A multifunctional ball picking robot

Abstract

The present invention relates to a multifunctional ball picking robot, comprising a chassis, a driving motor, wheels, a main control board, a three-degree-of-freedom ball picking mechanism, a visual recognition module, an infrared tracking module, and a front bucket collecting module. The wheels are installed on both sides of the chassis, and the driving motor is used to drive the wheels to rotate; the infrared tracking module and the front bucket collecting module are installed at the front end of the chassis, and the infrared tracking module is connected to the main control board signal to control the robot to walk along the track; the front bucket collecting module is used to collect balls; the visual recognition module is connected to the main control board signal to visually identify the position of the ball; wherein the three-degree-of-freedom ball picking mechanism is used to realize ball picking. The multifunctional ball picking robot of the present invention improves the efficiency and accuracy of ball picking.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of ball picking robots, and in particular relates to a multifunctional ball picking robot. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of the times and technology, intelligence is constantly being applied to people's daily lives. In daily sports, especially when people are playing tennis, table tennis, badminton and other ball sports, frequently bending down to pick up the ball will consume physical energy and take up a lot of time, which makes people feel inconvenient and brings people a bad sports experience. Especially in the training grounds of athletes, they often pick up the balls on the ground one by one after training, or use some simple tools, but in this case, picking up the balls will bring a lot of workload, and the efficiency of picking up the balls will be very low.

[0003] In order to alleviate the various inconveniences brought to people by picking up balls, traditional ball picking machines are currently usually used to pick up balls, but such machines are large in size, complex in structure, high in cost, low in working efficiency, require manual operation, and often pick up other debris besides balls.

[0004] Therefore, in order to reduce people's workload when picking up balls, save time for picking up balls, and allow people to have a better sports experience when doing sports, improving work efficiency when picking up balls, and saving physical strength and labor costs has become an important research direction. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to solve the shortcomings in the prior art and to propose a multifunctional ball picking robot.

[0006] In order to achieve the above invention object, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0007] A multifunctional ball-picking robot comprises a chassis, a driving motor, wheels, a main control board, a three-degree-of-freedom ball-picking mechanism, a visual recognition module, an infrared tracking module, and a front bucket collecting module. The wheels are mounted on both sides of the chassis, and the driving motor is used to drive the wheels to rotate; the infrared tracking module and the front bucket collecting module are mounted on the front end of the chassis, and the infrared tracking module is connected to the main control board signal to control the robot to walk along the track; the front bucket collecting module is used to collect balls; the visual recognition module is connected to the main control board signal to visually identify the position of the ball;

[0008] Among them, the three-degree-of-freedom ball picking mechanism includes a rotating base, a column, a rotating rod, a memory metal piece, a hollow rotating rod, a lifting control servo, an elastic collar, and an elastic collar opening control servo installed on the chassis. The column is installed on the rotating base, the lifting control servo and the elastic collar opening control servo are respectively installed on the middle and top of the column, one end of the rotating rod is installed on the elastic collar opening control servo to control the rotation of the rotating rod, and the other end of the rotating rod passes through the hollow rotating rod through the memory metal piece to be connected with the tightening end of the elastic collar, the tightening end of the elastic collar passes through the metal ring, and the metal ring is arranged on the hollow rotating rod; the rotating rod is controlled to rotate through the elastic collar opening control servo to control the tightening of the elastic collar; the lifting control servo controls the rotation of the hollow rotating rod to control the lifting and lowering of the elastic collar; the lifting control servo and the elastic collar opening control servo are connected to the main control board signal.

[0009] As a preferred solution, the front bucket collecting module is connected to an elevator servo via a rotating shaft, and the elevator servo is installed at the front end of the chassis; the rotating shaft is controlled to rotate by the elevator servo to link the front bucket collecting module to rise and fall.

[0010] As a preferred solution, the front bucket collection module includes two side plates and a front baffle, the opposite ends of the two side plates are respectively mounted on the elevator servo and the chassis through a rotating shaft, and the other opposite ends of the two side plates are respectively rotatably connected to the two sides of the front baffle; a storage space is enclosed between the two side plates, the front baffle and the chassis for collecting balls;

[0011] The two side plates are respectively provided with limiting protrusions corresponding to the front sides of the front baffle, which are used to limit the rotation of the front baffle out of the storage space.

[0012] As a preferred solution, the visual recognition module is a CSI camera, and accordingly, the main control board integrates a Raspberry Pi Zero module; the CSI camera is connected to the Raspberry Pi Zero module via a CSI data cable.

[0013] As a preferred solution, the infrared tracking module has multiple infrared sensors, and accordingly, the main control board is integrated with an STM32F407 main control module; the infrared sensor, the Raspberry Pi Zero module and the STM32F407 main control module are signal-connected.

[0014] As a preferred solution, the rotating base is installed on the chassis through an overhead layer, and the overhead layer is used to install the main control board.

[0015] As a preferred solution, the rotating base includes a pedestal, a rotating control servo and a rotating base. The base is installed on the overhead layer, and the rotating control servo is installed on the base to control the rotation of the rotating base. The rotating base is coaxially distributed with the base; the rotating control servo is connected to the main control board signal.

[0016] As a preferred solution, there are four wheels, and each wheel is equipped with a driving motor.

[0017] As a preferred solution, the drive motor is a meteor-type DC motor.

[0018] As a preferred solution, the rotating rod and the hollow rotating rod are made of carbon fiber material.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0020] The multifunctional ball picking robot of the present invention adopts an infrared tracking module to allow the robot to track and move in a straight line within the edge line of the court. The visual recognition module is used to obtain the direction and position of the ball to be picked up. The retraction, extension and rotation of the ring are all controlled by the corresponding steering gear. The elastic characteristics of the elastic ring make it possible to pick up balls of different shapes and sizes. In addition, the front bucket collection module is used to collect balls, thereby improving the ball picking efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of a multifunctional ball picking robot of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 2 A system block diagram of a control mechanism of a multifunctional ball-picking robot of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 3 A circuit schematic diagram of a motor drive module of a multifunctional ball-picking robot of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 4 This is a circuit schematic diagram of an infrared tracking module of a multifunctional ball-picking robot of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 5 A flowchart of a multifunctional ball-picking robot tracking process of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 6 It is a principle block diagram of the chassis cascade PID control of a multifunctional ball picking robot of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 7 The present invention is a principle block diagram of a multifunctional ball picking robot that uses machine vision to identify balls.

[0028] In the figure: elastic collar-1, metal ring-2, rotating rod-3, column-4, CSI camera-5, collar opening control servo-6, rotating rod-7, headquarters lifting control servo-8, memory metal parts-9, metal plate-10, screw column-11, main control board-12, chassis-13, metal shell-14, wheel-15, DC motor-16, screw column-17, rotating shaft-18, front bucket collection module-19, rotating shaft-20, baffle-21, loose-leaf-22, infrared tracking module-23, screw column-24, front bucket collection module lifting servo-25, rotating base-26, STM32F407 main control unit-27, Raspberry Pi Zero-28, inertial measurement unit-29. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, the specific implementation methods of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other accompanying drawings and other implementation methods can be obtained based on these accompanying drawings without creative work.

[0030] like Figure 1 As shown, the multifunctional ball picking robot of the embodiment of the present invention uses the STM32F407 main control unit (i.e., single chip microcomputer) 27 as the control core, and the Raspberry Pi Zero 28 as the visual drive unit, and the whole includes a robot chassis 13, a three-degree-of-freedom ball picking mechanism, and a visual recognition unit;

[0031] Among them, the robot chassis 13 is rectangular and is equipped with core control components: an infrared tracking module 23, a front bucket collection module 19, an elevator servo 25 for the front bucket collection module, a meteor-shaped DC motor 16, wheels 15, and a main control board 12.

[0032] The three-degree-of-freedom ball picking mechanism is composed of a rotating base 26, a plastic column 4, a camera 5, a lifting control servo 8 (i.e., a middle lifting control servo), a collar opening control servo 6 (i.e., a top opening control servo), a hollow rotating rod 3, a rotating rod 7, a memory metal part 9, and an elastic collar 1. The visual recognition unit includes a Raspberry Pi Zero 28 and a CSI camera module 5. The infrared tracking module 23 is located at the front end of the robot, the front bucket collection module 19 is connected to the front end of the robot through a rotating shaft 18, and the rotating shaft 18 is controlled by a lifting servo 25 bonded and fixed to the chassis 13. Four DC motors 16 control the driving wheels 15. The motor 16 is covered with a metal shell 14 and fixed to the chassis 13 by screws, and the main control board 12 is fixed above the chassis 13 by screw columns 17. Among them, the rotating base 26 includes a base, a rotating control servo 26 (i.e., a bottom rotating control servo) and a rotating seat. The base is fixed to the metal plate 10 above the main control board 12 by screws, and the rotating control servo can control the rotation of the rotating seat. The plastic column 4 is bonded and fixed on the rotating base 26. A CSI camera 5 is bonded to the top of the column 4. The CSI camera 5 and the steering gear are connected to the main control board 12 by wires. The lifting control steering gear and the elastic ring opening control steering gear are respectively installed in the middle and top of the column. One end of the rotating rod is installed on the elastic ring opening control steering gear to control the rotation of the rotating rod. The other end of the rotating rod passes through the hollow rotating rod through a memory metal piece to be connected with the tightening end of the elastic ring. The tightening end of the elastic ring passes through the metal ring, and the metal ring is set on the hollow rotating rod; through the elastic ring The elastic collar opening control servo controls the rotation of the rotating rod to control the tightening of the elastic collar; the lifting control servo controls the rotation of the hollow rotating rod to control the lifting and lowering of the elastic collar; the lifting control servo and the elastic collar opening control servo are connected to the main control board signal; there are two servos 6 and 8 on the column 4, which can respectively control the rotation of two carbon fiber rotating rods 7 and 3. The rotating rods are connected by memory metal parts 9 and connected to the elastic collar 1 at the front end of one of the rotating rods 3, which can control the extension and retraction of the elastic collar 1. The connection between the elastic collar 1 and the rotating rod 3 is fixed by a metal ring 2.

[0033] The robot chassis 13 is rectangular, and the infrared tracking module 23 has 10 infrared sensors, which are fixed to the front end of the robot by screws 24, connected to the main control board 12 by wires, and use I2C to communicate data with the STM32F407 main control unit 27.

[0034] The front bucket collecting module 19 is connected to the elevator servo 25 fixed at the front end of the robot through the rotating shaft 18. There are short baffles 21 on both sides of the front end of the front bucket collecting module 19. The movable leaf 22 is connected to the front bucket collecting module 19 through the rotating shaft 20. The baffle 21 can block the movable leaf 22, so that the movable leaf 22 can only rotate inward but not outward, thereby ensuring that the ball can only enter but not exit.

[0035] The rotating base 26 of the three-degree-of-freedom ball picking mechanism is fixed to the metal plate 10 above the main control board 12 by screws. The metal plate 10 is connected and fixed to the chassis 13 by screw columns 11. The lower part of the rotating base 26 has a bottom rotation control servo to control the rotation of the base.

[0036] The column 4 is bonded and fixed on the rotating base 26. A CSI camera module 5 is bonded and fixed on the top of the column 4. The CSI camera module 5 is connected to the Raspberry Pi Zero 28 via a CSI data cable. The column 4 is made of plastic. The column 4 is screwed with a sleeve ring opening control servo 6 and a lifting control servo 8, which can respectively control the rotation of two carbon fiber rotating rods 7 and 3. The two rotating rods are connected by a memory metal 9 and connected to the elastic sleeve ring 1 at the front end of one of the rotating rods 3. The connection between the elastic sleeve ring 1 and the rotating rod 3 is transferred by a metal ring 2. When the sleeve ring opening control servo 6 rotates, it will drive the carbon fiber rotating rod 7 to rotate backward, and then drive the elastic sleeve ring 1 to tighten through the memory metal 9 to realize the function of grabbing.

[0037] The main control board 12 is connected by the STM32F407 main control unit 27 and the Raspberry Pi Zero 28 using a printed circuit board process, wherein the Raspberry Pi Zero 28 receives a video signal from the CSI camera 5 and communicates with the STM32F407 main control unit through a UART protocol.

[0038] When the lifting control steering gear 8 rotates, it will drive the carbon fiber rotating rod 3 to perform lifting control, thereby realizing the ability to be folded, and cooperate with the elastic ring 1 and the rotating base 26 to realize the grabbing function. Since the memory metal part 9 has a certain degree of flexibility and the ability to recover, the memory metal 9 will not be unusable due to bending when the carbon fiber rotating rod 3 is folded.

[0039] In addition, an inertial measurement unit 29, such as a gyroscope, is provided on the base to obtain the posture of the base itself; the inertial measurement unit 29 is connected to the main control board 12 by signal, so that the main control board executes the corresponding action of the robot according to the information fed back by the inertial measurement unit.

[0040] The control principle of the multifunctional ball picking robot of this embodiment is as follows:

[0041] like Figure 2 , Figure 5 As shown in the figure, the main control unit of the robot control mechanism adopts STM32F407 chip. The main control unit mainly includes 4 DC motor drive modules, 4 steering gear drive modules, signal interface, reset circuit and key control module. The power module adopts 12V lithium battery as DC power supply. Four DC motors control 4 driving wheels. The circuit schematic diagram of the motor drive module is shown in the figure. Figure 3As shown, P8 is the interface of the motor driver module and is connected to the pin of the STM32F407 chip. U2, U3, U4, and U5 are TLE5205-2 DC motor driver chips. JP2, JP3, JP4, and JP5 are DC motors. P3, P4, P5, and P6 are encoders installed on the motor to measure the motor rotation angle and speed. CB1 and CB2 are decoupling capacitors. The motor driver module uses PWM signals to adjust the speed of the four meteor-shaped DC motors. The TLE5205-2 in the circuit is optimized for the management application of DC motors and has over-temperature protection and diagnosis with hysteresis function. There are 4 servos in the structure of the robot, which control the lifting and lowering of the front bucket collection module, the rotation of the base of the sleeve rod structure, and the rotation of the two carbon fiber rotating rods. The servo drive module uses PWM signals to control the servo, and adjusts the PWM duty cycle to achieve different rotation angles. By controlling the four servos separately, the front bucket collection module and the sleeve rod can pick up the ball at the same time. The robot adjusts its walking direction through the differential speed of the left and right driving wheels, infrared positioning and visual positioning. The MPU6050 gyroscope is used to adjust the angle when turning. The MPU6050 is installed at the rotation center of the robot. The angular velocity read by the MPU is the angular velocity of the robot. The main control unit and the MPU6050 gyroscope use the I2C protocol for communication. The circuit schematic diagram of the infrared tracking module is shown in the figure below. Figure 4 As shown, VT is the power supply, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10 are infrared sensors TCRT5000, AIN0, AIN1, AIN2, AIN3, AIN4, AIN5, AIN6, AIN7, AIN8, AIN9, AIN10 are 10 outputs of the infrared sensor, connected to the IO port of the control chip STM32F103C8T6, 10 infrared TCRT5000 for infrared tracking, the infrared tracking module and the main control unit communicate using the I2C protocol. The camera module uses the CSI interface to connect to the Raspberry Pi Zero, and the main control unit and the Raspberry Pi use UART for serial communication.

[0042] The working process of the multifunctional ball picking robot of this embodiment is as follows:

[0043] like Figure 5As shown in the figure, after pressing the start button, the robot starts tracking. During the movement of the robot, the infrared tracking module and the MPU6050 gyroscope are continuously read, and the signals are compared and calculated in the main control unit to determine whether the robot has deviated from the route, and then decide whether to adjust the direction of movement. If the direction is not adjusted, the robot continues to track until it reaches the destination. In order to improve the dynamic performance of the robot system, such as reducing overshoot and shortening the adjustment time, and at the same time ensuring that the robot can maintain straight-line motion when there is no tracking, the infrared tracking module and the MPU6050 gyroscope work together to perform cascade PID control. The specific implementation principle is as follows: Figure 6 As shown in the figure, the infrared tracking and angular velocity loop are used as the outer loop, and the velocity loop is used as the inner loop. The expected value is compared with the actual value, and the current deviation value is fed back to the controller to achieve precise control of the system. Figure 7 As shown in the figure, the model pre-trained on the previous data set is used to train the balls that need to be picked up separately, which can greatly reduce the training time. In order to improve the running speed of the model on Jetson Xavier, TensorRt is used to optimize the model, and the video acquisition interface provided by Nvidia is used to improve the efficiency of video acquisition. At the same time, for image transmission, the robot uses UDP for remote video transmission based on zero copy to improve the efficiency of video transmission.

[0044] The above description is only a detailed description of the preferred embodiments and principles of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, according to the ideas provided by the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods, and these changes should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A multifunctional ball-picking robot, comprising a chassis, a driving motor, wheels, a main control board, a three-degree-of-freedom ball-picking mechanism, a visual recognition module, an infrared tracking module, and a front bucket collection module. The wheels are mounted on both sides of the chassis, and the driving motor is used to drive the wheels to rotate; the infrared tracking module and the front bucket collection module are mounted on the front end of the chassis, and the infrared tracking module is connected to the main control board signal to control the robot to walk along the track; the front bucket collection module is used to collect balls; the visual recognition module is connected to the main control board signal to visually identify the position of the ball; in, The three-degree-of-freedom ball picking mechanism includes a rotating base, a column, a rotating rod, a memory metal piece, a hollow rotating rod, a lifting control servo, an elastic collar, and an elastic collar opening control servo installed on the chassis. The column is installed on the rotating base, the lifting control servo and the elastic collar opening control servo are respectively installed on the middle and top of the column, one end of the rotating rod is installed on the elastic collar opening control servo to control the rotation of the rotating rod, and the other end of the rotating rod passes through the hollow rotating rod through the memory metal piece to be connected with the tightening end of the elastic collar, the tightening end of the elastic collar passes through the metal ring, and the metal ring is arranged on the hollow rotating rod; the rotating rod is controlled to rotate through the elastic collar opening control servo to control the tightening of the elastic collar; the lifting control servo controls the rotation of the hollow rotating rod to control the lifting and lowering of the elastic collar; the lifting control servo and the elastic collar opening control servo are connected with the main control board signal.

2. A multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The front bucket collecting module is connected to the lifting steering gear through a rotating shaft, and the lifting steering gear is installed at the front end of the chassis; the rotating shaft is controlled to rotate by the lifting steering gear, and the front bucket collecting module is linked to rise and fall.

3. A multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The front bucket collection module includes two side plates and a front baffle, the opposite ends of the two side plates are respectively mounted on the elevator steering gear and the chassis through a rotating shaft, and the other opposite ends of the two side plates are respectively rotatably connected to the two sides of the front baffle; a storage space is enclosed between the two side plates, the front baffle and the chassis for collecting balls; The two side plates are respectively provided with limiting protrusions corresponding to the front sides of the front baffle, which are used to limit the rotation of the front baffle out of the storage space.

4. The multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The visual recognition module is a CSI camera, and accordingly, the main control board integrates a Raspberry Pi Zero module; the CSI camera is connected to the Raspberry Pi Zero module via a CSI data cable.

5. The multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The infrared tracking module has multiple infrared sensors. Accordingly, the main control board is integrated with an STM32F407 main control module. The infrared sensor, the Raspberry Pi Zero module and the STM32F407 main control module are signal-connected.

6. The multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The rotating base is installed on the chassis through an overhead layer, and the overhead layer is used to install the main control board.

7. The multifunctional ball-picking robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The rotating base includes a pedestal, a rotating control servo and a rotating base. The pedestal is installed on the overhead layer. The rotating control servo is installed on the pedestal to control the rotation of the rotating base. The rotating base is coaxially distributed with the pedestal. The rotating control servo is connected to the main control board signal.

8. The multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: There are four wheels, and each wheel is equipped with a driving motor.

9. A multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 1 or 8, characterized in that: The driving motor is a meteor type DC motor.

10. The multifunctional ball picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The rotating rod and the hollow rotating rod are made of carbon fiber.

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