Non-tethered snake-like coiled flexible pipe climbing robot and application

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of no tie-up imitative snake winding type flexible pipe-climbing robot and application, it is in to solve the existing rigid climbing robot complex structure, volume is larger, in some application occasions, the problem of limited use.Simply the movement of snake into three parts inspired by the movement of tree-dwelling snake winding, and further propose the no tie-up imitative snake winding type flexible pipe-climbing robot of the present application.The main structure includes body telescopic actuating unit, flexible gripping actuating unit being arranged at the both ends of body telescopic actuating unit.In the structure, two flexible gripping actuating units are used as head and tail, and one body telescopic actuating unit is used as body.The application drives the flexible robot body by the portable power supply carried by itself, realizes no tie-up driving, and rotates around the first positioning hole through the flexible gripping actuating unit, forms another crawling form, realizes the function of in-pipe crawling, and provides a new method for the development of future out-of-pipe in-pipe crawling flexible robot.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of mechanics, particularly the field of flexible robots, specifically to an untethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot and its applications. More specifically, this application, with reference to the arboreal snake-like coiling crawling motion, provides a snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot that can meet the requirements of pipe climbing in complex environments and has good adaptability. Background Technology

[0002] Pipe-climbing robots have significant application potential in special environments, thus attracting continuous research from scientists. For example, Chinese patent CN113183143B discloses a pipe-climbing robot, which includes several arrayed pneumatic muscles, a PCB circuit board and a permanent magnet fixing plate arranged at intervals on the pneumatic muscles, a number of arrayed magnetic induction sensors mounted on the PCB circuit board, and permanent magnets corresponding to each magnetic induction sensor on the permanent magnet fixing plate. The centers of the magnetic induction sensors and permanent magnets arranged opposite each other are coaxial.

[0003] Chinese patent CN103795289B discloses a pipe crawling robot, in which upper movable arm I and upper movable arm II with a cross-section of horizontal J are arranged opposite to each other, and their long ends are respectively provided with upward protrusions I and II; at least one set of transverse piezoelectric stacked actuators I has its two end faces fastened to the inner surfaces of protrusions I and II.

[0004] Chinese patent CN102975783B discloses a single-wheeled pipe-climbing robot, which includes a drive unit, a gripping arm device, and a parallel adjustment device. The drive unit is located in the middle, with the gripping arm devices and parallel adjustment devices symmetrically arranged on both sides. The drive unit includes a motion wheel with a built-in motor, a steering mechanism, and a base plate for placing control devices and flaw detection instruments. The steering mechanism allows the pipe-climbing robot to move 360 ​​degrees around the pipe. The gripping arm device can adjust its length according to the pipe diameter, allowing the pipe-climbing robot to run securely on the pipe. The parallel adjustment device ensures that the base plate is always parallel to the pipe being climbed by the robot.

[0005] Chinese patent CN108869950B discloses a flexible crawling robot for pipelines, comprising a front and rear walking mechanism and a steering mechanism. The steering mechanism is located between the front and rear walking mechanisms. Each of the front and rear walking mechanisms includes a base, a main motor, an auxiliary motor, a worm gear, a support plate, a lead screw, a lead nut, a spring, a sliding sleeve, a retaining ring, a guide rod, a swing arm assembly, and a connecting rod. The swing arm assembly includes an arm, a chain, a worm gear set, and a gear set. The main motor drives the gear set to rotate via worm gear transmission and sprocket transmission. The auxiliary motor flexibly drives the gears of the swing arm assembly to radially support or detach from the inner wall of the pipeline through a helical transmission pair composed of a lead screw and a lead nut, a spring, a sliding sleeve, and a connecting rod. The steering mechanism includes a motor, a cam, a lever, a support plate, a main spring, and a connecting member. The connecting member passes through the cam and the support plate and connects to the front and rear walking mechanisms. The motor pushes and pulls the connecting member through the cam and the lever, forcing the front and rear walking mechanisms to deflect relative to each other.

[0006] The inventors discovered that existing rigid crawling robots perform well in unstructured environments such as ladders, walls, pipes, and poles, but they typically rely on complex mechanisms composed of rigid actuators and transmission components. This design suffers from several drawbacks: segmentation, inflexibility, complexity, bulkiness, and high cost. In certain special situations, such as confined spaces or pipes with small inner or outer diameters, the application of existing rigid crawling robots is limited by their size and weight.

[0007] While flexible robots can achieve crawling and crawling movements through the coordination of multiple flexible actuators, they struggle to crawl on the inner or outer surfaces of rods and pipes, especially the simultaneous ability to crawl on both the inner and outer surfaces of pipes. Furthermore, most flexible robots are connected to external power sources via wires or tubing, which hinders their crawling capabilities within complex pipelines.

[0008] Therefore, it is particularly important to develop a pipe-climbing robot that can adapt to complex pipeline environments. Summary of the Invention

[0009] The purpose of this invention is to address the problems of existing rigid crawling robots, such as complex structure, large size, and limited use in certain applications, by providing a tethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot and its applications. The tethered flexible pipe-climbing robot of this application exhibits excellent climbing performance on the inner and outer surfaces of rods and pipes, meeting the application requirements in various environments.

[0010] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0011] A tethered, snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot includes a flexible gripping actuation unit, a body extension actuation unit, and a control unit, wherein the flexible gripping actuation unit is a set;

[0012] The flexible gripping actuation unit includes an actuation motor, a fixed disk, an actuation stranded wire disk, a positioning component, a linear elastic support component, a wire reel assembly, an actuation linear drive component, a first guide component, and a second guide component, wherein there are N first guide components and N second guide components; the wire reel assembly includes an end connecting wire reel and a middle connecting wire reel, wherein there are N middle connecting wire reels, and the middle connecting wire reels are provided with a first connecting hole and a second connecting hole; N is a natural number, and N≥2;

[0013] The actuating motor is connected to the fixed disk and the fixed disk can provide support for the actuating motor. The fixed disk is provided with a first through hole that cooperates with the actuating motor and the rotating shaft of the actuating motor can pass through the first through hole. The actuating stranded disc is disposed on the rotating shaft of the actuating motor and the actuating motor can drive the actuating stranded disc to rotate.

[0014] The positioning element is connected to the fixed plate, and the fixed plate can provide support for the positioning element. The positioning element is provided with a first positioning hole that cooperates with the linear elastic support element. One end of the linear elastic support element is connected to the end connecting coil. The linear elastic support element passes through the first connecting hole on the middle connecting coil in sequence. The other end of the linear elastic support element is connected to the first positioning hole. The linear elastic support element is in the shape of a helical spring. The middle connecting coil is arranged between the positioning element and the end connecting coil in sequence.

[0015] The actuating linear drive is located inside the linear elastic support; one end of the actuating linear drive is connected to the end connecting coil, the actuating linear drive passes through the second connecting hole on the middle connecting coil in sequence, and the other end of the actuating linear drive is connected to the actuating stranded disc.

[0016] The first guide and the second guide are sleeves made of flexible material, and the length of the first guide is greater than the length of the second guide; the linear elastic support passes through the first guide, and the first guide is located between the end connecting reel and its adjacent middle connecting reel, and between two adjacent middle connecting reels; the actuating linear drive passes through the second guide, and the second guide is located between the end connecting reel and its adjacent middle connecting reel, and between two adjacent middle connecting reels;

[0017] The end connecting coil, linear elastic support, first guide, actuating linear drive, second guide, and middle connecting coil together constitute a spiral drive claw.

[0018] The body telescopic actuation unit includes a telescopic spring, a telescopic linear drive, a telescopic motor, and a linear drive limiting disk. The two ends of the telescopic spring are respectively connected to the flexible gripping actuation unit, and the two flexible gripping actuation units can be brought closer together or separated through the telescopic spring.

[0019] The telescopic motor also includes a telescopic reducer and a telescopic twisted wire disc that cooperates with the telescopic reducer. The telescopic reducer is connected to the motor shaft, and the telescopic twisted wire disc is disposed on the output shaft of the telescopic reducer.

[0020] The actuators of the two flexible gripping actuators are respectively referred to as the first actuator and the second actuator; the telescopic motor is connected to the first actuator and the first actuator can provide support for the telescopic motor;

[0021] The linear drive component limiting disks are B in number, where B is a natural number and B≥3; the linear drive component limiting disks are evenly distributed between the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor, and the linear drive component limiting disks at both ends are connected to the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor respectively; the linear drive component limiting disks are provided with a central hole that cooperates with the telescopic linear drive component.

[0022] One end of the telescopic linear drive is connected to the telescopic twisted disc of the telescopic motor, and the other end of the telescopic linear drive passes through the central hole on the linear drive limiting disc and is connected to the second actuation motor. The telescopic motor can drive the telescopic linear drive to retract or open by rotating in the forward or reverse direction to realize the approach or separation of the two flexible gripping actuation units.

[0023] The actuator motor and the actuator motor are respectively connected to the control unit.

[0024] The first guide and the second guide are sleeves made of rubber or plastic materials, respectively.

[0025] The first guide and the second guide are sleeves made of silicone rubber material.

[0026] The connecting coil is 3D printed from PLA material, the actuation linear drive component is made of nylon wire, and the linear elastic support component is a helical spring made of carbon spring steel wire.

[0027] The linear elastic support is detachably connected to the first positioning hole.

[0028] The actuation motor is a miniature DC geared motor.

[0029] The actuating motor is equipped with a reduction gearbox.

[0030] The positioning element is rectangular in shape, and the linear elastic support element is inserted into the first positioning hole.

[0031] As an alternative, the first guide member and the second guide member are compression springs.

[0032] The two ends of the telescopic spring are respectively connected to the actuation motors of two flexible gripping actuation units.

[0033] The two ends of the telescopic spring are respectively connected to two flexible gripping actuation units.

[0034] The telescopic motor is a miniature DC geared motor; the telescopic spring is made of carbon steel; and the telescopic linear drive component is made of nylon wire.

[0035] One end of the telescopic linear drive component passes through the central hole of the linear drive component limiting disk fixed to the second actuation motor, and then passes through the central hole on the linear drive component limiting disk between the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor in sequence, and finally connects to the telescopic twisted wire disk on the telescopic motor.

[0036] The end connecting coil, linear elastic support, first guide, and middle connecting coil constitute a first support assembly; in the first support assembly, the linear elastic support plays a supporting role and is disposed within the first guide, making the first support assembly resemble a helical spring.

[0037] The end connecting coil, the actuating linear drive, the second guide, and the middle connecting coil constitute the second drive assembly;

[0038] The actuating linear drive element of the second drive component is located inside the linear elastic support element of the first support component;

[0039] In the second drive assembly, one end of the actuating linear drive is disposed on the actuating twisted wire disk. The actuating twisted wire disk can drive the actuating linear drive to retract or expand by rotating in the forward or reverse direction to achieve the gripping or releasing of the spiral drive claw.

[0040] It also includes a mobile power supply that is electrically connected to the control system.

[0041] The aforementioned application of the untethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot.

[0042] This flexible pipe-climbing robot can be used for climbing poles or pipes.

[0043] This flexible pipe-climbing robot is used for climbing the inner and outer surfaces of rods or pipes.

[0044] To address the aforementioned issues, this application provides an untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot and its application, aiming to solve the problems that existing soft robots generally have complex control systems and difficulty in simultaneously achieving crawling functions inside and outside the pipe.

[0045] Inspired by the coiling and crawling motion of arboreal snakes, this application simplifies snake movement into three parts, leading to the development of an untethered, snake-like, coiling flexible tube-climbing robot. Its main structure includes a body extension actuation unit and flexible gripping actuation units located at both ends of the body extension actuation unit. In this structure, two flexible gripping actuation units serve as the head and tail, while one body extension actuation unit serves as the body. The two flexible gripping actuation units are located at opposite ends of the body extension actuation unit. A drive motor with a reducer rotates the actuation coil disc, pulling the corresponding linear actuator of the flexible gripping actuation unit to achieve the gripping function. The power supply, actuation motor, and extension motor are all fixed inside the body extension actuation unit. The body extension actuation unit rotates the extension coil disc via its internal extension motor, pulling the corresponding extension linear actuator to achieve the extension and retraction of the extension spring.

[0046] This invention eliminates the need for external power source control. Instead, it drives the flexible robot body using its own portable power source, achieving untethered actuation. Furthermore, by rotating the flexible gripping actuation unit around the first positioning hole, it forms another crawling pattern, enabling it to crawl inside pipes. This provides a new method for the development of flexible robots that crawl both inside and outside pipes in the future.

[0047] Compared with the prior art, this application designs: (1) We designed (1) two flexible gripping actuation units that can adapt to unpredictable rods and effectively grasp them; (2) a body extension actuation unit that can quickly generate large deformations; (3) At the same time, by controlling the movement process of the flexible gripping actuation unit and the body extension actuation unit through the control unit, agile and stable climbing can be achieved, which has good application value. Attached Figure Description

[0048] The present invention will be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0049] Figure 1 This application demonstrates the external climbing state of the untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot. Figure 1 .

[0050] Figure 2 This application demonstrates the external crawling state of the untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot. Figure 2 .

[0051] Figure 3 This application demonstrates the untethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot's pipe-climbing capability. Figure 1 .

[0052] Figure 4 This application demonstrates the untethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot's pipe-climbing capability within the pipe. Figure 2 .

[0053] The markings in the diagram are: 1. Control unit; 2. Flexible gripping actuation unit; 3. Body telescopic actuation unit; 21. Actuation motor; 22. Fixed disc; 23. Actuation stranded wire disc; 24. Positioning component; 25. Linear elastic support component; 26. Actuation linear drive component; 27. End connecting wire disc; 28. Middle connecting wire disc; 31. Telescopic spring; 32. Telescopic linear drive component; 33. Telescopic motor; 34. Linear drive component limit disc. Detailed Implementation

[0054] All features disclosed in this specification, or steps in all methods or processes disclosed herein, may be combined in any way, except for mutually exclusive features and / or steps.

[0055] Any feature disclosed in this specification, unless otherwise stated, may be replaced by other equivalent or similar features. That is, unless otherwise stated, each feature is merely one example of a series of equivalent or similar features.

[0056] Example 1

[0057] The inventors discovered that existing soft robots generally suffer from complex control systems, require connection to an external power source, and struggle to simultaneously achieve both in-tube and out-of-tube crawling functions. To address this, this embodiment provides an untethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot, comprising a flexible gripping actuation unit, a body extension actuation unit, and a control unit. The flexible gripping actuation unit is a single unit.

[0058] In this embodiment, the flexible gripping actuation unit includes an actuation motor, a fixed disk, an actuation stranded wire disk, a positioning component, a linear elastic support component, a wire reel assembly, an actuation linear drive component, a first guide component, and a second guide component, with N first guide components and N second guide components. The wire reel assembly includes end connecting wire reels and middle connecting wire reels, with N middle connecting wire reels, each with a first connecting hole and a second connecting hole; N is a natural number, and N≥2.

[0059] The actuating motor is connected to the fixed disk, and the fixed disk provides support for the actuating motor. The fixed disk has a first through hole that mates with the actuating motor, and the shaft of the actuating motor passes through the first through hole. The actuating stranded disc is mounted on the shaft of the actuating motor, and the actuating motor drives the actuating stranded disc to rotate. The positioning component is connected to the fixed disk, and the fixed disk provides support for the positioning component. The positioning component has a first positioning hole that mates with the linear elastic support component.

[0060] One end of the linear elastic support is connected to the end connecting coil. The linear elastic support passes through the first connecting hole on the middle connecting coil, and the other end of the linear elastic support is connected to the first positioning hole. The linear elastic support is in the shape of a helical spring. The middle connecting coil is sequentially arranged between the positioning member and the end connecting coil. The actuating linear drive is located inside the linear elastic support; one end of the actuating linear drive is connected to the end connecting coil. The actuating linear drive passes through the second connecting hole on the middle connecting coil, and the other end of the actuating linear drive is connected to the actuating stranded wire disc.

[0061] The first guide and the second guide are sleeves made of flexible material. A linear elastic support passes through the first guide, which is located between the end connecting reel and its adjacent middle connecting reel, and between two adjacent middle connecting reels. An actuating linear drive passes through the second guide, which is located between the end connecting reel and its adjacent middle connecting reel, and between two adjacent middle connecting reels.

[0062] In this embodiment, the first guide and the second guide are respectively made of rubber or plastic sleeves, with the length of the first guide being greater than that of the second guide; further, the first guide and the second guide are respectively made of silicone rubber sleeves. In a specific example, the connecting coil is 3D printed from PLA material, the actuating linear drive is made of 0.457mm diameter nylon wire, and the linear elastic support is made of 0.60mm diameter carbon spring steel wire, which is coiled to form a helical spring with a median diameter of 45.0mm, i.e., the linear elastic support is in the shape of a helical spring; the first guide and the second guide are respectively made of silicone rubber sleeves with an outer diameter of 2.00mm and an inner diameter of 1.00mm, the length of the first guide is 12.50mm, and the length of the second guide is 10.50mm. The linear elastic support is detachably connected to the first positioning hole.

[0063] Specifically, a linear elastic support made of carbon spring steel wire and an actuation linear drive made of nylon wire pass through two small holes (i.e., the first connection hole and the second connection hole in this embodiment) of the middle section connecting coil, and then pass through silicone rubber sleeves (i.e., the first guide and the second guide in this embodiment) to separate adjacent middle section connecting coils.

[0064] The linear elastic support is inserted into a 12.50mm long silicone rubber sleeve (i.e., the first guide in this embodiment), and the actuating linear drive is inserted into a 10.50mm long silicone rubber sleeve (i.e., the second guide in this embodiment). The sleeve inserted into the linear elastic support (i.e., the first guide in this embodiment) controls the distance between adjacent intermediate connecting coils. The sleeve inserted into the actuating linear drive (i.e., the second guide in this embodiment) increases the friction between the flexible gripping actuation unit and the pipe surface when gripping, and can rotate around the actuating linear drive to reduce friction when releasing. After assembling the above parts, the linear elastic support is inserted into the hole (i.e., the positioning part in this embodiment) on the small piece of the fixed plate (i.e., the positioning part in this embodiment) to achieve fixation. The flat side of the fixed plate is used to connect the actuating motor. The shaft of the actuating motor passes through the large circular hole of the fixed plate (i.e., the first through hole in this embodiment). The outer surface of the gearbox of the actuating motor is attached to the flat side of the fixed plate and fixed by hot melt adhesive. The flexible gripping actuation units that make up the robot's head and tail are completely identical.

[0065] In one specific example, the actuating motor is a miniature DC geared motor. Preferably, the miniature DC geared motor is equipped with a gearbox, and the miniature DC geared motor is fixed to the surface of the fixed disk by hot melt adhesive. The positioning component is rectangular, and the linear elastic support is inserted into the first positioning hole; with this structure, a portion of the actuating linear drive component is wound around the actuating stranded wire disk, and the tension of the actuating linear drive component prevents the linear elastic support component from falling out of the first positioning hole. As an alternative, the first guide component and the second guide component are compression springs, and the length of the first guide component is greater than the length of the second guide component.

[0066] In this structure, the end connecting coil, linear elastic support, first guide, and middle connecting coil constitute a first support assembly. Within this first support assembly, the linear elastic support serves a supporting function and is positioned within the first guide, thus giving the first support assembly a helical spring shape. Simultaneously, the end connecting coil, actuating linear drive, second guide, and middle connecting coil constitute a second drive assembly. The actuating linear drive of the second drive assembly is located inside the linear elastic support of the first support assembly. The end connecting coil, linear elastic support, actuating linear drive, first guide, and middle connecting coil together form a helical drive claw. In the second drive assembly, one end of the actuating linear drive is mounted on an actuating stranded disc. The actuating stranded disc, by rotating forward or backward, can cause the actuating linear drive to retract or expand, thereby tightening or loosening the helical drive claw.

[0067] The body telescopic actuation unit includes a telescopic spring, a telescopic linear drive, a telescopic motor, and a linear drive limiting disk. The two ends of the telescopic spring are connected to flexible gripping actuation units, and the two flexible gripping actuation units can be brought closer together or separated by the telescopic spring. In a specific example, the two ends of the telescopic spring are connected to the actuation motors of the two flexible gripping actuation units, respectively.

[0068] Meanwhile, the telescopic motor also includes a telescopic reducer and a telescopic twisted wire disc that cooperates with the telescopic reducer. The telescopic reducer is connected to the motor's shaft, and the telescopic twisted wire disc is mounted on the output shaft of the telescopic reducer. The actuation motors of the two flexible gripping actuation units are respectively designated as the first actuation motor and the second actuation motor. The telescopic motor is connected to the first actuation motor, and the first actuation motor provides support for the telescopic motor. One end of the telescopic linear drive is connected to the telescopic twisted wire disc of the telescopic motor, and the other end of the telescopic linear drive is connected to the second actuation motor. The telescopic motor, through forward or reverse rotation, can drive the telescopic spring to retract or expand, thereby realizing the approach or separation of the two flexible gripping actuation units. Specifically, both ends of the telescopic spring are respectively bonded to the flat surfaces of the two flexible gripping actuation units using hot melt adhesive. The telescopic motor is bonded to the first actuation motor using hot melt adhesive, and then bonded to the telescopic spring. In a specific example, the telescopic motor is a miniature DC geared motor; the telescopic spring is made of carbon steel, and further, the telescopic spring is made of a carbon steel wire with a length of 120.00 mm, an outer diameter of 25.00 mm, and a wire diameter of 1.00 mm; the telescopic linear drive component is a nylon wire.

[0069] There are B linear drive limiting discs, where B is a natural number and B≥3. The linear drive limiting discs at both ends are fixed to the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor, respectively. The linear drive limiting discs are evenly distributed between the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor, and each linear drive limiting disc has a central hole that mates with the telescopic linear drive component. In a specific example, four linear drive limiting discs are used, evenly distributed between the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor. More specifically, one end of the telescopic linear drive component passes through the central hole of the linear drive limiting disc fixed to the second actuation motor, then sequentially passes through the central holes of the remaining linear drive limiting discs, and finally adheres to the telescopic twisted wire disc on the telescopic motor.

[0070] In this application, the actuating motor and the actuating motor are respectively connected to the control unit. In a specific example, it also includes two batteries. The control unit consists of a control main board and two motor drive boards. The control main board is installed inside the telescopic spring and is fixed below the telescopic motor and the first actuating motor. The two batteries are fixed side by side below the second actuating motor. The two motor drive boards are fixed on both sides below the second actuating motor. The final total weight is 70g.

[0071] As mentioned earlier, inspired by the coiling and crawling motion of arboreal snakes, the inventors simplified the snake's movement into three parts: two flexible gripping actuation units for the head and tail, and one body extension actuation unit for the body. The control unit consists of a control motherboard and two motor drive boards, powered by a mobile power source (in this embodiment, two batteries are used). The flexible gripping actuation unit includes an actuation motor, a fixed disk, an actuation stranded disc, a positioning component, a linear elastic support component, a coil assembly, an actuation linear drive component, a first guide component, and a second guide component. The body extension actuation unit includes a telescopic spring, a telescopic linear drive component, a telescopic motor, and a linear drive component limiting disk. In this structure, the flexible gripping actuation units serve as the robot's head and tail, the body extension actuation unit serves as the robot's body, and the control unit is used to control the robot's crawling.

[0072] In this device, two flexible gripping actuation units are fixed at both ends of the body telescopic actuation unit. The actuation motor, which includes a reducer, rotates the actuation twisted disc, pulling the corresponding actuation linear drive of the flexible gripping actuation unit to achieve the gripping function. The power supply, actuation motor, and telescopic motor are all fixed inside the body telescopic actuation unit. The body telescopic actuation unit rotates the telescopic twisted disc through the internal telescopic motor, pulling the corresponding telescopic linear drive to achieve the extension and retraction of the telescopic spring.

[0073] The control strategy of the untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot is as follows (for ease of description, the flexible gripping actuation units at both ends of the body extension actuation unit are referred to as the head flexible gripping actuation unit and the tail flexible gripping actuation unit, respectively):

[0074] (a) Initial state

[0075] The flexible gripping actuators at both ends are in a relaxed state;

[0076] (b) The work process is as follows:

[0077] 1. The head-mounted flexible gripping actuator unit grips firmly;

[0078] 2. The body extension and contraction actuator unit contracts;

[0079] 3. The flexible gripping actuation unit at the tail grips firmly;

[0080] 4. The head's flexible gripping actuator unit relaxes;

[0081] 5. The body extension actuator unit extends;

[0082] 6. The head-mounted flexible gripping actuation unit grips firmly;

[0083] 7. The flexible gripping actuator at the tail is released;

[0084] 8. Repeat the above process until the set position is reached (specifically, in a single work process, the first step of the flexible pipe-climbing robot only runs in the first round; after the seventh step is completed in the first round, it starts from the first step again; thus entering the loop program until the set position is reached).

[0085] The flexible robot of this application can crawl horizontal, vertical, and curved pipes, including pipes with varying diameters. Switching between crawling inside and outside the pipe requires only rotating two flexible gripper actuators and adjusting the crawling program or manual remote control. Because the flexible robot achieves untethered actuation, it can enter very complex piping systems, effectively avoiding problems caused by the external power source connection cable becoming entangled with the pipe or the robot itself. Experimental results show that the maximum crawling speed is 6 mm / s without load. This untethered, snake-like flexible crawling robot also has a certain load capacity, capable of carrying cameras or other detection equipment. Experimental results show that it can carry objects exceeding its own weight by more than 3.5 times.

[0086] Although preferred embodiments of this application have been described, those skilled in the art, upon learning the basic inventive concept, can make other changes and modifications to these embodiments. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments as well as all changes and modifications falling within the scope of this application.

[0087] This invention extends to any new feature or combination disclosed in this specification, as well as any new method or process step or combination and corresponding modifications disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A tethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot, characterized in that: It includes a flexible gripping actuation unit, a body extension actuation unit, and a control unit, wherein the flexible gripping actuation unit is a set; The flexible gripping actuation unit includes an actuation motor, a fixed disk, an actuation stranded wire disk, a positioning component, a linear elastic support component, a wire reel assembly, an actuation linear drive component, a first guide component, and a second guide component, wherein there are N first guide components and N second guide components; the wire reel assembly includes an end connecting wire reel and a middle connecting wire reel, wherein there are N middle connecting wire reels, and the middle connecting wire reels are provided with a first connecting hole and a second connecting hole; N is a natural number, and N≥2; The actuating motor is connected to the fixed disk and the fixed disk can provide support for the actuating motor. The fixed disk is provided with a first through hole that cooperates with the actuating motor and the rotating shaft of the actuating motor can pass through the first through hole. The actuating stranded disc is disposed on the rotating shaft of the actuating motor and the actuating motor can drive the actuating stranded disc to rotate. The positioning element is connected to the fixed plate, and the fixed plate can provide support for the positioning element. The positioning element is provided with a first positioning hole that cooperates with the linear elastic support element. One end of the linear elastic support element is connected to the end connecting coil. The linear elastic support element passes through the first connecting hole on the middle connecting coil in sequence. The other end of the linear elastic support element is connected to the first positioning hole. The linear elastic support element is in the shape of a helical spring. The middle connecting coil is arranged between the positioning element and the end connecting coil in sequence. The actuating linear drive is located inside the linear elastic support; one end of the actuating linear drive is connected to the end connecting coil, the actuating linear drive passes through the second connecting hole on the middle connecting coil in sequence, and the other end of the actuating linear drive is connected to the actuating stranded disc. The first guide and the second guide are sleeves made of flexible material, and the length of the first guide is greater than the length of the second guide; the linear elastic support passes through the first guide, and the first guide is located between the end connecting reel and its adjacent middle connecting reel, and between two adjacent middle connecting reels; the actuating linear drive passes through the second guide, and the second guide is located between the end connecting reel and its adjacent middle connecting reel, and between two adjacent middle connecting reels; The end connecting coil, linear elastic support, first guide, actuating linear drive, second guide, and middle connecting coil together constitute a spiral drive claw. The body telescopic actuation unit includes a telescopic spring, a telescopic linear drive, a telescopic drive mechanism, and a linear drive limit disk. The two ends of the telescopic spring are respectively connected to the flexible gripping actuation unit, and the two flexible gripping actuation units can be brought closer or separated relative to each other through the telescopic spring. The telescopic drive mechanism includes a telescopic motor, a telescopic reducer, and a telescopic twisted wire disc that cooperates with the telescopic reducer. The telescopic reducer is connected to the rotating shaft of the telescopic motor, and the telescopic twisted wire disc is disposed on the output shaft of the telescopic reducer. The actuation motors of the two flexible gripping actuation units are respectively referred to as the first actuation motor and the second actuation motor; The telescopic motor is connected to the first actuation motor, and the first actuation motor can provide support for the telescopic motor; The linear drive component has B limiting disks, where B is a natural number and B≥3; The linear drive limiting discs are evenly distributed between the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor, and the linear drive limiting discs at both ends are connected to the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor respectively; the linear drive limiting discs are provided with a central hole that cooperates with the telescopic linear drive. One end of the telescopic linear drive is connected to the telescopic twisted wire disc on the telescopic motor, and the other end of the telescopic linear drive passes through the central hole on the linear drive limiting disc and is connected to the second actuation motor. The telescopic motor can drive the telescopic linear drive to retract or open by rotating in the forward or reverse direction to realize the approach or separation of the two flexible gripping actuation units. The actuation motor and the telescopic motor are respectively connected to the control unit.

2. The untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first guide and the second guide are sleeves made of rubber or plastic materials, respectively.

3. The untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot according to claim 1, characterized in that, The linear elastic support is detachably connected to the first positioning hole.

4. The untethered, snake-like, flexible pipe-climbing robot according to claim 1, characterized in that, One end of the telescopic linear drive component passes through the central hole of the linear drive component limiting disk fixed to the second actuation motor, and then passes through the central hole on the linear drive component limiting disk between the telescopic motor and the second actuation motor in sequence, and finally connects to the telescopic twisted wire disk on the telescopic motor.

5. The untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot according to claim 4, characterized in that, The end connecting coil, linear elastic support, first guide, and middle connecting coil constitute a first support assembly; in the first support assembly, the linear elastic support plays a supporting role and is disposed within the first guide, making the first support assembly resemble a helical spring. The end connecting coil, the actuating linear drive, the second guide, and the middle connecting coil constitute the second drive assembly; The actuating linear drive element of the second drive component is located inside the linear elastic support element of the first support component; In the second drive assembly, one end of the actuating linear drive is disposed on the actuating twisted wire disk. The actuating twisted wire disk can drive the actuating linear drive to retract or expand by rotating in the forward or reverse direction to achieve the gripping or releasing of the spiral drive claw.

6. The untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, It also includes a portable power supply that is electrically connected to the control unit.

7. The application of the untethered snake-like flexible pipe-climbing robot according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, This flexible pipe-climbing robot can be used for climbing poles or pipes.

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