Mechanical arm anti-collision sensing outer sleeve shell, mechanical arm

Abstract

The utility model relates to a kind of mechanical arm anti-collision sensing outer sleeve shell, mechanical arm, sleeve shell is non-conductive rigid shell, including two two adjacent segments, each segment includes at least two housings, each housing is set on the outside of corresponding arm segment of mechanical arm by splicing;Segment is arranged for sensing detection electrode of external object approach;Each segment is provided with at least one first area for wrapping mechanical arm rotating joint, the segment with electrode is provided with circuit board and wire, the circuit board of each segment is connected in series by wire in turn, wire is routed in the gap between inner wall of housing and the surface of mechanical arm, wire forms free section by being overlapped to form relative rotating shaft at the position of spanning mechanical arm rotating shaft, and the relative position of two ends of free section and the segment is fixed;Circuit board includes coupling the capacitance digital conversion circuit of each detection electrode on corresponding segment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to anti-collision technology for robotic arms, and more particularly to an anti-collision sensing outer casing for robotic arms and a robotic arm. Background Technology

[0002] In modern industrial automation, service robots and other fields, the widespread application of robotic arms has placed higher demands on operational safety and reliability. Collision avoidance detection is not only a bottom-line requirement for the safe operation of robotic arms, but also the technological cornerstone for their advancement towards flexibility, efficiency and intelligence.

[0003] Our previous patent application, CN222200625U, added capacitive anti-collision detection capabilities to a conventional robotic arm by encasing it in a rigid shell, while simultaneously addressing the structural instability and poor consistency issues of the flexible electrode electronic skin. In practice, we found that the electrode control board, when directly powered for communication from the robotic arm's rotating joints, is susceptible to interference from the robotic arm control board. If multiple electrode control boards are connected in series via wiring to obtain power for unified communication, the wiring method has limitations:

[0004] Firstly, the internal wiring space of the robotic arm itself is insufficient to accommodate the wiring of the sensing circuit on the casing. Furthermore, in order to meet standardized manufacturing requirements, the casing is designed to facilitate disassembly and assembly and can be used for various robotic arm models.

[0005] Secondly, after the robotic arm is loaded with the casing, the cables run on the outside of the casing, and the cables are also at risk of colliding with obstacles and getting caught. Utility Model Content

[0006] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, a solution is provided that hides the wiring between the housing and the robotic arm.

[0007] This invention relates to a collision-sensing outer casing for a robotic arm. The casing is a non-conductive rigid shell, comprising at least two adjacent segments, each segment enclosing at least one arm segment of the robotic arm. Each segment includes at least two housings, which are spliced ​​and fitted onto the outside of the corresponding arm segment of the robotic arm. At least one or all segments are provided with detection electrodes for sensing the approach of external objects, and the relative positions of the detection electrodes and their respective segments are fixed. Each segment has at least one first area for enclosing the rotating joint of the robotic arm. The segments with electrodes are provided with circuit boards and wires. The circuit boards of each segment are connected in series via wires, which run in the gap between the inner wall of the housing and the surface of the robotic arm. The wires overlap relative to the rotation axis at the position crossing the rotation axis of the robotic arm, so that this segment of wire can reciprocate by overlapping or pulling back synchronously with the rotation of the robotic arm. The segment of wire crossing the rotation axis of the robotic arm is a free segment, and the two ends of the free segment are fixed relative to the segment. The circuit board includes at least a capacitor-to-digital converter circuit, which is coupled to each detection electrode on the corresponding segment.

[0008] The anti-collision sensing outer casing for the robotic arm of this utility model also includes the following auxiliary technical solutions:

[0009] The inner wall of the housing is equipped with a limiting device to prevent the free section from running or getting stuck on the reciprocating motion line.

[0010] The limiting component is a wire conduit.

[0011] The housing has clamping structures at both ends of the free section for fixing the ends of the free section.

[0012] The non-conductive rigid shell has a unified external interface, from which one of the circuit boards draws power and / or communicates.

[0013] The circuit board is equipped with a processing module, which is coupled to a corresponding capacitor digital conversion circuit.

[0014] The wires include at least one or more of the following: power lines, grounding wires, digital routing lines, and synchronous clock lines.

[0015] The circuit board contains a chip, and the processing module and capacitor-to-digital converter circuit are integrated into the chip.

[0016] The wires include ribbon cables, stranded wires, conduit wires, or silicone wires.

[0017] The wires are routed along the inner surface of the casing, close to the wall.

[0018] A robotic arm is also provided, including the aforementioned robotic arm protective housing.

[0019] This invention, based on the rigid electrodes of the anti-collision sensing outer casing and high-sensitivity acquisition, connects the circuit boards of each segment in series through hidden wiring, and uses overlapping relative to the rotating axis to form a free segment that follows the movement. The two ends of the free segment are fixed, so that when the rotating axis completes the rotation action of the set angle, there will be no wire pulling / breaking phenomenon, and the connection end between the wire and the circuit board is fixed without force, ensuring that the free movement of the follower wire does not affect the detection. Ultimately, it achieves the purpose of avoiding interference from the robot arm control board to detect and is applicable to various robot arm models. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the overall concealed wiring of the anti-collision sensing outer casing of this utility model is provided.

[0021] Figure 2 A three-dimensional view of the routing design for free segment overlap is provided.

[0022] Figure 3 A cross-sectional view of the routing design with free segment overlap is provided.

[0023] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the inner wall limiting component structure is given. Detailed Implementation

[0024] The technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0025] refer to Figures 1 to 4 The robotic arm is wrapped with an anti-collision sensing outer shell 10, which is a non-conductive rigid shell. The rigid shell is composed of several segments 20, each segment 20 is used to wrap one arm segment of the robotic arm, and the segments 20 are adjacent to each other to form the shell 10 that wraps the entire robotic arm.

[0026] Each segment 20 is formed by splicing together several shells, which are then fitted onto the corresponding arm segment of the robotic arm for easy assembly and disassembly. At least one or all segments 20 are equipped with detection electrodes for sensing the approach of external objects, and the relative positions of the detection electrodes and their respective segments 20 are fixed. Each detection electrode on segment 20 is coupled to a capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC) circuit. When an object approaches, a change in capacitance is caused, which is then captured by the high-sensitivity CDC circuit to achieve collision avoidance sensing capability. The rigid shells on which the electrodes are located are not easily deformed, resulting in strong structural stability.

[0027] Each segment 20 is provided with at least one first region for enclosing the rotating joint of the robotic arm. The portion of segment 20 containing electrodes is equipped with a circuit board 30 and wires 40. The circuit board 30 includes the aforementioned capacitance-to-digital conversion circuit for capacitance acquisition. See [link to circuit]. Figure 1The wires 40, using methods such as ribbon cables, stranded cables, sheathed cables, or silicone wires, are routed and concealed within the gap between the inner wall of the housing and the surface of the robotic arm to avoid snagging. For power supply and / or communication, the circuit boards 30 of each segment 20 are connected in series via the wires 40. The rigid housing has a unified external interface, from which one of the circuit boards 30 draws power and / or communicates. As an exemplary implementation, a wire protrudes from the bottommost circuit board 30 for power supply and communication. The power supply can be driven by the robotic arm or drawn from other sources; this is not limited here. See Figure 2 , Figure 3 When the wiring is concealed within the gap, the wire 40 forms a coiled loop relative to the rotation axis at the position crossing the robotic arm's rotation axis. This allows the wire 40 to reciprocate by coiling or uncoiling synchronously with the rotation of the robotic arm. The number of coils and / or the length are defined according to the total rotatable angle of the robotic arm. This section of wire 40 at the position crossing the robotic arm's rotation axis is designated as a free segment, with its two ends 41 and 42 fixed relative to its segment 20. The coiled loop relative to the rotation axis forms a free segment that follows the movement. The fixed ends of the free segment prevent wire pulling or breaking when the rotation axis completes the set angle rotation. Because the two ends of the free segment are fixed, the connection between the wire and the circuit board 30 is not subjected to force, ensuring that the free movement of the following wire does not affect the detection.

[0028] See Figure 4 The inner wall of the shell is provided with a limiting component. The limiting component is preferably a wire conduit 50 that is enclosed on all four sides by a structural component, with the free section extending into the inside of the conduit 50, to prevent the wire 40 from running or getting stuck during reciprocating motion.

[0029] See Figure 2 The housing has clamping structures at both ends of the free section to fix the ends of the free section. The fixing points 41 and 42 at both ends of the wire harness are clamped to prevent the wire harness from being pulled when it is wrapped during the rotation of the robotic arm, which would cause the connection between the PCB and the wire harness to become loose.

[0030] In this invention, adjacent segments 20 are interconnected by wires, which can be routed using a winding method. The wires 40 can synchronously extend, retract, or overlap during the rotation of the robotic arm, preventing fatigue breakage due to repeated joint movements. The circuit board 30 is equipped with a processing module coupled to a corresponding capacitor digital conversion circuit. Each circuit board 30 has independent logic processing capabilities, enabling rapid local processing of capacitor signal changes, reducing data transmission delay, improving collision response speed, and achieving distributed computing. Furthermore, the wires 40 include at least one or more of the following: power line, grounding wire, digital routing line, and synchronous clock line. This allows a single wire bundle to complete both power supply and communication, and ensures high-precision acquisition and transmission of capacitor data through dedicated digital routing and synchronous clock lines, avoiding misjudgments caused by asynchronous signals.

[0031] Furthermore, the circuit board 30 is equipped with a chip, and the processing module and capacitor-to-digital conversion circuit are integrated into the chip. The high integration reduces the area of ​​the circuit board 30, adapts to the narrow space inside the housing, facilitates compact layout, and reduces the connection nodes between discrete components, thereby reducing the failure rate.

[0032] In this invention, the way the wire 40 is hidden in the gap between the inner wall of the housing and the surface of the robotic arm is to run along the inner surface of the housing, avoiding friction damage to the wire 40 and wire accumulation that may affect joint movement.

[0033] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this utility model, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this utility model. Although this utility model has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can be made to the technical solutions of this utility model without departing from the essence and scope of the technical solutions of this utility model.

Claims

1. A collision avoidance sensing outer casing for a robotic arm, characterized in that: The casing is a non-conductive rigid shell, which includes at least two adjacent segments, each segment being used to enclose at least one of the arm segments of the robotic arm. Each segment includes at least two housings, and each housing is spliced ​​and fitted onto the outside of the corresponding arm segment of the robotic arm; At least one or all segments are provided with detection electrodes for sensing the approach of external objects, and the relative positions of the detection electrodes and their respective segments are fixed. Each segment is provided with at least one first area for wrapping the rotating joint of the robotic arm. The segment with electrodes is provided with a circuit board and wires. The circuit boards of each segment are connected in series through the wires. The wires are routed in the gap between the inner wall of the housing and the surface of the robotic arm. The wires are wrapped relative to the rotation axis at the position crossing the rotation axis of the robotic arm so that this section of wire can reciprocate by wrapping or pulling back synchronously with the rotation of the robotic arm. The section of wire crossing the rotation axis of the robotic arm is a free section. The two ends of the free section are fixed relative to the segment in which it is located. The circuit board includes at least a capacitor-to-digital converter circuit, which couples to each detection electrode on the corresponding segment.

2. The mechanical arm anti-collision sensing over jacket shell of claim 1, wherein: The inner wall of the housing is provided with a limiting element to prevent the free segment from running or getting stuck on the reciprocating motion line.

3. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 2, characterized in that: The limiting component is a wire conduit.

4. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 1, characterized in that: The housing is provided with clamping structures at both ends of the free section for fixing the ends of the free section.

5. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 1, characterized in that: The non-conductive rigid housing has a unified external interaction interface, from which one of the circuit boards draws power and / or communicates.

6. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 1, characterized in that: The circuit board is equipped with a processing module, which is coupled to a corresponding capacitor digital conversion circuit.

7. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 6, characterized in that: The wires include at least one or more of the following: power lines, grounding lines, digital routing lines, and synchronous clock lines.

8. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 6, characterized in that: The circuit board is equipped with a chip, and the processing module and the capacitor-to-digital converter circuit are integrated into the chip.

9. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wire is a ribbon cable, stranded wire, sheathed wire, or silicone wire.

10. The robotic arm anti-collision sensing outer casing according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wires are routed along the inner surface of the housing.

11. A robotic arm, characterized in that, Including the robotic arm protective housing as described in any one of claims 1-10.

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