Flexible snakelike arm with variable rigidity

Abstract

The invention discloses a flexible snakelike arm with variable rigidity. The flexible snakelike arm with the variable rigidity comprises a plurality of rigid-flexible units which are detachably connected into a whole; the rigid flexible units comprise rigid end plates, soft pneumatic artificial muscle groups, ultra-elastic multi-rod mechanisms and limiting partition plates; each ultra-elastic multi-rod mechanism comprises a plurality of ultra-elastic rods, one end of each ultra-elastic rod is assembled on one end plate, and the other end penetrates through the other end plate and then extend into the ultra-elastic rod of the adjacent rigid-flexible unit; the soft pneumatic artificial muscle groups comprise a plurality of pneumatic artificial muscles which are arranged between every two endplates and outside the ultra-elastic multi-rod mechanisms; the limiting partition plates are arranged outside the ultra-elastic multi-rod mechanisms in a sleeving mode; and the two adjacent rigid-flexible units are detachably connected through the end plates. The soft pneumatic artificial muscle groups are utilized to provide flexible bending motion capability, the plurality of ultra-elastic rodsplay a motion guiding role, and through the interaction force formed by the pneumatic artificial muscles and the super-elastic rods, the rigidity of the snake-shaped arm is variable and controllableso that the snakelike arm can reach different positions, and the motion precision of the operation end of the snakelike arm is thus improved.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a mechanical arm, in particular to a soft serpentine arm with variable stiffness. Background technique [0002] Due to the limited flexibility, poor safety and adaptability of traditional robotic arms, it is limited in some special applications. For example, in the fields of medical surgery, human-computer interaction, engine internal search and detection, etc. Fast self-adaptation and high-precision continuous displacement with multiple degrees of freedom in space, traditional manipulators with basically constant stiffness or discrete changes are difficult to achieve the expected functional requirements. The emergence and development of software snake-like arm technology provides new ideas for solving the problems of safety and compliance of traditional robotic arms. [0003] However, at present, soft snake-like arms usually use soft smart materials as the main body, which lacks appropriate end position accuracy, output force...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, due to the above-mentioned variable stiffness software snake-shaped arm, due to the use of pure soft or rigid-flexible design with flexible materials as the main body, the accuracy of its end is low, and there is a certain gap between the output accuracy and the application requirements.

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