A soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environments and a control method thereof

Abstract

The application discloses a soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment and a control method thereof. The soft robot is in a strip-shaped structure, and one end is a power end and the other end is a working end. The power end is connected with a push-pull mechanism, which can exert a pushing force or a pulling force on the power end, and exert a circumferential rotating force on the power end. The working end of the soft robot is sent into a narrow space, and the push-pull mechanism is used to exert a pushing force and / or a rotating force on the power end, so that the soft robot continuously advances in the narrow space. When the soft robot reaches a target position and completes the work, the push-pull mechanism is used to exert a pulling force on the power end, so that the soft robot is pulled out. The soft continuum robot has the material characteristics of being soft and having high elasticity. Through passive extrusion, rubbing, twisting and other modes, the soft robot can pass through narrow and complex space environment or obstacles by using small deformation without exerting a gas pressure on the soft robot to actively make the soft robot generate large bending deformation.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of soft robot motion control, in particular to the motion control of soft continuum robots and soft robot arms in narrow and complex environments. BACKGROUND

[0002] Soft robot arms / soft continuum robots, which are soft robots with high degrees of freedom, flexible motion and high control requirements, need external equipment larger than the robot body to supply power and control motion, and can only work in fixed areas, making it difficult to achieve integration. At the same time, the flexibility of the material limits the soft robot from lifting heavy and bulky objects like rigid arms, so it is a future application trend to apply soft robot arms / soft continuum robots to minimally invasive surgery, pipeline maintenance, post-disaster rescue, and environmental search in narrow environments by using the inherent flexibility of flexible materials.

[0003] In soft continuum robots / soft robot arms, pneumatic, electric, and wire-driven are the main driving methods. In the process of bending motion, a larger space is needed for bending deformation, and there are greater limitations when applied in narrow environments.

[0004] Therefore, a method is proposed to enable soft robots to move flexibly in narrow and complex environments, which is of great significance to the application of soft robots. SUMMARY

[0005] Therefore, the present application provides a soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environments and a control method thereof, aiming to solve the above technical problems.

[0006] To achieve the above purpose, the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0007] A soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environments, comprising a soft robot; the soft robot has a long strip structure, with one end as a power end and the other end as a working end; the power end is connected with a push-pull mechanism, which can exert a pushing force or a pulling force on the power end, and a circumferential rotating force on the power end.

[0008] Through the above technical solutions, the present application proposes a soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environments based on the softness and easy deformation of the flexible material of the soft robot, to solve the problems of inconvenient operation and limited motion of soft robot arms / soft continuum robots in narrow and complex environments. Without actively applying air pressure to the soft robot to cause large bending deformation, small deformation can be used to pass through narrow and complex space environments or obstacles through passive extrusion, rubbing, twisting, etc.

[0009] Preferably, in the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, a driving mechanism is installed on the soft robot to drive the soft robot to bend and twist.

[0010] Preferably, in the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, the driving mechanism is a pneumatic driving structure, an electric driving structure or a wire driving structure. The control mode is an active control mode such as pneumatic control, electric control or wire driving control, which controls the soft robot to actively bend and deform, so that the soft robot meets the working requirements of passive control and solves the problem that the robot cannot pass through large-angle (> 50°, <- 50°) obstacles in motion under passive control.

[0011] Preferably, in the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, the working end is connected with a clamping mechanism, which can clamp when the soft robot reaches the target position.

[0012] The application also provides a control method of the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment. The working end of the soft robot is sent into a narrow space, a pushing force and / or a rotating force are applied to the power end by the pushing and pulling mechanism to continuously push the soft robot to move in the narrow space, and when the soft robot reaches the target position and completes the work, a pulling force is applied to the power end by the pushing and pulling mechanism to pull out the soft robot.

[0013] Through the above technical solution, the motion control mode of the application refers to the material characteristics of the soft robot, that is, the material is flexible and has high elasticity. Without applying air pressure to the soft robot to actively generate large bending deformation, the soft robot can pass through narrow and complex space environment or obstacles by small deformation through passive extrusion, rubbing, twisting and other ways.

[0014] Preferably, in the control method of the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, a pushing force and / or a rotating force are applied to the power end by the pushing and pulling mechanism, so that the working end of the soft robot and the inner surface or tangent surface of the narrow space produce a through angle to continue moving forward. Under the passive control of the soft robot, a certain size of force / displacement is applied to the axial direction of the robot, or a clockwise / anticlockwise force / displacement is applied to the circumferential direction, so that the soft robot is deflected by a certain angle to pass through the obstacle through passive extrusion, rubbing and twisting.

[0015] Preferably, in the control method of the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, the inner surface of the narrow space is a plane or a stepped surface, and the section surface of the narrow space is a curved surface or a continuous curved surface. The motion requirements of different surfaces can be met.

[0016] Preferably, in the control method of the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, the angle is [-50°, 50°]. The fan surface is related to the surface type of the robot and the obstacle, the surface friction coefficient of the soft robot, and the material of the soft robot. Within a certain range, the smoother the contact surface, the smoother the robot surface, the higher the material hardness and the higher the elasticity, and more obstacles and more complex environments can be crossed.

[0017] Preferably, in the control method of the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, a driving mechanism is installed on the soft robot, which can drive the soft robot to bend and twist. The passive motion control of the push-pull mechanism can cross the obstacle surface with an angle of ±50° between the robot module axes, and the active control of the driving mechanism can realize a larger range of motion.

[0018] Preferably, in the control method of the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, when the soft robot cannot cross the obstacle with the angle of the through angle (>50°, <-50°) during motion, the driving mechanism is started to reduce the angle of the through angle. The control mode is mainly passive control and assisted by active control, which reduces the control requirements of the soft robot under the premise of meeting the control requirements, reduces the power requirements such as air pressure or current during the working process of the soft robot, and reduces the volume of the control equipment to facilitate the integration of the robot.

[0019] According to the above technical solution, compared with the prior art, the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment and the control method thereof are provided, which have the following beneficial effects:

[0020] 1. The present application is aimed at the problem that the existing soft robot arm / soft continuum robot is limited in motion in a narrow and complex environment. Based on the inherent flexibility and elasticity of flexible materials, a method is proposed for crossing narrow and complex space environments or obstacles by passive extrusion, rubbing, twisting and other ways, using the deformation generated by contact with obstacles to passively adapt to the shape of the obstacle, thereby having higher adaptability than the existing active control method.

[0021] 2、The control method and idea of the passive control as the main part and the active control as the auxiliary part can reduce the requirement of the soft robot to the input power and control, realize the motion control of the robot in the special environment by the lower power source and the lower precision control, and can reduce the equipment size and facilitate the integrated integration. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0022] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or the prior art description will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can be obtained by the provided drawings without creative labor for those skilled in the art.

[0023] Figure 1 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot provided by the present application crossing the curved surface obstacle in a passive manner;

[0024] Figure 2 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot provided by the present application crossing the plane obstacle in a passive manner;

[0025] Figure 3 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot provided by the present application crossing the obstacle under the action of the applied force;

[0026] Figure 4 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot provided by the present application crossing the obstacle under the action of the applied displacement;

[0027] Figure 5 The drawing is a schematic view of the contact and motion change of the working end of the soft robot provided by the present application when passing through the continuous curved surface obstacle;

[0028] Figure 6 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot provided by the present application when the passive control range is exceeded, the outer chamber is activated to be elongated by using the active control, and the whole is bent inwardly;

[0029] Figure 7 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot working end provided by the present application using passive control to cross the plane obstacle;

[0030] Figure 8 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot working end provided by the present application using active control to cross the plane obstacle;

[0031] Figure 9 The drawing is a schematic view of the soft robot working end provided by the present application using passive control to cross the curved surface obstacle and successfully grasp the object;

[0032] Figure 10The drawing is a schematic view of a working end of a soft robot provided by the application directly separating from an obstacle environment under the action of external pulling force.

[0033] Wherein:

[0034] 1 - soft robot;

[0035] 11 - power end; 12 - working end;

[0036] 2 - driving mechanism;

[0037] 3 - clamping mechanism;

[0038] 4 - narrow space. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the application, rather than all the embodiments of the application. Based on the embodiments in the application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the application.

[0040] Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 to the drawings, Figure 6 The embodiment of the application discloses a soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment, comprising a soft robot 1; the soft robot 1 is in a long strip structure, and one end is a power end 11 and the other end is a working end 12; the power end 11 is connected with a push-pull mechanism, the push-pull mechanism can exert a pushing force or a pulling force on the power end 11 and exert a circumferential rotating force on the power end 11.

[0041] In order to further optimize the above technical solution, the soft robot 1 is provided with a driving mechanism 2, which can drive the soft robot 1 to bend and twist.

[0042] In order to further optimize the above technical solution, the driving mechanism 2 is a pneumatic driving structure, an electric driving structure or a wire driving structure.

[0043] In order to further optimize the above technical solution, the working end 12 is connected with a clamping mechanism 3.

[0044] As shown in the drawing, Figure 7 a certain displacement is applied to the soft robot 1 in the axial direction to make the working end 12 of the soft robot 1 enter the narrow space 4, when encountering the first passageway, since the included angle between the axis and the plane is within the range of [-50°, 50°], a certain displacement is continuously applied to make it contact with the passageway surface, under the action of elastic force, the soft robot 1 deflects to the side and passes through the passageway.

[0045] As shown in the drawing, Figure 8As shown, the soft robot 1 enters the second passageway, the angle between the axis of the soft robot 1 and the plane is out of [-50°, 50°], and the soft robot 1 cannot pass through the second passageway by passive rubbing, at this time, the driving mechanism 2 is started to deflect the soft robot 1 to the right by a certain angle, so that the angle between the axis of the soft robot 1 and the plane falls within [-50°, 50°], and then the soft robot 1 continues to move to pass through the second passageway;

[0046] As shown in FIG. 1, the soft robot 1 is in the first passageway, and the angle between the axis of the soft robot 1 and the plane is within [-50°, 50°], so that the soft robot 1 can pass through the first passageway by passive rubbing. Figure 9 As shown in FIG. 3, the soft robot 1 enters the third passageway, the angle between the axis of the soft robot 1 and the tangent plane of the inner circle is within [-50°, 50°], and a certain displacement is continuously applied, the soft robot 1 deflects to the inner circle center under the action of the elastic force, and successfully passes through the third passageway.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 4, after the clamping mechanism 3 of the soft robot 1 clamps the object, the soft robot 1 is given a reverse displacement by the push-pull mechanism by virtue of the flexibility of the flexible material, the soft robot 1 automatically adapts to the surface of the obstacle, and successfully takes out the target object. Figure 10

[0048] The embodiments in the specification are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the difference from other embodiments. The same or similar parts of each embodiment can be referred to each other. For the device disclosed in the embodiments, since it corresponds to the method disclosed in the embodiments, the description is relatively simple, and the related parts can be referred to the method part.

[0049] The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables a person skilled in the art to implement or use the present application. Various modifications to the embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present application. Therefore, the present application will not be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but will conform to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.​

Claims

1. A control method for a soft continuum robot suitable for confined and complex environments, characterized in that, The application relates to a soft robot (1); the soft robot (1) is in a long strip structure, one end of which is a power end (11) and the other end is a working end (12); the power end (11) is connected with a push-pull mechanism, the push-pull mechanism can exert a pushing force or a pulling force on the power end (11) and exert a circumferential rotating force on the power end (11); a driving mechanism (2) is installed on the soft robot (1) and can drive the soft robot (1) to bend and twist; the driving mechanism (2) is a pneumatic driving structure, an electric driving structure or a wire driving structure; the working end (12) of the soft robot (1) is sent into a narrow space (4), a pushing force and / or a rotating force are exerted on the power end (11) by the push-pull mechanism, the soft robot (1) continuously advances in the narrow space; when the soft robot (1) reaches a target position and completes work, a pulling force is exerted on the power end (11) by the push-pull mechanism, and the soft robot (1) is pulled out; a pushing force and / or a rotating force are exerted on the power end (11) by the push-pull mechanism, so that the working end (12) of the soft robot (1) continuously advances with a passing angle with the inner surface or the tangent surface of the narrow space (4); the inner surface of the narrow space (4) is a plane or a stepped surface, the tangent surface of the narrow space (4) is a curved surface or a continuous curved surface; the passing angle is a sector with an angle of [-50 DEG, 50 DEG]; a driving mechanism (2) is installed on the soft robot (1) and can drive the soft robot (1) to bend and twist; when the soft robot (1) cannot pass through a large angle obstacle, i.e. an angle > 50 DEG or <-50 DEG, the driving mechanism (2) is started to reduce the angle of the passing angle.

2. The control method of the soft continuum robot suitable for narrow and complex environment according to claim 1, wherein, The working end (12) is connected with a clamping mechanism (3).

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