An enveloping structure and rigid-flex coupled adaptive gripper

Abstract

The application discloses an envelope structure and a rigid-flexible coupling self-adaptive clamp jaw, which comprises a flexible spine layer used for contacting with the surface of an object to be clamped; a flexible supporting member connected with the flexible spine layer and having higher hardness than the flexible spine layer; and the shapes of the flexible spine layer and the flexible supporting member can be changed correspondingly according to the shape of the surface of the object to be clamped. The application helps to solve the problem that a rigid envelope cannot adapt to the shape and size of an enveloped object, which easily leads to too small or too large envelope force, and the flexible material can envelope irregular and fragile objects, but leads to insufficient envelope force and poor use reliability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of envelope gripper technology, and more specifically to an envelope structure and a rigid-flexible coupled adaptive gripper. Background Technology

[0002] In recent years, with the development of robotics technology, envelope structures have been widely used in various fields such as machinery manufacturing, industry, construction, agriculture, and even aerospace. Traditional rigid envelope structures achieve this through rigid contact, which cannot adapt to the shape and size of the enveloped object. This can easily lead to an insufficient or excessive envelope force, and may even cause damage to the envelope structure itself and the target object.

[0003] For example, the rigid fingers in the patent application document with publication number CN102785251A have poor adaptability and dexterity. In recent years, soft enveloping structures made of flexible materials have emerged. The overall structure of the enveloping structure is soft and highly adaptable, and can envelop irregular and fragile objects. At the same time, the contact stiffness is low, which has a natural protective effect on the object and is not easy to damage the surface of the object being grasped. However, the high softness can also lead to insufficient enveloping force and poor reliability. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a highly reliable envelope structure and a rigid-flexible coupling adaptive gripper.

[0005] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention adopts the following technical solution: an envelope structure, including a flexible spike layer for contacting the surface of the object to be clamped; a flexible support member connected to the flexible spike layer and having a higher hardness than the flexible spike layer; and the shapes of the flexible spike layer and the flexible support member can change accordingly to follow the shape of the surface of the object to be clamped.

[0006] Furthermore, the flexible support includes a partition and a plurality of elastic components disposed within the partition.

[0007] Furthermore, the elastic component includes two elastic elements that are centrally symmetrically distributed, and each elastic element includes a first elastic sheet disposed along the height direction of the partition and a second elastic sheet disposed laterally on top of the first elastic sheet.

[0008] Furthermore, the flexible barb layer includes at least a plurality of spaced flexible comb teeth.

[0009] A rigid-flexible coupled adaptive gripper, comprising: Both clamping arms are rotatably equipped with the aforementioned envelope structure; A fixing plate is provided for the two clamping arms to be rotatably mounted. A driving component is used to drive the clamping arm to rotate on the fixed plate.

[0010] Furthermore, the clamping arm includes an arm body, a connecting shaft rotatably mounted on the arm body along the width direction of the arm body, and a connecting rod rotatably engaged with the connecting shaft along its own axial direction, and the envelope structure is connected to the connecting rod.

[0011] Furthermore, both the connecting shaft and the connecting rod are rotatably connected via bearings.

[0012] Furthermore, the driving component is an automatically telescopic structure, and the driving component is connected to the fixed plate, with the fixed end and the telescopic end respectively hinged to the two clamping arms. The beneficial effects of this invention are reflected in: 1. The array of flexible comb teeth enables flexible wrapping of objects. The flexible support can provide sufficient flexible elasticity after deformation, and the clamping arm can provide sufficient rigid clamping force. Thus, the envelope structure can adapt well to complex and varied contact surfaces, effectively reducing the probability of envelope structure failure, reducing the impact of collision between the envelope structure and the enveloped object, and increasing the reliability and stability of the envelope structure. 2. The enveloping structure employs a coupling design of flexible materials with varying hardness and rigid clamping arms. The flexible support uses a relatively hard flexible material to enhance the stability of the enveloping structure, while the flexible serrated layer uses a relatively soft flexible material. This ensures that the flexible teeth of the serrated layer deform and conform to the object surface under pressure when enveloping the object, ensuring that the clamping force is always perpendicular to the object surface when using the enveloping structure. The clamping arms use a rigid material to provide greater clamping force. The coupling design of multiple materials greatly increases the friction when enveloping the object, making the enveloping structure more reliable. 3. The adaptive gripper can provide different gripping forces through the different degrees of deformation of the flexible support and the flexible spike layer. When the mass of the enveloping object changes, the deformation force of the enveloping layer can produce different deformations according to the change of the object's weight, thus automatically adapting to the gripping force of objects of different weights. This avoids the complicated process of adjusting the gripping force of the robotic arm through sensors when the traditional enveloping structure is applied to the robotic arm. 4. The adaptive gripper can rotate at different angles according to the direction of the object's gravity, so that the envelope structure can envelop the object at multiple scales. At the same time, it keeps the center of gravity of the enclosed object perpendicular to the ground, preventing liquid spills and reducing object vibration. Attached Figure Description

[0013] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the envelope structure of the present invention; Figure 2This is a schematic diagram of the envelope structure of the present invention in contact with a convex object; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the envelope structure of the present invention in contact with a concave object; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the envelope structure of the present invention in contact with an irregular surface object; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the adaptive gripping structure with rigid-flexible coupling of the present invention.

[0014] The components in the attached diagram are labeled as follows: 1. Flexible spike layer; 101. Flexible comb teeth; 2. Flexible support; 201. Partition; 202. Elastic component; 2021. First elastic sheet; 2022. Second elastic sheet; 3. Clamping arm; 301. Arm body; 302. Connecting shaft; 303. Connecting rod; 4. Fixing plate; 5. Driving component; A. Object to be clamped. Detailed Implementation

[0015] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of them. Unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features in the embodiments of this application can be combined with each other. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0016] See Figure 1-4 .

[0017] The envelope structure of the present invention includes: Flexible thorn layer 1, used to contact the surface of the object A to be clamped; The flexible support 2 is connected to the flexible spiked layer 1 and has a higher hardness than the flexible spiked layer 1. Furthermore, the shapes of both the flexible spike layer 1 and the flexible support member 2 can change accordingly to follow the surface shape of the object A to be clamped. This design allows the flexible support member 2, made of a relatively stiff flexible material, to enhance the stability of the envelopment compared to traditional purely flexible envelopment. The flexible spike layer 1, made of a relatively soft flexible material, ensures that the flexible teeth of the spike layer deform and conform to the object surface under pressure when enveloping the object, thus ensuring that the clamping force is always perpendicular to the object surface when using the enveloping structure. In this embodiment, the flexible spike layer 1 is preferably made of silicone; the flexible support member 2 is made of flexible TPU material.

[0018] In this embodiment, see Figure 1The flexible support 2 includes a partition 201 and a plurality of elastic components 202 disposed within the partition 201. This design further enhances the stability of the envelope through the elastic components 202, and allows the envelope structure to adapt to different shapes of the objects A to be clamped. Furthermore, when the mass of the object changes, the deformation force of the envelope layer produces different deformations according to the change in the object's weight, automatically adapting to the clamping force of objects of different weights and easily returning to its original shape.

[0019] In this embodiment, see Figure 1 The elastic component 202 includes two centrally symmetrically distributed elastic elements, and each elastic element includes a first elastic sheet 2021 disposed along the height direction of the partition 201 and a second elastic sheet 2022 disposed laterally on top of the first elastic sheet 2021. This design ensures that when the envelope structure contacts the object A to be clamped, the first elastic sheet 2021 and the second elastic sheet 2022 are compressed and bent. The second elastic sheet 2022 can then abut against the partition 201, cooperating with the first elastic sheet 2021 to increase elasticity, ensuring that the flexible support 2 is easily deformable but retains a certain degree of rigidity, while still possessing good rebound properties.

[0020] In this embodiment, see Figure 1 The flexible thorn layer 1 includes at least a plurality of spaced flexible comb teeth 101. This design allows for multi-angle wrapping of various irregular objects, facilitating better object containment. In this embodiment, the flexible comb teeth 101 can be arranged in sequence of lengths, and the thickness of the flexible comb teeth 101 is less than the thickness of the connection between the partition layer 201 and the flexible comb teeth 101. This maximizes the structural stability of the partition layer 201 and allows the flexible comb teeth 101 to better deform under the bending pressure of the partition layer 201.

[0021] See Figure 5 The present invention provides a rigid-flexible coupled adaptive gripper, comprising: Both clamping arms 3 are rotatably equipped with the aforementioned envelope structure; The fixing plate 4 is used for the two clamping arms 3 to be rotatably mounted; The driving component 5 is used to drive the clamping arm 3 to rotate on the fixed plate 4. This design, in conjunction with the rigid clamping arm 3, can work with the envelope structure to provide greater clamping force. The multi-material coupling design avoids the problem of insufficient clamping force of a gripper composed entirely of flexible materials. This makes the adaptive structure greatly increase the friction when enveloping the object, thus making the envelope structure more reliable. In this embodiment, see Figure 5The clamping arm 3 includes an arm body 301, a connecting shaft 302 rotatably mounted on the arm body 301 along its width direction, and a connecting rod 303 rotatably engaged with the connecting shaft 302 along its own axial direction. The enveloping structure is connected to the connecting rod 303. This design allows the clamping arm 3 to rotate at different angles according to the direction of the object's gravity, enabling the grippers to envelop the object at multiple scales. Simultaneously, it ensures that the center of gravity of the enveloped object remains perpendicular to the ground, preventing spillage of liquids and reducing object vibration.

[0022] In this embodiment, see Figure 5 Both the connecting shaft 302 and the connecting rod 303 are rotatably connected via bearings. This design allows for more flexible rotation of the envelope structure.

[0023] In this embodiment, see Figure 5 The driving component 5 is an automatically retractable structure, and it is connected to the fixed plate 4. The fixed end and the retractable end are respectively hinged to the two clamping arms 3. In this embodiment, the driving component 5 can be an existing electric push rod. The fixed end is connected to the fixed plate 4. When the gripper is needed, the electric push rod is activated, and the retractable end extends to achieve clamping.

[0024] It should be noted that if the embodiments of the present invention involve directional indicators such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc., the directional indicators are only used to explain the relative positional relationship and movement of the components in a specific posture as shown in the attached figure. If the specific posture changes, the directional indicators will also change accordingly.

[0025] Furthermore, if the embodiments of this invention involve descriptions such as "first" or "second," these descriptions are for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined with "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of those features. Additionally, the meaning of "and / or" throughout the text includes three parallel solutions; for example, "A and / or B" includes solution A, solution B, or a solution where both A and B are satisfied simultaneously. Furthermore, "multiple" refers to two or more. Moreover, the technical solutions of the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but this must be based on the ability of those skilled in the art to implement them. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or impossible to implement, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection claimed by this invention.

[0026] It should be understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the invention. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications or changes based on them. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the invention should be included within the protection scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An envelope structure, characterized in that, include: A flexible spike layer (1) is used to contact the surface of the object to be clamped (A); A flexible support member (2) is connected to the flexible spiked layer (1) and has a higher hardness than the flexible spiked layer (1); the flexible support member (2) includes a partition (201) and a plurality of elastic components (202) disposed in the partition (201); the elastic component (202) includes two elastic elements that are centrally symmetrically distributed, and each elastic element includes a first elastic sheet (2021) disposed along the height direction of the partition (201) and a second elastic sheet (2022) disposed laterally on the top of the first elastic sheet (2021). Furthermore, the shapes of the flexible spike layer (1) and the flexible support (2) can change accordingly to follow the surface shape of the object to be clamped (A).

2. The envelope structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The flexible barbed layer (1) includes at least a plurality of spaced flexible comb teeth (101).

3. A rigid-flexible coupled adaptive gripper, characterized in that, include: Both clamping arms (3) are rotatably provided with an envelope structure as described in any one of claims 1-2; A fixing plate (4) is used for the two clamping arms (3) to be rotated and installed; A drive unit (5) is used to drive the clamping arm (3) to rotate on the fixed plate (4).

4. The adaptive gripper with rigid-flexible coupling according to claim 3, characterized in that, The clamping arm (3) includes an arm body (301), a connecting shaft (302) rotatably mounted on the arm body (301) along the width direction of the arm body (301), and a connecting rod (303) rotatably engaged with the connecting shaft (302) along its own axial direction, and the envelope structure is connected to the connecting rod (303).

5. The adaptive gripper with rigid-flexible coupling according to claim 4, characterized in that, Both the connecting shaft (302) and the connecting rod (303) are rotatably connected by bearings.

6. The adaptive gripper with rigid-flexible coupling according to claim 3, characterized in that, The driving component (5) is an automatic telescopic structure, and the driving component (5) is connected to the fixed plate (4). The fixed end and the telescopic end are respectively hinged to the two clamping arms (3).

Images