A robot arm structure

Abstract

A robotic arm structure is disclosed, in which the main body is a lightweight steel pipe. The ends and middle of the pipe are connected to castings for hinged support to other joints of the robot. These castings include structures for mounting hinge shafts and bearings. Furthermore, these castings can be designed into various complex, irregular shapes to meet requirements for connection, force transmission, weight reduction, and cable routing. This robotic arm structure combines the advantages of both steel pipes and castings, meeting the needs of irregular designs, and is lightweight, flexible in specifications, and low in manufacturing cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of robotics, and in particular relates to a structural form of a robot arm. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, most robot arms on the market are made from integral castings. This is because casting can meet the design requirements of complex structural shapes and requires less subsequent machining. However, castings have a major drawback: due to the casting process, the walls of castings are usually thicker, resulting in greater weight. This means that a large portion of the robot's driving power is used to overcome the weight of the robot arm, reducing the robot's pure output load capacity. Furthermore, robot arm casting requires complex casting molds; different lengths of robot arms require different sets of large casting molds, resulting in high casting costs. There are also robot arms made by welding steel materials, such as steel pipes and plates. While this reduces weight, steel plates have high flexibility and creep properties, making it difficult to assemble irregularly shaped endcaps and support parts. The strength of the assembled parts is generally lower, and the overall machining workload is large, resulting in more waste and further increasing the overall manufacturing cost. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings, the present invention provides a combined structural form that enables the robot arm to meet the requirements of irregular design, light weight, low processing volume, high strength, and low cost.

[0004] The robot arm structure of the present invention has a main body made of thin-walled, lightweight steel pipe. The end and middle parts of the robot arm have castings that provide hinge support to other joint parts of the robot. The castings have structures required for installing hinge connection shafts and bearings, such as shaft holes and bearing chambers. These castings can also be designed with various irregular and complex structural shapes required for connection, force transmission, weight reduction, and cable routing. The main body steel pipe is connected to the castings to form the main body of the robot arm.

[0005] The steel pipes and castings of the torso can be connected as one unit by welding or threading.

[0006] The steel pipe for the torso can be round, elliptical, or even designed into irregular shapes according to stress requirements.

[0007] Furthermore, the central hinge support section can be designed as a sleeve with a structure that surrounds, partially surrounds, or does not completely surround the steel pipes. The aforementioned casting structure, which requires the installation of connecting shafts and bearings, has hinge holes whose hinge shaft axis can be located between the robot arm's torso and the sleeve, laterally penetrating the inside of the arm's torso, or it can extend off-center to the outside of the robot arm's torso and the sleeve, positioned on the outer side of the arm's torso.

[0008] This robotic arm assembly structure combines the advantages of thin-walled steel pipes—light weight and high strength—with the ease of manufacturing and achieving complex structural shapes with small casting connectors. This effectively reduces the weight of the robotic arm and increases its output load capacity. Different lengths of robotic arms can be achieved simply by changing the length of the steel pipe, reducing the variety of large casting molds. Compared to steel plates, it has higher strength, reduces processing workload, and lowers manufacturing costs. Attached Figure Description

[0009] Appendix Figure 1 This is a simplified structural diagram of the present invention.

[0010] Appendix Figure 2 This is another simplified structural diagram of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0011] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0012] Example 1.

[0013] like Figure 1 The robot arm structure shown has a main body made of a thin-walled, lightweight circular steel tube (1). A cast support hinge (2) with a cylindrical surrounding structure is fitted in the middle of the steel tube. Its inner hole matches the outer diameter of the steel tube and is welded to it, providing support and reinforcement for the steel tube. Two concentric shaft holes (3) for installing the hinge connection shaft and bearings are also cast on both sides of the middle of the support hinge (2). The axis (4) of the shaft holes is perpendicular to the center line (5) of the robot arm's main body steel tube and passes through it laterally. One end of the main body steel tube is welded with an arm end casting (6) for installing the hinge shaft. The arm end casting has mounting holes required for the hinge connection shaft.

[0014] When robots require robotic arms of different lengths for different work areas, only the length of the steel pipe needs to be changed, and the related castings do not need to be changed. This can greatly reduce the variety of large casting molds and the casting and processing costs.

[0015] This welded assembly structure for the robotic arm utilizes the advantages of thin-walled steel pipes—light weight and high strength—and the characteristics of small cast connectors—which make it easy to achieve complex structural shapes and manufacture—to effectively reduce the weight of the robotic arm and improve its output load capacity.

[0016] Example 2.

[0017] like Figure 2 As shown, the other structures in this embodiment are the same as in embodiment 1, except that the cast support hinge support (2) is a semi-enclosed structure, and its shaft hole (3) and the axis (4) of the shaft hole are offset outside the center line (5) of the robot arm torso steel pipe.

[0018] The robotic arm structure provided by this invention has been described in detail above. Specific examples have been used to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of this invention. The descriptions of the embodiments above are merely for the purpose of helping to understand the core ideas of this invention. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various improvements and modifications to this invention without departing from its principles, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the protection scope of the claims of this invention.

Claims

1. A robot arm structure, characterized in that, The robot arm's torso is made of steel pipe. The ends and middle part of the robot arm have castings that provide hinge support to other joints of the robot. The castings have the structures needed to install connecting shafts and bearings. The steel pipe is connected to the castings to form the main body of the robot arm. The central hinge support part is a cast support hinge support (2), which has a sleeve that surrounds the steel pipe. The sleeve is tubular, and the inner hole of the sleeve matches the outer diameter of the steel pipe and is welded together with it to support and strengthen the steel pipe. The outer wall of the sleeve of the support hinge support (2) has two concentric shaft holes (3) cast on both sides of the middle of the length direction for installing the hinge connection shaft and bearing. The axis (4) of the shaft hole (3) is perpendicular to the center line (5) of the robot arm body and passes through the robot arm body laterally. The shaft hole (3) is located in the middle of the length direction of the sleeve. One end of the steel pipe is welded with an arm end casting (6) for mounting the hinge shaft, and the arm end casting (6) has mounting holes required for the hinge connection shaft.

2. The robot arm structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The steel tube for the torso is either round or elliptical.

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