An underwater crawling feeding robot

Abstract

The present invention relates to an underwater robot. The purpose is to provide an underwater crawling and feeding robot, which has the characteristics of being able to move amphibiously on land and water and having a good feeding effect. The technical solution is: an underwater crawling and feeding robot, characterized in that: the robot further includes a bottom crawling mechanism with four legs installed on the front and rear sides of the body shell, and a tail swimming mechanism installed at the rear end of the body shell; an underwater ascending and descending mechanism with an airbag is arranged inside the body shell; each leg includes a thigh and a calf formed by combination.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an underwater robot, specifically an underwater crawling and feeding robot. Background Art

[0002] CN115413615A discloses an underwater multi-functional automatic feeding device for marine cage aquaculture; it includes a food storage mechanism, and a feeding mechanism is fixedly installed at the bottom of the food storage mechanism. The food storage mechanism includes a storage bin, an operating rod is arranged inside the storage bin, and an adjusting mechanism for controlling its feeding speed is arranged at the bottom of the operating rod. The feeding mechanism includes a distribution bin fixedly installed at the bottom of the storage bin, a baffle fixedly installed at the top of the distribution bin and communicating with the bottom of the storage bin, a diversion block is fixedly installed in the inner cavity of the distribution bin, and an air storage tank is fixedly installed in the inner cavity of the diversion block. The present invention can play the role of adjusting the time interval of feeding fish food so as to adjust different fish food demands. However, this device does not have the function of moving in water, so supplementary feed can only be carried out at the aquaculture site, and the work efficiency is not high; on the other hand, for the aquaculture of benthic organisms (such as sea cucumbers, sea urchins, oysters, abalones, etc.), due to the action of water flow, there are often problems of inaccurate feeding, increased costs caused by feed waste, and feed environmental pollution. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the deficiencies of the above background art and provide an underwater crawling and feeding robot, which has the characteristics of being able to move amphibiously on land and water and having good feeding effect.

[0004] The technical solution provided by the present invention is:

[0005] An underwater crawling and feeding robot includes a body shell with a head feeding mechanism at the front end; characterized in that: the robot further includes a bottom crawling mechanism with four legs installed on the front and rear sides of the body shell and a tail swimming mechanism installed at the rear end of the body shell; an underwater ascending and descending mechanism with an air bag is arranged inside the body shell; each leg includes a thigh and a calf formed in combination.

[0006] The head feeding mechanism includes a chassis fixed to the body shell, a plug cover hermetically connected to the chassis to form a cavity, a rotating plug installed in the cavity, and a servo motor for driving the rotating plug.

[0007] The servo motor is installed on the chassis and is connected to the rotating plug through a cross flange.

[0008] The rotary plug includes a plurality of arc-shaped blades radially arranged on the same rotation axis and connected to each other on one side, and a circular bottom plate whose normal is parallel to the rotation axis and is connected to the plurality of arc-shaped blades; a cavity for accommodating feed is formed between two adjacent arc-shaped blades, the circular bottom plate, and the plug cover; the circular arc edge of each arc-shaped blade coincides with the inner arc surface of the plug cover.

[0009] A feed outlet for discharging feed is provided at the bottom of the plug cover.

[0010] The plug cover is hermetically connected to the chassis by means of a hinge.

[0011] A circular rib is arranged along the edge on the circular bottom plate, and the circular rib also coincides with the inner arc surface of the plug cover, and a notch corresponding to the feed outlet is provided between two adjacent arc-shaped blades.

[0012] The tail swimming mechanism includes a tail connecting piece connected to the body shell, an upper steering gear and a lower steering gear fixed on the upper and lower sides of the tail connecting piece, and a tail jointly driven by the upper steering gear and the lower steering gear.

[0013] A swing piece is jointly fixed on the swing arms of the upper steering gear and the lower steering gear; a tail wing clamped and fixed with the swing piece is fixed on the front side of the tail part.

[0014] The underwater ascending and diving mechanism includes an air chamber arranged on the body shell, an airbag connected to the tail end of the air chamber, a piston arranged in the air chamber, and three sliding shafts driven by a lead screw driven by a motor and extending into the air chamber from the front end of the air chamber and then connected to the piston.

[0015] An air inlet is provided on the baffle at the rear end of the air chamber, and the opening of the airbag is arranged along the edge of the air inlet and is hermetically connected.

[0016] Each leg includes a steering gear housing connected to the body shell and fixing an upper steering gear and a lower steering gear, a thigh with one end fixed to the rotating shaft of the upper steering gear and the other end hinged to the lower leg, a circular connecting rod swingably positioned at the rotating shaft part of the upper steering gear and driven by the lower steering gear through a pull rod, and a connecting rod with both ends respectively hinged to the right protruding part of the circular connecting rod and the top end of the lower leg to drive the lower leg.

[0017] The protruding part at the left end of the circular connecting rod is sequentially connected to the outer end of the pull rod and the outer end of the swing arm of the lower steering gear through a hinge, and the inner end of the swing arm of the lower steering gear is fixed to the rotating shaft of the lower steering gear; the protruding part at the right end of the circular connecting rod is hinged to the left end of the connecting rod, and the right end of the connecting rod is hinged to the top end of the lower leg.

[0018] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0019] 1) The robot can operate close to the seabed through the underwater crawling mechanism and the ascending / descending mechanism, gradually approaching the aquaculture organisms for precise feeding operations; this not only improves the aquaculture quality, reduces feed waste and environmental pollution, but also lowers the aquaculture cost.

[0020] 2) The tail swimming mechanism obtains the driving force for swimming through the tail component jointly driven by the upper servo motor and the lower servo motor. It imitates the swimming actions of underwater organisms to be closer to nature, and its overall shape is streamlined, which can effectively reduce the swimming resistance.

[0021] 3) The designed underwater ascending / descending mechanism changes the buoyancy by changing the volume inside the airbag. The mechanism is simple, works stably, and can effectively control the floating and sinking of the robot.

[0022] 4) The installation method of the underwater crawling mechanism is simple, the leg structure is compact, and the moment of inertia is low; the four-bar linkage mechanism is adopted, which is beneficial to the control of the robot's leg structure and can also effectively improve the stability of the leg structure during movement.

[0023] 5) The structure is simple and suitable for amphibious movement; it can face more complex operation situations and achieve effects that a single movement system cannot reach. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 is the three-dimensional structure diagram of the embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 2 is one of the exploded structure diagrams of the leg in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 3 is the second exploded structure diagram of the leg in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 4 is one of the three-dimensional structure diagrams of the head feeding mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 5 is the second three-dimensional structure diagram of the head feeding mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 6 is one of the three-dimensional structure diagrams of the tail swimming mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 7 is the second three-dimensional structure diagram of the tail swimming mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0031] Figure 8 is Figure 6 the installation structure diagram of the swing piece in the shown tail swimming mechanism.

[0032] Figure 9It is one of the three-dimensional structure schematic diagrams of the underwater lifting and diving mechanism in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0033] Figure 10 is Figure 9 the connection relationship diagram of the lead screw driven by the motor, the three-axis piston, and the air chamber in [specific context].

[0034] Reference numerals:

[0035] Upper steering gear 1, lower steering gear 2, connecting rod 3, calf 4, thigh 5, outer thigh piece 5.1, inner thigh piece 5.2, sleeve 6, inner collar 6.1, outer collar 6.2, inner ring surface 6.3, lower steering gear swing arm 7, steering gear outer baffle 8, boss 8.1, pull rod 9, annular connecting rod 10, steering gear housing 11, arc-shaped blade 12, circular bottom plate 12.1, edge 12.2, notch 12.3, steering gear 13, cross flange 14, chassis 15, hinge shaft 15.1, fixed buckle 15.2, movable buckle 15.3, plug cover 16, feed outlet 16.1, upper steering gear 17, upper steering gear swing arm 18, tail 19, tail clamping wing 19.1, swing piece 19.2, lower steering gear swing arm 20, lower steering gear 21, tail connecting piece 22, body housing 23, motor 24, pull plate 25, sliding shaft 26, air chamber 27, airbag 28, piston 29, lead screw 30. Detailed implementation manners

[0036] The underwater crawling and feeding robot shown in the drawings includes a body housing 23 and an underwater lifting and diving mechanism provided in the body housing and having an airbag; these are all similar to existing underwater robots.

[0037] The improvement of the present invention is that a head feeding mechanism is provided at the front end of the body housing, a tail swimming mechanism is installed at the rear end of the body housing, and a bottom crawling mechanism with four legs is installed on both the front and rear sides of the body housing; each leg includes a combined thigh 5 and calf 4.

[0038] In the head feeding mechanism, the chassis 15 is fixed to the body housing, the plug cover 16 is hermetically connected to the chassis to form a cavity for accommodating feed, a rotary plug is installed in the cavity, and the steering gear 13 drives the rotary plug. The steering gear is installed in the middle of the chassis and is connected to the rotary plug through a cross flange 14 (which can be connected by bolts).

[0039] In the rotary plug, a number of arc-shaped blades 12 are radially arranged on a circular base plate 12.1 (as can be seen from the figure: one straight-edge side of each arc-shaped blade close to the circular base plate is fixed to the circular base plate by welding), and one side of each arc-shaped blade is connected to each other (as can be seen from the figure: the other straight-edge side of each arc-shaped blade arranged at a right angle to the aforementioned straight-edge side is connected to the other straight-edge side of the remaining arc-shaped blades), and the connection part is located on the same rotation axis (i.e., the rotation axis of the arc-shaped blades); the normal line of the circular base plate is parallel to the rotation axis. A cavity for accommodating feed is formed between two adjacent arc-shaped blades, the circular base plate, and the plug cover; when the plug cover is hermetically connected to the chassis, the arc-shaped edges of each arc-shaped blade also coincide with the inner arc surface of the plug cover to achieve a state where two adjacent cavities are isolated from each other. The number of arc-shaped blades is preferably eight, that is, there are eight chambers.

[0040] A feed outlet 16.1 for outputting feed is provided at the bottom of the plug cover; a circular rib 12.2 is arranged along the circumferential edge on the circular base plate, and the rib coincides with the inner arc surface of the plug cover and is connected to the arc edge of the arc-shaped blade, and a notch 12.3 corresponding to the feed outlet is also provided between two adjacent arc-shaped blades. Obviously, when the plug cover rotates so that the notch is offset from the feed outlet, the feed outlet is closed; when the notch is aligned with the feed outlet, the feed outlet is opened.

[0041] Preferably, the plug cover is hermetically connected to the chassis by hinge; as can be seen from the figure: the hinge shaft 15.1 penetrates through the hinge ears of the plug cover and the chassis at the same time, connecting the two swingably; when the plug cover and the chassis are closed, the pin holes of the fixed buckle 15.2 on the chassis and the movable buckle 15.3 on the plug cover are exactly aligned, and by inserting a suitable pin, the plug cover and the chassis can be fixed and sealed as a whole.

[0042] Before feeding, open the plug cover, load the feed, and then close the plug cover. After loading the feed and entering the water, obtain the current underwater information through a camera installed on the robot. The robot first swims in the water close to the target area, and after reaching the target area, runs close to the seabed through the bottom crawling mechanism and the diving mechanism, gradually approaches the target, and finally drives the rotary plug; when the rotary plug rotates through a certain angle, under the action of gravity, the feed passes through the feed outlet under the plug cover to achieve precise feeding work, and then look for other feeding targets. When the feed in all eight chambers is fed, a feeding cycle ends, and it is necessary to return to reload the feed.

[0043] See Figure 6, the tail swimming mechanism includes a tail connecting member 22 fixed to the body shell by bolts, an upper servo 17 and a lower servo 21 fixed on the upper and lower sides of the tail connecting member, and a tail 19 jointly driven by the upper and lower servos. A swing piece 19.2 is jointly fixed on the upper servo swing arm 18 and the lower servo swing arm 20; two tail clamping wings 19.1 clamped and fixed with the swing piece are fixed on the front side of the tail (the clamping wings and the swing piece can be fixed into one body by sequentially inserting screws through the two clamping wings and the swing piece). The swing piece, the tail clamping wings, and the tail are all made of silicone material (the tail clamping wings and the tail are integrally formed), and are flexible components, which can increase the propulsion power during swinging. The upper and lower servos synchronously drive the servo swing arms to drive the tail to swing, so as to provide power for the robot to swim in water.

[0044] From Figure 9 , Figure 10 it can be known that: in the underwater ascending and diving mechanism, an air chamber 27 is arranged in the body shell, and an airbag 28 connected to the air inlet at the tail end of the air chamber is arranged at the bottom of the body shell; a piston 29 is arranged in the air chamber, and three sliding shafts 26 extend into the air chamber from the front end of the air chamber and then are connected to the piston; the motor 24 is covered and sealed by a motor shell and is fixed to the inner wall of the front baffle of the body shell by bolts; the motor shaft is fixedly connected to the left end of a lead screw 30 through a coupling, and the right end of the lead screw is in threaded fit with a lead screw nut on a pull plate 25 connected to the three sliding shafts 26. During operation, the motor drives the lead screw to rotate, and converts the rotational motion into a linear displacement through the lead screw nut, and pushes and pulls the piston connected to the three sliding shafts, resulting in the gas in the air chamber entering and leaving through the air inlet, so that the volume of the airbag 28 connected to the air chamber increases or decreases, and further the buoyancy of the airbag increases or decreases.

[0045] See Figure 2 , Figure 3 ; the bottom crawling mechanism includes four legs installed on both sides of the front and rear of the body shell. The structure of each leg is: a servo housing 11 with a servo outer baffle 8 is fixed to the body shell, an upper servo 1 is fixed on the upper part of the servo housing, and a lower servo 2 is fixed on the lower part of the servo housing. The rotating shafts of the two servos both extend outwards and are parallel to each other. The thigh 5 is formed by connecting a thigh outer piece 5.1 and a thigh inner piece 5.2 with bolts, where one end of the thigh inner piece ( Figure 3As can be seen, the upper end (the visible upper end) is first connected to the flange fixed on the upper servo motor shaft through bolts, and then the outer thigh piece is connected to the inner thigh piece. Inside the outer baffle of the servo motor, there is a boss 8.1 protruding inward and corresponding to the upper servo motor shaft, and a sleeve 6 can be sleeved on this boss for rotational fit. At the upper end of the inner thigh piece, there is a ring of outer sleeve rings 6.2 protruding outward; at the upper end of the outer thigh piece, there is also an inner ring surface 6.3 that slidably cooperates with the sleeve (the sleeve can slidably penetrate into the inner ring surface), and there is also a ring of inner sleeve rings 6.1 that is coaxial with the inner ring surface and protrudes towards the inner thigh piece. When the outer baffle of the servo motor is fixed to the servo motor housing by bolts, the inner sleeve ring is inserted into the outer sleeve ring and there is a clearance with the flange; the outer circumferential surface of the outer sleeve ring serves as the sliding fit surface of the annular connecting rod 10, and the protruding height of the outer sleeve ring is greater than the thickness of the annular connecting rod, so that the annular connecting rod can be rotatably sleeved on the outer circumferential surface of the outer sleeve ring (the annular connecting rod is first sleeved on the outer sleeve ring, and then the outer thigh piece and the inner thigh piece are connected to each other). The protruding part at the left end of the annular connecting rod is successively connected to the pull rod 9 and the outer end of the lower servo motor swing arm 7 through hinge means, and the inner end of the lower servo motor swing arm is fixed on the lower servo motor shaft; the protruding part at the right end of the annular connecting rod is hinged to the left end of the connecting rod 3, and the right end of the connecting rod is hinged to the top end of the calf 4; the middle part of the calf near the top end is hinged to the thigh (as can be seen from the figure, the calf is inserted between the inner thigh piece and the outer thigh piece and is hinged to both the inner thigh piece and the outer thigh piece) ; In this way, a four-bar linkage mechanism of thigh-calf-connecting rod-annular connecting rod can be formed. When the upper and lower servo motors act simultaneously, the thigh and the calf can cooperate to achieve the composite swing of the whole leg. The cooperation of the four legs can enable the robot to crawl on the bottom of the water.

[0046] In addition, the present invention is also equipped with a signal transceiver device for communication needs, a battery for the servo motor, and a controller for controlling the robot; these are all prior arts and will not be elaborated one by one.

[0047] The present invention is applicable to the breeding and feeding of a variety of benthic organisms and traditional fish, such as sea urchins, oysters, abalones, etc., and this robot can be used to feed feed; after being equipped with the required sensors, it can be used for environmental detection, providing a new platform and method for ecological detection in complex environments, and better ensuring the growth of the service object.

Claims

1. An underwater crawling and feeding robot, comprising a body shell with a head feeding mechanism at the front end; characterized in that: The robot further includes a bottom crawling mechanism with four legs installed on the front and rear sides of the body shell, and a tail swimming mechanism installed at the rear end of the body shell; an underwater ascending and descending mechanism with air bags is arranged inside the body shell; each leg includes a thigh (5) and a calf (4) formed by combination. The head feeding mechanism includes a chassis (15) fixed to the body shell (23), a plug cover (16) hermetically connected to the chassis to form a cavity, a rotary plug installed in the cavity, and a servo motor (13) for driving the rotary plug. The servo motor is installed on the chassis and is connected to the rotary plug through a cross flange (14). The rotary plug includes a plurality of arc-shaped blades (12) radially arranged on the same rotation axis and connected to each other on one side; a circular bottom plate (12.1) whose normal is parallel to the rotation axis and is connected to the plurality of arc-shaped blades; a cavity for accommodating feed is formed between two adjacent arc-shaped blades, the circular bottom plate, and the plug cover, and the circular arc edge of each arc-shaped blade coincides with the inner arc surface of the plug cover. A feed outlet (16.1) for outputting feed is opened at the bottom of the plug cover; the plug cover is hermetically connected to the chassis through hinge. A circle of edge guards (12.2) is arranged along the edge on the circular bottom plate, and the edge guards also coincide with the inner arc surface of the plug cover, and a notch (12.3) corresponding to the feed outlet is opened between two adjacent arc-shaped blades. Each leg includes a servo motor housing (11) connected to the body shell and fixing an upper servo motor (1) and a lower servo motor (2), a thigh with one end fixed to the rotating shaft of the upper servo motor and the other end hinged to the calf, a ring-shaped connecting rod (10) swingably positioned at the rotating shaft part of the upper servo motor and driven by the lower servo motor through a pull rod (9), and a connecting rod (3) with both ends respectively hinged to the protruding part on the right side of the ring-shaped connecting rod and the top end of the calf to drive the calf. The protruding part at the left end of the ring-shaped connecting rod is sequentially connected to the pull rod (9) and the outer end of the swing arm (7) of the lower servo motor through hinge, and the inner end of the swing arm of the lower servo motor is fixed to the rotating shaft of the lower servo motor; the protruding part at the right end of the ring-shaped connecting rod is hinged to the left end of the connecting rod, and the right end of the connecting rod is hinged to the top end of the calf.

2. The underwater crawling and swimming type feeding robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tail swimming mechanism includes a tail connecting piece (22) connected to the body shell, an upper servo motor (17) and a lower servo motor (21) fixed on the upper and lower sides of the tail connecting piece, and a tail (19) jointly driven by the upper servo motor and the lower servo motor.

3. The underwater crawling and swimming type feeding robot according to claim 2, wherein: A swing piece (19.2) is jointly fixed on the swing arms of the upper servo motor and the lower servo motor; a tail clamping wing (19.1) clamped and fixed with the swing piece is fixed on the front side of the tail.

4. The underwater crawling and swimming type feeding robot according to claim 3, wherein: The underwater ascending and descending mechanism includes an air chamber (27) arranged in the body shell, an air bag (28) connected to the tail end of the air chamber, a piston (29) arranged in the air chamber, and three sliding shafts (26) driven by a lead screw (30) driven by a motor (24) and extending into the air chamber from the front end of the air chamber and then connected to the piston.

5. The underwater crawling and swimming type feeding robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: An air inlet is opened on the baffle at the rear end of the air chamber, and the opening of the air bag is arranged along the edge of the air inlet and is hermetically connected.

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