provided with a mounting groove and an avoidance hole, the rope connecting piece is assembled in the mounting groove, and the rope on the joint disc at the far end penetrates through the avoidance hole of the joint disc at the near end and then is connected with the driving assembly.

Preferably, a plurality of polygonal lightening holes are formed in the joint disc and located between two adjacent mounting grooves.

Preferably, the flexible support body is provided with a plurality of thrust sleeves for limiting the joint disc.

Preferably, each of the joint discs is connected with at least three rope bodies, and the rope bodies are uniformly distributed along the circumferential direction of the joint disc.

Preferably, a first driving layer and a second driving layer are arranged in the frame, and the first driving layer is positioned at one side close to the joint disc; the flexible support is characterized in that a plurality of first driving components are arranged in the first driving layer, a plurality of second driving components are arranged in the second driving layer, the first driving components are connected with the proximal end of the joint disc through the rope body, the second driving components are connected with the distal end of the joint disc through the rope body, and the first driving components and the second driving components are arranged in a staggered mode along the circumferential direction of the flexible support body.

Preferably, the first driving assembly comprises a bus steering engine and a rope winding flange plate, wherein the rope winding flange plate is used for winding the second end of the rope body at a corresponding position.

Preferably, the second driving assembly comprises a power component, a rope winding component, a sliding rail and a translation assembly; the power component is arranged on the sliding rail and can slide relative to the sliding rail, and the power component is used for driving the rope winding component to rotate; the rope winding component is used for winding the second end of the rope body at the corresponding position; the sliding rail is arranged on the frame; the translation assembly is arranged between the power component and the frame and is used for pushing the power component to translate when the rope winding component rotates so as to change the winding position of the rope body on the rope winding component.

Preferably, the translation assembly comprises a screw rod and a fixing seat, the fixing seat is installed on the frame, the screw rod is in threaded connection with the fixing seat, the screw rod is fixedly arranged at one end, close to the fixing seat, of the rope winding component, the rope winding component can drive the screw rod to rotate relative to the fixing seat so that the power component slides relative to the sliding rail, and the screw rod is identical to the lead of the rope winding component.

The rope-driven continuum robot provided by the invention comprises: the mechanical arm comprises a plurality of joint discs and flexible supporting bodies for supporting the joint discs, each joint disc is connected with a plurality of rope bodies, the first end of each rope body can pull the joint disc to swing, and the rope bodies on each joint disc are arranged in a staggered manner along the circumferential direction of the joint disc; the driving mechanism comprises a frame and a plurality of driving components arranged in the frame, the flexible supporting body is arranged on one side of the frame, and the driving components are used for winding and pulling the second end of the rope body so as to drive the joint disc to act; the driving assemblies are sequentially arranged relative to the circumferential direction of the flexible support body and correspond to the positions of the rope body one by one; and the controller is used for controlling the action of the driving assembly and is in communication connection with the driving assembly. According to the rope-driven continuum robot provided by the invention, the rope body is used for controlling two degrees of freedom of a single section disc, then the three-dimensional space motion of the mechanical arm can be realized through the arrangement of a plurality of section discs, the operation is convenient, the remote control of the mechanical arm can be realized through the arrangement of the controller, the control precision is high, and the cost is low.

In a preferred embodiment, a first driving layer and a second driving layer are arranged in the frame, and the first driving layer is positioned on one side close to the joint disc; the flexible support is characterized in that a plurality of first driving components are arranged in the first driving layer, a plurality of second driving components are arranged in the second driving layer, the first driving components are connected with the proximal end of the joint disc through the rope body, the second driving components are connected with the distal end of the joint disc through the rope body, and the first driving components and the second driving components are arranged in a staggered mode along the circumferential direction of the flexible support body. Above-mentioned setting, through right actuating mechanism layering sets up, to distal end and the different positions of proximal end the festival dish can adopt the drive assembly of different characteristics to control, satisfies the winding characteristics of rope body improves the control accuracy of rope body length and to the effect of moment of torsion transmission, further improves the flexibility and the simple operation nature of arm.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are required in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described, it being obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the invention, and that other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a rope-driven continuum robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a robot arm of the rope-driven continuum robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a first drive layer of the rope-driven continuum robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a second drive layer of the rope-driven continuum robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a control system of the rope-driven continuum robot of FIG. 1;

Wherein: a mechanical arm 1-1; a driving mechanism 1-2; 1-3 of rope body; 1-4 of a frame; 2-1 of a joint disc; a thrust sleeve 2-2; 2-3 parts of flexible supporting bodies; 2-4 parts of rope body connecting pieces; 2-5 parts of weight reducing holes; avoidance holes 2-6; a bus steering engine 3-1; 3-2 of a steering engine base; 3-3 parts of a rope winding flange plate; a power unit 4-1; motor base 4-2; a rope winding part 4-3; 4-4 parts of fixing seats; 4-5 of slide rails; 4-6 parts of screw rods; a main control board 5-1; a communication part 5-2; and 5-3 parts of upper computer.

Detailed Description

The core of the invention is to provide a rope-driven continuum robot, which can effectively simplify the structure, avoid rope winding and has high control precision of rope length.

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the invention.

Referring to fig. 1 to 5, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a rope-driven continuum robot according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a robot arm of the rope-driven continuum robot of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a first drive layer of the rope-driven continuum robot of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a second drive layer of the rope-driven continuum robot of FIG. 1; fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a control system of the rope-driven continuum robot shown in fig. 1.

In this embodiment, the rope-driven continuum robot includes:

The mechanical arm 1-1, the mechanical arm 1-1 comprises a plurality of section discs 2-1 and flexible supporting bodies 2-3 for supporting the section discs 2-1, each section disc 2-1 is connected with a plurality of rope bodies 1-3, the first end of each rope body 1-3 can pull the section disc 2-1 to swing, and the rope bodies 1-3 on each section disc 2-1 are staggered along the circumferential direction of the section disc 2-1;

The driving mechanism 1-2, the driving mechanism 1-2 comprises a frame 1-4 and a plurality of driving components arranged in the frame 1-4, the flexible supporting body 2-3 is arranged on one side of the frame 1-4, and the driving components are used for winding and pulling the second end of the rope body 1-3 so as to drive the joint disc 2-1 to act; and each driving component is arranged in sequence relative to the circumference of the flexible supporting body 2-3 and corresponds to the positions of the rope bodies 1-3 one by one;

And the controller is used for controlling the action of the driving assembly and is in communication connection with the driving assembly.

Specifically, the joint discs 2-1 are preferably rigid joint discs 2-1, the strength is higher, the shape of the joint discs 2-1 is preferably a disc, the rope bodies 1-3 are connected to the joint discs 2-1 at positions close to the edges, the stress of the rope bodies 1-3 is reduced, each joint disc 2-1 is connected with a plurality of rope bodies 1-3, the rope bodies 1-3 are preferably steel wire ropes, the strength is high, and the tensile effect is good; the rope bodies 1-3 are distributed at different positions in the circumferential direction of the joint disc 2-1, and the joint disc 2-1 swings relative to the flexible support body 2-3 by pulling the joint disc 2-1 in different directions; the rope body 1-3 on each section disc 2-1 extends to the position of the driving mechanism 1-2, the rope body 1-3 on the far-end section disc 2-1 is larger in length, and the rope body 1-3 on the near-end section disc 2-1 is smaller in length; the frame 1-4 plays a role of supporting a main body, the driving assembly is arranged in the frame 1-4, the mechanical arm 1-1 is arranged on the side surface of the frame 1-4, and the controller is used for winding the rope body 1-3 by controlling the action of the driving assembly, so that the rope body 1-3 is pulled and the joint disc 2-1 is driven to move; specifically, the position of the rope body 1-3 and the winding length of the rope body 1-3 which need to be stretched can be calculated through the distance required to move by the mechanical arm 1-1, and then the driving assembly at the corresponding position is controlled to execute the action; the controller comprises a main control board 5-1 and an upper computer 5-3, further, remote control of the driving assembly can be realized by arranging a communication component 5-2, and data transmission is carried out between the upper computer 5-3 and the main control board 5-1 through the communication component 5-2, so that the operation convenience is further improved.

According to the rope-driven continuum robot provided by the invention, the rope body 1-3 is utilized to control two degrees of freedom of the single joint disc 2-1, then the three-dimensional space motion of the mechanical arm 1-1 can be realized through the arrangement of the plurality of joint discs 2-1, the operation is convenient, the remote control of the mechanical arm 1-1 can be realized through the arrangement of the controller, the control precision is high, and the cost is low.

In some embodiments, the mechanical arm 1-1 further includes a plurality of rope connecting members 2-4, the rope connecting members 2-4 are used for fixing the first ends of the ropes 1-3, and the rope connecting members 2-4 are clamped with the joint disc 2-1 and can rotate relative to the joint disc 2-1. Specifically, the rope connecting piece 2-4 is used for fixing the rope 1-3, and is clamped with the joint disc 2-1, the rope connecting piece 2-4 and the joint disc 2-1 are preferably in spherical hinge connection, the rope connecting piece 2-4 cannot be separated from the joint disc 2-1, and the rope connecting piece can rotate freely.

In some embodiments, the joint disc 2-1 is provided with a mounting groove and a avoiding hole 2-6, the rope connecting piece 2-4 is assembled in the mounting groove, and the rope 1-3 on the far-end joint disc 2-1 penetrates through the avoiding hole 2-6 of the near-end joint disc 2-1 and then is connected with the driving assembly. Specifically, the rope body connecting piece 2-4 is a spherical hanging code, the spherical hanging code is installed in the installation groove, one end of the rope body 1-3 is fixed with the spherical hanging code, and the other end of the rope body sequentially penetrates through the avoidance holes 2-6 of the rest section plates 2-1 and then is connected with the driving component at the corresponding position.

In some embodiments, the weight reducing holes 2-5 are formed in the joint disc 2-1 between two adjacent mounting grooves, so that the weight of the joint disc 2-1 is reduced, and the weight of the whole mechanical arm 1-1 is reduced, further, the weight reducing holes 2-5 are preferably polygonal weight reducing holes 2-5, the polygonal weight reducing holes 2-5 form a honeycomb structure on the joint disc 2-1, and the weight is reduced as much as possible on the premise of ensuring the strength of the joint disc 2-1.

In some embodiments, the flexible support body 2-3 is provided with a plurality of thrust sleeves 2-2 for limiting the joint disc 2-1; specifically, the thrust bearing 2-2 is mounted on the flexible support 2-3, and is used for limiting the axial position of the joint disc 2-1 on the flexible support 2-3, preventing the joint disc 2-1 from moving along the extending direction of the flexible support 2-3, and improving the control precision.

In some embodiments, at least three rope bodies 1-3 are connected to each section disc 2-1, and the rope bodies 1-3 are uniformly distributed along the circumferential direction of the section disc 2-1. The rope bodies 1-3 are used for pulling the joint discs 2-1 to swing in 2 degrees of freedom, and the rope bodies 1-3 on different joint discs 2-1 are arranged in a staggered mode along the circumferential direction of the joint discs 2-1.

In some embodiments, the flexible support body 2-3 is preferably a hydraulic hose, and the hydraulic hose has strong tensile and compressive resistance and is not easy to deform axially; of course, the flexible support body 2-3 may be a steel wire flexible shaft, a nickel-titanium alloy, or the like, and is not limited to the manner described in the present embodiment.

In some embodiments, a first drive layer and a second drive layer are disposed within the frame 1-4, the first drive layer being located on a side proximate to the node disc 2-1; a plurality of first driving components are arranged in the first driving layer, a plurality of second driving components are arranged in the second driving layer, the first driving components are connected with the proximal end joint disc 2-1 through the rope body 1-3, the second driving components are connected with the distal end joint disc 2-1 through the rope body 1-3, and the first driving components and the second driving components are arranged in a staggered mode along the circumferential direction of the flexible supporting body 2-3. Further, a first panel is arranged in the first driving layer, the first driving component is installed on the first panel, a second panel is arranged in the second driving layer, the second driving component is installed on the second panel, and the first panel and the second panel are installed on the frames 1-4.

By arranging the driving mechanisms 1-2 in a layered manner, the driving assemblies with different characteristics can be adopted for controlling the joint discs 2-1 at different positions at the far end and the near end, the winding characteristic of the rope body 1-3 is met, the control precision of the length of the rope body 1-3 and the effect on torque transmission are improved, and the flexibility and the operation convenience of the mechanical arm 1-1 are further improved.

In some embodiments, the first drive assembly includes a bus steering engine 3-1 and a roping flange 3-3, the roping flange 3-3 being adapted to wind around the second end of the rope 1-3 in a corresponding position. Further, the first driving assembly further comprises a steering engine base 3-2, the bus steering engine 3-1 is arranged on the steering engine base 3-2, and the steering engine base 3-2 is arranged on the first panel. It should be noted that, the bus steering engine 3-1 is selected to facilitate data communication and control of the first driving component, facilitate operation, and implement diversified operations, and of course, the bus steering engine 3-1 may be replaced by other types of driving, so that a large torque transmission mode can be satisfied.

In some embodiments, the second drive assembly includes a power component 4-1, a rope component 4-3, a slide rail 4-5, and a translation assembly; the power component 4-1 is arranged on the slide rail 4-5 and can slide relative to the slide rail 4-5, and the power component 4-1 is used for driving the rope winding component 4-3 to rotate; the rope winding part 4-3 is used for winding the second end of the rope body 1-3 at the corresponding position; the sliding rail 4-5 is arranged on the frame 1-4; a translation assembly is installed between the power member 4-1 and the frame 1-4 for pushing the power member 4-1 to translate to change the winding position of the rope body 1-3 on the rope winding member 4-3 when the rope winding member 4-3 rotates. Specifically, the rope winding part 4-3 is preferably a threaded rope winding part 4-3, that is, the rope winding part 4-3 is cylindrical, threads are arranged on the periphery of the rope winding part 4-3, the second end of the rope body 1-3 is sequentially wound in the threads of the rope winding part 4-3, and the power part 4-1 can move relative to the sliding rail 4-5, so that the rope body 1-3 is wound on the rope winding part 4-3 in a spiral manner, the length of each winding circle of the rope body 1-3 is ensured to be consistent, the length control precision of the rope body 1-3 is ensured to be accurate, and the moving position precision of the mechanical arm 1-1 is ensured to be higher.

In some embodiments, the translation assembly includes a screw rod 4-6 and a fixed seat 4-4, the fixed seat 4-4 is mounted on the frame 1-4, the screw rod 4-6 is in threaded connection with the fixed seat 4-4, the screw rod 4-6 is fixedly arranged at one end of the rope winding part 4-3, which is close to the fixed seat 4-4, the rope winding part 4-3 can drive the screw rod 4-6 to rotate relative to the fixed seat 4-4 so that the power part 4-1 slides relative to the sliding rail 4-5, the lead of the screw rod 4-6 is the same as the lead of the rope winding part 4-3, and therefore, when the rope winding part 4-3 rotates, the output position of the rope 1-3 is kept unchanged, and the winding length of the rope 1-3 can be ensured not to be increased along with the increase of the winding radius. Preferably, the fixing seat 4-4 is fixedly provided with a nut, the screw rod 4-6 is connected with the nut, the nut is preferably a brass nut, the materials are conveniently obtained, the dimensional accuracy is high, and the replacement is convenient; of course, the fixing seat 4-4 can also be directly provided with a threaded hole, and the threaded connection of the fixing seat 4-4 and the screw rod can be realized through the threaded hole, namely, the translational driving of the power component 4-1 can be realized. Further, the translation assembly may be implemented in other manners, for example, by installing an air cylinder on the power component 4-1, and pushing the power component 4-1 to translate by using the air cylinder, so that the translation speed of the power component 4-1 can be matched with the winding speed of the rope body 1-3.

In some embodiments, the power unit 4-1 is preferably a driving motor, more preferably a step-and-gear motor, and an output shaft of the step-and-gear motor is connected to the rope winding unit 4-3 and the screw to rotate the rope winding unit 4-3 and the screw.

In the above arrangement, since the rope winding flange 3-3 in the first driving assembly causes an increase in winding diameter when more ropes 1-3 are wound, which is unfavorable for controlling the length of the ropes 1-3, it is preferable to control the chuck at the proximal end, and since the torque required for the chuck at the proximal end is large, the steering engine is used to control the rope winding flange 3-3; while the second drive assembly is of a greater winding length for the rope 1-3 and a relatively smaller torque transmission, and is therefore suitable for controlling the distal end of the knot 2-1. Here, the distal end of the joint disc 2-1 is a joint disc 2-1 distant from the drive mechanism 1-2, and the proximal end of the joint disc 2-1 is a joint disc 2-1 close to the drive mechanism 1-2. For example, when the number of the segments 2-1 is four, then the first drive assembly controls two segments 2-1 close to the drive mechanism 1-2 and the second drive assembly controls two segments 2-1 far from the drive mechanism 1-2.

The rope-driven continuum robot has the advantages that the manufacturing cost is low, the mechanism design is simple, the configuration is compact, the robot can realize more accurate position control, a more accurate kinematic model is provided, the robot can be remotely positioned through a handle, and the bending state of the robot can be predicted by reading a flexible sensor; the robot is applied to unstructured environment detection, can be carried on a mobile robot for operation, man-machine interaction and other occasions.

In a specific embodiment, the rope-driven continuum robot comprises a robot overall configuration and a driving control system, wherein the robot overall configuration is a mechanical arm 1-1, the driving control system comprises a driving mechanism 1-2 and a controller, the mechanical arm 1-1 comprises a section disc 2-1, a thrust sleeve 2-2 and a flexible support made of a hydraulic hose, and a steel wire rope realizes clamping of a rope body 1-3 through a ball hanging code and is embedded into the section disc 2-1; the control system comprises a bus steering engine 3-1, a steering engine base 3-2, a rope winding flange plate 3-3, a stepping gear motor, a motor base 4-2, a rope winding part 4-3, a screw rod 4-6, a fixing seat 4-4, a sliding rail 4-5, a motor control board taking an STM32 main control board 5-1 as a main control and an Ethernet communication part 5-2. The rope-driven continuum robot has 4 joints and 8 degrees of freedom, and the traction rope body 1-3 stretches and contracts through rotation of the bus steering engine 3-1 and the stepping gear motor, so that bending motion of the mechanical arm 1-1 in the whole three-dimensional space is realized. The motor control board taking the STM32 main control board 5-1 as a main control can output 6 paths of PWM signals and simultaneously coordinate and control the rotating speed and the rotating direction of 6 stepping motors, and has one path of UART serial port communication output serial port instruction to control the 6 paths of bus steering engines 3-1. Preferably, each joint module of the robot establishes a kinematic model based on a constant curvature assumption in a coupling penetrating rope threading mode, and the motor is used for controlling the rope body 1-3 to be lengthened in a coordinated mode to realize two-degree-of-freedom bending motion.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, each joint of the robot is controlled by three main rope bodies 1-3, from the base of the rope-driven continuous robot arm 1-1, the first joint is provided with three rope bodies 1-3 which are 120 degrees apart and are fixed on a joint disc 2-1 through a spherical hanging code, the second joint rotates by 60 degrees on the basis of the arrangement of the rope bodies 1-3 of the first joint, and the rope bodies 1-3 penetrate through the first joint and are fixed on the joint disc 2-1 of the second joint; the third joint rotates 30 degrees on the basis of the arrangement of the first joint rope body 1-3, and is fixed on the third joint disc 2-1 through the front joint. The last joint rotates 90 degrees on the basis of the arrangement of the first joint rope body 1-3, and is fixed on the joint disc 2-1 of the last joint through the front joint. Based on a kinematic model established by constant curvature assumption, modeling is performed by adopting a double-parameter local exponential product formula, and the joint tail end pose T can be expressed as:

t (0) is the initial pose, Is/>Is a helical motion of (a); the pose of the tail end of the mechanical arm 1-1 can be obtained through right multiplication of each joint transformation matrix; the inverse rope length releasing method is to pass through the two norms of the difference between the homogeneous coordinates of the fixed points of each rope body 1-3 and the homogeneous coordinates before transformation after the homogeneous coordinates are transformed by the joint transformation matrix. The total length of the rope body 1-3 can be obtained by adding the lengths of the joint ropes together and the rope-free body 1-3 to be zero, so that the motor is controlled to rotate according to the variable quantity of the rope body 1-3. Preferably, the two driving layers respectively adopt a large torque bus steering engine 3-1 and a stepping speed reduction motor, are arranged in a 60-degree array, simultaneously control the rope body 1-3 and do not interfere with each other, and realize the movement of the 4-joint 8-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm 1-1 in a smaller space and with fewer drives.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the 60-degree array distribution is adopted, and meanwhile, the steering engine layer and the stepping motor layer are staggered by 30 degrees, so that the rope body 1-3 is controlled simultaneously and is not interfered with each other, the space occupation is reduced as much as possible by the layer structure, and the movement of the mechanical arm 1-1 with the most joints and multiple degrees of freedom is realized by the least driving number. Preferably, in order to ensure the stable output length of the rope body 1-3 of the driving layer, a stepping speed reducing motor is arranged on the sliding rail 4-5, the rope rolling part 4-3 and the screw rod 4-6 are fixed on the motor output shaft, meanwhile, the screw rod 4-6 is matched with a brass nut, and the designed rope rolling part 4-3 and the screw rod 4-6 have the same lead, so that the output point position of the rope body 1-3 is kept unchanged when the rope rolling part 4-3 rotates.

Here, the misalignment angle between the steering engine layer and the stepping motor layer, and the arrangement of the rope bodies 1 to 3 may be set as required, and are not limited to the arrangement given in the present embodiment.

As shown in fig. 4, the fixing base 4-4 positioned in the middle of the second plate body is embedded with six identical brass nuts, and the overall configuration greatly improves the rigidity and stability compared with the independent base. The rope winding part 4-3 and the screw rod 4-6 are fixed with an output shaft of the stepping speed reducing motor and are responsible for winding and unwinding the rope body 1-3 and keeping the tension of the rope body 1-3, the screw rod 4-6 is matched with the brass nut, when the stepping speed reducing motor rotates, the screw rod 4-6 generates screwing-in and unscrewing movement to drive the stepping speed reducing motor arranged on the sliding rail 4-5 to move back and forth together, and the same lead is adopted, so that the position of an output point of the rope body 1-3 is unchanged, and the stable length of the contracted rope body 1-3 is ensured. Preferably, the hardware circuit of the robot control system is composed of a motor control board taking an STM32 main control board 5-1 as a main control and an Ethernet communication component 5-2, the designed control board is provided with 6 paths of stepping motor driving ports, an A4988 chip is adopted, 1/8 subdivision is adopted, the motor rotating speed and the rotating direction can be controlled simultaneously, one path of serial port communication port can control the 6 paths of bus steering engines 3-1 to move through serial port instructions, and an Ethernet interface is communicated with an upper computer 5-3 to issue movement instructions.

As shown in fig. 5, the upper computer 5-3 is responsible for kinematics and rope length calculation, and issues a motion control instruction to the communication component 5-2 through an ethernet TCP/ip+socket interface, so that the STM32 main control board 5-1 receives a control signal, unpacks the angle or speed required by each motor according to a self-defined protocol, and sends a serial port instruction to control the bus steering engine 3-1 through UART (universal asynchronous receiver transmitter) serial port communication, and starts a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) wave control stepping speed reducing motor with the Timer outputting a specified frequency, thereby realizing a control target. Preferably, the upper computer 5-3 is responsible for specialized kinematic calculations and remote control of the handle based on ROS (robot operating system), flexible sensor shape sensing and teaching demonstration. The lower computer executes position or speed control by receiving the control instruction of the upper computer 5-3.

The rope-driven continuum robot provided by the embodiment is a 4-joint 8-degree-of-freedom robot, the overall rigidity of the robot is enhanced by adopting a rope threading mode of coupling penetration, the rope body 1-3 is directly connected with the joint disc 2-1 without a wire pipe, the intermediate friction is reduced, the stress area is increased by adopting a ball hanging code at the joint, and the axial movement of the joint disc 2-1 is prevented by adopting the thrust sleeve 2-2. The driving aspect adopts two types of independent driving layering modes, respectively adopts a large-torque bus steering engine 3-1 and a stepping gear motor, are arranged in a 60-degree array, realize the simultaneous control of the rope body 1-3 and the mutual noninterference, and realize the movement of the multi-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm 1-1 in a smaller space and with fewer driving. In order to ensure the stable output length of the rope body 1-3, a stepping speed reducing motor is arranged on a sliding rail 4-5, a rope rolling part 4-3 and a screw rod 4-6 are fixed on an output shaft of the motor, meanwhile, the screw rod 4-6 is matched with a brass nut, and the designed rope rolling part 4-3 and the screw rod 4-6 have the same lead, so that the output point position of the rope body 1-3 can be kept unchanged when the rope rolling part 4-3 rotates. In the control aspect, STM32 is used as a main control, the main control is communicated with the upper computer 5-3 through the Ethernet, the upper computer 5-3 is responsible for processing kinematic calculation and remote control and collecting flexible sensor data so as to observe the movement condition of the mechanical arm 1-1, and the lower computer is responsible for receiving a control instruction and driving a motor to move, draw and stretch so as to realize the bending of the mechanical arm 1-1. The related control method and the kinematic modeling method of the penetrating coupling of the rope bodies 1-3 can also be applied to other rope-driven continuum robot occasions.

In the present specification, each embodiment is described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment is mainly described in a different point from other embodiments, and identical and similar parts between the embodiments are all enough to refer to each other.

The rope-driven continuum robot provided by the present invention has been described in detail above. The principles and embodiments of the present invention have been described herein with reference to specific examples, the description of which is intended only to facilitate an understanding of the method of the present invention and its core ideas. It should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and adaptations of the invention can be made without departing from the principles of the invention and these modifications and adaptations are intended to be within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims (10)

1. A rope-driven continuum robot comprising:

The mechanical arm (1-1), the mechanical arm (1-1) comprises a plurality of joint discs (2-1) and flexible supporting bodies (2-3) for supporting the joint discs (2-1), each joint disc (2-1) is connected with a plurality of rope bodies (1-3), the first end of each rope body (1-3) can pull the joint disc (2-1) to swing, and the rope bodies (1-3) on each joint disc (2-1) are arranged in a staggered manner along the circumferential direction of the joint disc (2-1);

The driving mechanism (1-2), the driving mechanism (1-2) comprises a frame (1-4) and a plurality of driving components arranged inside the frame (1-4), the flexible supporting body (2-3) is arranged on one side of the frame (1-4), and the driving components are used for winding and pulling the second end of the rope body (1-3) so as to drive the section disc (2-1) to act; the driving components are sequentially arranged relative to the circumference of the flexible supporting body (2-3) and correspond to the positions of the rope bodies (1-3) one by one;

And the controller is used for controlling the action of the driving assembly and is in communication connection with the driving assembly.

2. Rope-driven continuum robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the mechanical arm (1-1) further comprises a number of rope-body connectors (2-4), the rope-body connectors (2-4) being adapted to fix the first end of the rope-body (1-3), the rope-body connectors (2-4) being in a snap-fit connection with the joint disc (2-1) and being rotatable relative to the joint disc (2-1).

3. Rope-driven continuum robot according to claim 2, characterized in that the joint disc (2-1) is provided with a mounting groove and a avoidance hole (2-6), the rope connection piece (2-4) is assembled in the mounting groove, and the rope (1-3) on the distal joint disc (2-1) penetrates the avoidance hole (2-6) of the proximal joint disc (2-1) and then is connected with the driving assembly.

4. Rope-driven continuum robot according to claim 1, characterized in that a number of polygonal lightening holes (2-5) are provided on the segment disc (2-1) between two adjacent mounting grooves.

5. Rope-driven continuum robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the flexible support body (2-3) is provided with several thrust sleeves (2-2) for limiting the segments (2-1).

6. Rope-driven continuum robot according to claim 1, characterized in that at least three rope bodies (1-3) are connected to each of the joint discs (2-1), and that the rope bodies (1-3) are evenly distributed along the circumference of the joint disc (2-1).

7. Rope-driven continuum robot according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a first driving layer and a second driving layer are provided in the frame (1-4), the first driving layer being located on the side close to the pitch disk (2-1); the flexible support is characterized in that a plurality of first driving components are arranged in the first driving layer, a plurality of second driving components are arranged in the second driving layer, the first driving components are connected with the proximal end of the joint disc (2-1) through the rope body (1-3), the second driving components are connected with the distal end of the joint disc (2-1) through the rope body (1-3), and the first driving components and the second driving components are arranged in a staggered mode along the circumferential direction of the flexible support body (2-3).

8. Rope-driven continuum robot according to claim 7, characterized in that the first driving assembly comprises a bus steering engine (3-1) and a rope winding flange (3-3), the rope winding flange (3-3) being adapted to wind a second end of the rope (1-3) in a corresponding position.

9. The rope-driven continuum robot of claim 7, wherein the second drive assembly comprises a power component (4-1), a rope component (4-3), a slide rail (4-5), and a translation assembly; the power component (4-1) is arranged on the sliding rail (4-5) and can slide relative to the sliding rail (4-5), and the power component (4-1) is used for driving the rope winding component (4-3) to rotate; the rope winding component (4-3) is used for winding the second end of the rope body (1-3) at the corresponding position; the sliding rail (4-5) is arranged on the frame (1-4); the translation assembly is arranged between the power component (4-1) and the frame (1-4) and is used for pushing the power component (4-1) to translate when the rope winding component (4-3) rotates so as to change the winding position of the rope body (1-3) on the rope winding component (4-3).

10. Rope-driven continuum robot according to claim 9, characterized in that the translation assembly comprises a screw rod (4-6) and a fixed seat (4-4), the fixed seat (4-4) is mounted on the frame (1-4), the screw rod (4-6) is in threaded connection with the fixed seat (4-4), the screw rod (4-6) is fixedly arranged at one end of the rope winding part (4-3) close to the fixed seat (4-4), the rope winding part (4-3) can drive the screw rod (4-6) to rotate relative to the fixed seat (4-4) so as to enable the power part (4-1) to slide relative to the sliding rail (4-5), and the screw rod (4-6) is identical to the lead of the rope winding part (4-3).