Adhesion apparatus and robot

Abstract

The present invention relates to an adhesive device and a robot using the same. An adhesive device includes a substrate having an inner surface for contacting an object to be adsorbed, a directional dry adhesive layer provided on the inner surface of the substrate, the directional dry adhesive layer having a plurality of micro-wedge structures inclined, and an adhesive layer provided on the inner surface of the substrate and surrounding the directional dry adhesive layer. The above-described scheme uses two types of adhesives, the directional dry adhesive layer and the adhesive layer, in combination, and the combined adhesive device can provide a high adhesive force in all directions, while the dry adhesive layer can be engaged with the object using only a minimum pressure, thereby achieving the best results.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of industrial robot technology, and in particular to adhesion equipment and robots using the adhesion equipment. Background Technology

[0002] Grippers are commonly used as end effectors for robots, enabling various activities such as grasping, holding, and climbing. Most grippers rely heavily on any one normal clamping force to generate sufficient friction, but for more fragile objects, excessive normal clamping force can cause deformation or damage. To avoid these problems, grippers based on oriented dry adhesives have emerged in recent years. Inspired by the fibrous structures on the legs of geckos and some spiders, oriented dry adhesives can be defined as materials with relatively high shear adhesion and relatively low peel strength, while also exhibiting minimal tack. These materials can also typically be repeatedly attached, detached, and reattached to a wide variety of objects.

[0003] Directional dry adhesives are known for their minimal bonding strength and high shear adhesion, but generally lack high normal adhesion. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to provide an adhesion device with high adhesion strength and a robot that uses the adhesion device.

[0005] An adhesion device, comprising:

[0006] A substrate, the inner surface of which is used to contact the object to be adsorbed;

[0007] A directional dry adhesive layer is disposed on the inner surface of the substrate, the directional dry adhesive layer having a plurality of inclined micro-wedge structures; and

[0008] An adhesive layer is disposed on the inner surface of the substrate and surrounds the oriented dry adhesive layer.

[0009] In one embodiment, the thickness of the oriented dry adhesive layer is greater than the thickness of the adhesive layer.

[0010] In one embodiment, the adhesive layer is a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.

[0011] In one embodiment, the adhesive layer includes a plurality of micro-suction cups.

[0012] In one embodiment, the adhesive layer includes a plurality of mushroom-shaped tips.

[0013] In one embodiment, the adhesion layer includes a film and a plurality of fibers connecting the film and the inner surface.

[0014] An end effector for a robot includes a plurality of adhesion devices as described in any one of the above descriptions and a loading component connected among the plurality of adhesion devices, the plurality of adhesion devices being centrally symmetrically arranged about the loading component.

[0015] In one embodiment, the two ends of the loading member are respectively connected to the substrate of the plurality of adhesion devices, and the loading member is configured to load the adhesion devices in the tangential and normal directions of the surface of the object to be adsorbed.

[0016] In one embodiment, the loading component includes at least one of a tendon, a rope, and a membrane.

[0017] A robot characterized by comprising an end effector as described above.

[0018] The above solution combines two types of adhesives: directional dry adhesive layer and adhesive layer. The combined adhesive device can provide high adhesion in all directions, while requiring minimal pressure to bond the dry adhesive layer to the object, thus achieving the best results. Attached Figure Description

[0019] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an adhesion device according to an embodiment;

[0021] Figure 2 for Figure 1 The diagram shows the adhesion device acting on the object to be adsorbed.

[0022] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Enlarged view of point A in the middle;

[0023] Figure 4 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing the removal of the adhesion device from the object to be adhered to.

[0024] Figures 5A-5D They are respectively Figure 1 An enlarged view of the adhesion layer shown;

[0025] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of an end effector according to one embodiment;

[0026] Figure 7 forFigure 6 The diagram shows the end effector acting on the object to be adsorbed.

[0027] Figure 8 for Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing the removal of the adhesion device from the object to be adhered to.

[0028] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of a robot according to one embodiment. Detailed Implementation

[0029] To make the above-mentioned objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more apparent and understandable, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention can be practiced in many other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar modifications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0030] In this invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," and "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components, unless otherwise explicitly limited. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention according to the specific circumstances.

[0031] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" or "set on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or there may be an intervening element. When an element is considered to be "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or there may be an intervening element. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the only possible implementation.

[0032] See Figure 1 An embodiment of the present invention provides an adhesion device 100, including a substrate 10, a directional dry adhesive layer 20, and an adhesion layer 30. The substrate 10 includes an inner surface 12 that contacts the object S to be adsorbed and an outer surface 14 that is connected to a robotic arm. The directional dry adhesive layer 20 and the adhesion layer 30 are both disposed on the inner surface 12.

[0033] like Figure 2 and Figure 3As shown, the directional dry adhesive layer 20 has an inclined micro-wedge structure. The micro-wedge structure can be inclined in a direction opposite to the main operating direction of the adhesion device 100. In some embodiments, each micro-wedge structure includes a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface, the bottom of the first inclined surface being connected to the bottom of the second inclined surface to form a protruding tip; exemplaryly, the angle between the first inclined surface and the vertical surface is 50° to 80°, the angle between the second inclined surface and the vertical surface is 20° to 60°, and the height of a single micro-wedge structure in the vertical direction is 40 μm to 200 μm. The micro-wedge structure can be integrally cast with the substrate 10 using a mold, or it can be separately formed and then bonded to the inner surface 12 of the substrate 10 using adhesive or the like. In other embodiments, the shape and size of each micro-wedge structure can also be adjusted according to actual needs.

[0034] The adhesive layer 30 surrounds the oriented dry adhesive layer 20. The adhesive layer 30 can be designed in a variety of ways. For example, see... Figures 5A to 5C In these embodiments, the adhesive layer 30 may include a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (e.g., transparent adhesive) 32, a plurality of micro-suction cups 34, and a plurality of mushroom-shaped tips 36. The adhesive layer with mushroom-shaped tips exhibits significantly greater adhesion strength and preload ratio under normal loads than its flat-top counterparts. In another embodiment, such as... Figure 5D As shown, the adhesion layer 30 may further include a film 38 and a plurality of fibers 39 connecting the film 38 and the inner surface 12. The height of the fibers 39 may, for example, range from about 1 micrometer to 100 micrometers. The aspect ratio of the fibers may range from about 1:1 to about 5:1. The shape and / or cross-section of the fibers may be, for example, substantially circular, elliptical, hexagonal, or rectangular. In one exemplary embodiment, the trade name may be used. The specific structure of the adhesive layer 30 is formed by using 184% polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) (such as that available from Dow Chemical).

[0035] The thickness of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 is greater than that of the adhesive layer 30. Therefore, when the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 just comes into contact with the surface of the object S to be adsorbed, the adhesive layer 30 does not directly contact the object S. At this time, the adhesion mechanism of the micro-wedge structure of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 is the van der Waals force effect. When there is no tangential load, the micro-wedge structure is only slightly tilted, with only the tip contacting the surface of the object S. In this state, the van der Waals force can be ignored, and the micro-wedge structure is in a "closed" state.

[0036] like Figure 2As shown, when a certain downward pressure is applied to the substrate 10 to the object S to be adsorbed, the micro-wedge structure of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 will undergo elastic deformation, causing the adhesive layer 30 to contact the object S. When a shear force L is applied to the substrate 10, the micro-wedge structure of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 will gradually bend under force and be activated. With gradual activation, the contact area between the micro-wedge structure and the surface of the object S increases significantly. Because the normal adhesion force is proportional to the contact area between the micro-wedge structure and the object surface, the normal adhesion force also increases significantly. In addition, when the substrate 10 is preloaded in the shear direction, the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 bonds with the surface of the object S, bringing the substrate 10 closer to the surface, and further applying normal pressure to the adhesive layer 30, causing the adhesive layer 30 to bond with the surface of the object S. If the preload is maintained, the bonding between the adhesive layer 30 and the surface of the object S is stable, so an all-around load can be applied to the substrate 10 to ensure that the adhesive layer 30 obtains a very strong adhesion force.

[0037] When the adhesion device 100 needs to be removed from the surface of the object S to be adsorbed, the shear preload can be released. The oriented dry adhesive layer 20 will spring back to its initial undeformed state, so that the micro-wedge structure of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 no longer presses against the surface of the object S to be adsorbed, and only the tip contacts the object S to be adsorbed. The normal adhesion force is negligible and in a "closed" state. When the area of ​​the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 is much larger than the area of ​​the adhesion layer 30, the springback of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 can also bounce the adhesion layer 30 off the surface of the object S to be adsorbed. In other words, after the shear preload is released, the entire adhesion device 100 will automatically detach from the object S to be adsorbed.

[0038] like Figure 4 As shown, when the area of ​​the adhesive layer 30 is large, the resilience of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 may not be sufficient to peel it off from the surface of the object S to be adsorbed. In this case, a peeling force P can be actively applied to the edge of the substrate 10, causing one end of the substrate 10 to lift up, thereby manually peeling the adhesive layer 30 off the surface of the object S to be adsorbed. In this case, the preload of the shear force does not necessarily need to be maintained at all times during loading.

[0039] Directional dry adhesive layers can provide high normal and shear adhesion forces, but require significant pressure to activate. On the other hand, adhesive layers have lower bonding strength and higher shear adhesion, but typically lack high normal adhesion forces. The above embodiments combine these two types of adhesives, resulting in an adhesive device that provides high adhesion forces in all directions while requiring minimal pressure to bond the dry adhesive layer to the object, thus achieving optimal results.

[0040] like Figure 6As shown, another embodiment of the present invention provides an end effector 200 for a robot, including a plurality of adhesion devices 100 as described above and a loading member 300 connected between the plurality of adhesion devices 100. The plurality of adhesion devices 100 are arranged symmetrically about the center of the loading member 300. In this embodiment, the inclination directions of the micro-wedge structures of adjacent adhesion devices 100 are opposite.

[0041] The loading component 300 may include, but is not limited to, tendons, ropes, chains, membranes, etc. Once tensioned, the loading component 300 may be substantially non-stretchable. The loading component 300 may be made of, for example, polyimide, Kevlar, and / or polyester (PET). Both ends of the loading component 300 are respectively connected to the substrate 10 of two adjacent adhesion devices 100. See also... Figure 7 By placing the loading member 300 between two opposing adhesion devices 100, an upward force can be applied to the center of the loading member 300. In this case, the loading member 300 is configured to load the two adhesion devices 100 in both the tangential and normal directions on the surface of the object to be adhered to. Since the micro-wedge structures of the two opposing adhesion devices 100 have opposite inclination directions, and the inclination direction of each micro-wedge structure is opposite to the force applied by the loading member 300 to the substrate 10, simultaneous preloading of the shear force of the two oriented dry adhesive layers 20 can be achieved.

[0042] Similar to the aforementioned embodiments, during the loading phase, an external load can be applied through the two substrates 10 to ensure that the adhesive layer 30 achieves very strong adhesion. During the removal phase, if the rebound force of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 is large enough to overcome the adhesive force of the adhesive layer 30, the entire end effector 200 will automatically detach from the object S to be adsorbed after the shear preload is released. However, if the rebound force of the oriented dry adhesive layer 20 is insufficient to peel the adhesive layer 30 off the surface of the object S to be adsorbed, such as... Figure 8 As shown, a force can be applied to one end of the substrate 10 to cause it to tilt upwards, thus assisting in its peeling from the surface of the object to be adsorbed, S. Similarly, in this case, the preload of shear force does not necessarily need to be maintained at all times during loading.

[0043] The directional dry adhesive layer 20 is easy to bond but does not provide strong adhesion. The adhesive layer 30 provides strong adhesion but requires significant initial pressure to bond with an object. The above embodiment combines the advantages of both, namely ease of bonding and separation and strong adhesion, while eliminating their disadvantages.

[0044] See Figure 9According to one embodiment, a robot 600 is also provided. The robot 600 may include a plurality of joints 601 and an end effector 200. The robot 600 described above has broad application prospects in the picking and handling of products such as ultra-thin wafers, ultra-thin glass, flexible circuit boards, and wearable products. Those skilled in the art should understand that... Figure 6 The structure shown is merely an exemplary embodiment of robot 600. In other embodiments, robot 600 may include more or fewer components, such as I / O devices, network access devices, communication buses, processors, memory, actuators, and sensors, etc. For example, robot 600 may include a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, enable the processor to implement a control system. The memory may also store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to activate or deactivate end effector 200 to grasp or release an object to be grasped.

[0045] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined in any way. For the sake of brevity, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0046] The embodiments described above are merely illustrative of several implementations of the present invention, and while the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention patent. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of the present invention, and these all fall within the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of this invention patent should be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An adhesion device, characterized in that, include: A substrate, the inner surface of which is used to contact the object to be adsorbed; A directional dry adhesive layer is disposed on the inner surface of the substrate, the directional dry adhesive layer having a plurality of inclined micro-wedge structures, the micro-wedge structures being inclined in a direction opposite to the main operating direction of the adhesion device; and An adhesive layer is disposed on the inner surface of the substrate and surrounds the oriented dry adhesive layer, the adhesive layer comprising a film and a plurality of fibers connecting the film and the inner surface.

2. The adhesion device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The thickness of the directional dry adhesive layer is greater than the thickness of the adhesive layer.

3. An end effector for a robot, characterized in that, It includes a plurality of adhesion devices as described in any one of claims 1-2 and a loading component connected between the plurality of adhesion devices, wherein the plurality of adhesion devices are arranged symmetrically about the center of the loading component.

4. The end effector according to claim 3, characterized in that, The loading component is connected to the substrate of the plurality of adhesion devices at both ends, and the loading component is configured to load the adhesion devices in the tangential and normal directions of the surface of the object to be adsorbed.

5. The end effector according to claim 3, characterized in that, The loading component includes at least one of tendon, rope, chain, and membrane.

6. A robot, characterized in that, Includes the end effector as described in any one of claims 3-5.

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