Rope-towing self-adapting soft manipulator

Abstract

The application discloses a rope traction self-adaptive soft manipulator, which comprises a flexible gripping mechanism and a plurality of driving assemblies. The flexible gripping mechanism comprises a base and a plurality of flexible clamping bodies in the shape of analog fingers. The plurality of flexible clamping bodies are arranged around the center of the base. The plurality of driving assemblies are used for driving each flexible clamping body to move inwards or outwards. The rope traction self-adaptive soft manipulator has the advantages of small size, simple structure and low cost. The combination of the rope traction driving mode and the elastic material enables the manipulator to have self-adaptive gripping capacity, can realize stable gripping of fragile, breakable and soft objects, and is suitable for application in the fields of agricultural picking robots and intelligent manufacturing flexible assembly.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of adaptive manipulator technology, and more particularly to a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator. Background Technology

[0002] Fruit and vegetable harvesting is crucial in agricultural production. Statistics show that it accounts for 40% of the total labor in agricultural production. This is because traditional manual labor is still used for harvesting, leading to the following problems: ① High workload. Due to the very short ripening period of fruits and vegetables, harvesting must be completed within a limited time. This makes harvesting highly seasonal, and the need to complete harvesting in a short time places a huge demand on labor, increasing labor costs. ② Safety hazards. Different types of fruits and vegetables have different distributions and heights, and the variety of fruits requires different tools, some even requiring ladders for harvesting. This is inefficient and can easily cause injury to workers.

[0003] Based on the above problems, whether a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator can be developed to realize the mechanized and automated operation of fruit and vegetable harvesting has become an urgent problem to be solved.

[0004] Adaptive soft robotic arms are made of deformable soft materials. They can stably grasp soft and fragile objects by utilizing the self-adaptive properties of the elastic deformation of the soft material in different operating environments. As a result, they have been widely used, especially in the field of agricultural harvesting.

[0005] In agricultural fruit and vegetable harvesting, the diverse shapes and sizes of fruits, coupled with their fragility, place high demands on end effectors. Robotic arms are required to adaptively and stably grasp soft fruits, enabling mechanized and damage-free harvesting. Rope-driven flexible robotic arms offer advantages such as simple structure, ease of manufacturing, easy control, no airtightness requirements, high output force and efficiency, long-distance transmission in confined spaces, and adaptability and compliance, making them ideal for agricultural harvesting. Therefore, developing a rope-driven flexible robotic arm capable of adaptive and stable grasping is crucial. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The purpose of this invention is to propose a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator with adaptive grasping capabilities, which can achieve stable and safe grasping of various fragile, delicate, and soft objects, especially for the stable grasping of fruits and vegetables in the agricultural harvesting field.

[0007] To achieve this objective, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0008] A rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator includes a flexible gripping mechanism and multiple drive components. The flexible gripping mechanism includes a base and multiple flexible grippers that mimic fingers. The multiple flexible grippers are arranged around the center of the base. The multiple drive components are used to drive each of the flexible grippers to perform inward bending or outward bending movements.

[0009] Preferably, the multiple flexible clamping bodies have the same structure, and the flexible clamping bodies are integrally formed from non-metallic elastic materials.

[0010] Preferably, the flexible clamping body is integrally molded from thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer material.

[0011] Preferably, the flexible clamping body has multiple first oblique cuts and multiple second oblique cuts, and the multiple first oblique cuts and multiple second oblique cuts are distributed alternately on both sides of the flexible clamping body.

[0012] Preferably, the angle between the first oblique cut and the second oblique cut and the horizontal line is 20° to 30°, the opening width of the first oblique cut and the second oblique cut is 3cm, and the opening depth is 1cm.

[0013] Preferably, the flexible clamping body has multiple front rope guide channels and multiple back rope guide channels. The front rope guide channels are obliquely opened between adjacent first oblique cuts, and the back rope guide channels are obliquely opened between adjacent second oblique cuts.

[0014] Preferably, the top of the flexible clamping body is provided with a first winding through hole and a second winding through hole, the first winding through hole being obliquely connected to the first oblique cut, and the second winding through hole being obliquely connected to the second oblique cut.

[0015] Preferably, the drive assembly includes a drive motor and a traction rope. One end of the traction rope is connected to the output end of the drive motor, and the other end of the traction rope passes sequentially through the base, multiple front rope guide channels of the flexible clamping body, the first winding hole, the second winding hole, and multiple reverse rope guide channels, and then passes through the base again before connecting to the output end of the drive motor. When the drive motor rotates forward, the output end of the drive motor exerts a pulling force on one end of the traction rope, causing the flexible clamping body to bend inward. When the drive motor rotates in reverse, the output end of the drive motor exerts a pulling force on the other end of the traction rope, causing the flexible clamping body to bend outward.

[0016] Preferably, the device further includes multiple connectors, which are disposed at the bottom end of the flexible clamping body, and the flexible clamping body is connected to the base through the connectors.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0018] 1. The rope-driven adaptive soft manipulator of this invention has the advantages of small size, simple structure and low cost. By combining rope traction drive and elastic material, the manipulator has adaptive grasping ability and can stably grasp fragile, delicate and soft objects. It is suitable for application in fields such as agricultural harvesting robots and intelligent manufacturing flexible assembly.

[0019] 2. The rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator of the present invention can achieve two-point clamping and envelope grasping of target objects under closed-loop control. By combining the elastic deformation of the flexible gripper with the rope traction method, multiple flexible grippers can be controlled to bend inward or outward simultaneously according to work requirements. When it is necessary to grasp the target object, the flexible gripping mechanism is in an inward closed posture; and when it is necessary to remove obstacles, the flexible gripping mechanism is in an outward flipping posture.

[0020] 3. The present invention is a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator. The traction rope forms an S-shaped wiring path in the flexible gripper body, realizing three-dimensional spatial winding and bending of the flexible gripper body. This enables stable gripping of targets with flow and deformation, greatly improving the flexibility and compliance of the gripping, and enhancing the manipulator's anti-damage coupling capability.

[0021] 4. The rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator of the present invention utilizes the flexibility of the soft material and the elasticity of the rope traction drive method to adapt to the creep deformation or elastic deformation of the grasping target, so as to achieve good adaptive interaction between the grasping mechanism and the grasping target, and achieve the purpose of mechanized and non-destructive grasping.

[0022] 5. The rope traction drive method adopted in this invention has a simple structure and a size similar to a human hand. It has good flexibility and adaptability, and can realize multiple working modes without the need for a large number of drivers and complex control algorithms. Attached Figure Description

[0023] The accompanying drawings further illustrate the present invention, but the content of the drawings does not constitute any limitation on the present invention.

[0024] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 2 This is a front perspective view of the flexible gripper of a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator according to the present invention;

[0026] Figure 3 This is a perspective view of the reverse side of the flexible gripper of a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator according to the present invention.

[0027] Figure 4 This is a side perspective view of the flexible gripper of a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator according to the present invention.

[0028] Figure 5 This invention relates to the front rope path of the flexible gripper of a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator.

[0029] Figure 6 This invention relates to the reverse rope path of a flexible gripper in a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator.

[0030] The components include: a flexible clamping body 1; a first winding hole 2; front rope guide holes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18; a connector 19; a second winding hole 20; reverse rope guide holes 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36; a cable outlet hole 37; a cable inlet hole 38; a base 39; motor channel holes 40, 41, 42; drive motors 43, 44, 45; one end of the traction rope 46; and the other end of the traction rope 47. Detailed Implementation

[0031] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0032] This embodiment describes a rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator, as shown in the attached diagram. Figure 1 It includes a flexible gripping mechanism and three drive components. The flexible gripping mechanism includes a base 39 and three flexible gripping bodies 1 that simulate fingers. The three flexible gripping bodies 1 are arranged around the center of the base 39. The three drive components are used to drive each flexible gripping body 1 to bend inward or outward.

[0033] Preferably, the three flexible clamping bodies 1 have identical structures, and the flexible clamping bodies 1 are integrally molded from non-metallic elastic materials. Specifically, the three independent flexible clamping components have completely identical structures, all of which are integrally molded flexible clamping components. The integrally molded design of the flexible clamping bodies 1 results in a simple structure, easy manufacturing, no need for assembly and maintenance, and no friction loss. This is manifested in the replacement of traditional kinematic pairs with multi-concentrated flexibility kinematic pairs.

[0034] Furthermore, the flexible clamping body 1 is integrally molded from thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU) material. Therefore, the flexible clamping body 1 integrally molded from thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU) material in this embodiment meets the usage requirements in terms of the ratio of ultimate tensile strength to elastic modulus and the material's fatigue resistance, ensuring that the material will not experience tension relaxation or creep during deformation, and that thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer material is economically viable.

[0035] Preferably, the flexible clamping body 1 has multiple first oblique cuts and multiple second oblique cuts, which are staggered on both sides of the flexible clamping body 1. By providing multiple first oblique cuts and second oblique cuts on both sides of the flexible clamping body 1, the flexible clamping body 1 can more easily bend inward or outward under the drive of the driving component, thus meeting the requirements for clamping the target object.

[0036] Furthermore, the angle between the first and second oblique cuts and the horizontal line is 20°, the opening width of the first and second oblique cuts is 3cm, and the opening depth is 1cm. Setting the inclination angle of the first and second oblique cuts to 20° can better simulate the movement of fingers, thereby achieving the purpose of stable grasping; it can be adjusted according to the bending degree requirement of the flexible clamping body 1. If a higher degree of bending is required, the width and depth of the first and second oblique cuts can be increased.

[0037] Preferred options are listed in the appendix. Figures 2-6 The flexible clamping body 1 has multiple front rope guide holes and back rope guide holes. Each first oblique cut has front rope guide holes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 on both the upper and lower sides. Adjacent first oblique cuts form front rope guide channels communicating with the front rope guide holes, thus creating multiple obliquely arranged front rope guide channels within the flexible clamping body 1. Similarly, each second oblique cut has back rope guide holes on both the upper and lower sides. Adjacent second oblique cuts form back rope guide channels 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 communicating with the back rope guide holes, thus creating multiple obliquely arranged back rope guide channels within the flexible clamping body 1. As a result, the drive component of the rope traction passes through multiple front rope guide holes and multiple back rope guide holes in the flexible gripper 1 to form an S-shaped wiring path, thereby realizing three-dimensional spatial winding and bending of the flexible gripper 1. This enables stable gripping of targets with flow deformation, greatly improving the compliance and adaptability of the gripping, and enhancing the anti-damage coupling capability of the robot.

[0038] Preferably, the drive assembly includes drive motors 43, 44, and 45 and traction ropes. The bottom of the base 39 has motor channel holes 40, 41, and 42. The traction ropes of the three drive assemblies pass through the motor channel holes and enter the flexible clamping body 11. One end 46 of the traction rope is connected to the output end of the drive motor. The other end 47 of the traction rope passes through the inlet hole 38 at the bottom of the flexible clamping body, through the front rope guide holes 10, 18, 9, 17, 8, 16, 7, 15, 6, 14, 5, 13, 4, 12, 3, 11, the first winding hole 2, the second winding hole 20, and through the reverse rope guide holes 29, 21, 30, 22, 31, 23, 32, 24, 33, 25, 34, 26, 35, 27, 36, and 28, and finally passes through the outlet hole 37 at the bottom of the flexible clamping body and is connected to the output end of the drive motor. Therefore, the traction rope forms an S-shaped wiring path within the flexible elastic body. When the drive motor rotates forward, its output end exerts a pulling force on one end of the traction rope, causing the flexible clamping body 1 to bend inward. When the drive motor rotates in reverse, its output end exerts a pulling force on the other end of the traction rope, causing the flexible clamping body 1 to bend outward. The drive motor can be a servo motor, stepper motor, or similar type. Thus, the underactuated rope traction drive method of this embodiment has a simple structure, small size, and good adaptability.

[0039] Preferably, the device further includes three connectors 19, which are respectively disposed at the bottom ends of the three flexible clamping bodies 1. The flexible clamping bodies 1 are connected to the base 39 through the connectors 19. Thus, the flexible clamping bodies 1 are all fixed to the base 39 through the connectors 19, so that the three flexible clamping bodies 1 are independent of each other and can independently or jointly perform inward or outward bending movements by being driven by the drive assembly.

[0040] The technical principles of the present invention have been described above with reference to specific embodiments. These descriptions are merely for explaining the principles of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of the invention in any way. Based on this explanation, those skilled in the art can readily conceive of other specific embodiments of the invention without inventive effort, and these embodiments will all fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator, characterized in that, It includes a flexible gripping mechanism and multiple drive components. The flexible gripping mechanism includes a base and multiple flexible clamping bodies that simulate fingers. The multiple flexible clamping bodies are arranged around the center of the base. The multiple drive components are used to drive each of the flexible clamping bodies to bend inward or outward. The flexible clamping body has multiple first oblique cuts and multiple second oblique cuts, and the multiple first oblique cuts and multiple second oblique cuts are distributed alternately on both sides of the flexible clamping body; The flexible clamping body has multiple front rope guide channels and multiple back rope guide channels. The front rope guide channels are inclinedly opened between adjacent first oblique cuts, and the back rope guide channels are inclinedly opened between adjacent second oblique cuts. The top of the flexible clamping body is provided with a first winding through hole and a second winding through hole. The first winding through hole is obliquely connected to the first oblique cut, and the second winding through hole is obliquely connected to the second oblique cut. The drive assembly includes a drive motor and a traction rope. One end of the traction rope is connected to the output end of the drive motor. The other end of the traction rope passes sequentially through the base, multiple front rope guide channels of the flexible clamping body, the first winding hole, the second winding hole, and multiple reverse rope guide channels, and then passes through the base again before connecting to the output end of the drive motor. When the drive motor rotates forward, the output end of the drive motor exerts a pulling force on one end of the traction rope, causing the flexible clamping body to bend inward. When the drive motor rotates in reverse, the output end of the drive motor exerts a pulling force on the other end of the traction rope, causing the flexible clamping body to bend outward.

2. The rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator according to claim 1, characterized in that, The multiple flexible clamping bodies have the same structure, and the flexible clamping bodies are integrally formed from non-metallic elastic materials.

3. The rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator according to claim 1, characterized in that, The flexible clamping body is integrally molded from thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer material.

4. The rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator according to claim 1, characterized in that, The angle between the first oblique cut and the second oblique cut and the horizontal line is 20° to 30°. The opening width of the first oblique cut and the second oblique cut is 3cm and the opening depth is 1cm.

5. The rope-traction adaptive soft manipulator according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes multiple connectors, which are located at the bottom end of the flexible clamping body, and the flexible clamping body is connected to the base through the connectors.

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