Wheel arm cooperative movement and working robot

Abstract

The application discloses a wheel-arm cooperative moving and working robot, a differential mechanism is arranged in a body of the robot to realize pitch differential between left and right main swing arms and body posture adjustment. The differential mechanism is connected with a secondary swing arm through the left and right main swing arms, and a spring-damper is arranged between the two to form a leg; each leg is provided with a driving wheel and a passive wheel; the driving wheel realizes driving and differential steering; the passive wheel provides auxiliary support and improves the fast moving ability of the robot on complex terrains through the spring-damper. Two mechanical arms are further arranged on the left and right sides of the body and cooperate with tools in a tool box on the body through quick release mechanisms to realize quick replacement of end effectors of the mechanical arms. When the robot encounters an obstacle, a crawling posture can be formed by controlling the pitch angle of the body, the mechanical arm is matched with the bottom surface, and the driving wheel is combined to realize crawling and obstacle crossing. The robot can realize functions such as wheel integration, wheel-arm cooperative walking, damping suspension, vehicle body pitching and cooperative operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a mobile robot, belonging to the fields of deep space exploration and space robotics, which can be used in missions requiring movement, obstacle crossing, multi-functional operation, sampling, and exploration in complex terrains on the lunar and Martian surfaces. Background Technology

[0002] With the development of space exploration technology, the exploration areas on the planetary surface are shifting from traditional flat areas to scientifically valuable regions such as polar regions, impact craters, and caves. These areas have complex terrain, characterized by easy collapse, undulating slopes, unevenness, and abundant debris. This places high demands on the mobility and operational capabilities of robots, such as strong obstacle-crossing ability, ability to escape from difficult situations, and collaborative operation. Existing lunar and Martian mobile robots, such as Yutu-1, Yutu-2, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity, all use a six-wheel passive suspension system for movement, exploring flat areas on the Moon and Mars. The six wheels passively adapt to the planetary surface terrain, demonstrating strong terrain adaptability. However, relying solely on the suspension wheel system, these robots have relatively weak movement speed, obstacle-crossing ability, and ability to escape from difficult situations in complex terrains such as rock piles, and they lack the ability to collaboratively manipulate samples at the exploration points. In response to the need for mobile exploration in complex areas on the surface of the Moon and Mars, and in order to extend the exploration range, improve the mobility efficiency, and expand the exploration methods, this patent proposes a robot solution that can move in a wheel-arm coordinated manner and can be operated by two arms. It focuses on solving the problems of rapid movement, obstacle crossing, getting out of trouble, collaborative operation, and exploration of mobile robots on the surface of planets.

[0003] The Yutu-1 and Yutu-2 lunar rovers, as well as the Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity Mars rovers, which have been publicly disclosed, all adopt a six-wheel passive suspension design and use wheels for movement. Patent CN201120087131.X proposes a wheel-leg type crank-slider six-wheel lunar rover, in which the car body is equipped with a crank-slider mechanism connected to the power system, and the crank-slider mechanism is respectively set in the middle and at the front and rear ends of the car body. The crank-slider mechanism includes a crankshaft, connecting rod, wheel guide rod, and wheel guide rail. The wheel guide rod and wheel guide rail slide together. Road condition detection devices are installed at the front and rear of the vehicle body. The six-wheeled lunar rover with a crank-slider design also features a visual mast, solar panels, and a mechanical data acquisition arm. The visual mast's lifting and lowering uses a rack and pinion transmission. The solar panels unfold and retract using a folding mechanism. The mechanical data acquisition arm employs a five-bar linkage mechanism, with a spiral blade and probe mounted at its front end. Patent CN200810030900.5 proposes a road-adaptive rhomboid lunar rover mobility system, employing a four-wheel, three-axle rhomboid chassis structure. This system boasts advantages such as strong terrain adaptability, compact structure, high lightweight, good off-road performance, stable vehicle posture, and high reliability. Neither of the aforementioned two patents' proposed star-table mobile robots possesses functions such as wheel-arm coordinated movement, dual-arm coordinated operation, or damping buffering. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention proposes a wheel-arm cooperative mobility and operation robot, which is a star-table robot with capabilities such as wheel travel, wheel-arm cooperative walking, damped suspension, and cooperative operation.

[0005] The present invention relates to a wheel-arm cooperative mobile and working robot, comprising a body, a differential mechanism, a main rocker arm, a secondary rocker arm, an active wheel, a passive wheel, a spring-damper, a waist, a head, a robotic arm, and a toolbox.

[0006] A differential mechanism is installed inside the body, and the output shafts on both sides of the differential mechanism are connected to the side walls of the body via rotary joints. The input shaft of the differential mechanism is connected to the output shaft of the body pitch drive motor mounted on the bottom surface of the body, forming a body pitch joint.

[0007] The main rocker arms are located on the left and right sides of the body, and the tops of the main rocker arms are fixedly connected to the output shafts of the differential mechanism on the left and right sides respectively. The tops of the two auxiliary rocker arms are connected to the main rocker arms on the same side by a rotating joint, and the main rocker arms and auxiliary rocker arms on the same side are connected by a spring-damper. The bottom of the main rocker arms on both sides is fixedly installed with a wheel drive motor to drive the active wheel. The bottom of the auxiliary rocker arms is installed with a passive wheel through a rotating shaft joint.

[0008] The waist is mounted on the top surface of the body and is connected to the top surface of the body via a waist rotation joint.

[0009] The two robotic arms are multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arms, installed on both sides of the waist. The ends of the robotic arms are equipped with quick-change mechanisms, which are connected to quick-change tools in a toolbox installed on the body to realize the replacement of the end tools of the robotic arms.

[0010] The head and the top of the waist are connected by a head pitch joint; a sensing sensor is installed on the head.

[0011] The battery, controller, and scientific payload are mounted on the front of the body.

[0012] The wheel-arm cooperative mobile and working robot with the above structure has the functions of wheel damping movement, differential steering, vehicle body posture adjustment, waist and head posture adjustment, wheel-arm cooperative movement, cooperative operation, and tool changing.

[0013] Wheeled damped motion is the robot's wheel-based movement mode on flat terrain, enabling rapid movement. It utilizes a movement system consisting of the robot body, differential mechanism, main rocker arm, secondary rocker arm, active wheels, wheel drive motors, passive wheels, and spring-damper systems. Two wheel drive motors provide driving force to the active wheels, while the passive wheels provide support. The differential mechanism achieves differential pitch angle between the main rocker arms on both sides of the robot during movement. Steering is achieved through the speed difference between the two active wheels.

[0014] Wheel-arm cooperative movement is a cooperative mode for the robot when it is on rough terrain or stuck. After adjusting its body posture to a horizontal position with its front facing down, the robotic arms on both sides of the body contact the star surface. Thus, the robot moves in coordination through the crawling motion of the robotic arms and the drive of the active wheels; the forward driving force is provided by the active wheels and robotic arms, while the passive wheels provide support.

[0015] During the aforementioned wheel-damped movement and wheel-arm coordinated movement, the differential mechanism is driven by the body pitch drive motor to achieve the rotational movement of the vehicle body around the output shaft of the differential mechanism. At the same time, the waist and head postures are adjusted through the waist rotation joint and the head pitch joint; and tool changes are achieved by using the quick-release connector at the end of the robotic arm to cooperate with the quick-release tools in the toolbox.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages:

[0017] 1. The present invention is a wheel-arm cooperative mobility and operation robot that integrates functions such as wheel travel, wheel-arm cooperative walking, damped suspension, vehicle body pitch, and cooperative operation.

[0018] 2. The wheel-arm cooperative movement and operation robot of the present invention can realize pitch differential between the left and right main rocker arms and adjust the vehicle body posture through the differential mechanism.

[0019] 3. In the wheel-arm cooperative mobility and operation robot of this invention, two of the four wheels are active wheels and two are passive wheels. The active wheels improve the driving force and enable differential steering. The passive wheels provide auxiliary support and are connected to the active wheels by a spring-damper system, which can improve the robot's ability to move quickly in complex terrain.

[0020] 4. In the wheel-arm cooperative mobile and working robot of the present invention, the battery, controller, toolbox, scientific payload, counterweight, etc. are installed at different positions on the vehicle body. By adjusting the mass of the counterweight, the center of gravity of the vehicle body is located near the rotation axis of the output shaft of the differential mechanism, thereby reducing the driving torque requirement of the vehicle body pitch joint when adjusting the pitch attitude (around the output shaft of the differential mechanism). Attached Figure Description

[0021] Figure 1 This is a front view of the wheel-arm coordinated movement and operation robot of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 2 This is a left view of the wheel-arm coordinated movement and operation robot of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the wheel-arm coordinated movement and operation robot of the present invention performing wheel-arm coordinated walking.

[0024] In the picture:

[0025] 1-Body 2-Differential Mechanism 3-Main Rocker Arm

[0026] 4-Secondary rocker arm; 5-Driving wheel; 6-Passive wheel

[0027] 7-Spring-Damper 8-Waist 9-Head

[0028] 10-Robotic arm 11-Quick change mechanism 12-Toolbox

[0029] 13-Battery 14-Controller 15-Counterweight

[0030] 16-Scientific Payload 1-1-Body Pitch Drive Motor 5-1-Wheel Drive Motor

[0031] 8-1-Lumbar rotation joint; 9-1-Head tilt joint; 9-2-Camera

[0032] 9-3-Radar Detailed Implementation

[0033] This invention relates to a wheel-arm cooperative mobile and operational robot, comprising a body 1, a differential mechanism 2, a main rocker arm 3, a secondary rocker arm 4, active wheels 5, passive wheels 6, a spring-damper system 7, a waist 8, a head 9, a robotic arm 10, a quick-change mechanism 11, a toolbox 12, a body pitch drive motor 1-1, a waist rotation joint 8-1, a head pitch joint 9-1, wheel drive motors 5-1, a battery 13, a controller 14, a counterweight 15, a camera 9-2, a radar 9-3, and a scientific payload 16, such as... Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown.

[0034] The body 1 is the main body of the entire robot. It adopts a cuboid structure and the internal cavity is used to set up the differential mechanism 2. The body 1 also provides a support platform for other components such as the body pitch motor 1-1, the main rocker arm 3, the waist 8, the toolbox 12, the battery 13, the controller 14, and the scientific payload 16.

[0035] The left and right output shafts of the differential mechanism 2 are connected to the side walls of the body 1 via rotary joints. The input shaft of the differential mechanism 2 is also connected to the bottom surface of the body 1 via a rotary joint. The power source for the input shaft of the differential mechanism 2 is a body pitch drive motor 1-1 mounted on the bottom surface of the body 1, used for body pitch drive. The output shaft of the pitch drive motor 1-1 is fixedly connected to the input gear of the differential mechanism 2, forming a body pitch joint. The pitch drive motor 1-1 drives the input gear of the differential mechanism 2, causing the differential mechanism 2 to rotate around its own two output shafts, thereby causing the body 1 to rotate around the two output shafts of the differential mechanism 2, achieving the pitch of the body 1.

[0036] After the differential mechanism 2 is installed with each rotary joint of the body 1, it ensures the internal sealing of the body 1, giving the body 1 protection against lunar dust, Martian dust, etc., preventing dust from entering the body 1 and affecting its internal structure. The sealing material can be polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) self-lubricating material, and the PTFE material can be made into a labyrinth seal to achieve dynamic sealing.

[0037] Two main rocker arms 3 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the body 1, and their top ends are respectively sleeved and fixed to the output shafts on the left and right sides of the differential mechanism 2. The top ends of the two auxiliary rocker arms 4 are respectively connected to the main rocker arms 3 on the same side by a rotating joint, and the main rocker arms 3 and auxiliary rocker arms 4 on the same side are connected by a spring-damper 7; the spring-damper 7 gives the main and auxiliary rocker arms a buffering characteristic during the robot's movement, which is beneficial to improving the robot's movement speed in complex terrain.

[0038] The main rocker arms 3 and secondary rocker arms 4 on both sides of the body 1, together with the spring-damper 7, form the left and right support legs of the body 1, which are used to support the body 1. Among the two support legs, a wheel drive motor 5-1 is fixedly installed at the bottom of the main rocker arm 3 to provide driving force for the active wheel 5, driving the active wheel 5 to rotate. The housing of the wheel drive motor 5-1 is fixed to the main rocker arm 3, and the active wheel 5 is coaxially fixed on the output shaft of the wheel drive joint 5-1. Meanwhile, a passive wheel 6 is installed at the bottom of the secondary rocker arm 4 via a rotating joint.

[0039] The rotating joint between the main rocker arm 3 and the auxiliary rocker arm 4 is close to the output shaft of the differential mechanism 2. The closer it is to the output shaft of the differential mechanism 2, the greater the horizontal distance between the active wheel 17 and the passive wheel 18. This results in a greater supporting force from the two support legs on the body 1, making the robot more stable when moving. At the same time, when the body 1 moves on uneven terrain, the smaller the change in the angle between the main and auxiliary rocker arms, the smaller the swaying amplitude of the body 1, which is also more conducive to the parameter design of the spring-damper 7.

[0040] The connection position between the aforementioned spring-damper 7 and the main rocker arm 3 and the auxiliary rocker arm 4 should be as close as possible to the end of the main and auxiliary rocker arms where the wheels are located, without affecting the robot's passability. The closer it is to the end where the wheels are located, the greater the impact of the angle change between the main and auxiliary rocker arms on the buffer distance of the spring-damper 7, and the more conducive it is to realizing the buffer function.

[0041] The waist section 8 is mounted on the top surface of the body section 1, and the waist section 8 is connected to the top surface of the body section 1 via a waist rotation joint 9-1. The waist rotation joint 9-1 adopts a traditional robot joint design and consists of a motor, a reducer, a speed sensor, and a drive circuit. The motor housing is fixed to the top surface of the body section 1, and the output shaft is fixedly connected to the lower end of the waist section.

[0042] Two robotic arms 10 are multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arms, with ≥6 degrees of freedom, and are mounted on both sides of the waist. Each robotic arm 10 has a quick-change mechanism at its end, which connects to a quick-change toolbox 12 to facilitate tool replacement. The toolbox 12 is fixedly mounted on the back of the body 1, within the working space of the robotic arms 10, allowing the ends of the robotic arms 10 to extend into the toolbox. The toolbox 12 contains the quick-change tools.

[0043] A head pitch joint 9-1 is designed between the head 9 and the top of the waist 8. The head pitch joint 9-1 adopts a traditional robot joint design and consists of a motor, reducer, speed sensor, drive circuit, etc. The housing of the head pitch joint 9-1 is fixedly connected to the waist 8, and the output shaft of the head pitch joint 9-1 is fixedly connected to the head 9. The head 9 is used to mount sensing sensors such as cameras and radar.

[0044] The battery 13, controller 14, and scientific payload 16 (mass spectrometer, seismometer, and other detection equipment) are installed on the abdomen of the body 1, which can act as a counterweight to balance the robot's waist, head, and multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arm, thereby reducing the load on the pitch joint.

[0045] The counterweight 15 is installed on the outer surface of the body. Together with the aforementioned battery 13 and controller 14, it adjusts the center of gravity of the robot to be as close as possible to the output shaft of the differential mechanism, ensuring that the center of gravity of the body 1 and the structure composed of the components it supports is located near the rotation axis of the main rocker arm 3 and the body 1, thereby reducing the torque when the body pitch joint 1-1 adjusts the attitude of the body 1.

[0046] The wheel-arm cooperative mobile and working robot with the above structure has the functions of wheel damping movement, differential steering, vehicle body posture adjustment, waist and head posture adjustment, wheel-arm cooperative movement, cooperative operation, and tool changing.

[0047] Among them, wheeled damped movement is the robot's wheel-based movement mode when on flat terrain, enabling rapid movement. At this time, the overall structure is... Figure 1 , Figure 2The diagram shows the upright robot configuration. In this configuration, movement is achieved through a mobile system consisting of the body 1, differential mechanism 2, main rocker arm 3, secondary rocker arm 4, active wheels 5, wheel drive motors 5-1, passive wheels 6, and spring-damper 7. Two wheel drive motors 5-1 provide driving force to the active wheels 5, while the passive wheels 6 primarily provide support, reducing the difficulty of pose control during robot movement. The passive wheels 6 have no drive source and can follow the movement. The differential mechanism 2 achieves differential pitch angle between the two main rocker arms 3 on both sides of the body 1 during movement, ensuring that the two active wheels 5 and two passive wheels 6 are always in contact with the ground when the robot moves on complex terrain, which is beneficial for improving the robot's adhesion. Simultaneously, the differential mechanism 2 reduces the pitch of the body 1 as it moves with the terrain, facilitating the perception and measurement of sensors (camera 9-2, radar 9-3, etc.) on the robot's head 9. In this mode, the robot's steering is achieved through the speed difference between the two active wheels 5.

[0048] Wheel-arm cooperative movement is the cooperative wheel-arm movement mode when the robot is on rough terrain or stuck in a rut. Figure 3 As shown in the crawling posture, after adjusting the position of the lifting body 1 to a horizontal state, the robot's abdomen faces the ground, and the robotic arms 10 on both sides of the body can contact the star surface. Thus, when the robot's movement cannot be accomplished by the wheels alone, the crawling action of the robotic arms and the drive of the wheels work together to achieve movement. During movement, both the active wheels 5 and the robotic arms 10 provide forward driving force, while the passive wheels 6 provide auxiliary support, reducing the difficulty of posture control during robot movement. During movement, the robot perceives environmental information through its head 9 and clears small obstacles in the movement path using the robotic arms 10. The robot can also escape from areas such as depressions through climbing operations using the robotic arms. This movement method has a positive significance in improving the robot's ability to escape difficulties and overcome obstacles.

[0049] During the aforementioned wheeled damped movement and wheel-arm coordinated movement, the differential mechanism 2 can be driven by the body pitch drive motor 1-1, enabling the vehicle body 1 to rotate around the output shaft of the differential mechanism (i.e., the rotation shaft of the two main rocker arms 3). This changes the orientation of the vehicle body 1, expanding the reach of the multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arm, head, etc. Through vehicle body attitude adjustment, the relative pose between the 16 pairs of star tables of the scientific payload can be adjusted, facilitating omnidirectional detection by the scientific payload. Simultaneously, it enables the scientific payload to track and point at targets during robot movement.

[0050] During the aforementioned wheel-type damped movement and wheel-arm coordinated movement, waist and head posture adjustments can also be performed. The robot achieves the rotation of waist 8 on body 1 through waist rotation joint, and achieves the pitch of head 9 relative to waist 8 through head pitch joint 9-1.

[0051] During the aforementioned wheeled damped movement and wheel-arm coordinated movement, tool replacement is achieved through the quick-release joint at the end of the robotic arm 10 engaging with the quick-release tools in the toolbox on the vehicle body 1. When replacing a tool, the end of the robotic arm 10 is moved to directly above the toolbox 12, and the previously carried tools are first placed back into the empty slots of the toolbox 12. Then, the robotic arm 10 is moved to above the tool to be replaced, and the robotic arm 10 drives the quick-change mechanism 11 to dock with the quick-change tool. After docking, the quick-change mechanism 11 clamps the quick-change tool, thus installing the tool onto the end of the robotic arm 10. Different tools are selected according to the characteristics of the task, enabling the two robotic arms 10 to perform coordinated operations such as scientific payload delivery, target detection and grasping, and obstacle removal.

[0052] In the robot with the above structure, the two passive wheels of the wheel-arm cooperative movement and the two passive wheels of the operation robot can be converted into active wheels by adding a wheel drive motor 5-1, so that the robot has four active wheels for drive; alternatively, the passive wheels can be omitted, in which case the robot is driven by two active wheels, degenerating into a two-wheel configuration.

Claims

1. A wheel-arm cooperative mobile and operational robot, characterized in that: Includes body, differential mechanism, main rocker arm, auxiliary rocker arm, driving wheel, driven wheel, spring-damper, waist, head, robotic arm and toolbox; A differential mechanism is installed inside the body. The output shafts on the left and right sides of the differential mechanism are connected to the side walls of the body by a rotary joint. The input shaft of the differential mechanism is connected to the output shaft of the body pitch drive motor installed on the bottom surface of the body, forming a body pitch joint. The main rocker arms are located on the left and right sides of the body, and the tops of the main rocker arms are fixedly connected to the output shafts of the differential mechanism on the left and right sides, respectively. The tops of the two auxiliary rocker arms are connected to the main rocker arms on the same side by a rotating joint, and the main rocker arms and auxiliary rocker arms on the same side are connected by a spring-damper. The bottom of the main rocker arms is fixedly mounted with a wheel drive motor to drive the driving wheel. The bottom of the auxiliary rocker arms is mounted with a driven wheel through a rotating shaft joint. The rotating joint between the main rocker arms and auxiliary rocker arms is adjacent to the output shaft of the differential mechanism. The connection point between the spring-damper and the main rocker arm and the auxiliary rocker arm is close to the end of the main and auxiliary rocker arms where the wheel is located. The waist is mounted on the top surface of the body and is connected to the top surface of the body via a waist rotation joint; The two robotic arms are multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arms, installed on both sides of the waist. The ends of the robotic arms are equipped with quick-change mechanisms, which are connected to quick-change tools in the toolbox installed on the body to realize the replacement of the end tools of the robotic arms. The head and the top of the waist are connected by a head pitch joint; a sensing sensor is installed on the head. The battery, controller, and scientific payload are mounted on the front of the body; The robot features wheeled damped movement, differential steering, vehicle posture adjustment, waist and head posture adjustment, wheel-arm coordinated movement, collaborative operation, and tool changing functions. Among them, wheeled damped movement is the robot's wheel-based movement mode when on flat terrain, enabling rapid movement of the robot. It is a movement system composed of the body, differential mechanism, main rocker arm, secondary rocker arm, active wheels, wheel drive motors, passive wheels, and spring-damper system. Two wheel drive motors provide driving force to the active wheels, while the passive wheels provide support. The differential mechanism realizes the pitch angle differential between the main rocker arms on both sides of the vehicle body during movement. The robot's steering is achieved through the speed difference between the two active wheels. Wheel-arm cooperative movement is a cooperative mode of wheel-arm movement for robots on rugged terrain or when the robot is stuck. After the robot adjusts its body posture to a horizontal state, the front of the body faces down, and the robotic arms on both sides of the body contact the star surface. Thus, the robot moves in coordination through the crawling action of the robotic arms and the drive of the active wheels. The driving force for forward movement is provided by the active wheels and robotic arms, while the passive wheels provide support. During the aforementioned wheel-type damped movement and wheel-arm coordinated movement, the differential mechanism is driven by the body pitch drive motor to realize the rotational movement of the vehicle body around the output shaft of the differential mechanism; at the same time, the waist and head posture are adjusted through the waist rotation joint and the head pitch joint; and tool replacement is realized by the quick-release joint at the end of the robotic arm and the quick-release tools in the toolbox.

2. The wheel-arm cooperative mobility and operation robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that: Differential mechanism output shaft Dynamic sealing is achieved by using a labyrinth seal made of polytetrafluoroethylene self-lubricating material between the rotating part and the body.

3. The wheel-arm cooperative mobility and operation robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that: A counterweight is installed on the outer surface of the vehicle body, and the weight of the counterweight is adjusted so that the center of gravity of the vehicle body is located near the output shaft axis of the differential mechanism.

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