Continuous body robot, form sensing method and device of continuous body robot and storage medium

Abstract

The invention provides a continuum robot, a form sensing method and device of the continuum robot and a storage medium, and belongs to the technical field of continuum robots. The continuum robot comprises an elastic rod, a spring and a plurality of joint assemblies; the elastic rod penetrates through the center holes, vertically penetrating in the axial direction, of all the joint assemblies; the connecting rod is fixedly connected with each joint assembly; the joint assembly comprises a circuit board which is uniformly provided with a plurality of cantilever beams along the circumference; symmetrical cantilever beam holes are formed in the upper and lower surfaces of the cantilever beam; sensitive grids are arranged on connecting lines of the cantilever beam holes and the center of the circuit board; two ends of the spring are fixed on the cantilever beam holes; the circuit board comprises a plurality of bridge circuits, and each bridge circuit comprises two sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam. According to the method, the sensitive grid is used for building the bridge circuit, and when the continuum robot is driven to bend, the resistance change of the sensitive grid in the bridge circuit is caused, and the force borne by each preset cantilever beam of the continuum robot at the moment is calculated.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a continuum robot, a morphology perception method, a device and a storage medium of the continuum robot, and belongs to the technical field of continuum robots. Background Art

[0002] After natural disasters such as earthquakes, mudslides, and landslides, disaster areas are often filled with ruins, rubble, and obstacles, and traditional robots find it difficult to operate flexibly in such complex environments. The most notable feature of the continuum robot is its soft and variable mechanical structure, which enables it to easily cope with various complex environments. Unlike traditional rigid robots, continuum robots do not require complex joints and transmission devices, and their robotic arms can bend and stretch freely like soft-bodied organisms. This feature enables continuum robots to be more flexible when entering narrow spaces and bypassing obstacles, and to enter areas that traditional robots cannot reach for search and rescue.

[0003] Due to the complex structure and high flexibility of the continuum robot, the arrangement and calibration of sensors become particularly difficult. How to reasonably arrange sensors to cover all key parts without affecting the performance of the robot, while ensuring that the relative positions between sensors are accurate, is a technical problem that needs to be solved. At the same time, the deformation of the flexible structure of the continuum robot is uncertain when subjected to external forces. This uncertainty may come from multiple factors such as material nonlinearity, structural complexity, and changes in the external environment. Therefore, these uncertain factors need to be fully considered when measuring the morphology. At present, most continuum robots lack shape perception capabilities.

[0004] At present, although a variety of sensor technologies have been applied to the morphology measurement of continuum robots, such as electromagnetic (EM) sensors and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technology, these technologies have certain limitations. For example, EM sensors are sensitive to metal objects and electrical noise, and FBG technology has large errors in continuum robots with low stiffness and large deformation, which limits their application scope. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art and provide a morphology perception method for a continuum robot, thereby solving the problem that the existing continuum robot has insufficient ability to perceive its own morphology.

[0006] To achieve the above object, the present invention is implemented by adopting the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a continuum robot comprising an elastic rod, a spring and a plurality of joint assemblies.

[0008] A center hole is provided in the center of each joint component and passes through axially; the elastic rod passes through the center holes of all joint components and is fixedly connected to each joint component respectively; the joint component includes: a circuit board; the circuit board is evenly provided with a plurality of cantilever beams along the circumference of its largest inscribed circle, and symmetrically distributed cantilever beam holes are provided on the upper surface and lower surface of the cantilever beam at one end away from the center of the circuit board.

[0009] The cantilever beam is also provided with a sensitive grid; the sensitive grid is arranged on the line connecting each cantilever beam hole and the center of the circuit board; the cantilever beams of adjacent joint components are aligned along the axial direction; the spring is arranged between adjacent cantilever beams in the same axial direction, and both ends of the spring are fixed on the cantilever beam holes.

[0010] The circuit board includes: a plurality of bridge circuits, each of which includes two sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam, and is used to convert the change in the resistance of the sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam into an electrical signal when the continuum robot bends and causes the resistance of the two sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam to change.

[0011] Furthermore, the spacing between adjacent joint components is equal to the initial length of the spring.

[0012] Furthermore, the circuit board also includes: an instrument amplifier and a microcontroller; the output end of each bridge circuit is connected to the microcontroller through the instrument amplifier; the instrument amplifier is used to amplify the voltage signal output by the bridge circuit; and the microcontroller is used to obtain the force of the cantilever beam corresponding to the bridge circuit based on the amplified voltage signal.

[0013] Furthermore, the bridge circuit includes: a first sensitive gate, a second sensitive gate, a first resistor and a second resistor; the original resistances of the first sensitive gate and the second sensitive gate are the same as the first resistor and the second resistor; one end of the first sensitive gate and the second sensitive gate are commonly connected to a power supply VCC, and the other end of the first sensitive gate is connected to one end of the first resistor and serves as a first output end; the other end of the second sensitive gate is connected to one end of the second resistor and serves as a second output end; the other ends of the first resistor and the second resistor are commonly grounded.

[0014] Furthermore, the circuit board is a circular circuit board, and three cantilever beams are evenly arranged along the circumference of the circular circuit board.

[0015] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a morphology perception method of a continuum robot, comprising:

[0016] Obtain the force of each cantilever beam on each joint component;

[0017] Calculating the tension of each spring according to the force of each cantilever beam on each joint assembly;

[0018] The morphological parameters of the continuum robot between the two adjacent joint components are calculated according to the tension of each spring between the two adjacent joint components.

[0019] In combination with the second aspect, optionally, calculating the tension of each spring according to the force of each cantilever beam on each joint assembly includes:

[0020] The springs between the i-th joint component and the i+1-th joint component from bottom to top are marked as the i-th group of springs;

[0021] The tension of the first group of springs is equal to the force on the corresponding cantilever beam on the first joint assembly, and the formula is:

[0022] ;

[0023] In the formula, , is the number of cantilever beams on each joint assembly, is the force on the jth cantilever beam on the first joint assembly, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the jth cantilever beam in the first group of springs;

[0024] The tension of the i-th group of springs is calculated by the force formula of the corresponding cantilever beam on the i-th joint assembly. The force formula of the corresponding cantilever beam on the i-th joint assembly is:

[0025] ;

[0026] In the formula, , is the number of joint components, is the force on the jth cantilever beam on the i-th joint assembly, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the jth cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs, The tension of the spring corresponding to the jth cantilever beam in the i-1th group of springs.

[0027] In combination with the second aspect, optionally, for a continuum robot in which each joint component includes three cantilever beams, the calculating of the morphological parameters of the continuum robot between two adjacent joint components according to the tension of each spring between the two adjacent joint components includes: calculating the morphological parameters of the continuum robot between the i-th joint component and the i-1-th joint component according to the tension of the i-th group of springs between the i-th joint component and the i-1-th joint component;

[0028] The morphological parameters of the continuum robot include: bending plane angle , bending angle and bending radius , the formula is:

[0029] ;

[0030] ;

[0031] ;

[0032] In the formula, is the initial length of the spring, is the spring stiffness coefficient, is the distance between the cantilever beam hole and the center of the circuit board, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the first cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the second cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the third cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs.

[0033] In a third aspect, the present invention provides an electronic device comprising: a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the morphology perception method of the continuum robot as described in the second aspect is implemented.

[0034] In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the morphology perception method of a continuum robot as described in the second aspect is implemented.

[0035] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0036] (1) The continuum robot provided by the present invention adopts a joint assembly containing a circuit board, a cantilever beam hole is preset on the circuit board, and a bridge circuit is built in the circuit board using a sensitive grid. When the continuum robot is driven to bend, the springs between the joint assemblies are stretched and deformed, and the springs fixed on the upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board exert a pulling force on the circuit board, causing the sensitive grid in the bridge circuit to be strained, and the resistance value of the sensitive grid changes accordingly. The change in resistance is converted into a voltage signal through the bridge circuit, and then the force exerted on each preset cantilever beam of the continuum robot at this time is calculated.

[0037] (2) The morphology perception method of the continuum robot provided by the present invention calculates the deformation of the continuum robot through the spring tension. This method is simple, efficient and direct, which is conducive to improving the efficiency of measuring the morphology change of the continuum robot. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a continuum robot provided in Example 1 of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the surface of the circuit board provided in Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a bridge circuit provided in Example 2 of the present invention;

[0041] In the figure, 1 is a joint assembly, 2 is a spring, 3 is an elastic rod, 4 is a circuit board, 5 is a cantilever beam hole, 6 is a sensitive grid, 7 is a common resistor, 8 is an instrument amplifier, and 9 is an MCU module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. (if any) in the specification and claims of the present application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units that are clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices. The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all of the embodiments.

[0043] Example 1

[0044] This embodiment provides a continuum robot, comprising: an elastic rod 3, a spring 2 and a plurality of joint components 1.

[0045] Specifically, Figure 1 As shown, a central hole penetrating along the axial direction is provided in the center of each joint component 1; the elastic rod 3 penetrates the central holes of all joint components 1 and is fixedly connected to each joint component 1 respectively.

[0046] The joint components are connected by elastic rods, so that under the action of driving force, the continuum robot can bend at different angles and directions, and then complete the corresponding actions according to the operating instructions.

[0047] The joint assembly 1 includes a circuit board 4; the circuit board 4 is evenly provided with a plurality of cantilever beams along the circumference of its largest inscribed circle, and symmetrically distributed cantilever beam holes are provided on the upper surface and the lower surface of the cantilever beam at one end away from the center of the circuit board; a sensitive grid is also provided on the cantilever beam; the sensitive grid is arranged on the line connecting each cantilever beam hole and the center of the circuit board.

[0048] The sensitive grid is a sensitive element that realizes the conversion from strain to resistance. It is usually made of metal wire wound into a grid shape or corroded into a grid shape with metal foil. The cantilever arm with the sensitive grid forms a resistance strain gauge, which is used to express the stress condition at that position through the resistance change of the strain gauge.

[0049] The cantilever beams of adjacent joint components are aligned along the axial direction; the spring is arranged between adjacent cantilever beams in the same axial direction, and both ends of the spring are fixed on the cantilever beam holes.

[0050] Arranging multiple springs between adjacent joint components is beneficial to increasing the toughness of the continuum robot and the recovery of the robot's bending deformation. The two ends of the same spring are subjected to forces of the same magnitude and opposite directions, and the springs on the upper and lower surfaces of a joint component will produce different pulling forces due to different deformation lengths. The difference in pulling force between the two forms the stress condition at that position on the joint component, which corresponds to the stress condition manifested by the resistance change of the two resistance strain gauges symmetrically arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board at that position on the joint component.

[0051] The circuit board 4 includes: multiple bridge circuits, instrument amplifiers and microcontrollers; the bridge circuit includes two sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam, which are used to convert the change in the resistance of the sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam into an electrical signal when the continuum robot bends and causes the resistance of the two sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam to change.

[0052] The two sensitive grids contained in the same bridge circuit are respectively arranged in different branches. When the continuum robot does not bend, the bridge circuit is a balanced circuit. When the continuum robot bends, part of the spring is deformed, the resistance of the strain gauge on the circuit board in the joint assembly changes, and the bridge circuit becomes an unbalanced circuit, thereby converting the force condition of the circuit board into an electrical signal.

[0053] The output end of each bridge circuit is connected to the microcontroller through the instrument amplifier; the instrument amplifier is used to amplify the voltage signal output by the bridge circuit; and the microcontroller is used to obtain the force of the cantilever beam corresponding to the bridge circuit according to the amplified voltage signal.

[0054] With such a structure, each bending movement of the continuum robot can generate a corresponding electrical signal response. In other words, even if the current posture of the continuum robot can be calculated based on the signal feedback from the circuit boards in all joint components, posture simulation and posture control can be further realized.

[0055] Optionally, the spacing between adjacent joint components is equal to the initial length of the spring.

[0056] Example 2 Based on Example 1, this example provides a continuum robot in which the circuit board is circular and three cantilever beams are evenly arranged along the circumference.

[0057] Specifically, Figure 2 As shown, three cantilever beams are evenly distributed on the circumference of the circular circuit board 4, and symmetrically distributed cantilever beam holes 5 are provided on the upper surface and the lower surface of the end of each cantilever beam away from the center of the circuit board; a sensitive grid 6 is provided on the line connecting the cantilever beam hole 5 and the center of the circuit board; the distance from the cantilever beam hole 5 to the center of the circuit board is.

[0058] The two sensitive grids 6 on the upper and lower surfaces of each cantilever beam and the two common resistors 7 form an electric bridge; the original resistance of the sensitive grid 6 is the same as that of the two common resistors 7 .

[0059] like Figure 3 As shown, in this embodiment, the circuit board 4 includes: 3 bridge circuits, 3 instrument amplifiers 8 and 1 MCU module 9.

[0060] Each bridge circuit includes: a first sensitive gate, a second sensitive gate, a first resistor and a second resistor; the original resistance of the first sensitive gate and the second sensitive gate is the same as the first resistor and the second resistor; one end of the first sensitive gate and the second sensitive gate are connected to the power supply VCC, and the other end of the first sensitive gate is connected to one end of the first resistor and serves as the first output end; the other end of the second sensitive gate is connected to one end of the second resistor and serves as the second output end; the other end of the first resistor and the second resistor are grounded together. The output end of each bridge circuit is connected to the MCU module 9 through the instrument amplifier 8.

[0061] In this embodiment, when the continuum robot is not bent, the data collected by the signal collection points of the bridge circuit are the same. At this time, the bridge circuit is a balanced circuit. When the continuum robot is bent, the data collected by the signal collection points changes with the resistance change of the strain gauge, and the bridge circuit becomes an unbalanced circuit.

[0062] The data collected by the three bridge circuits on the same circuit board will be different depending on the bending direction of the continuum robot, while the data collected by the same bridge circuit represents the resistance change of each group of sensitive grids, that is, the degree of bending of the continuum robot.

[0063] Example 3

[0064] Based on Example 1, this embodiment provides a morphology perception method for a continuum robot, comprising:

[0065] Step 1: Obtain the forces on each cantilever beam on each joint assembly.

[0066] Specifically, the force data of each cantilever beam on each joint assembly of the continuum robot is obtained from the MCU of the joint assembly.

[0067] Step 2: Calculate the tension of each spring according to the force of each cantilever beam on each joint assembly.

[0068] Specifically, it includes: marking the springs between the i-th joint component and the i+1-th joint component from bottom to top as the i-th group of springs. The tension of the first group of springs is equal to the force of the corresponding cantilever beam on the first joint component, and the formula is:

[0069] ;

[0070] In the formula, , is the number of cantilever beams on each joint assembly, is the force on the jth cantilever beam on the first joint assembly, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the jth cantilever beam in the first group of springs.

[0071] The tension of the i-th group of springs is calculated by the force formula of the corresponding cantilever beam on the i-th joint assembly. The force formula of the corresponding cantilever beam on the i-th joint assembly is:

[0072] ;

[0073] In the formula, , is the number of joint components, is the force on the j-th cantilever beam on the i-th joint assembly, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the jth cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs, The tension of the spring corresponding to the jth cantilever beam in the i-1th group of springs.

[0074] Step 3: Calculate the morphological parameters of the continuum robot between the two adjacent joint components according to the tension of each spring between the two adjacent joint components.

[0075] Example 4

[0076] Based on Example 3, this example provides a morphology perception method for a continuum robot in which each joint component includes three cantilever beams.

[0077] In this embodiment, the continuum robot includes There are three joint components, and there are three springs between every two adjacent joint components. The morphological parameters of the continuum robot between two adjacent joint components are calculated according to the tension of the three springs between the two adjacent joint components.

[0078] Specifically, the morphological parameters of the continuum robot between the i-th joint component and the i-1-th joint component include: bending plane angle , bending angle and bending radius , the formula is:

[0079] ;

[0080] ;

[0081] ;

[0082] In the formula, is the initial length of the spring, is the spring stiffness coefficient, is the distance between the cantilever beam hole and the center of the circuit board, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the first cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the second cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs, is the tension of the spring corresponding to the third cantilever beam in the i-th group of springs.

[0083] Example 5

[0084] This embodiment provides an electronic device, including: a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the morphology perception method of the continuum robot as described in Example 3 or Example 4 is implemented.

[0085] Example 6

[0086] This embodiment provides a computer storage medium, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the morphology perception method of the continuum robot as described in Example 3 or Example 4 is implemented.

[0087] The storage medium may include, for example, a storage component of a tablet computer, a hard disk of a computer, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a USB memory, or any combination of the above storage media. The computer storage medium may be any combination of one or more computer storage media.

[0088] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A continuum robot, characterized in that: include: elastic rods, springs and multiple joint assemblies; A central hole is provided in the center of each joint assembly along the axial direction; The elastic rod passes through the central holes of all joint components and is fixedly connected to each joint component respectively; The joint assembly comprises: a circuit board; a plurality of cantilever beams are evenly arranged along the circumference of the largest inscribed circle of the circuit board, and symmetrically distributed cantilever beam holes are provided on the upper surface and the lower surface of one end of the cantilever beam away from the center of the circuit board; The cantilever beam is also provided with a sensitive grid; the sensitive grid is arranged on the connection line between each cantilever beam hole and the center of the circuit board; The cantilever beams of adjacent joint components are aligned along the axial direction; The spring is arranged between adjacent cantilever beams in the same axial direction, and both ends of the spring are fixed on the cantilever beam holes; The circuit board includes: a plurality of bridge circuits, each of which includes two sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam, and is used to convert the change in the resistance of the sensitive grids into an electrical signal when the continuum robot bends and causes the resistance of the two sensitive grids on the same cantilever beam to change.

2. The continuum robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The spacing between adjacent joint components is equal to the initial length of the spring.

3. The continuum robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The circuit board also includes: an instrument amplifier and a microcontroller; the output end of each bridge circuit is connected to the microcontroller through the instrument amplifier; The instrument amplifier is used to amplify the voltage signal output by the bridge circuit; The microcontroller is used to obtain the force of the cantilever beam corresponding to the bridge circuit according to the amplified voltage signal.

4. The continuum robot according to claim 3, characterized in that: The bridge circuit includes: a first sensitive gate, a second sensitive gate, a first resistor and a second resistor; the original resistances of the first sensitive gate and the second sensitive gate are the same as the first resistor and the second resistor; one end of the first sensitive gate and the second sensitive gate are commonly connected to a power supply VCC, and the other end of the first sensitive gate is connected to one end of the first resistor and serves as a first output end; the other end of the second sensitive gate is connected to one end of the second resistor and serves as a second output end; the other ends of the first resistor and the second resistor are commonly grounded.

5. The continuum robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The circuit board is a circular circuit board, and three cantilever beams are evenly arranged along the circumference of the circular circuit board.

6. A morphology perception method for a continuum robot, characterized in that: include: Obtain the force of each cantilever beam on each joint component; Calculating the tension of each spring according to the force of each cantilever beam on each joint assembly; The morphological parameters of the continuum robot between the two adjacent joint components are calculated according to the tension of each spring between the two adjacent joint components.

7. The morphology perception method of a continuum robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The tension of each spring is calculated according to the force of each cantilever beam on each joint assembly, including: From bottom to top The joint components and The springs between the joint components are marked as Spring assembly; The tension of the first group of springs is equal to the force on the corresponding cantilever beam on the first joint assembly, and the formula is: ； In the formula, , is the number of cantilever beams on each joint assembly, For the first joint assembly The force on a cantilever beam, The first group of springs and The tension of the spring corresponding to the cantilever beam; No. The tension of the spring group is The force formula of the cantilever beam corresponding to the joint component is deduced, and the The force formula of the cantilever beam corresponding to each joint component is: ； In the formula, , is the number of joint components, For the The force on the jth cantilever beam on the joint assembly is, For the Spring group and The tension of the spring corresponding to the cantilever beam is No. Spring group and The tension of the spring corresponding to the cantilever beam.

8. The morphology perception method of a continuum robot according to claim 7, characterized in that: For a continuum robot in which each joint component includes three cantilever beams, the morphological parameters of the continuum robot between two adjacent joint components are calculated according to the tension of each spring between the two adjacent joint components, including: According to The joint components and The first joint component The tension of the spring group is calculated The joint components and The morphological parameters of the continuum robot between the joint components; The morphological parameters of the continuum robot include: bending plane angle , bending angle and bending radius , the formula is: ； ； ； In the formula, is the initial length of the spring, is the spring stiffness coefficient, is the distance between the cantilever beam hole and the center of the circuit board, For the The tension of the spring corresponding to the first cantilever beam in the spring group, For the The tension of the spring corresponding to the second cantilever beam in the spring group, For the The tension of the spring corresponding to the third cantilever beam in the spring group.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: A processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the morphology perception method of the continuum robot as described in any one of claims 6 to 8 is implemented.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the morphology perception method of a continuum robot as described in any one of claims 6 to 8 is implemented.

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