A self-organizing modular robotic electromechanical transmission interface

Abstract

The application provides a self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface, and belongs to the technical field of robots and the technical field of special electromechanical interconnection. The self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface comprises a mechanical interface male end, a mechanical interface female end, an electric control interface male end and an electric control interface female end, and the four parts work cooperatively to realize high-precision relative pose recognition, docking, docking state determination, quick locking and unlocking functions in the self-organizing process of the modular robot, and high-efficiency and stable transmission functions of energy flow and information flow between module units after the self-organizing is completed.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This invention relates to a self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface, belonging to the fields of robot technology and special electromechanical interconnection technology. [Background Technology]

[0002] Modular robots, with their strong environmental adaptability and multi-task adaptability, have significant application value in fields such as space construction, exoplanet exploration, military, and medicine. To meet different mission requirements, modular robots need to rapidly transform their topology to improve mission execution efficiency. Electromechanical transmission interfaces, serving as the transmission carriers for mechanical, communication, and power between the various sub-modules of a modular robot, directly affect the overall mission execution capability and efficiency, and are also the foundation for the widespread application of modular robots.

[0003] Existing modular robot electromechanical transmission interfaces suffer from poor versatility, stability, fault tolerance, and integration, making it difficult to meet the demands of rapid topological transformations in complex environments. For example, in mechanical interfaces, connection methods such as magnetic connections exhibit poor stability and docking accuracy, and have limited load capacity; in electrical control interfaces, existing interfaces have limited transmission capacity and poor fault tolerance; and in docking and locking structures, existing locking methods suffer from slow connection and disconnection speeds and poor stability. Therefore, designing modular robot electromechanical transmission interfaces with high precision, high stability, high load capacity, high tolerance, high integration, and easy disconnection and connection capabilities has significant practical application value. [Summary of the Invention]

[0004] This invention provides a self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface, which includes four parts: a male mechanical interface, a female mechanical interface, a male electrical control interface, and a female electrical control interface. The electromechanical components are highly integrated, and the four parts work together to achieve high-precision relative pose recognition, docking, docking status determination, rapid locking and unlocking functions during the self-organization process of the modular robot, as well as efficient and stable transmission of energy flow and information flow between module units after self-organization.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following solution:

[0006] This invention provides a male mechanical interface for a self-organizing modular robot. The male mechanical interface consists of an integrated male interface base and a four-bar structure with four working angles: [0°, 90°, 180°, 270°]. The four-bar structure comprises four symmetrically arranged cylindrical bars with locking grooves in the middle. The top of each cylindrical bar is machined into a tapered rod, and the top of the tapered rod is machined into a spherical shape to increase the docking tolerance. This enables the robot to perform pose guidance during the self-organization process of the modular robot.

[0007] This invention provides a self-organizing modular robot mechanical interface female end, which includes a locking mechanism, an integrated female end base, and a four-hole structure. The four-hole structure consists of four symmetrically arranged semi-cylindrical holes in a ring. The connection between the semi-cylindrical holes and the upper end face of the base is chamfered to increase the docking tolerance. The diameter of the circle containing the axes of the four semi-cylindrical holes is the same as the diameter of the circle containing the axes of the four cylindrical rods of the mechanical interface male end. The semi-cylindrical holes and the cylindrical rods are clearance fit. The four pairs of semi-cylindrical holes and cylindrical rods work together to achieve fixed constraints on the mechanical male end and the mechanical interface female end in three rotational degrees of freedom and two translational degrees of freedom along the docking end face, ensuring the force and torque transmission function in the corresponding five degrees of freedom directions after the interface docking is completed.

[0008] This invention provides a self-organizing modular robot electrical control interface male terminal, which is coaxially mounted on the male terminal base of the mechanical interface male terminal. It includes an integrated circuit board male terminal and a power and communication transmission male terminal and a pose recognition device fixedly mounted on the integrated circuit board male terminal. Specifically, the power and communication transmission male terminal is a ring-shaped symmetrical array of gold-plated spring contacts. This array has extremely strong tolerance and load-bearing capacity to ensure stable and efficient power and communication transmission of the entire machine in the event of partial contact failure. The pose recognition device is a wide-angle monocular camera, which, in conjunction with a visual target, can achieve real-time high-precision pose recognition, providing data support for the real-time motion control of the mechanical interface male terminal.

[0009] This invention provides a self-organizing modular robot electrical control interface female terminal, which is coaxially mounted on the female terminal base of a mechanical interface female terminal. It includes an integrated circuit board female terminal and a power and communication transmission female interface, a docking status determination device, and an auxiliary positioning device fixedly mounted on the integrated circuit board female terminal. Specifically, the power and communication transmission female interface is a ring-shaped symmetrical array of gold-plated planar contacts, the positions of which correspond one-to-one with the positions of the gold-plated spring contact array on the male terminal of the electrical control interface, ensuring the reliability of power and communication transmission. The docking status determination device is a ring-shaped symmetrical array of Hall pressure sensors used to identify the contact force during the docking process to determine the docking status. The auxiliary positioning device is a visual target, with a high-precision auxiliary positioning block and a large-capacity information storage block inside the target marking. Combined with the visual camera on the male terminal of the electrical control interface, it can achieve high-precision visual positioning and acquisition of the topology information of the docking interface.

[0010] This invention provides a locking mechanism for the female end of a self-organizing modular robot mechanical interface, comprising a housing, a locking motor, a drive gear, a driven gear, a crossed roller bearing, and a locking ring. The top of the housing is fixedly connected to the female end base of the mechanical interface. The locking motor is fixedly installed on the outside of the bottom of the housing. The drive gear is coaxially fixedly installed on the output end of the locking motor, forming a gear engagement with the driven gear. The driven gear is fixedly installed on the inner ring of the crossed roller bearing, and the outer ring of the crossed roller bearing is coaxially fixedly installed inside the housing. The locking ring is coaxially fixedly installed above the driven gear. The top of the locking ring is machined with four symmetrically arranged locking buckles. Each locking buckle is a circular ring concentric with the locking ring, the inner portion of which is cut off by two planes parallel and symmetrical to the axis of the locking ring.

[0011] This invention provides a locking mechanism for the female end of a self-organizing modular robot mechanical interface. Its locking and unlocking working principle is as follows: When the four-bar structure of the male end of the mechanical interface enters the four-hole structure of the female end, and the docking state determination device determines that the docking state has reached the locking condition, the controller issues a locking command to control the locking motor of the locking mechanism to rotate forward. The rotation of the locking motor is reduced in speed by the drive gear and the driven gear, driving the locking ring to rotate, causing the locking buckle of the locking ring to engage in the locking groove of the four-bar structure, completing the locking operation. When the interface needs to be disconnected, the controller controls the locking motor to rotate in the reverse direction, causing the locking buckle to slide out of the locking groove, completing the unlocking operation.

[0012] This invention provides a self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface. The interface's docking principle is as follows: the male mechanical interface and the male electrical control interface actively approach the female mechanical interface and the female electrical control interface. A pose recognition sensor on the male electrical control interface and an auxiliary positioning device on the female electrical control interface work together to acquire the relative pose information between the male and female mechanical interfaces in real time. This information is then fed back to the controller for dynamic adjustment of the male mechanical interface's pose, gradually pointing the four-bar structure of the male mechanical interface into the four-hole structure of the female mechanical interface. A docking status determination device on the female electrical control interface collects docking status information in real time. When the docking status is determined to meet the locking condition, the controller issues a locking command to control the locking mechanism to perform the locking task, thereby locking the axial movement freedom of the male and female mechanical interfaces and completing the docking. The successful docking of the mechanical structure lays the foundation for stable and efficient power and communication transmission.

[0013] This invention provides a self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface. Its power and communication transmission principle is as follows: after the interface docking is completed, the power and communication transmission male interface and the power and communication transmission female interface form a hardware connection. The self-organizing modular robot system starts self-testing and reconstructing the power and communication transmission network. After the self-test is completed, the efficient and stable transmission of power and communication information between the modular robot modules can be realized. [Attached Image Description]

[0014] To more clearly illustrate the technical solution of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the specific embodiments will be briefly introduced below.

[0015] Figure 1 Diagram showing the electromechanical transmission interface composition of a self-organizing modular robot;

[0016] Figure 2 Diagram of the male connector for the mechanical interface;

[0017] Figure 3 Diagram of the female end of the mechanical interface;

[0018] Figure 4 Diagram of the public terminals for the electronic control interface;

[0019] Figure 5 Diagram of the female terminal of the electronic control interface;

[0020] Figure 6 This is an assembly diagram of the locking mechanism;

[0021] Figure 7 Diagram showing the locking state of the locking mechanism;

[0022] Figure 8 This is a diagram showing the release state of the locking mechanism. [Specific Implementation Examples]

[0023] To more clearly explain the purpose, technical solution, and advantages of this invention, the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0024] It should be understood that the described embodiments are merely some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0025] This invention provides a self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface, such as... Figure 1 As shown, it includes 101-mechanical interface male terminal, 102-electrical control interface male terminal, 103-electrical control interface female terminal, and 104-mechanical interface female terminal. The following refers to the appendix... Figure 1 The composition and working principle of the motor transmission interface of the self-organizing modular robot are described in detail.

[0026] like Figure 2As shown, the mechanical interface male end consists of an integrated 201-male end base and a 202-four-bar structure. The 201-male end base has an electrical control male end interface groove for fixing and installing the electrical control male end. The 202-four-bar structure consists of four cylindrical rods arranged symmetrically in a ring on the upper surface of the 201-male end base. The cylindrical rods have a diameter of 10mm and a height of 15mm. The upper end of the cylindrical rod is machined into a tapered rod with a taper of 30° and a length of 4mm. The top of the tapered rod is machined into a spherical shape to increase the docking tolerance. A locking groove is machined in the middle of the cylindrical rod. The locking groove is obtained by circumferential cutting with a cutting radius of 38mm and a cutting height of 5mm. At the same time, the upper and lower surfaces of the locking groove are machined into small bevels with an angle of 3° between the bevels and the original plane. Because the four-bar structure is arranged symmetrically in a ring, the working angle of the mechanical interface male end can be [0°, 90°, 180°, 270°].

[0027] like Figure 3 As shown, the female mechanical interface includes a 301-locking mechanism, an integrated 302-female interface base, and a 303-four-hole structure. The 302-female interface base has an electrical control female interface groove for fixing and installing the electrical control female interface. The 303-four-hole structure consists of four symmetrically arranged semi-cylindrical holes with a diameter of 10mm. The machining tolerance is controlled to ensure a clearance fit with the cylindrical rod on the male mechanical interface. The hole depth is 17mm. The connection between the hole and the upper surface of the base is chamfered to a C4 value to increase the docking tolerance and improve the docking fault tolerance. The diameter of the circle containing the axes of the four semi-cylindrical holes is the same as the diameter of the circle containing the axes of the four cylindrical rods of the male mechanical interface, ensuring the reliability of the docking.

[0028] like Figure 4 As shown, the external dimensions of the male terminal of the electronic control interface are the same as the dimensions of the electronic control male terminal interface slot on the male terminal base, and it can be coaxially fixedly installed on the male terminal of the mechanical interface. It includes a 401-integrated circuit board male terminal and 402-communication male interface, 403-power male interface, 404-reserved interface, and 405-pose recognition device soldered and fixed to the 401-integrated circuit board male terminal. Specifically, the 402-communication male interface, 403-power male interface, and 404-reserved interface are all gold-plated flat contacts, and their upper surfaces are on the same plane as the upper surface of the 401-integrated circuit board male terminal. There are 8 402-communication male interfaces, i.e., 4 pairs, each pair being CAN_H and CAN_L, evenly distributed in a circumferential direction. There are 8 pairs of 403-power male interfaces, symmetrically distributed in a circumferential direction. Figure 4As shown in the dashed elliptical box, there are four 404-reserved interfaces evenly distributed in a circumferential direction. The working angles of the above three types of interfaces are [0°, 90°, 180°, 270°], which can improve the fault tolerance of the docking system and provide a hardware foundation for efficient, stable and reliable power and communication transmission between modules. The 405-pose recognition device is a wide-angle monocular camera, which is installed in the middle of the male terminal of the electrical control interface. The top of the camera lens is on the same plane as the upper surface of the male terminal of the 401-integrated circuit board. The camera control circuit is embedded in the male terminal of the 401-integrated circuit board.

[0029] like Figure 5 As shown, the external dimensions of the electrical control interface female terminal are the same as the dimensions of the electrical control female terminal interface slot on the female terminal base, and it can be coaxially fixedly installed on the mechanical interface female terminal. It includes a 501-integrated circuit board female terminal and 502-communication female interface, 503-power female interface, 504-reserved interface, 505-auxiliary positioning device, and 506-docking status determination device, all soldered and fixed to the 501-integrated circuit board female terminal. Specifically, the 502-communication female interface, 503-power female interface, and 504-reserved interface are all gold-plated spring contacts. When the contact is compressed to its lowest point, the highest point of the contact is aligned with the 506-interface. 01- The upper surface of the female end of the integrated circuit board is on the same plane. The positions of all gold-plated spring contacts correspond one-to-one with the positions of the corresponding type of gold-plated flat contacts on the male end of the electronic control interface. 505- The auxiliary positioning device is a visual target. The target is equipped with a high-precision auxiliary positioning block and a large-capacity information storage block. Combined with the visual camera on the male end of the electronic control interface, it can realize high-precision visual positioning and topology information acquisition of the docking interface. 506- The docking status determination device is a Hall pressure sensor array, with a total of 4 sensors evenly distributed in a ring on the female end of the electronic control interface. It is used to monitor and determine the docking status in real time.

[0030] like Figure 6As shown, the 301-locking mechanism includes a 601-housing shell, a 602-locking ring, a 603-locking motor, a 604-drive gear, a 605-driven gear, a 606-retaining ring, a 607-crossed roller bearing, and a 608-circlip. The top of the 601-housing shell is fixedly connected to the 302-female end base. The 603-locking motor is fixedly installed on the outside of the bottom end of the 601-housing shell. The 604-drive gear is fixedly installed on the output end of the 603-locking motor, forming a gear engagement with the 605-driven gear. The 605-driven gear is coaxially mounted on the inner ring of the 607-crossed roller bearing. The lower end faces of both are fixedly connected to the 606-retaining ring to constrain their relative axial movement. The 607-crossed roller bearing... The outer ring of the bearing is coaxially mounted inside the 601-housing housing. The lower end face of the outer ring of the 607-crossed roller bearing is placed on the boss inside the 601-housing housing. The upper end face of the outer ring of the 607-crossed roller bearing is constrained by the 608-circlip, thereby constraining the relative axial movement of the outer ring of the 607-crossed roller bearing and the 601-housing housing. The 602-locking ring is coaxially fixed above the 605-driven gear, and its bottom is on the same plane as the upper surface of the inner ring of the 607-crossed roller bearing. The top of the 602-locking ring is machined with four symmetrically arranged locking buckles. The locking buckles are obtained by cutting the inner part of a ring concentric with the 602-locking ring by two planes parallel and symmetrical to the axis of the 602-locking ring.

[0031] like Figure 7 As shown, when the four-bar structure of the male end of the 701-mechanical interface enters the four-hole structure of the female end of the 702-mechanical interface, and the docking state determination device determines that the docking state has reached the locking condition, the controller issues a locking command to control the 706-locking motor of the locking mechanism to rotate forward. The rotation of the 706-locking motor is reduced in speed by the 705-drive gear and the 704-passive gear, and the 703-drive locking ring rotates, causing the locking buckle of the 703-locking ring to engage in the locking groove of the four-bar structure of the 701-mechanical interface male end, completing the locking operation. When the interface needs to be disconnected, the controller controls the 706-locking motor to rotate in the reverse direction, and the locking buckle slides out of the locking groove, completing the locking release operation. The state after locking release is as follows. Figure 8 As shown.

[0032] The controller issues a locking command to control the locking motor (602) of the locking mechanism (301) to rotate forward. The rotation of the locking motor (602) is decelerated by the drive gear (603) and the driven gear (604), and then drives the locking ring (606) to rotate, so that the locking buckle of the locking ring (606) is engaged in the locking groove (203) of the four-bar structure (202) to complete the locking work. When the interface needs to be disconnected, the controller controls the locking motor (602) to rotate in the opposite direction, and the locking buckle slides out of the locking groove (203) to complete the unlocking work.

[0033] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0034] The contents not described in detail in this specification are common knowledge to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface, characterized in that, The interface includes: The invention relates to a self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface, comprising four parts: a mechanical interface male terminal, a mechanical interface female terminal, an electrical control interface male terminal, and an electrical control interface female terminal. The mechanical interface male end is an integrated male end base and a four-bar structure with four working angles: [0°, 90°, 180°, 270°]. The four-bar structure consists of four cylindrical bars arranged symmetrically in a ring. Each cylindrical bar has a locking groove in the middle. The top of each cylindrical bar is machined into a tapered bar, and the top of the tapered bar is machined into a spherical shape. The mechanical interface female end includes a locking mechanism, an integrated female end base, and a four-hole structure. The four-hole structure consists of four symmetrically arranged semi-cylindrical holes in a ring. The connection between the semi-cylindrical holes and the upper end face of the base is chamfered to increase the docking tolerance. The diameter of the circle containing the axes of the four semi-cylindrical holes is the same as the diameter of the circle containing the axes of the four cylindrical rods. The semi-cylindrical holes and the cylindrical rods are clearance fit. The male terminal of the electrical control interface is coaxially mounted on the male terminal base of the male terminal of the mechanical interface. The male terminal of the electrical control interface consists of an integrated circuit board male terminal, a power supply and communication transmission male interface and a pose recognition device fixedly mounted on the integrated circuit board male terminal. The female end of the electrical control interface is coaxially mounted on the female end base of the female end of the mechanical interface. The female end of the electrical control interface consists of an integrated circuit board female end and a power and communication transmission female interface, a docking status determination device and an auxiliary positioning device fixedly mounted on the female end of the integrated circuit board. The locking mechanism includes a housing, a locking motor, a drive gear, a driven gear, a crossed roller bearing, and a locking ring. The top of the housing is fixedly connected to the female end base of the mechanical interface. The locking motor is fixedly installed outside the bottom of the housing. The drive gear is fixedly installed at the output end of the locking motor and forms a gear engagement with the driven gear. The driven gear is fixedly installed on the inner ring of the crossed roller bearing. The outer ring of the crossed roller bearing is coaxially fixedly installed inside the housing. The locking ring is coaxially installed above the driven gear. The top of the locking ring is machined with four symmetrically arranged locking buckles. Each locking buckle is a circular ring concentric with the locking ring, with its internal portion cut off by two planes parallel and symmetrical to the axis of the locking ring.

2. The self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface according to claim 1, characterized in that, Specifically: The power and communication transmission male interface is a ring-shaped symmetrical array of gold-plated planar contacts. The pose recognition device is a wide-angle monocular camera. The power and communication transmission female interface is a ring-shaped symmetrical array of gold-plated spring contacts. The positions of the gold-plated spring contacts correspond one-to-one with the positions of the gold-plated planar contacts. The docking status determination device is a ring-shaped symmetrical array of Hall pressure sensors, used to identify the contact force during the docking process to determine the docking status. The auxiliary positioning device is a visual target, and the target is equipped with a high-precision auxiliary positioning block and a large-capacity information storage block.

3. The self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface according to claim 2, characterized in that, The locking and unlocking working principle of the locking mechanism includes: When the four-bar structure enters the four-hole structure, and the docking state determination device determines that the docking state has reached the locking condition, the controller issues a locking command to control the locking motor of the locking mechanism to rotate forward. The rotation of the locking motor is decelerated by the drive gear and the driven gear, driving the locking ring to rotate, so that the locking buckle of the locking ring is engaged in the locking groove of the four-bar structure, completing the locking work. When the interface needs to be disconnected, the controller controls the locking motor to rotate in the reverse direction, and the locking buckle slides out of the locking groove, completing the unlocking work.

4. The self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface according to claim 3, characterized in that, The working principle of the interface includes: The male end of the mechanical interface and the male end of the electronic control interface actively move closer to the female end of the mechanical interface and the female end of the electronic control interface. The pose recognition device on the male end of the electronic control interface and the auxiliary positioning device on the female end of the electronic control interface work together to acquire the relative pose information between the male end and the female end of the mechanical interface in real time, and feed it back to the controller for dynamic adjustment of the pose of the male end of the mechanical interface. This enables the four-bar structure of the male end of the mechanical interface to gradually point into the four-hole structure of the female end of the mechanical interface. The docking status determination device on the female end of the electronic control interface collects docking status information in real time. When the docking status is determined to meet the locking condition, the controller issues a locking command to control the locking mechanism to perform the locking task, thereby locking the axial movement freedom of the male end of the mechanical interface and the female end of the mechanical interface and completing the docking operation.

5. The self-organizing modular robot electromechanical transmission interface according to claim 4, characterized in that, After the interface is connected, the power supply and communication transmission principles between modules are as follows: Once the interface docking is completed, the power and communication transmission male interface and the power and communication transmission female interface form a hardware connection. The self-organizing modular robot system begins self-testing and reconstructing the power and communication transmission network. Once the self-test is completed, the efficient and stable power and communication transmission function between the modular robot modules can be realized.

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