Flexible grabbing device with octopus tentacle structure

Abstract

The application discloses an octopus tentacle-imitating structure flexible grabbing device, which comprises a series flexible structure and a driving device, the series flexible structure is formed by connecting a flexible arm and a flexible tentacle in series, the flexible arm comprises a flexible air pipe, the inner part of the flexible air pipe is divided into multiple cavities, and each cavity is connected with an air inlet pipe; the flexible tentacle is provided with an octopus tentacle-imitating silica gel body, and the octopus tentacle-imitating silica gel body is distributed with sucking discs and air bags; the driving device comprises a two-pulley mechanism for driving the flexible arm, a single-pulley mechanism for driving the flexible tentacle, and an air pipe for driving the sucking discs and the air bags. The flexible arm is elongated and the load capacity of the flexible arm is improved by filling the cavities with gas, objects are grabbed, and the flexible arm is bent left and right by filling a single cavity with gas. The two-pulley mechanism and the air pump can be cooperated to make the flexible arm bend and move in various directions. The single-pulley mechanism and the air bag can be cooperated to make the flexible tentacle quickly curl to complete the grabbing of objects.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application relates to a flexible grabbing device with an octopus tentacle structure, and belongs to the technical field of flexible grabbing devices. BACKGROUND

[0002] Biological inspired robot technology is a technology for designing and manufacturing robots based on the morphology, structure, function and other characteristics of organisms in nature. The design inspiration of the flexible grabbing device with an octopus tentacle structure comes from the tentacles of an octopus, which has flexibility and stretchability and can realize various grabbing and manipulation functions.

[0003] Flexible robot technology was initially developed to solve problems in manufacturing. With the development of manufacturing, robots on the production line need to have higher flexibility and variability to adapt to the production needs of different product models. Therefore, flexible robot technology emerges as the times require, which can quickly adjust the structure and action of the robot according to different production tasks and product types, thereby improving production efficiency and quality. It is found that the tentacle structure of an octopus is simple, but it can grab objects of various shapes, is flexible in grabbing, has strong load capacity, and will not cause damage to the target object. Therefore, through the study of the tentacle structure of an octopus, it is found that the tentacles of an octopus can be divided into two parts, one part can realize stretching and bending, and the other part can realize large bending to grab objects, and the octopus tentacle sucker can also be bionically designed. Therefore, the octopus tentacle structure is applied to flexible grabbing technology. SUMMARY

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present application is to provide a flexible grabbing device with an octopus tentacle structure to solve the problem of flexible grabbing of unknown fragile objects.

[0005] To solve the above problems, the technical scheme adopted by the present application is as follows:

[0006] A flexible grabbing device with an octopus tentacle structure comprises:

[0007] A series flexible structure is formed by connecting a flexible arm and a flexible tentacle in series, the flexible arm comprises a flexible air pipe arranged in an axial telescopic sleeve, the flexible air pipe is fixed in the axial telescopic sleeve through a plurality of fixing rings, the inside of the flexible air pipe is divided into a plurality of chambers in the axial direction, each chamber is connected to a gas inlet pipe with a gas valve, and the flexible air pipe bends when gas is filled into any chamber; the flexible tentacle is provided with an octopus tentacle-like silicone body, the octopus tentacle-like silicone body is provided with suckers on one side and air bags on the other side;

[0008] The drive device for driving the series flexible structure includes two-pulley mechanism for driving the flexible arm, single-pulley mechanism for driving the flexible tentacle, air pipe for driving the suction cup and air bag, the two-pulley mechanism includes two symmetrically arranged nylon ropes on both sides of the flexible arm, the nylon ropes pass through the fixed rings in the flexible arm in sequence; the single-pulley mechanism includes a nylon rope, which is connected with the end of the flexible tentacle after passing through the fixed rings in the flexible arm in sequence; one end of the three nylon ropes is wound on a winch, and the winch is driven by a servo motor fixed on the base; the air pipe includes air bag air pipe connected with the air bag, suction cup air pipe connected with the suction cup, and air inlet pipe, the air bag air pipe and the suction cup air pipe are communicated with the air pump. The air inlet pipe, the air bag air pipe and the suction cup air pipe can be connected with one air pump respectively and controlled separately, or connected with one air pump with multiple air pipe channels and capable of controlling the functions of each air pipe separately. The flexible tentacle realizes negative pressure grabbing of objects by suction cup air extraction. The bending of the flexible tentacle to grab objects is realized by the cooperation of the inflation of the air bag and the pulling of the single-pulley mechanism, so as to grab the target objects more quickly. The air bag plays a supporting role in the flexible arm, and after the air bag is filled with gas, the rigidity of the flexible arm can be improved, the carrying capacity of the grabbed objects can be improved, and the flexible arm can be elongated to expand the working range.

[0009] The axial telescopic sleeve limits the radial expansion of the flexible air pipe, makes it expand and elongate in the axial direction, and by injecting gas into a specific chamber, it can bend to the left and right sides, and also increase the rigidity of the flexible arm and improve the carrying capacity. The air bag air pipe is used to inject gas into the flexible tentacle to make it expand and help the flexible arm bend to grab objects. Under the joint action of the single-pulley mechanism and the air bag, the flexible tentacle can quickly bend to grab objects. The air pump extracts air from the flexible tentacle through the suction cup air pipe to generate negative pressure in the suction cup of the flexible tentacle and suck the objects to be grabbed. The flexible air pipe plays a supporting role in the flexible arm, and after the flexible air pipe is filled with gas, the rigidity of the flexible arm can be improved, the carrying capacity of the grabbed objects can be improved, and the flexible arm can be elongated to expand the working range.

[0010] Preferably, the axial telescopic sleeve is a cylinder formed by a honeycomb-shaped elastic net, and the shape of the two-dimensional honeycomb crystal unit cell on the honeycomb-shaped elastic net is S-shaped.

[0011] More preferably, the material of the octopus tentacle-like silicone body and the honeycomb-shaped elastic net is Ecoflex 00-30.

[0012] Preferably, the part of the suction cup distributed on the octopus tentacle-like silicone body near the root is a standard suction cup, and the part near the end is a small suction cup.

[0013] Preferably, the octopus tentacle-like silicone body is fixed on the flexible tentacle by a plurality of fixed finger rings.

[0014] Preferably, the flexible air pipe is bellows-shaped.

[0015] Preferably, the flexible air pipe is bellows-shaped.

[0016] Preferably, the inside of the flexible arm is divided into two chambers in the axial direction. The flexible arm is driven to bend forward and backward by nylon ropes on both sides, and is driven to bend left and right by injecting gas into a specific chamber of the flexible air pipe. Therefore, the bending movement of the flexible arm is realized by combining rope driving and air pressure.

[0017] Preferably, the octopus tentacle-shaped silicone body is a cone with one side being a plane and the other side being a skeleton structure. When the air bag is inflated, it can bend. The suction cup is arranged on the plane, and the nylon rope of the single-pull rope mechanism is connected to the opposite corner of the plane.

[0018] Preferably, the fixed ring is a circular ring, and the inner circle is an arch.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0020] 1. The octopus tentacle-shaped flexible arm device combines rope driving mechanism and pneumatic mechanism. Two servo motors are used as driving mechanisms. By setting different rotation angles of the servo motors, the flexible arm device can bend in any direction and with any bending radius on the front and back sides. The starting structure can bend on the left and right sides by injecting gas into the chamber of the flexible air pipe.

[0021] 2. The octopus tentacle-shaped flexible tentacle is made of silicone, which is soft and will not damage fragile objects when grabbing them. The use of nylon rope can make the grabbing more firm.

[0022] 3. The suction cup of the octopus tentacle-shaped flexible tentacle is made of 3D printing. When grabbing objects, the suction cup is connected to the suction pipe to make it easier to grab the objects.

[0023] 4. The surface of the octopus tentacle-shaped flexible arm is provided with a flexible honeycomb-shaped elastic net, which can improve the elastic modulus and bending radius, and can form a flexible contact with the target object without damaging fragile objects.

[0024] 5. The octopus tentacle-shaped flexible arm is a hollow cylindrical structure, which is supported by the flexible air pipe and the honeycomb-shaped elastic net. It has a large elastic modulus, is easy to bend and rebound, is flexible and light in weight, and can improve the rigidity of the flexible arm by filling gas into the flexible air pipe. The flexible air pipe can make the flexible arm axially elongated under the action of the horizontal restriction of the telescopic sleeve, thereby increasing the working range of the flexible arm.

[0025] 6. The octopus-tentacle structure of the present invention uses flexible air tubes and honeycomb elastic mesh as support structures. After being filled with gas, it can improve the rigidity of the flexible arm, thereby increasing its load-bearing capacity, and can also extend the flexible arm to increase its working range.

[0026] 7. The octopus-like tentacle structure of the present invention can extend one side of the flexible tentacle by injecting gas into the air bladder, causing the flexible tentacle to bend as a whole. With the cooperation of the single pull rope mechanism, the flexible tentacle can quickly grasp the target object. Attached Figure Description

[0027] Figure 1 A perspective view of the flexible grasping device with an octopus-tentacle-like structure provided by the present invention;

[0028] Figure 2 This is a front view of the flexible grasping device with an octopus-tentacle-like structure provided by the present invention.

[0029] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the flexible grasping device with an octopus-tentacle-like structure provided by the present invention.

[0030] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the drive unit;

[0031] Figure 5 A cross-sectional view of the flexible grasping device with an octopus-tentacle-like structure provided by the present invention;

[0032] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a corrugated flexible trachea. Detailed Implementation

[0033] To make the present invention more apparent and understandable, preferred embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0034] Example

[0035] like Figures 1-6 As shown, the flexible grasping device with an octopus-tentacle structure provided in this embodiment includes a series flexible grasping device and a driving device 3.

[0036] The series flexible structure is formed by connecting the flexible arm 1 and the flexible tentacle 2 in series, the flexible arm 1 is a hollow cylindrical structure, the flexible arm 1 comprises a flexible air pipe 11, an axial telescopic sleeve 12, a fixing ring 13, an air valve 14 and a honeycomb elastic net 15, the flexible tentacle 2 comprises a suction cup 21, a fixing finger ring 22, an octopus tentacle-like silica gel body 23 and an air bag 24; the flexible air pipe 11 is a corrugated pipe, and a baffle layer is arranged in the middle of the flexible air pipe 11, so that the flexible air pipe 11 is divided into left and right parts, the flexible air pipe 11 can be bent in a specific direction by injecting gas into a specific chamber, the fixing ring 13 is a ring-shaped thin-wall structure, the axial telescopic sleeve 12 wraps the flexible air pipe 11, and the fixing ring 13 is fixed, the air valve 14 is arranged at the lower end opening of the flexible air pipe 11, the suction cup 21 is a funnel, and the suction cup 21 comprises a small suction cup 211 and a standard suction cup 212; the fixing finger ring 22 is a ring-shaped thin-wall structure with five different sizes, one side of the inner circle is a plane, a hole is arranged between the plane and the outer circle, the octopus tentacle-like silica gel body 23 is a hollow conical body, one side of the octopus tentacle-like silica gel body 23 is a plane and is provided with a plurality of small holes, the upper part is a small hole, the lower part is a standard hole, the small hole is connected with the cylindrical end of the small suction cup 211, and the standard hole is connected with the cylindrical end of the standard suction cup 212, the rear half of the octopus tentacle-like silica gel body 23 is a skeleton structure, and a plurality of air bags 24 are nested in the gap, and the five fixing finger rings 22 are sequentially sleeved outside the octopus tentacle-like silica gel body 23, and the plane of the fixing finger ring 22 is connected with the plane of the octopus tentacle-like silica gel body 23.

[0037] The driving device 3 comprises a base 31, a two-pull rope mechanism 32, an air suction pipe 33, an air inlet pipe 34, an air pump 35 and a single-pull rope mechanism 36. The base 31 is installed at one end of the flexible arm 1, and the two-pull rope mechanism 32 is installed inside the base 31. The two-pull rope mechanism 32 controls the curling of the flexible tentacle 2 and the bending direction of the flexible arm 1. The two-pull rope mechanism 32 and the single-pull rope mechanism 36 each comprise a servo motor 321, a nylon rope 322 and a winch 323. The rotating shaft of the servo motor 321 drives the winch 323, and one end of the nylon rope 322 is wound around the winch 323. The two nylon ropes 322 of the two-pull rope mechanism 32 pass through the two sides of the plurality of fixed rings 13 of the flexible arm 1 in sequence, respectively, for pulling the flexible arm 1 to bend in a specific direction. The flexible air pipe 11 serves as a support in the flexible arm 1. The air pump 35 fills the flexible air pipe 11 with gas through the air inlet pipe 34, so that the flexible air pipe 11 expands. The axial telescopic sleeve 12 limits the radial expansion of the flexible air pipe 11, so that it expands and lengthens in the axial direction. By injecting gas into a specific chamber, the flexible air pipe 11 can bend to the left and right sides. The two nylon ropes 321 on the sides are used to pull the flexible arm 1 to bend in a specific direction. By setting the rotating direction and rotating angle of the two servo motors 321, the nylon ropes 322 can be pulled, and the flexible gripping device can be controlled to bend in the forward and backward directions on both sides. The nylon rope 322 of the single-pull rope mechanism 36 passes through the plurality of fixed finger rings 22 in the flexible tentacle 2. By setting the rotating direction and rotating angle of the servo motor 321, the nylon rope 322 can be pulled, and the flexible tentacle 2 can be controlled to bend. The air pipe 33 comprises an air bag air pipe 331 and a suction cup air pipe 332. The air bag air pipe 331 is used to inject gas into the flexible tentacle 2 to make it expand and help the flexible arm 2 bend to grab objects. Under the joint action of the single-pull rope mechanism 36 and the air bag 24, the flexible tentacle 2 can quickly bend to grab objects. The air pump 35 sucks air into the flexible tentacle 2 through the suction cup air pipe 332, so that negative pressure is generated in the suction cup 21 of the flexible tentacle 2, and the object to be grabbed is sucked.

[0038] Compared with the prior art, the flexible grabbing device with the octopus tentacle structure provided by the application can make the two nylon ropes 322 of the two-pull rope mechanism 32 pass through the outer side through holes of the fixed rings 13 of the flexible arm 1, and the ends of each nylon rope 322 are wound around a winch 323, the winch 323 is driven by a servo motor 321, the servo motor 321 is controlled to rotate to different angles, so that the two nylon ropes 322 are stretched to different distances, the direction of the resultant force of the tensions of the two nylon ropes 322 is the bending direction of the flexible arm 1, and the magnitude of the resultant force determines the bending angle of the flexible arm 1, the servo motor 321 is controlled to make the flexible joint 1 bend in a specific direction, the air pump 35 fills gas into a specific chamber of the flexible air pipe 11 through the air inlet pipe 34, the axial telescopic sleeve 12 limits the lateral expansion, and after the gas is filled, the flexible arm 1 can bend in a specific direction and also can be axially elongated, the air pump 35 fills gas into the air bag 24, and the flexible tentacle 2 can bend to one side until the flexible grabbing device of the flexible tentacle 2 is tightly wrapped around the grabbed object, so that the flexible grabbing is realized. As can be seen, the flexible grabbing device with the octopus tentacle structure has the bending ability in each direction on both sides, can realize the grabbing of an object of a specific size, and is simple to assemble.

[0039] As shown in Figure 1 The honeycomb elastic net 15 adopts a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice structure, the left and right sides of the lattice are changed into S shapes, the shape of the improved honeycomb lattice structure is a cylinder, the axial telescopic sleeve 12 is embedded in the honeycomb elastic net 15, the honeycomb elastic net 15 is in flexible contact with an object, does not cause damage to the object, and can complete the flexible grabbing of a fragile object.

[0040] As shown in Figure 2 The flexible air pipe 11 plays a supporting role in the flexible arm 1, the rigidity of the flexible arm 1 is increased after the flexible air pipe 11 is filled with gas, the flexible arm 1 can bear a heavier object when grabbing the object, the flexible arm 1 can also be elongated to expand the working range, the servo motor 321 pulls the nylon rope 322 to realize the bending of the flexible arm 1 towards the object to be grabbed, and the gas can be extracted after the flexible tentacle 2 grabs the object, so that the original state is restored.

[0041] Further, the shapes of the plurality of fixed rings 13 are all circular.

[0042] Further optimization of the above embodiment is that the winch 323 leans on the inner wall of the cylinder of the base 31, the cylinder body of the servo motor 321 is fixed on the circular bottom plate of the base 31, and the axial direction of the servo motor 321 is towards the center of the base 31.

[0043] In addition, the two nylon ropes 322 of the two-pull rope mechanism 32 are connected with the fixed rings 13 at the ends of the flexible arm 1 farthest away from the base 31. The nylon rope 322 of the single-pull rope mechanism 36 is connected to the top end of the flexible tentacle 2.

[0044] Further, the fixing ring 13, the suction cup 21 and the fixing finger ring 22 are all made of TPU, and are integrally printed by using 3D printing technology. TPU has good wear resistance and corrosion resistance. The flexible air pipe 11 is made of soft silicone rubber, which has good flexibility and air tightness. The axial telescopic sleeve 12 is nested outside the flexible air pipe 11. The honeycomb-shaped elastic net 15 is made of Ecoflex 00-30 silicone rubber, which has good flexibility and resilience, and also has good wear resistance and corrosion resistance. The flexible arm 1 has a large elastic modulus, and the bending radius can reach more than 90°. The imitation octopus tentacle silicone body 23 in the flexible tentacle 2 is also made of Ecoflex 00-30, which has good structure and excellent elasticity. The flexible tentacle can be curled more than 180°, which can ensure that the object can be firmly grasped.

Claims

1. An octopus tentacle-imitating structure flexible gripping device, characterized by, The application relates to a series-connection flexible structure, which is formed by connecting a flexible arm (1) and a flexible tentacle (2) in series, the flexible arm (1) comprises a flexible air pipe (11) arranged in an axial telescopic sleeve (12), the flexible air pipe (11) is fixed in the axial telescopic sleeve (12) through a plurality of fixing rings (13), the inside of the flexible air pipe (11) is divided into a plurality of chambers in the axial direction, each chamber is connected with an air inlet pipe (34) provided with an air valve (14), and the flexible air pipe (11) is bent when gas is filled in any chamber; the flexible tentacle (2) is provided with an octopus tentacle-simulating silica gel body (23), suction cups (21) are distributed on one side of the octopus tentacle-simulating silica gel body (23), and air bags (24) are distributed on the other side of the octopus tentacle-simulating silica gel body (23). A driving device (3) for driving the series-connection flexible structure, which comprises a two-pulley mechanism (32) for driving the flexible arm (1), a single-pulley mechanism (36) for driving the flexible tentacle (2), and an air pipe (33) for driving the suction cups (21) and the air bags (24), the two-pulley mechanism (32) comprises two nylon ropes (322) symmetrically arranged on both sides of the flexible arm (1), the nylon ropes (322) pass through the fixing rings (13) in the flexible arm (1) in sequence; the single-pulley mechanism (36) comprises a nylon rope (322), which is connected with the end of the flexible tentacle (2) after passing through the fixing rings (13) in the flexible arm (1) in sequence; one end of the three nylon ropes (322) is wound on a winch (323) respectively, the winch (323) is driven by a servo motor (321), and the servo motor (321) is fixed on a base (31); the air pipe (33) comprises an air bag air pipe (331) communicated with the air bags (24) and a suction cup air pipe (332) communicated with the suction cups (21), the air inlet pipe (34), the air bag air pipe (331) and the suction cup air pipe (332) are communicated with an air pump (35). The axial telescopic sleeve (12) is a cylinder formed by a honeycomb elastic net (15), and the shape of the two-dimensional honeycomb crystal unit cell of the honeycomb elastic net (15) is S-shaped.

2. The octopus tentacle-mimicking structure flexible gripping device of claim 1, wherein, The material of the octopus tentacle-simulating silica gel body (23) and the honeycomb elastic net (15) is Ecoflex 00-30.

3. The octopus tentacle mimic structure flexible gripper of claim 2, wherein, The part of the suction cups (21) distributed on the octopus tentacle-simulating silica gel body (23) close to the root is a standard suction cup (212), and the part close to the end is a small suction cup (211).

4. The octopus tentacle mimic structure flexible gripper of claim 1, wherein, The octopus tentacle-simulating silica gel body (23) is fixed on the flexible tentacle (2) through a plurality of fixed finger rings (22).

5. The octopus tentacle mimic structure flexible gripper of claim 1, wherein, The flexible air pipe (11) is in the shape of a bellows.

6. The octopus tentacle mimic structure flexible gripper of claim 1, wherein, The inside of the flexible air pipe (11) is divided into two chambers in the axial direction.

7. The octopus tentacle mimic structure flexible gripper of claim 1, wherein, The octopus tentacle-simulating silica gel body (23) is a cone, one side of which is a plane, the nylon rope (322) of the single-pulley mechanism (36) is connected with opposite angles of the plane, and the suction cups (21) are arranged on the plane.

8. The octopus tentacle mimic structure flexible gripper of claim 1, wherein, The fixed finger ring (22) is in the shape of a circular ring, and the inner circle is in the shape of an arch.

9. The octopus tentacle mimic structure flexible gripper of claim 1, wherein, ​

Images