Robotic arms and robots

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a robotic arm and a robot, and relates to the field of robotic technology, and specifically to the field of robotic arm technology. The robotic arm includes a hand and an arm, and is characterized in that a hand joint actuator supporting hand movement is located in the arm; the hand joint actuator is connected to a hand component through a transmission component; there are multiple hand joint actuators, which are arranged along the direction of the arm; the transmission component is a rigid transmission component or a flexible transmission component; the hand component includes a wrist swing component and / or a palm opening and closing component. The present disclosure improves the dexterity of the robotic arm hand.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of robotics technology, and more particularly to the field of robotic arm technology. Background Art

[0002] In the existing technical solutions, the hand of the robot arm usually relies on a joint actuator to complete related actions. For example, a joint actuator is installed on the wrist or palm to realize the swing of the robot wrist or the opening and closing of the palm.

[0003] In the prior art, the hand structure with a built-in joint actuator will occupy a considerable amount of space, thereby causing the hand to be bulky, and a bulky hand will have difficulty entering a narrow space.

[0004] In the prior art, a hand structure with a built-in joint actuator requires multiple hand joint actuators to realize various hand functions, and multiple hand joint actuators will make the hand further bloated.

[0005] In the prior art, the hand structure with built-in joint actuators is generally not placed at the fingers, but only at the palm or wrist. However, the joint actuator is relatively thick, and placing the joint actuator at the palm or wrist will result in the palm or wrist being too thick, making it difficult to achieve hand movements such as gripping.

[0006] In the prior art, joint actuators are built into the hand structure. The joint actuators are heavy, and placing them on the hand will make the hand too heavy. A heavy hand will make the center of gravity of the arm too close to the hand, which will cause a larger moment of inertia when the arm moves. Driving the arm movement will consume more energy, and a heavy hand will make it difficult to achieve fine hand movements.

[0007] This method of installing the joint actuator inside the robot hand will cause the robot hand to be too large in size and mass, thereby reducing the dexterity of the robot hand. Summary of the invention

[0008] The present disclosure provides a mechanical arm and a robot.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a robotic arm is provided, comprising a hand and an arm, wherein a hand joint actuator supporting movement of the hand is located inside the arm.

[0010] Optionally, the hand joint actuator is connected to a component of the hand via a transmission component.

[0011] Optionally, there are multiple hand joint actuators, which are arranged along the direction of the arm.

[0012] Optionally, the hand joint actuator comprises an output shaft, and the output shaft is directed toward the hand or toward the outside of the arm.

[0013] Optionally, among the multiple hand joint actuators, the first hand joint actuator closest to the arm has an output axis facing the hand.

[0014] Optionally, the transmission component is connected to the central axis of the output shaft, or the transmission component is connected to the outside of the output shaft, or the transmission component is connected to the upper surface of the output shaft.

[0015] Optionally, the transmission component is a rigid transmission component or a flexible transmission component.

[0016] Optionally, the hand parts include a wrist swing part and / or a palm opening and closing part.

[0017] Optionally, the components of the hand respectively include bevel gears that cooperate with each other.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a robot is provided, comprising the above-mentioned robotic arm.

[0019] The present disclosure provides a mechanical arm and a robot, which are realized by arranging the joint actuator of the hand in the arm and transmitting the movement of the hand joint actuator to the hand through a transmission component. On the one hand, the joint actuator is arranged outside the hand, which greatly reduces the space consumption of the hand, so that the hand can be made thinner and can enter a narrow space; on the other hand, the thicker joint actuator is arranged outside the hand, so that the palm can be designed to be thinner and the wrist can be designed to be more delicate; it is easy to realize hand movements such as holding an object with the palm; on the third hand, the heavier joint actuator is arranged outside the hand, which makes the center of gravity of the arm more centered, and it is easy to realize fine hand movements; on the fourth hand, the arm space can accommodate multiple hand joint actuators vertically, and multiple hand joint actuators can realize multiple hand functions. In one implementation method, both the swing of the robot wrist and the opening and closing of the palm are realized.

[0020] It should be understood that the content described in this section is not intended to identify the key or important features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] The accompanying drawings are used to better understand the present solution and do not constitute a limitation of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 1 is a left side view of the mechanical arm in the embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 2 is a front view of a mechanical arm in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 3 is a right side view of the mechanical arm in the embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] Figure 4 is a rear view of the mechanical arm in the embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 5 is an exploded view of a left side view of the mechanical arm in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 6 is an exploded view of a front view of a robotic arm in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] In the figure, numerals 1, 3, and 5 are joint actuators, 2 and 4 are connecting rod structures (each connecting rod structure includes two connecting rods), 6 is a flexible steel wire shaft, 7 is a wrist swinging part, 8 is a palm opening and closing part (including 8-1 and 8-2), 9 is a connecting part (including 9-1 and 9-2), 10 is a wrist bevel gear (including 10-1, 10-2 and 10-3), and 11 is a palm bevel gear (including 11-1, 11-2 and 11-3). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The following is a description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, including various details of the embodiments of the present disclosure to facilitate understanding, which should be considered as merely exemplary. Therefore, it should be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Similarly, for the sake of clarity and conciseness, descriptions of well-known functions and structures are omitted in the following description.

[0030] In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like indicate positions or positional relationships based on the positions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present application. In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0031] It should be noted that the block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are merely functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically independent entities.

[0032] See also Figures 1 to 4 , Figure 1 is a left side view of an exemplary robotic arm, Figure 2 is a front view of an exemplary robotic arm, Figure 3 is a right side view of an exemplary robotic arm, Figure 4 is a rear view of an exemplary robotic arm.

[0033] The disclosed embodiment of the present invention discloses a robotic arm, which includes a hand and an arm, and is characterized in that a hand joint actuator supporting the movement of the hand is located inside the arm.

[0034] The hand joint actuator needs to occupy a certain space and have a certain mass; the hand joint actuator is arranged at the position of the arm connected to the hand, which can reduce the space of the hand and reduce the mass of the hand.

[0035] The technical effect brought by the above technical features is that the joint actuator is arranged outside the hand, which greatly reduces the space consumption of the hand, so that the hand can be made thinner and can enter a narrow space. Secondly, the thick joint actuator is arranged outside the hand, so that the palm can be designed to be thinner and the wrist can be designed to be more delicate; it is easy to realize hand movements such as holding an object with the palm.

[0036] It is worth noting that the position of the hand joint actuator on the arm can be a position close to the hand, a position far from the hand, a position in the middle of the arm or other positions. The specific position can be calculated according to the requirements of the robot arm movement.

[0037] The arm is generally a forearm. When it is set on the forearm, the transmission mechanism only needs to pass through the wrist joint from the forearm to the hand; according to special needs, the arm can also be an upper arm. When it is set on the upper arm, the transmission mechanism needs to pass through the elbow joint and the wrist joint. The joint actuator is more important. The heavier joint actuator is set outside the hand, which will make the center of gravity of the arm more centered, making it easier to achieve fine hand movements.

[0038] In one embodiment, the hand joint actuator is connected to a component of the hand via a transmission component.

[0039] The hand joint actuator is not arranged inside the hand, so the hand joint actuator cannot be directly connected to the hand components. The transmission component enables the movement of the hand joint actuator to be transmitted to the hand.

[0040] In one embodiment, there are multiple hand joint actuators, which are arranged along the direction of the arm.

[0041] The hand movements are relatively complex and can be decomposed into a combination of multiple movements, such as the swinging of the wrist or the opening and closing of the palm. Therefore, by setting multiple hand joint actuators, multiple combinations of hand movements can be supported respectively. Typically, the hand joint actuators can be 1, 2, 3 or more.

[0042] The technical effect brought by the above technical features is that the arm space can accommodate multiple hand joint actuators vertically, and multiple hand joint actuators can realize multiple hand functions. In one implementation, both the swing of the robot wrist and the opening and closing of the palm are realized.

[0043] It is worth noting that the multiple hand joint actuators are arranged longitudinally in the position of the arm, and can be arranged closely in pairs or at a certain distance from each other. The specific position considerations include, on the one hand, the distribution position of the accommodation space of the arm, and on the other hand, the center of gravity position calculated based on the moment of inertia.

[0044] The hand joint actuator is relatively large, but the robot arm does not have much space in the direction perpendicular to the arm, so it is difficult to accommodate multiple joint actuators in the direction perpendicular to the arm. Therefore, when the number of the hand joint actuator is more than one, the hand joint actuator is arranged along the direction of the arm, which reduces the radius of the arm and makes the robot arm slender and flexible.

[0045] When the number of the hand joint actuators is more than one, the plurality of hand joint actuators are arranged in the direction of the arm. The hand joint actuator closest to the hand is called the first hand joint actuator, the hand joint actuator second closest to the hand is called the second hand joint actuator, and so on, respectively called the third, fourth, fifth hand joint actuators, and so on.

[0046] like Figure 1-4 As shown, 1, 3, and 5 are joint actuators. Among them, 1 and 3 are wrist joint actuators, and 5 is a palm joint actuator. Joint actuators 1, 3, and 5 are all located in the arm. Figure 1In the embodiment shown, the palm joint actuator 5 is closest to the hand, and the first hand joint actuator is 5, the second hand joint actuator is 3, and the third hand joint actuator is 1. However, in other embodiments, any joint actuator, such as the wrist joint actuator 1 or 3, may be closest to the hand.

[0047] It is worth noting that the above “closest to the hand” does not mean “the joint actuator is installed at the end of the arm close to the hand”. According to the movement requirements of the robot arm, multiple joint actuators are set at the positions of the arm. Since multiple joint actuators are arranged longitudinally in the arm, there is always one joint actuator that is closest to the hand.

[0048] In one embodiment, the hand joint actuator includes an output shaft, and the output shaft is directed toward the hand or toward the outside of the arm.

[0049] The hand joint actuator comprises an output shaft, which rotates around its own central axis and is connected to the hand component through the transmission component.

[0050] The first hand joint actuator that is closest to the hand has no other joint actuator blocking it from the hand. The output shaft of the first hand joint actuator (referred to as the first output shaft) can point to the hand. Since the straight line between two points is the shortest, the length of the transmission component between the first output shaft and the mechanism of the hand is relatively short at this time. The first output shaft can also point to the outside of the arm, for example, perpendicular to the direction of the arm, or inclined to the direction in which the arm is biased toward the hand.

[0051] like Figure 1-4 As shown, in this embodiment, the first hand joint actuator is a palm joint actuator 5, the second hand joint actuator is a wrist joint actuator 3, and the third hand joint actuator is a wrist joint actuator 1. At this time, the output axis of the first hand joint actuator is not blocked from the hand, so its output axis can point to the hand. The second hand joint actuator is blocked from the hand by the first hand joint actuator, and is blocked by the third hand joint actuator behind it, so the output axis of the second hand joint actuator can only point to an unobstructed space. In one embodiment, the output axis of the second hand joint actuator points to the outside of the arm perpendicular to the arm, that is, the output axis is the Y axis, and the tangent of the arm pointing to the hand direction is the X axis, then the angle between the output axis and the X axis is 90 degrees. In another embodiment, the output axis of the second hand joint actuator can also point to any other unobstructed space. For example, the angle with the tangent of the arm is less than 90 degrees.

[0052] In one embodiment, the transmission component is connected to the central axis of the output shaft, or the transmission component is connected to the outside of the output shaft, or the transmission component is connected to the upper surface of the output shaft.

[0053] The transmission component is connected to the central axis of the output shaft, and the transmission component, such as a steel wire flexible shaft, rotates coaxially with the output shaft. The transmission component rotates around its own central axis and transmits the rotation to the hand component.

[0054] like Figure 5-6 As shown, the transmission component is a steel wire flexible shaft 6. The steel wire flexible shaft 6 directly connects the hand and the joint actuator closest to the hand. Figure 5-6 In the illustrated embodiment, a flexible steel wire shaft 6 connects the hand and the palm opening and closing joint actuator 5 .

[0055] The transmission component is connected to the outside of the output shaft, and the transmission component, such as a belt, moves around the circumference of the output shaft. The movement of the transmission component is transmitted to the hand component.

[0056] The transmission component is connected to the upper surface of the output shaft. At this time, the transmission component, such as a rigid connecting rod, moves with the rotation of the output shaft and transmits the movement to the hand structure.

[0057] like Figure 5-6 As shown, the transmission component is a rigid link 2 or 4. The rigid link 2 or 4 directly connects the hand and the joint actuator at any position. Figure 5-6 In the illustrated embodiment, the rigid link 2 connects the hand and wrist swing joint actuator 1 , and the rigid link 4 connects the hand and wrist swing joint actuator 3 .

[0058] In one embodiment, the transmission component is a rigid transmission component or a flexible transmission component.

[0059] The transmission component can be a rigid transmission component, such as a rigid connecting rod. The two connecting rods and the fixed ends on both sides of the connecting rod form a parallelogram mechanism. The parallelogram mechanism plays a transmission role as the transmission component.

[0060] The transmission component may be a flexible transmission component, such as a steel wire flexible shaft.

[0061] In one embodiment, the hand components include a wrist swing component and / or a palm opening and closing component.

[0062] like Figure 5-6 As shown, the hand parts include a palm opening and closing part and a wrist swinging part. Figure 5In the embodiment shown, the palm opening and closing component 8 includes two palm clamping components 8-1 and 8-2 disposed opposite to each other. In other embodiments, the palm opening and closing component 8 includes a plurality of palm clamping components disposed opposite to each other, such as 3, 4 or 5 finger components.

[0063] exist Figure 5-6 In the embodiment shown, the wrist swing component 7 is a component that can swing in one direction, for example, a U-shaped connector is used as the wrist swing component 7 to swing the wrist. In another embodiment, the wrist swing component 7 can swing in two directions. In other embodiments, the wrist swing component 7 can swing in any direction.

[0064] exist Figure 5-6 In other embodiments not shown, the hand components only include a palm opening and closing component or a wrist swinging component.

[0065] In one embodiment, the hand components further include bevel gears that cooperate with each other.

[0066] When one of the transmission components is connected to one of the hand components, the transmission component has a bevel gear at the connection point, and the hand component also has a bevel gear at the connection point, and the two are connected in cooperation with each other. When the active bevel gear rotates, the passive bevel gear is driven to rotate.

[0067] like Figure 5-6 As shown, the hand parts include a wrist bevel gear 10 and a palm bevel gear 11. Figure 5-6 In the embodiment shown, the wrist bevel gear 10 is connected to the wrist swing component 7. The wrist bevel gear includes three bevel gears 10-1, 10-2, and 10-3 that cooperate with each other. The bevel gear 10-3 is directly connected to the wrist swing component 7, and the bevel gears 10-1 and 10-2 are directly connected to the bevel gear 10-3 respectively. The bevel gear 10-1 is connected to the transmission structure 4 through the connecting member 9-1, and the bevel gear 10-2 is connected to the transmission structure 2 through the connecting member 9-2. The transmission mechanisms 4 and 2 are respectively connected to the two wrist joint drivers 3 and 1. Figure 5-6 In the embodiment shown, two wrist joint drivers simultaneously drive a bevel gear 10-3 through two transmission structures, two connecting parts, and two bevel gears 10-1 and 10-2, thereby driving the wrist to swing.

[0068] In other embodiments, a wrist joint driver may drive a bevel gear 10-3 through a transmission structure, a connector, and a bevel gear to drive the wrist to swing. In this embodiment, one joint driver is required to realize wrist swing, and one joint driver is required to realize palm opening and closing. A total of two joint drivers are required to realize the hand movements of the robotic arm.

[0069] The present disclosure provides a robot, comprising: the above-mentioned mechanical arm, so that the hand dexterity of the robot can be improved.

[0070] In the technical solution disclosed herein, the acquisition, storage and application of user personal information involved are in compliance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations and do not violate public order and good morals.

[0071] It should be noted that, although several modules or units of the equipment for action execution are mentioned in the above detailed description, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to the embodiments of the present application, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be embodied in one module or unit. On the contrary, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided into being embodied by multiple modules or units.

[0072] Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate other embodiments of the present application after considering the specification and practicing the contents disclosed herein. The present application is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptations of the present application, which follow the general principles of the present application and include common knowledge or customary technical means in the art that are not disclosed in the present application.

[0073] It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the precise structures that have been described above and shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present application is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A robotic arm, comprising a hand and an arm, characterized in that: A hand joint actuator supporting the hand movement is located in the arm.

2. The robotic arm according to claim 1, wherein: The hand joint actuator is connected to the hand component through a transmission component.

3. The robotic arm according to claim 2, wherein: There are multiple hand joint actuators, which are arranged along the direction of the arm.

4. The robotic arm according to claim 3, wherein: The hand joint actuator includes an output shaft, and the output shaft is directed toward the hand or toward the outside of the arm.

5. The robotic arm according to claim 4, wherein: Among the plurality of hand joint actuators, the first hand joint actuator closest to the arm has an output shaft directed toward the hand.

6. The robotic arm according to claim 4, wherein: The transmission component is connected to the central axis of the output shaft, or the transmission component is connected to the outside of the output shaft, or the transmission component is connected to the upper surface of the output shaft.

7. The robotic arm according to claim 2, wherein: The transmission component is a rigid transmission component or a flexible transmission component.

8. The robotic arm according to claim 2, wherein: The hand parts include a wrist swinging part and / or a palm opening and closing part.

9. The robotic arm according to claim 2, wherein: The hand components also include bevel gears that cooperate with each other.

10. A robot comprising: A robotic arm as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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