Flexible ankle joint mechanism of walking robot and walking robot

Abstract

The invention discloses a walking robot flexible ankle joint mechanism and a walking robot. The flexible ankle joint mechanism and the walking robot comprise a shank part (6) and a foot part (7) and further comprise two ankle elastic mechanisms (1), namely an ankle rear elastic mechanism (11) and an ankle front elastic mechanism (12). For the ankle rear elastic mechanism, the linear driving mechanism is based on the shank part, one end of an elastic batten (15) is connected with the driving force output end of the linear driving mechanism, and the other end of the elastic batten is connected with the heel part of the foot part; and for the anterior ankle elastic mechanism, the other end of the elastic batten is connected with the toe part of the foot part. The ankle elastic mechanism arranged in the flexible ankle joint mechanism can adjust the overall rigidity of the flexible ankle joint mechanism while achieving rotation of the ankle joint, the passive compliance of the ankle joint is improved, and the flexible ankle joint mechanism and the walking robot can adapt to different movement requirements and reduce rigid impact in the walking process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a walking robot technology, in particular to a walking robot flexible ankle joint mechanism and a walking robot. Background Art

[0002] At present, walking robots have been widely used in rescue, education, entertainment and other fields, and their ankle joints, as the key parts of load-bearing and shock-absorbing, play an important role in robot movement.

[0003] In addition to human bones, real human ankle joints also contain flexible parts such as muscles, tendons, and ligaments. They provide the compliance to the external environment required by humans during movement and ensure the stability of movement. At the same time, they can adjust their own stiffness to cope with different movement modes, such as walking and running. However, the ankle joints of walking robots in the prior art are mostly rigid structures. This type of ankle joint design has high movement accuracy and strong load-bearing capacity, but the above design has almost no passive compliance ability and can only achieve compliance operation through active compliance control. However, when active compliance control cannot be applied or the accuracy is insufficient, the working performance of the mechanism will be greatly reduced. At the same time, the above-mentioned rigid ankle joint mechanism cannot adjust the stiffness accordingly for the movement form required by the robot, and there are many limitations.

[0004] To sum up, the current problems are:

[0005] The ankle joints of existing walking robots are difficult to adapt to the environment, and are prone to rigid impact during walking, causing damage to the structure. It is also difficult to adjust the stiffness to adapt to different terrains. Summary of the invention

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a flexible ankle joint mechanism and a walking robot. The flexible ankle joint mechanism has good passive compliance, so that the walking robot can adapt to different movement requirements and reduce rigid impact during walking.

[0007] In order to achieve the above technical objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] A flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot, the flexible ankle joint mechanism includes a calf component and a foot component, the lower end of the calf component is assembled with the foot component through a rotating pair; the flexible ankle joint mechanism also includes two ankle elastic mechanisms, the two ankle elastic mechanisms serve as a rear ankle elastic mechanism and a front ankle elastic mechanism respectively, each ankle elastic mechanism includes a linear drive mechanism and an elastic slat; for the rear ankle elastic mechanism, the linear drive mechanism is based on the calf component, one end of the elastic slat is connected to the driving force output end of the linear drive mechanism, and the other end of the elastic slat is connected to the heel of the foot component; for the front ankle elastic mechanism, the linear drive mechanism is based on the calf component, one end of the elastic slat is connected to the driving force output end of the linear drive mechanism, and the other end of the elastic slat is connected to the toe of the foot component.

[0009] Furthermore, the linear drive mechanism is a linear drive motor or a telescopic cylinder driven guide slide mechanism.

[0010] A flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot, the flexible ankle joint mechanism includes a calf component and a foot component, the lower end of the calf component is assembled with the foot component through a rotating pair; the flexible ankle joint mechanism also includes two ankle elastic mechanisms, the two ankle elastic mechanisms are respectively used as a rear ankle elastic mechanism and a front ankle elastic mechanism, each ankle elastic mechanism includes a rotary drive motor, a screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism and an elastic slat; for the rear ankle elastic mechanism, the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism is based on the calf component, the rotary drive motor drives the screw of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism to rotate, one end of the elastic slat is connected to the slide of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism, and the other end of the elastic slat is connected to the heel of the foot component; for the front ankle elastic mechanism, the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism is based on the calf component, the rotary drive motor drives the screw of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism to rotate, one end of the elastic slat is connected to the slide of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism, and the other end of the elastic slat is connected to the toe of the foot component.

[0011] Furthermore, for the rear ankle elastic mechanism and the front ankle elastic mechanism, the slide of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism moves in the direction of the length of the calf component, and the slide of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism can move up and down along the length of the calf component.

[0012] Furthermore, for the posterior ankle elastic mechanism and the anterior ankle elastic mechanism, a rotary drive motor is arranged above the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism, and is installed based on the calf component through an installation bracket. The rotary output shaft end of the rotary drive motor is assembled and connected to the screw of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism, thereby realizing the rotation of the screw of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism driven by the rotary drive motor.

[0013] Furthermore, each ankle elastic mechanism includes two elastic strips, which are arranged in a mirror-symmetrical manner.

[0014] Furthermore, the elastic strip is an elongated pressing plate made of superelastic material.

[0015] Furthermore, the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanisms of the rear ankle elastic mechanism and the front ankle elastic mechanism are symmetrically arranged based on the central axis of the calf component.

[0016] Further, all the elastic strips are bent toward one side of the calf member.

[0017] A walking robot adopts the flexible ankle joint mechanism as mentioned above.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, the flexible ankle joint mechanism of the present invention has the following main beneficial effects:

[0019] The ankle elastic mechanism (posterior ankle elastic mechanism and anterior ankle elastic mechanism) arranged in the flexible ankle joint mechanism can not only realize the rotation of the ankle joint, but also adjust the overall stiffness of the flexible ankle joint mechanism, thereby improving the passive compliance of the ankle joint, so that the flexible ankle joint mechanism and the walking robot can adapt to different movement requirements and reduce the rigid impact during walking. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the flexible ankle joint mechanism of the walking robot of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 2 is a side view of the flexible ankle joint mechanism;

[0022] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the elastic slat assembly. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present invention will be further described below with specific embodiments:

[0024] This embodiment provides a flexible ankle joint mechanism for a walking robot, which bionic simulates a human foot. The flexible ankle joint mechanism is installed on a walking robot so that the walking robot can simulate human walking.

[0025] See also Figure 1 and Figure 2 The flexible ankle joint mechanism of this embodiment includes a calf component 6 and a foot component 7. The lower end of the calf component 6 and the foot component 7 are assembled together through a revolute pair (axle pin mechanism), thereby forming the main part of the flexible ankle joint mechanism. It should be noted that the assembly combination structure of the calf component 6 and the foot component 7 is common knowledge known to those skilled in the art.

[0026] The flexible ankle joint mechanism of this embodiment is further provided with two ankle elastic mechanisms 1. Based on the two ankle elastic mechanisms 1, the flexible ankle joint mechanism can achieve a better motion effect, thereby better bionic simulation of the human foot.

[0027] The two ankle elastic mechanisms 1 are respectively used as the rear ankle elastic mechanism 11 and the front ankle elastic mechanism 12. The basic structures of the two ankle elastic mechanisms 1 are the same, and the only difference is the position at which they are assembled on the flexible ankle joint mechanism.

[0028] Specifically,

[0029] The ankle rear elastic mechanism 11 is installed at the position "between the rear edge of the calf component 6 and the heel of the foot component 7". For the convenience of distinguishing descriptions, this position is called the ankle rear. The ankle rear is equivalent to the Achilles tendon of a human foot.

[0030] The ankle front elastic mechanism 12 is installed at the position "between the front edge of the calf component 6 and the toe portion of the foot component 7". For the convenience of distinguishing descriptions, this position is called the ankle front. The ankle front is equivalent to the position from the front of the calf to the back of the foot of a human foot.

[0031] It should be noted that the heel portion and the toe portion of the foot component 7 mentioned herein refer to the rear end portion and the front end portion of the foot component 7 .

[0032] As for the single ankle elastic mechanism 1,

[0033] The ankle elastic mechanism 1 comprises a rotary drive motor 13, a screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 and two elastic strips 15. It should be emphasized that the rotary drive motor 13, the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 and the elastic strips 15 are all devices of the prior art and can be purchased on the market.

[0034] Those skilled in the art can understand that the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 (also known as: ball screw linear transmission mechanism, screw linear guide slide mechanism) is composed of a combination of parts such as a screw 141, a slide 142, and a guide rail. Since it is a mechanism of the prior art, its specific structure will not be described in detail.

[0035] The screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 is arranged based on the calf component 6, and the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 is arranged on the side of the calf component 6. The slide movement direction of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 is along the length direction of the calf component 6, and the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 can move up and down along the length direction of the calf component 6.

[0036] The rotary drive motor 13 is arranged above the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14, and is installed based on the calf component 6 through a mounting bracket, and the rotary output shaft end of the rotary drive motor 13 is assembled and connected with the screw 141 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14, so that the rotary drive motor 13 can drive the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 to move up and down linearly. The screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 essentially converts the rotary drive force output by the rotary drive motor 13 into a linear drive force, and outputs the linear drive force to the outside through the slide 142.

[0037] See also Figure 2 and Figure 3 The two elastic strips 15 are installed between the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 and the foot component 7, and the two elastic strips 15 are respectively located on both sides of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14, and the two elastic strips 15 are arranged in mirror symmetry.

[0038] As for a single elastic slat 15, one end of the elastic slat 15 is connected to the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14, and the other end of the elastic slat 15 is connected to the foot member 7. In this way, the up and down linear driving action of the slide 142 can adjust and control the size of "the elastic force applied by the elastic slat 15 to the foot member 7 based on the calf member 6".

[0039] As for the rear ankle elastic mechanism 11 and the front ankle elastic mechanism 12,

[0040] As mentioned above, the rear ankle elastic mechanism 11 is assembled at the rear ankle of the entire flexible ankle joint mechanism.

[0041] More specifically,

[0042] The screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 in the ankle rear elastic mechanism 11 is arranged at the rear edge of the calf component 6, and the two elastic strips 15 in the ankle rear elastic mechanism 11 are both installed between the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 and the heel of the foot component 7. In this way, the up and down linear driving action of the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 of the ankle rear elastic mechanism 11 can adjust the deformation degree of the elastic strips 15 of the ankle rear elastic mechanism 11, thereby adjusting the magnitude of the elastic force applied to the heel of the foot component 7 and the corresponding stiffness characteristics.

[0043] As previously mentioned, the front ankle elastic mechanism 12 is mounted on the front ankle of the entire flexible ankle joint mechanism.

[0044] More specifically,

[0045] The screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 in the front ankle elastic mechanism 12 is arranged at the front edge of the calf component 6, and the two elastic strips 15 in the front ankle elastic mechanism 12 are both installed between the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 and the toe portion of the foot component 7. In this way, the up and down linear driving action of the slide 142 of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 of the front ankle elastic mechanism 12 can adjust the deformation degree of the elastic strips 15 of the front ankle elastic mechanism 12, thereby adjusting the magnitude of the elastic force applied to the toe portion of the foot component 7 and the corresponding stiffness characteristics.

[0046] It should be noted that, in the ankle elastic mechanism 1, the combination of the rotary drive motor 13 and the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 actually constitutes a "linear drive mechanism", and the slide 142 in the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14 is equivalent to the driving force output end of the "linear drive mechanism", and the driving output end is assembled together with the elastic slat 15, so that the deformation degree of the elastic slat 15 can be adjusted, and then the size of the elastic force applied to the foot part 7 (heel or toe) and the corresponding stiffness characteristics can be adjusted.

[0047] In other embodiments, other forms of "linear drive mechanisms" may also be used to realize the combination of the rotary drive motor 13 and the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism 14. For example, a linear drive motor; another example, a telescopic cylinder drives the guide slide mechanism, where the telescopic cylinder may be an electric telescopic cylinder, a pneumatic telescopic cylinder, or a hydraulic telescopic cylinder.

[0048] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the elastic strip 15 is a slender pressing plate made of superelastic material, and the pressing plate has a large deformation capacity.

[0049] It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanisms 14 of the rear ankle elastic mechanism 11 and the front ankle elastic mechanism 12 are symmetrically arranged based on the central axis of the calf component 6 .

[0050] It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, all the elastic strips 15 are bent toward one side of the calf component 6 .

[0051] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the lower leg component 6 is provided with a plurality of mounting holes, and these mounting holes are used to connect other parts of the walking robot.

[0052] The working principle of the flexible ankle joint mechanism of this embodiment is as follows:

[0053] When controlling the walking robot to walk, the deformation degree of the elastic strip 15 is adjusted by controlling the linear drive mechanism of the rear ankle elastic mechanism 11 and the front ankle elastic mechanism 12, thereby changing the magnitude of the elastic force applied to the heel and toe and the stiffness characteristics at the corresponding positions. The force and stiffness of the rear ankle elastic mechanism 11 and the front ankle elastic mechanism 12 are mutually antagonistic and coupled, thereby controlling the posture and overall stiffness of the robot foot.

[0054] In this way, the following effects can be achieved:

[0055] 1) By controlling the position and posture of the flexible ankle joint mechanism, the ankle joint can be rotated;

[0056] 2) Relying on the large deformation capacity of the elastic strip 15, it can passively adapt to the external environment;

[0057] 3) The overall stiffness of the flexible ankle joint mechanism can be changed without changing the position of the ankle elastic mechanism 1 to adapt to different forms of movement.

[0058] The flexible ankle joint mechanism of this embodiment has a simple structure and strong adaptability, and can realize the rotational movement of the robot's ankle joint or actively control the stiffness of the ankle joint without changing its posture to adapt to different movement requirements.

[0059] In addition, this embodiment also provides a walking robot, which adopts the flexible ankle joint mechanism provided above and can actively adapt to different movement requirements during walking.

[0060] The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot, the flexible ankle joint mechanism comprising a calf component (6) and a foot component (7), wherein the lower end of the calf component (6) and the foot component (7) are assembled together through a revolute pair; Features: The flexible ankle joint mechanism further comprises two ankle elastic mechanisms (1), the two ankle elastic mechanisms (1) serving as a rear ankle elastic mechanism (11) and a front ankle elastic mechanism (12) respectively, and each ankle elastic mechanism (1) comprises a linear drive mechanism and an elastic strip (15); For the rear ankle elastic mechanism (11), the linear drive mechanism is based on the calf component (6), one end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the driving force output end of the linear drive mechanism, and the other end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the heel of the foot component (7); For the front ankle elastic mechanism (12), the linear drive mechanism is based on the calf component (6), one end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the driving force output end of the linear drive mechanism, and the other end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the toe part of the foot component (7).

2. The walking robot flexible ankle joint mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The linear drive mechanism is a linear drive motor or a telescopic cylinder driven guide slide mechanism.

3. A flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot, the flexible ankle joint mechanism comprising a calf component (6) and a foot component (7), wherein the lower end of the calf component (6) and the foot component (7) are assembled together through a revolute pair; Features: The flexible ankle joint mechanism further comprises two ankle elastic mechanisms (1), the two ankle elastic mechanisms (1) serving as a rear ankle elastic mechanism (11) and a front ankle elastic mechanism (12) respectively, and each ankle elastic mechanism (1) comprises a rotary drive motor (13), a screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) and an elastic strip (15); For the rear ankle elastic mechanism (11), the lead screw driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) is based on the calf component (6), the rotary drive motor (13) drives the lead screw (141) of the lead screw driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) to rotate, one end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the slide (142) of the lead screw driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14), and the other end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the heel of the foot component (7); For the front ankle elastic mechanism (12), the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) is based on the calf component (6), the rotary drive motor (13) drives the screw (141) of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) to rotate, one end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the slide (142) of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14), and the other end of the elastic strip (15) is connected to the toe part of the foot component (7).

4. The walking robot flexible ankle joint mechanism according to claim 3, characterized in that: For the rear ankle elastic mechanism (11) and the front ankle elastic mechanism (12), the slide of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) moves in the direction along the length direction of the calf component (6), and the slide (142) of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) can move up and down along the length direction of the calf component (6).

5. The walking robot flexible ankle joint mechanism according to claim 3, characterized in that: For the posterior ankle elastic mechanism (11) and the anterior ankle elastic mechanism (12), a rotary drive motor (13) is arranged above the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14), and is installed based on the calf component (6) through a mounting bracket, and the rotary output shaft end of the rotary drive motor (13) is assembled and connected with the screw (141) of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14), so that the rotary drive motor (13) drives the screw (141) of the screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) to rotate.

6. The flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that: Each ankle elastic mechanism (1) comprises two elastic strips (15), and the two elastic strips (15) are arranged in a mirror-symmetrical manner.

7. The flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that: The elastic strip (15) is a slender pressing plate made of superelastic material.

8. The flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that: The screw-driven slide linear transmission mechanism (14) of the ankle rear elastic mechanism (11) and the ankle front elastic mechanism (12) is arranged symmetrically based on the central axis of the calf component (6).

9. The flexible ankle joint mechanism of a walking robot according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that: All the elastic strips (15) are bent toward one side of the calf member (6).

10. A walking robot, characterized in that: The walking robot adopts the flexible ankle joint mechanism as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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