A scorpion-shaped bionic robot

Abstract

This invention discloses a scorpion-shaped biomimetic robot, comprising: a torso assembly with a control unit installed; six walking leg units, respectively installed on both sides of the torso assembly; two forepaw assemblies, symmetrically installed on both sides of the front end of the torso assembly; a tail assembly installed at the rear of the torso assembly; and a sensing assembly installed at the end of the tail assembly, the sensing assembly including an infrared sensor and a multi-functional camera. This robot is designed using biomimetic technology, cleverly utilizing the advantages of a six-legged robot to achieve excellent obstacle-crossing performance and adaptability to complex geographical environments. Through control, it can achieve functions such as free walking, obstacle avoidance, detection, and object grasping, enabling it to detect unfamiliar environments, explore confined spaces, and grasp objects in specific locations. It is suitable for real-time detection in various locations such as homes, parks, shopping malls, and the wilderness.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of robotics, and more particularly to a scorpion-shaped bionic robot. Background Technology

[0002] There are places in nature and human society that are inaccessible to humans. Irregular and rugged terrain are common characteristics of these environments, thus limiting the application of wheeled and tracked robots. Previous research has shown that wheeled locomotion has considerable advantages on relatively flat terrain, with rapid and stable movement and simpler structure and control. However, energy consumption increases significantly on uneven ground, and on soft or severely rugged terrain, the effectiveness of wheels is severely diminished, greatly reducing mobility. Compared to wheeled and tracked mobile robots, walking robots have unique and superior performance on rugged terrain, leading to the rapid development of research on multi-legged walking robots. The emergence of biomimetic walking robots further demonstrates the advantages of walking robots.

[0003] The movement trajectory of a hexapod walking robot consists of a series of discrete footprints. During movement, only discrete points need to contact the ground, resulting in less environmental damage. It can select the optimal support point on traversable terrain, making it highly adaptable to rugged terrain. Because of this, hexapod walking robots cause less environmental damage. The multiple degrees of freedom in the legs of a hexapod walking robot greatly enhance its mobility. Based on the current research background of legged mobile robots and the superior practicality of hexapod robots in real life, this invention studies an all-terrain hexapod bionic robot control system. Using a self-designed and manufactured mechanical structure as the system platform, the system mainly utilizes an electronic control module to detect environmental conditions in unknown areas and perform real-time motion control. Multi-servo motor cooperative control enables obstacle avoidance and detection. The developed hexapod scorpion bionic robot has significant implications for emergency detection. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a scorpion-shaped bionic robot to enable it to walk freely, avoid obstacles, detect and grasp objects in confined spaces.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a scorpion-shaped bionic robot, characterized by comprising:

[0006] The torso assembly is equipped with a control unit;

[0007] Six walking leg units are respectively installed on both sides of the torso assembly;

[0008] Two front lip components are symmetrically mounted on both sides of the front end of the torso component;

[0009] A tail assembly is mounted at the rear of the torso assembly; a sensing component is mounted at the end of the tail assembly; the sensing component includes an infrared probe and a multi-functional camera.

[0010] A further improvement of the present invention is that each of the walking leg units includes a walking leg connecting seat, an upper arm rod, a lower arm rod, a joint connecting rod, a landing foot, a lower arm spring buffer rod, an upper arm spring buffer rod, and an upper arm damping rod;

[0011] The walking leg connecting seat is rotatably connected to the torso assembly; the walking leg connecting seat is drively connected to a yaw servo motor; the yaw servo motor is used to drive the corresponding walking leg unit to swing back and forth;

[0012] One end of the upper arm is connected to the walking leg connecting seat via a pitch drive mechanism, and the other end is rotatably connected to the top of the lower arm.

[0013] The landing foot is rotatably connected to the bottom end of the lower arm;

[0014] The middle part of the joint link is rotatably connected to the connection point of the upper arm and the lower arm, which divides the joint link into an upper support arm and a lower support arm; the two ends of the lower arm spring buffer rod are rotatably connected to the lower support arm and the landing foot, respectively; the two ends of the upper arm spring buffer rod are rotatably connected to the upper support arm and the walking leg connecting seat, respectively; the two ends of the upper arm damping rod are rotatably connected to the upper support arm and the walking leg connecting seat, respectively.

[0015] The pitch drive mechanism is used to drive the upper arm to swing up and down, thereby causing the lower arm and the landing foot to lift and lower. When the landing foot contacts the ground, if the area of ​​the landing foot's bottom surface is uneven, the landing foot rotates to adapt to the terrain, while simultaneously causing the lower arm spring buffer rod to extend or retract. The lower arm spring buffer rod, through the joint connecting rod, causes the upper arm spring buffer rod and the upper arm damping rod to extend or retract, thereby ensuring that the landing foot fully contacts the ground.

[0016] A further improvement of the present invention is that: the front claw assembly includes a plurality of connecting plates connected in sequence and extending in the horizontal direction, and a clamping servo is installed on the frontmost connecting plate. The clamping servo drives two four-bar linkages through a gear set, so that the grippers set on the two four-bar linkages move synchronously in opposite directions to achieve the gripping or releasing action.

[0017] A further improvement of the present invention is that: a ball-joint nested adaptive clamping block assembly is installed on the opposite sides of the two grippers, and the ball-joint nested adaptive clamping block assembly of the two grippers forms an adaptive clamping structure during the clamping process.

[0018] A further improvement of the present invention is that: the spherical pair nested adaptive clamping block assembly includes a main clamping block, which is mounted on the clamping jaw and forms a spherical pair with the clamping jaw;

[0019] The main clamping block is provided with at least two mounting sockets on the side facing the other clamping jaw, and each mounting socket accommodates a hemispherical secondary clamping block, the secondary clamping block and the main clamping block forming a spherical pair;

[0020] The hemispherical secondary clamping block has at least three mounting sockets on the side facing the other clamping claw, and each mounting socket accommodates a hemispherical tertiary clamping block. The tertiary clamping block and the secondary clamping block form a spherical pair.

[0021] During the clamping process, the main clamping block, the hemispherical secondary clamping block, and the tertiary clamping block will rotate in interaction with the object being clamped and make full contact with the object to achieve adaptive clamping.

[0022] A further improvement of the present invention is that: the tail assembly includes a horizontal rotary gear and a swing mechanism; the horizontal rotary gear is rotatably disposed at the tail of the body assembly and is driven by a tail rotary servo motor; the starting end of the swing mechanism is fixedly connected to the horizontal rotary gear, and the sensing component is installed at its tail end.

[0023] A further improvement of the present invention is that: the swing mechanism includes several identical double gears; each double gear includes two identical first single gears and a second single gear that are fixedly connected or integrally formed;

[0024] For the double gear at the starting end of the swing mechanism, the first single gear of the double gear is fixedly connected to the horizontal rotary gear; the first single gear is coaxially connected to a freely rotatable swing drive gear; the swing drive gear is driven by a swing servo motor.

[0025] For each double gear after the initial double gear, its first single gear is coaxially rotatably connected to the second single gear of the preceding double gear, and meshes with the gear on the first single gear of the preceding double gear that is coaxially rotatably connected.

[0026] For the second double gear starting from the starting end, the gear coaxially rotatably connected to the first single gear of the preceding double gear refers to the oscillating drive gear; for each double gear after the second double gear, the gear coaxially rotatably connected to the first single gear of the preceding double gear refers to the second single gear of the double gear one level before the preceding double gear.

[0027] A further improvement of the present invention is that the control unit is a microcontroller, which is communicatively connected to each servo motor and sensing component.

[0028] The robot provided by this invention has the following technical advantages: Designed using biomimetic technology, it cleverly utilizes the advantages of a six-legged robot, giving it excellent obstacle-crossing performance and adaptability to complex geographical environments. Through control, it can achieve functions such as free walking, obstacle avoidance, detection, and object grasping, enabling it to explore unfamiliar environments, navigate confined spaces, and grasp objects in specific locations. It is suitable for real-time detection in various locations such as homes, parks, shopping malls, and the outdoors.

[0029] The following will further explain the concept, specific structure, and technical effects of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, so as to fully understand the purpose, features, and effects of the present invention. Attached Figure Description

[0030] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional view of a scorpion-shaped bionic robot;

[0031] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the tail assembly;

[0032] Figure 3 This is another schematic diagram of the tail assembly;

[0033] Figure 4 This is a three-dimensional view of the walking leg unit;

[0034] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the front lip assembly;

[0035] Figure 6 This is another schematic diagram of the front lip assembly. Detailed Implementation

[0036] The following specific examples illustrate the implementation of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the content disclosed in this specification. The present invention can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and various details in this specification can also be modified or changed based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the following embodiments and features described therein can be combined with each other.

[0037] It should be noted that the illustrations provided in the following embodiments are only schematic representations of the basic concept of the present invention. Therefore, the illustrations only show the components related to the present invention and are not drawn according to the actual number, shape and size of the components in the actual implementation. In the actual implementation, the form, quantity and proportion of each component can be arbitrarily changed, and the layout of the components may also be more complex.

[0038] Some exemplary embodiments of the invention have been described for illustrative purposes. It should be understood that the invention may be implemented in other ways not specifically shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0039] like Figure 1 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a scorpion-shaped biomimetic robot, comprising: a torso assembly 10, on which a control unit is mounted; six walking leg units 60, respectively mounted on both sides of the torso assembly 10, with three walking leg units 60 mounted on one side of the torso assembly 10; during walking, each walking leg unit 60 alternately raises and swings to achieve the walking function; two forepaw assemblies 30, symmetrically mounted on both sides of the front end of the torso assembly 10, for grasping objects; and a tail assembly 40, mounted at the rear of the torso assembly 10; a sensing assembly 50 is mounted at the end of the tail assembly 40; the sensing assembly 50 includes an infrared probe and a multi-functional camera. The tail assembly 40 can flexibly adjust the orientation of the sensing assembly 50.

[0040] like Figure 1 , 4 As shown, each walking leg unit 60 includes a walking leg connecting seat 61, an upper arm rod 62, a lower arm rod 63, a joint connecting rod 64, a landing foot 65, a lower arm spring buffer rod 67, an upper arm spring buffer rod 68, and an upper arm damping rod 69. Specifically:

[0041] The walking leg connecting seat 61 is rotatably connected to the torso assembly 10; the walking leg connecting seat 61 is drively connected to a yaw servo motor 66; the yaw servo motor 66 is used to drive the corresponding walking leg unit 60 to swing back and forth.

[0042] One end of the upper arm 62 is connected to the walking leg connecting seat 61 via a pitch drive mechanism 70, and the other end is rotatably connected to the top end of the lower arm 63; in this embodiment, the pitch drive mechanism 70 is a servo motor. The landing foot 65 is rotatably connected to the bottom end of the lower arm 63.

[0043] The middle part of the joint link 64 is rotatably connected to the connection point of the upper arm link 62 and the lower arm link 63, which divides the joint link 64 into an upper support arm and a lower support arm; the two ends of the lower arm spring buffer rod 67 are rotatably connected to the lower support arm and the landing foot 65, respectively; the two ends of the upper arm spring buffer rod 68 are rotatably connected to the upper support arm and the walking leg connecting seat 61, respectively; the two ends of the upper arm damping rod 69 are rotatably connected to the upper support arm and the walking leg connecting seat 61, respectively.

[0044] The pitch drive mechanism 70 is used to drive the upper arm 62 to swing up and down, thereby driving the lower arm 63 and the landing foot 65 to lift and lower. When the landing foot 65 contacts the ground, if the area in contact with the bottom of the landing foot 65 is uneven, the landing foot 65 rotates to adapt to the terrain, and at the same time drives the lower arm spring buffer rod 67 to extend or retract. The lower arm spring buffer rod 67 drives the upper arm spring buffer rod 68 and the upper arm damping rod 69 to extend or retract through the joint link 64, so that the landing foot 65 can fully contact the ground.

[0045] For example, if the outer side of the landing foot 65 is higher than the inner side when it contacts the ground, the toes of the landing foot 65 will tilt upwards to conform to the ground. During this upward tilting, the lower arm spring buffer rod 67 will retract, and at the same time, the force will be transmitted through the joint link 64 to the upper arm spring buffer rod 68 and the upper arm damping rod 69, causing them to retract as well. In this embodiment, the lower arm spring buffer rod 67, the upper arm spring buffer rod 68, and the upper arm damping rod 69 not only provide shock absorption but also make the walking leg unit 60 more stable, adapting to different terrains to a certain extent.

[0046] During walking, the lower arm 63 and landing foot 65 of the walking leg unit 60 are first raised; then the yaw servo 66 drives the walking leg unit 60 to swing forward, followed by the pitch drive mechanism 70 driving the lower arm 63 and landing foot 65 to descend and support the ground. Then, the yaw servo 66 drives the walking leg unit 60 to swing backward, causing the torso assembly 10 to move forward. Furthermore, when the walking leg units 60 on both sides of the torso assembly 10 swing synchronously in opposite directions, the orientation of the torso assembly 10 can be adjusted to achieve on-the-spot turning.

[0047] like Figure 1 , 5 As shown in Figure 6, the front jaw assembly 30 includes multiple connecting plates connected in sequence and extending horizontally. A clamping servo motor 31 is mounted on the foremost connecting plate. The clamping servo motor 31 drives two four-bar linkages 32 through a gear set, causing the grippers 33 mounted on the two four-bar linkages to move synchronously in opposite directions to achieve a gripping or releasing action.

[0048] Two grippers 33 are mounted on opposite sides with a ball joint nested adaptive clamping block assembly 34, which forms an adaptive clamping structure during the clamping process.

[0049] In one specific embodiment, the spherical mating adaptive gripper assembly 34 includes a main gripper 35 mounted on a gripper 33, forming a spherical mating structure with the gripper 33. The main gripper 35 can rotate up and down or left and right simultaneously, possessing two degrees of freedom in two directions.

[0050] The main clamping block 35 has at least two mounting sockets on the side facing the other clamping jaw 33, each mounting socket accommodating a hemispherical secondary clamping block 36, the secondary clamping block 36 and the main clamping block 35 forming a spherical pair; the hemispherical secondary clamping block 36 has at least three mounting sockets on the side facing the other clamping jaw 33, each mounting socket accommodating a hemispherical tertiary clamping block 37, the tertiary clamping block 37 and the secondary clamping block 36 forming a spherical pair;

[0051] The main clamping block 35, the hemispherical secondary clamping block 36, and the tertiary clamping block 37 can all swing up, down, left, and right, providing a large degree of freedom. During the clamping process, after the main clamping block 35, the hemispherical secondary clamping block 36, and the tertiary clamping block 37 come into contact with the object being clamped, they will rotate in interaction and make full contact with the object being clamped, thereby achieving adaptive clamping.

[0052] The aforementioned adaptive clamping structure can stably clamp various complex-shaped and slippery items, such as stones. Traditional clamping structures typically only clamp at two points, making slippage easy. However, the adaptive clamping structure in this embodiment can achieve multiple levels of contact points between the ball-and-socket nested adaptive clamping block assembly 34 and the clamped object through multi-level clamping block rotation, resulting in more stable clamping.

[0053] like Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 As shown, in this embodiment, the tail assembly 40 includes a horizontal rotary gear 41 and a swing mechanism 42; the horizontal rotary gear is rotatably disposed at the tail of the body assembly 10 and is driven by a tail rotary servo motor; the starting end of the swing mechanism 42 is fixedly connected to the horizontal rotary gear 41, and a sensing component 50 is installed at its tail end.

[0054] The swing mechanism 42 includes several identical double gears 43; each double gear 43 includes two identical first single gears 44 and second single gears 45 that are fixedly connected or integrally formed.

[0055] For the double gear 43 at the starting end of the swing mechanism 42, the first single gear 44 of the double gear 43 is fixedly connected to the horizontal rotary gear 41; the first single gear 44 is coaxially connected to a swing drive gear 46 that can rotate freely; the swing drive gear 46 is driven by the swing servo motor 47.

[0056] For each double gear 43 after the initial double gear 43, its first single gear 44 is coaxially rotatably connected to the second single gear 45 of the previous stage double gear, and meshes with the gear on the first single gear 44 of the previous stage double gear 43 that is coaxially rotatably connected.

[0057] For the second double gear 43 starting from the starting end, the gear coaxially rotatably connected to the first single gear 44 of the preceding double gear 43 refers to the oscillating drive gear 46; for each double gear 43 after the second double gear 43, the gear coaxially rotatably connected to the first single gear 44 of the preceding double gear 43 refers to the second single gear 45 of the double gear 43 one level before the preceding double gear 43.

[0058] When the swing drive gear 46 rotates, each of the double gears 43 rotates synchronously, causing the included angle between adjacent double gears 43 to change, thereby causing the end of the swing mechanism 42 to swing, and the orientation of the end changes accordingly. In this embodiment, the swing mechanism 42 is not only for biomimicry, but its rapid swing structure can also quickly and synchronously adjust the height and orientation of the end of the swing mechanism 42. For the biomimetic robot of this embodiment, the end of the swing mechanism 42 can face the front or the rear of the robot; by setting the starting angle, total length and number of double gears 43 of the swing mechanism 42, the sensing component 50 at its end can be switched between various key attention positions.

[0059] The control unit is a microcontroller, which communicates with each servo motor and sensor component 50. The control unit is an STM32F106 microcontroller. On the top and bottom surfaces of the middle part of the torso, the STM32F106 microcontroller (16) controls each unit to perform corresponding actions.

[0060] This invention employs biomimetic technology in its design. As a hexapod robot, it possesses excellent obstacle-crossing capabilities and adapts to complex geographical environments. Through control, it can achieve functions such as free walking, obstacle avoidance, detection, and object grasping. It can perform functions such as detecting unfamiliar environments, exploring confined spaces, and grasping objects in specific locations. It is suitable for real-time detection in various locations such as homes, parks, shopping malls, and the wilderness.

[0061] The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and effects of the present invention and are not intended to limit the invention. Any person skilled in the art can modify or alter the above embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, all equivalent modifications or alterations made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical concept disclosed in the present invention should still be covered by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A scorpion-shaped bionic robot, characterized in that... include: The torso assembly (10) is equipped with a control unit; Six walking leg units (60) are respectively installed on both sides of the torso assembly (10); Two front lip assemblies (30) are symmetrically mounted on both sides of the front end of the torso assembly (10); A tail assembly (40) is installed at the rear of the torso assembly (10); a sensing assembly (50) is installed at the end of the tail assembly (40); the sensing assembly (50) includes an infrared probe and a multi-functional camera; Each of the walking leg units (60) includes a walking leg connector (61), an upper arm rod (62), a lower arm rod (63), a joint link (64), a landing foot (65), a lower arm spring buffer rod (67), an upper arm spring buffer rod (68), and an upper arm damping rod (69). The walking leg connecting seat (61) is rotatably connected to the torso assembly (10); the walking leg connecting seat (61) is drively connected to a yaw servo motor (66); the yaw servo motor (66) is used to drive the corresponding walking leg unit (60) to swing back and forth; One end of the upper arm (62) is connected to the walking leg connecting seat (61) through the pitch drive mechanism (70), and the other end is rotatably connected to the top end of the lower arm (63); The landing foot (65) is rotatably connected to the bottom end of the lower arm (63); The middle part of the joint link (64) is rotatably connected to the upper arm link (62) and the lower arm link (63), which divides the joint link (64) into an upper support arm and a lower support arm; the two ends of the lower arm spring buffer rod (67) are rotatably connected to the lower support arm and the landing foot (65) respectively; the two ends of the upper arm spring buffer rod (68) are rotatably connected to the upper support arm and the walking leg connecting seat (61) respectively; the two ends of the upper arm damping rod (69) are rotatably connected to the upper support arm and the walking leg connecting seat (61) respectively. The pitch drive mechanism (70) is used to drive the upper arm (62) to swing up and down, thereby driving the lower arm (63) and the landing foot (65) to lift and lower. When the landing foot (65) contacts the ground, if the area in contact with the bottom of the landing foot (65) is uneven, the landing foot (65) rotates to adapt to the terrain, and at the same time drives the lower arm spring buffer rod (67) to extend or retract. The lower arm spring buffer rod (67) drives the upper arm spring buffer rod (68) and the upper arm damping rod (69) to extend or retract through the joint link (64), thereby making the landing foot (65) fully fit with the ground. The front claw assembly (30) includes multiple connecting plates that are connected in sequence and extend in the horizontal direction. A clamping servo motor (31) is installed on the frontmost connecting plate. The clamping servo motor (31) drives two four-bar linkages (32) through a gear set, so that the grippers (33) set on the two four-bar linkages move synchronously towards or away from each other to achieve the gripping or releasing action. The two grippers (33) are fitted with ball-pair nested adaptive clamping block assemblies (34) on their opposite sides, and the ball-pair nested adaptive clamping block assemblies (34) of the two grippers form an adaptive clamping structure during the clamping process; The spherical pair nested adaptive clamping block assembly (34) includes a main clamping block (35), which is mounted on the clamping jaw (33) and forms a spherical pair with the clamping jaw (33); The main clamping block (35) is provided with at least two mounting sockets on the side facing the other clamping claw (33), and each mounting socket accommodates a hemispherical secondary clamping block (36). The hemispherical secondary clamping block (36) and the main clamping block (35) form a spherical pair. The hemispherical secondary clamping block (36) is provided with at least three mounting sockets on the side facing the other clamping claw (33), and each mounting socket contains a hemispherical tertiary clamping block (37). The tertiary clamping block (37) and the hemispherical secondary clamping block (36) form a spherical pair. During the clamping process, the main clamping block (35), the hemispherical secondary clamping block (36), and the tertiary clamping block (37) will rotate in interaction with the object being clamped and make full contact with the object being clamped in order to achieve adaptive clamping.

2. The scorpion-shaped bionic robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tail assembly (40) includes a horizontal rotary gear (41) and a swing mechanism (42); the horizontal rotary gear is rotatably disposed at the tail of the body assembly (10) and driven by a tail rotary servo motor; the starting end of the swing mechanism (42) is fixedly connected to the horizontal rotary gear (41), and the sensing assembly (50) is installed at its tail end.

3. The scorpion-shaped bionic robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The swing mechanism (42) includes several identical double gears (43); each double gear (43) includes two identical first single gears (44) and second single gears (45) that are fixedly connected or integrally formed; For the double gear (43) at the starting end of the swing mechanism (42), the first single gear (44) of the double gear (43) is fixedly connected to the horizontal rotary gear (41); the first single gear (44) is coaxially connected to a swing drive gear (46) that can rotate freely; the swing drive gear (46) is driven by a swing servo motor (47); For each double gear (43) after the starting double gear (43), its first single gear (44) is coaxially rotatably connected to the second single gear (45) of the previous double gear, and meshes with the gear on the first single gear (44) of the previous double gear (43). For the second double gear (43) starting from the starting end, the gear coaxially rotatably connected to the first single gear (44) of the preceding double gear (43) refers to the swing drive gear (46); for each double gear (43) after the second double gear (43), the gear coaxially rotatably connected to the first single gear (44) of the preceding double gear (43) refers to the second single gear (45) of the double gear (43) one level before the preceding double gear (43).

4. The scorpion-shaped bionic robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control unit is a microcontroller and is communicatively connected to each servo motor and the sensing component (50).

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