A pneumatic soft snake-like robot and walking control method and system

Abstract

The present application provides a pneumatic soft snake-like robot and a walking control method and system for use in the field of robotics. The pneumatic soft snake-like robot includes main parts such as the tail, front, and head. For the tail and front, a number of pneumatic muscle modules are designed to facilitate the adjustment of the length of the snake-like robot by adding pneumatic muscle modules. The pneumatic muscle modules are made of soft materials, have a simple structure, a small size, and good flexibility, and are more suitable for movement in complex or narrow spaces. In addition, the pneumatic bionic muscle adopts a tubular structure and is divided into two air cavities on the left and right. The movement of the snake-like robot is achieved by driving the pneumatic muscle contraction by inflation and deflation, and a distributed drive method can be used to achieve a variety of movement gaits, making the movement gait and movement form of the snake-like robot closer to that of a biological snake.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of robotics, and in particular to a pneumatic soft snake-like robot and a walking control method. Background Art

[0002] Snakes achieve various movements through muscle pull and friction between their scales and the ground. Their flexibility is ensured by their hundreds of vertebrae and flexible body. Snake-like robots mimic the structure and movement of biological snakes, achieving a variety of motion modes, including linear crawling, serpentine crawling, telescopic movement, lateral movement, and climbing, allowing them to effectively navigate unstructured environments.

[0003] Traditional snake-like robots have rigid joints, resulting in poor flexibility during movement and inability to achieve large bends. Compared to traditional rigid robots, soft robots are continuum robots made of soft materials. They are smaller and lighter, and the flexibility of soft materials makes them more suitable for movement in complex or confined spaces. Existing soft snake-like robots are driven by a combination of pneumatic muscles, which limit their size, flexibility, freedom of movement, and bending radius. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention aims to address the technical shortcomings of existing soft snake-like robots by providing a pneumatic soft snake-like robot capable of real-time environmental perception and movement through the contraction of pneumatic muscles. These pneumatic bionic muscles utilize a monolithic bellows-like structure divided into two air chambers, one for each side. A distributed drive system enables a variety of gaits. The pneumatic muscles utilize a modular design, and the snake-like robot's length can be adjusted by adding pneumatic bionic muscle modules. The front section primarily controls directional control and provides pulling force, while the rear section provides thrust, controlling balance and coordination during movement.

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0006] The present application provides a pneumatic soft snake-like robot, comprising: a tail, a front part and a head; wherein the tail and / or the front part comprises a plurality of pneumatic muscle modules, each muscle module comprises a flexible skin, a plurality of supporting muscles, a plurality of connecting discs, a plurality of bones, a pneumatic bionic muscle and at least two tracheas; wherein the pneumatic bionic muscle comprises two closed air cavities separated left and right; the adjacent bones are connected by the connecting discs, and the bones are embedded in the outer surface of the pneumatic bionic muscle for supporting the pneumatic bionic muscle; each of the supporting muscles is mounted on the corresponding bone; the flexible skin is connected to the supporting muscles and the pneumatic bionic muscle; the closed air cavity of the pneumatic bionic muscle is connected to at least one trachea, so that the closed air cavity of the pneumatic bionic muscle is inflated or deflated through the trachea to achieve the extension or contraction of the pneumatic bionic muscle.

[0007] Preferably, adjacent pneumatic muscle modules are connected to each other at the top via the connecting disk and at the bottom via a snap-fit ​​structure.

[0008] Preferably, the front end of the pneumatic bionic muscle is provided with a slot structure, and the rear end is provided with a card plate structure, so as to achieve a snap connection between the slot of the front pneumatic bionic muscle and the card plate of the rear pneumatic bionic muscle.

[0009] Preferably, the structure of the pneumatic bionic muscle is an integral bellows-shaped structure; wherein the bone is embedded in the crest or trough of the bellows-shaped structure, so as to utilize the bone to limit the pneumatic bionic muscle.

[0010] Preferably, the head includes four universal balls and a housing, wherein the universal balls are mounted on the bottom of the housing to reduce friction during movement.

[0011] Preferably, the head further comprises a camera and a mounting seat, the mounting seat being embedded in the interior of the housing, the camera being mounted in the mounting seat, the housing being provided with a first opening, and the camera collecting image information of the external environment through the first opening;

[0012] And / or, the head includes a distance sensor and a mounting base, the mounting base is embedded in the interior of the shell, the distance sensor is installed in the mounting base, a second opening is opened on the shell, and the distance sensor collects distance information of objects in the external environment through the second opening.

[0013] Preferably, the head further includes a communication module, and the communication module is used to send image information collected by the camera or distance information collected by the distance sensor to a host computer.

[0014] Preferably, in one of the pneumatic soft snake-like robots, each pneumatic muscle module includes 5 bones, 5 connecting discs, 5 supporting muscles and two trachea, and the left and right air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscle each include 5 connected chambers.

[0015] Preferably, the tail portion includes 3 pneumatic muscle modules, and / or the front portion includes 3 pneumatic muscle modules.

[0016] The present application provides a pneumatic soft snake-like robot walking control method, comprising:

[0017] Determining a walking trajectory of a pneumatic soft snake-like robot, wherein the pneumatic soft snake-like robot is a pneumatic soft snake-like robot as described in any one of the present applications;

[0018] According to the walking trajectory, the trachea is controlled to inflate or deflate the closed air cavity in the pneumatic soft snake-like robot, so that the walking action is completed by expanding or contracting the air cavity.

[0019] The present application provides a pneumatic soft snake-like robot walking control system, comprising: a host computer and a pneumatic soft snake-like robot as described in any one of the present applications; wherein the host computer is used to generate a walking trajectory of the pneumatic soft snake-like robot; and the pneumatic soft snake-like robot is used to complete walking movements according to the walking trajectory.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, this application has one or more of the following beneficial effects:

[0021] 1. The present invention adopts a modular design. The length of the snake-like robot can be adjusted by adding pneumatic bionic muscle modules. The modules are connected by a snap-fit ​​structure. It has a simple structure, strong versatility, easy operation, and can achieve arbitrary gait control.

[0022] 2. The pneumatic muscle module of the present invention is made of a mixture of pneumatic bionic muscles and bones to form a soft snake-like robot body with rigid-flexible coupling characteristics. It has good flexibility and good support stiffness, which is more conducive to passing through narrow spaces.

[0023] 3. The pneumatic bionic muscle is a monolithic bellows-like structure divided into two air chambers, each with a joint at the top that connects to the trachea. The pneumatic bionic muscle is compact and small, yet can achieve left-right contraction control. Furthermore, during movement, the front section of the snake-like robot is primarily responsible for directional control and provides pulling force, while the rear section provides thrust, maintaining balance and coordination.

[0024] 4. The head of the present invention is equipped with a camera and an ultrasonic distance sensor, which can perceive external images and distance information in real time, thereby improving the perception ability of the snake-like robot in complex environments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0026] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a pneumatic soft snake-like robot in this application;

[0027] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the pneumatic muscle module in this application;

[0028] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the pneumatic bionic muscle in this application;

[0029] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the head structure of the pneumatic soft snake-like robot in this application;

[0030] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a pneumatic soft snake-like robot walking control method in this application;

[0031] Figure 6 This is a structural diagram of a pneumatic soft snake-like robot walking control system in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0033] The following describes the embodiments of the present application through specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present application from the contents disclosed in this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. The present application can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and the details in this specification can also be modified or changed in various ways based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present application. It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the features in the following embodiments and embodiments can be combined with each other. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0034] It should be noted that various aspects of the embodiments within the scope of the appended claims are described below. It should be apparent that the aspects described herein can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and any specific structure and / or function described herein is merely illustrative. Based on this application, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that an aspect described herein can be implemented independently of any other aspect, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in various ways. For example, any number and aspect described herein can be used to implement an apparatus and / or practice a method. In addition, other structures and / or functionalities other than one or more of the aspects described herein can be used to implement this apparatus and / or practice this method.

[0035] It should also be noted that the illustrations provided in the following embodiments are only schematic illustrations of the basic concept of the present application. The illustrations only show components related to the present application and are not drawn according to the number, shape and size of components in actual implementation. In actual implementation, the type, quantity and proportion of each component can be changed at will, and the component layout type may also be more complicated.

[0036] Additionally, in the following description, specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the examples, however, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the examples can be practiced without these specific details.

[0037] refer to Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a pneumatic soft snake-like robot, consisting of a tail II, a front part III and a head IV, wherein the tail II is formed by connecting three pneumatic muscle modules I, a baffle 12 is installed at the end of the tail II, and the front end of the tail II is connected to the front part III; the front part III is also formed by connecting three bionic muscle modules I, and is connected to the tail II and the head IV; the upper part of each bionic muscle module I is connected to other modules through a connecting disc 3, and the lower part of the bionic muscle module I is connected to other modules through a snap-fit ​​structure.

[0038] It should be noted that the tail and / or front part include several pneumatic muscle modules, that is, the number of bionic muscle modules I used in the tail II and the front part III can be 3 in the above example or other numbers.

[0039] like Figure 2As shown, each bionic muscle module I includes a flexible skin 1, five supporting muscles 2, five connecting discs 3, five bones 4, pneumatic bionic muscles 5, and two tracheas 6; the flexible skin 1 is wrapped around the outside of the pneumatic muscle module I, and is connected to the five supporting muscles 2 and the pneumatic bionic muscles 5 (for example, by gluing); the five bones 4 are connected in sequence through five connecting discs 3, the five supporting muscles 2 are respectively installed on the five bones 4, the five bones 4 are embedded in the pneumatic bionic muscles 5, and the two tracheas 6 are connected to the left and right air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscles 5 through joints. The extension and contraction of the bionic muscle module I are achieved by continuously flushing and releasing air from the left and right air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscles 5, thereby realizing the movement of the snake-like robot.

[0040] In some examples, the ends of the flexible skin 1 are spliced ​​with the ends of the flexible skin 1 of other modules by gluing, and triangular grooves are provided on the bottom and sides of the flexible skin 1 to increase the friction between the snake-like robot and the ground.

[0041] It should be noted that the number of components in the bionic muscle module I can be the number in the above example or other numbers.

[0042] like Figure 3 As shown, the pneumatic bionic muscle 5 is preferably an integral bellows structure, which is divided into two left and right air cavities. The two air cavities are separated and not connected. There are pipe joints at the upper parts of the two air cavities connected to the trachea 6. The pneumatic bionic muscle 5 has a card slot at the front end and a card plate at the rear end for connecting with the card plates and card slots of other pneumatic muscle modules respectively.

[0043] During implementation, the skeleton is embedded in the crest or trough of the corrugated tubular structure, so that the skeleton can be used to limit the pneumatic bionic muscle, better respond to the extension or contraction of the pneumatic bionic muscle in a timely manner, and better imitate the walking trajectory.

[0044] like Figure 4 As shown, the head of the snake-like robot includes four universal balls 7, a camera mounting seat 8, a camera 9, a housing 10, and an ultrasonic distance sensor 11; the four universal balls 7 are mounted on the bottom of the housing 10 to reduce the friction of the head, the camera 9 is mounted on the camera mounting seat 8, the camera mounting seat 8 is fixed to the bottom of the housing 10 by screws, and the ultrasonic distance sensor 11 is mounted on the housing 10 by screws. The camera 9 and the ultrasonic distance sensor 11 are used to collect environmental information and transmit it to the host computer.

[0045] In some examples, the mounting base 8 is embedded in the interior of the housing 10, and the mounting base 8 is vertically arranged, and the camera 9 is installed in the mounting base. A first opening is opened on the housing 10, and the camera 9 collects image information of the external environment through the first opening.

[0046] In some examples, the distance sensor 11 is installed in the mounting base 8, for example, the distance sensor 11 and the camera 9 are arranged on the mounting base 8 in the vertical direction, and a second opening is opened on the shell 10, and the distance sensor 11 collects the distance information of objects in the external environment through the second opening.

[0047] In some examples, the head also includes a communication module (not shown in the figure) for transmitting image information captured by the camera 9 or distance information captured by the distance sensor 11 to a host computer. In practice, the communication can be wireless or wired, and is not limited here.

[0048] refer to Figure 5 The working process of the snake robot is as follows:

[0049] First, the walking trajectory of the pneumatic soft snake-like robot is determined; then, the air tube is controlled to inflate or deflate the air cavity in the pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to the walking trajectory.

[0050] During implementation, the snake-like robot is placed in an unstructured environment. Twelve tracheal tubes 6 provide control and drive power for the snake-like robot. A camera 9 and ultrasonic distance sensor 11 obtain real-time information about environmental objects and their locations. Both transmit this information to a host computer, which processes this information to generate the snake-like robot's trajectory. The host computer then controls the inflation and exhaust of the twelve tracheal tubes, corresponding to the expansion and contraction control of the six pneumatic muscle modules 1, ultimately achieving gait control for the snake-like robot. During its motion, the camera 9 and ultrasonic distance sensor 11 provide real-time environmental information, continuously adjusting the snake-like robot's trajectory to adapt to its unstructured environment.

[0051] When the snake-like robot moves forward in a straight line, the six tracheas 6 that control the movement of the tail II are inflated and deflated at the same time, driving the two air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscles 5 to extend and contract at the same time, thereby realizing the expansion and contraction control of the three bionic muscle modules I in the tail II, and realizing the straight-line movement of the snake-like robot's tail II; the six tracheas 6 that control the movement of the front part III are inflated and deflated at the same time, driving the two air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscles 5 to extend and contract at the same time, thereby realizing the expansion and contraction control of the three bionic muscle modules I in the front part III, and realizing the straight-line movement of the front part III of the snake-like robot.

[0052] When the snake-like robot snakes forward, the six trachea 6 controlling the movement of the tail II, of which the three trachea 6 on either side charge and discharge air in opposite directions, drive the two air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscle 5 to extend and contract in opposite directions, thereby controlling the bending and extension of the three bionic muscle modules I in the tail II, and thus enabling the snake-like robot's tail II to snake forward. The six trachea 6 controlling the movement of the front III, of which the three trachea 6 on either side charge and discharge air in opposite directions, drive the two air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscle 5 to extend and contract in opposite directions, thereby controlling the bending and extension of the three bionic muscle modules I in the front III, and thus enabling the snake-like robot's front III to snake forward. The snake-like robot's tail II and front III snake forwards coordinate with each other, ultimately achieving the snake-like robot's snake forward.

[0053] refer to Figure 6 In the figure, the host computer (such as a computer, also called a computer, etc.) generates a walking trajectory, and then the pneumatic soft snake-like robot moves in the environment in real time according to the walking trajectory. The specific moving process can be referred to the above example.

[0054] In addition, during the movement, the host computer can also be used to receive data from the pneumatic soft snake robot, such as environmental image data captured by the camera 9, obstacle distance data obtained by the distance sensor 11, etc., to achieve real-time linkage between the host computer and the robot.

[0055] In this specification, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the embodiments described later, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the previous embodiments.

[0056] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A pneumatic soft snake-like robot comprising: The tail, front and head parts are characterized in that the tail and / or front parts include a plurality of pneumatic muscle modules, each muscle module includes flexible skin, a plurality of supporting muscles, a plurality of connecting discs, a plurality of bones, pneumatic bionic muscles and at least two tracheas; wherein the pneumatic bionic muscle includes two closed air cavities separated left and right; the adjacent bones are connected by the connecting discs, and the bones are embedded in the outer surface of the pneumatic bionic muscle for supporting the pneumatic bionic muscle; each of the supporting muscles is installed on the corresponding bone; the flexible skin is wrapped around the outside of the supporting muscles and the pneumatic bionic muscle, and is connected to the supporting muscles and the pneumatic bionic muscle; the closed air cavity of the pneumatic bionic muscle is connected to at least one trachea, so as to inflate or deflate the closed air cavity of the pneumatic bionic muscle through the trachea, thereby realizing the extension or contraction of the pneumatic bionic muscle accordingly; Adjacent pneumatic muscle modules are connected to each other at the top via the connecting disk and at the bottom via a snap-fit ​​structure.

2. The pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The front end of the pneumatic bionic muscle is provided with a slot structure, and the rear end is provided with a card plate structure, so as to achieve a snap connection between the slot of the front pneumatic bionic muscle and the card plate of the rear pneumatic bionic muscle.

3. The pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The structure of the pneumatic bionic muscle is an integral bellows structure; wherein the bone is embedded in the crest or trough of the bellows structure, so as to utilize the bone to limit the position of the pneumatic bionic muscle; And / or, the head includes four universal balls and a housing, wherein the universal balls are installed at the bottom of the housing to reduce friction during movement through the universal balls.

4. The pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to claim 3, characterized in that: The head also includes a camera and a mounting seat, the mounting seat is embedded in the interior of the shell, the camera is installed in the mounting seat, the shell is provided with a first opening, and the camera collects image information of the external environment through the first opening; And / or, the head includes a distance sensor and a mounting base, the mounting base is embedded in the interior of the shell, the distance sensor is installed in the mounting base, a second opening is opened on the shell, and the distance sensor collects distance information of objects in the external environment through the second opening.

5. The pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The head also includes a communication module, which is used to send image information collected by the camera or distance information collected by the distance sensor to a host computer.

6. The pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: Each pneumatic muscle module includes 5 bones, 5 connecting discs, 5 supporting muscles and two trachea. The left and right air cavities of the pneumatic bionic muscle each include 5 connected chambers.

7. The pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tail portion includes three pneumatic muscle modules; and / or, the front portion includes three pneumatic muscle modules.

8. A pneumatic soft snake-like robot walking control method, characterized in that: include: Determining a walking trajectory of a pneumatic soft snake-like robot, wherein the pneumatic soft snake-like robot is a pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7; According to the walking trajectory, the trachea is controlled to inflate or deflate the closed air cavity in the pneumatic soft snake-like robot, so that the walking action is completed by expanding or contracting the air cavity.

9. A pneumatic soft snake-like robot walking control system, characterized in that: include: A host computer and a pneumatic soft snake-like robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7; Among them, the host computer is used to generate the walking trajectory of the pneumatic soft snake-like robot; the pneumatic soft snake-like robot is used to complete walking according to the walking trajectory.

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