Multi-mode moving hexapod robot and control method thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses a multi-mode moving hexapod robot and a control method thereof in the field of robots. The multi-mode moving hexapod robot comprises a robot body and a control system. The robot body comprises mechanical arms, a robot body, six mechanical legs and six replaceable foot mechanisms, the mechanical legs are symmetrically installed on the two sides of the robot body, three mechanical legs are installed on each side, the mechanical arms are installed on the upper surface of the robot body, and the foot mechanisms are installed on the mechanical legs in a one-to-one mode. The foot mechanism is selected from one of a suction cup, a supporting foot and a combined module, the combined module comprises a Mecanum wheel and a driving motor with an encoder, and the driving motor with the encoder is used for driving the Mecanum wheel to rotate. According to the multi-mode moving hexapod robot and the control method thereof, through the deformable structural design, the multi-mode moving hexapod robot has the advantages of a wheeled robot with excellent movement performance and a legged robot capable of adapting to various terrains.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of robots, and in particular to a multi-modal mobile hexapod robot and a control method thereof. Background Art

[0002] Since modern times, new material technology, information technology, new energy technology, artificial intelligence technology, etc. have flourished. The development of these technologies has provided more possibilities for the future of robotics technology. As the jewel in the crown of the manufacturing industry, robotics technology is profoundly affecting the way of life and production of human society.

[0003] At present, despite the continued growth of the domestic and international robot markets, commercial robot products still have problems such as high product costs and poor functional scalability. In response to the above problems, researchers are in urgent need of developing a robot with multiple forms and the ability to perform multiple tasks, which can be used in scenarios such as home services, factory handling, post-disaster rescue, and large-scale building maintenance. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art and to provide a multimodal mobile hexapod robot and a control method thereof. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot, through its deformable structural design, has the advantages of a wheeled robot with excellent motion performance and a legged robot that can adapt to a variety of terrains. It can perform specific tasks in a variety of complex environments such as home services, factory transportation, post-disaster rescue and large-scale building maintenance, realizes operation automation, and has the advantages of saving manpower and ensuring operation safety.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention is implemented by adopting the following technical solutions:

[0006] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a multimodal mobile hexapod robot, comprising a robot body, an adsorption module and a control system;

[0007] The robot body comprises a mechanical arm, a body, six mechanical legs and six replaceable foot mechanisms, wherein the mechanical legs are symmetrically mounted on both sides of the body, with three legs mounted on each side, the five-axis mechanical arm is mounted on the upper surface of the body, the foot mechanisms are mounted one-to-one on the mechanical legs, and the foot mechanisms are selected from one of a suction cup, a support foot and a combination module, wherein the combination module comprises a Mecanum wheel and a drive motor with an encoder, and the drive motor with an encoder is used to drive the Mecanum wheel to rotate;

[0008] The adsorption module is installed on the body and connected to the suction cup, and is used to realize the wall climbing function of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot;

[0009] The control system is installed on the fuselage and is respectively communicated with the drive motors of the robotic arm, robotic leg, adsorption module and combination module to control the movement of the robotic arm and robotic leg, control the opening or closing of the adsorption module, and control the direction and speed of the drive motor.

[0010] Furthermore, the fuselage includes a fuselage body, an adsorption chamber and a main control room, the main control room is installed on the upper surface of the fuselage body, and the adsorption chamber is installed on the upper surface of the main control room.

[0011] Further, the robotic arm is a five-axis robotic arm, and the five-axis robotic arm includes a first robotic arm connecting rod, a second robotic arm connecting rod, a third robotic arm connecting rod, two robotic arm single-axis steering gears, three robotic arm double-axis steering gears, a sliding bearing, a clamp, a clamp steering gear and a robotic arm frame;

[0012] The first connecting rod, the second connecting rod and the third connecting rod of the mechanical arm are connected in sequence through a mechanical arm double-axis steering gear, the clamp is connected to the other end of the third connecting rod of the mechanical arm through a mechanical arm single-axis steering gear, and the clamp steering gear is installed on the clamp to drive the clamp to open or close.

[0013] The other end of the first connecting rod of the mechanical arm is connected to the upper surface of the sliding bearing through a mechanical arm dual-axis steering gear, and the lower surface of the sliding bearing is connected to a mechanical arm single-axis steering gear. The mechanical arm single-axis steering gear on the lower surface of the sliding bearing is installed on the upper surface of the fuselage through a mechanical arm frame.

[0014] Furthermore, the mechanical leg includes a first connecting rod, a second connecting rod, a third connecting rod, a fourth connecting rod and a serial bus servo, wherein the first connecting rod, the second connecting rod, the third connecting rod and the fourth connecting rod are connected in sequence through the serial bus servo.

[0015] Furthermore, the adsorption module is installed in the adsorption chamber; the adsorption module includes an air pipe, a vacuum air pump and a solenoid valve, the air pipe is connected between the suction cup and the vacuum air pump, and the solenoid valve is installed on the air pipe to control the opening and closing of the air circuit.

[0016] Furthermore, it also includes a laser radar and an RGB camera; the laser radar is installed above the main control room through a hexagonal copper column to obtain environmental information; the RGB camera is installed on the third connecting rod of the robotic arm to obtain environmental images.

[0017] Furthermore, the control system includes a power supply, a host PC, a Raspberry Pi 4B and an Arduino UNO development board;

[0018] The host PC is remotely connected to the Raspberry Pi 4B, which is installed in the main control room and is respectively connected to the Arduino UNO development board, the robotic arm single-axis servo, the robotic arm dual-axis servo, the serial bus servo, the drive motor with an encoder, the laser radar and the RGB camera;

[0019] The Arduino UNO development board is installed in the adsorption chamber and is communicatively connected with the vacuum air pump and the solenoid valve.

[0020] Furthermore, it also includes an IMU inertial navigation module, which is connected to the Raspberry Pi 4B for communication and is used to obtain the robot's own posture information.

[0021] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a travel control method of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot, wherein the foot mechanism of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot is a suction cup or a supporting foot, and the travel control method comprises:

[0022] Initially, the mechanical legs of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot are divided into two groups, one group includes one leg in the middle of one side of the body and two legs on the other side, and the rest are another group, which are recorded as positive-phase legs and negative-phase legs respectively;

[0023] When controlling the multimodal mobile hexapod robot to move, lift the robot's inverted legs and swing them forward / backward to the target position, and then put down the inverted legs after reaching the target position;

[0024] When the inverted leg is lowered, lift the positive leg and use the inverted leg to push the fuselage forward / backward;

[0025] When the positive-phase leg swings to the target position and is lowered, lift the negative-phase leg and use the positive-phase leg to push the fuselage forward / backward;

[0026] This process continues until the robot reaches the target position.

[0027] In a third aspect, the present invention provides a steering control method for the multimodal mobile hexapod robot, wherein the foot mechanism of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot is a suction cup or a supporting foot, and the steering control method comprises:

[0028] Initially, the mechanical legs of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot are divided into two groups, one group includes one leg in the middle of one side of the body and two legs on the other side, and the rest are another group, which are recorded as positive-phase legs and negative-phase legs respectively;

[0029] When controlling the multi-modal mobile hexapod robot to turn, lift the robot's positive leg and rotate it clockwise / counterclockwise to the target position, and then put down the positive leg after reaching the target position;

[0030] When the positive leg is put down, lift the negative leg, rotate the positive leg counterclockwise / clockwise to the initial position, and at the same time, rotate the negative leg clockwise / counterclockwise to the target position, put down the negative leg, and lift the positive leg;

[0031] This process continues until the main body of the robot reaches the target direction.

[0032] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0033] The multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided by the present invention has the advantages of both a wheeled robot with excellent motion performance and a legged robot that can adapt to various terrains through its deformable structural design. It is also equipped with a five-axis mechanical arm with operational capabilities and a vacuum adsorption device, so that it has three modes: wall climbing, off-road and fast travel. It can perform specific tasks in various complex environments such as home services, factory handling, post-disaster rescue and large-scale building maintenance, realizes operational automation, and has the advantages of saving manpower and ensuring operational safety.

[0034] The travel control method and steering control method of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided by the present invention, when the robot is transformed into two forms of wall climbing and off-road to work, by dividing the six groups of mechanical legs into two operating groups, and using a triangular gait to move, the number of serial bus servos running at the same time is reduced, and the power requirement for the power supply is also reduced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the wall-climbing morphology of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of an off-road configuration of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of a combination module of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a control system of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 6 A schematic side view of a five-axis mechanical arm of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the forward movement of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the turning gait of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the moving step flow of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the turning gait process of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0045] In the figure: 1. the fourth link of the robotic leg; 2. the main body of the fuselage; 3. the single-axis servo; 4. the sliding bearing; 5. the dual-axis servo; 6. the gripper; 7. the RGB camera; 8. the third link of the robotic arm; 9. the second link of the robotic arm; 10. the serial bus servo; 11. the first link of the robotic arm; 12. the gripper servo; 13. the adsorption chamber; 14. the main control room; 15. the hexagonal copper column; 16. the robotic arm frame; 17. the suction cup; 18. the laser radar; 19. the second link of the robotic leg; 20. the first link of the robotic leg; 21. the third link of the robotic leg; 22. the driving motor; 23. the Mecanum wheel; 24. the support foot; 25. the combination module connecting bracket. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and cannot be used to limit the protection scope of the present invention.

[0047] It should be noted that in the gait process diagram, the symbol "T" stands for "True", which is a logical state in process control, used to indicate that a condition is met or a step has been completed, thereby driving the next action, such as Fig. 9 and Fig.10 In the flowchart of the gait design shown, "T" indicates that a certain mechanical part has successfully performed a predetermined action (such as forward swing, backward swing, lifting, lowering, etc.), meeting the action requirements.

[0048] Example 1

[0049] The present embodiment provides a multimodal mobile hexapod robot, including a robot body, an adsorption module and a control system. Through its replaceable structural design, the multimodal mobile hexapod robot has three modes: wall climbing, off-road and fast travel. It can perform specific tasks in various complex environments such as home services, factory handling, post-disaster rescue and large-scale building maintenance.

[0050] like Figure 1As shown, the robot body includes a five-axis robot arm, a fuselage, six robot legs and six replaceable foot mechanisms. The robot legs are symmetrically installed on both sides of the fuselage, with three on each side. The five-axis robot arm is installed on the upper surface of the fuselage. The foot mechanisms are installed one-to-one on the robot legs. The foot mechanisms are selected from one of a suction cup 17, a support foot 24 and a combination module, wherein the combination module includes a Mecanum wheel 23 and a drive motor 22 with an encoder. The drive motor 22 with an encoder is used to drive the Mecanum wheel 23 to rotate. The support foot can be a flat foot end, a cylindrical foot or a spherical foot, etc., which can support the robot to achieve off-road functions. The foot mechanism can be adaptively selected according to the environmental conditions of the robot's off-road operation, and there are no excessive constraints here. The schematic diagrams of the wall climbing, off-road and fast-moving forms of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot are shown in the following figures. Figure 2 , 3 As shown in Figure 4, the adsorption module is installed on the fuselage and connected to the suction cup 17, so as to realize the wall climbing function of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot; the control system is installed on the fuselage, and is respectively communicated with the robotic arm, the robotic leg, and the combination module, so as to control the movement of the robotic arm and the robotic leg, and control the speed of the driving motor.

[0051] The fuselage includes a fuselage body 2 , an adsorption chamber 13 and a main control chamber 14 . The main control chamber 14 is installed on the upper surface of the fuselage body 2 , and the adsorption chamber 13 is installed on the upper surface of the main control chamber 14 .

[0052] like Figure 6 As shown, the robotic arm is a five-axis robotic arm, which includes a first robotic arm connecting rod 11, a second robotic arm connecting rod 9, a third robotic arm connecting rod 8, two robotic arm single-axis servos 3, three robotic arm double-axis servos 5, a sliding bearing 4, a clamp 6, a clamp servo 12 and a robotic arm frame 16.

[0053] Among them, the first link 11 of the robotic arm, the second link 9 of the robotic arm and the third link 8 of the robotic arm are connected in sequence through a robotic arm dual-axis steering gear 5, the clamp 6 is connected to the other end of the robotic arm third link 8 through a robotic arm single-axis steering gear 3, the clamp steering gear 12 is installed on the clamp 6, and is used to drive the clamp 6 to open or close, the other end of the first link 11 of the robotic arm is connected to the upper surface of the sliding bearing 4 through a robotic arm dual-axis steering gear 5, the lower surface of the sliding bearing 4 is connected to a robotic arm single-axis steering gear 3, and the robotic arm single-axis steering gear 3 on the lower surface of the sliding bearing 4 is installed on the upper surface of the fuselage through a robotic arm frame 16, so that the overall deadweight of the five-axis robotic arm is applied to the robotic arm frame 16 connected to the fuselage body 2, so that the 20 kg·cm PWM single-axis steering gear at the bottom of the five-axis robotic arm only needs to bear the torque for driving the upper sliding bearing 4 to rotate, and the pressure is greatly reduced.

[0054] In this embodiment, the two robotic arm single-axis servos 3 adopt 20 kg·cm PWM single-axis servos, and the three robotic arm dual-axis servos 5 adopt one 20 kg·cm PWM dual-axis servos and two 15 kg·cm PWM dual-axis servos, wherein the 20kg·cm PWM dual-axis servos are installed between the robotic arm first connecting rod 11 and the sliding bearing 4, and the two 15 kg·cm PWM dual-axis servos are respectively installed between the robotic arm first connecting rod 11 and the robotic arm second connecting rod 9 and between the robotic arm second connecting rod 9 and the robotic arm third connecting rod 8.

[0055] The mechanical arm frame 16 is directly connected to the robot body 2, and the mechanical arm moves with it when the robot moves. When the 20 kg·cm PWM single-axis servo at the bottom of the five-axis mechanical arm rotates, the overall orientation of the mechanical arm changes; when the servo between the sliding bearing 4 and the clamp 6 rotates, the mechanical arm can achieve a change in position within a certain plane; when the clamp servo 12 rotates, the clamp opens or closes accordingly.

[0056] Six groups of mechanical legs are symmetrically installed on both sides of the fuselage body 2, and each group of mechanical legs includes a first mechanical leg connecting rod 20, a second mechanical leg connecting rod 19, a third mechanical leg connecting rod 21, a fourth mechanical leg connecting rod 1 and a serial bus servo 10, wherein the first mechanical leg connecting rod 20, the second mechanical leg connecting rod 19, the third mechanical leg connecting rod 21 and the fourth mechanical leg connecting rod 1 are connected in sequence through the serial bus servo 10, and the serial bus servo 10 is a twenty-four-way serial bus servo.

[0057] The free end of the fourth link 1 of the mechanical leg can be replaced with a suction cup 17, a support foot 24, and a combination module of a Mecanum wheel 23 and a drive motor 22 with an encoder. The combination module of the Mecanum wheel 23 and the drive motor 22 with an encoder is connected through a combination module connecting bracket 25 structure, and only the end foot links 4 of the four groups of mechanical legs on both sides of the fuselage body 2 are installed with the combination module of the Mecanum wheel 23 and the drive motor 22 with an encoder, such as Figure 4 shown.

[0058] By replacing the foot mechanism, the multimodal mobile hexapod robot can be transformed into three working forms: wall climbing, off-road and fast moving. After deformation, the suction cup 17 and the supporting foot 24 are both connected to the fourth connecting rod 1 of the mechanical leg by threads, and the combination module is threadedly connected through the combination module connecting bracket 25 structure and locked with bolts; when it is transformed into a wall climbing form, in order to ensure that the suction cup 17 is always perpendicular to the adsorbed surface to ensure sufficient adsorption force, the present invention adds a joint to correct the angular deviation between the suction cup and the adsorbed surface on the basis of the design of the three-link mechanical leg of the traditional multimodal mobile hexapod robot; in the fast moving posture, not only can the joints be locked, and only the driving motor 22 with an encoder can be used to drive the Mecanum wheel 23 to move forward, but also the twenty-four-way serial bus servo 32 of each joint can be driven when necessary to achieve complex terrain crossing.

[0059] The adsorption module is installed in the adsorption chamber 13. The adsorption module includes an air pipe, a vacuum air pump and a solenoid valve. The air pipe is connected between the suction cup 17 and the vacuum air pump. The solenoid valve is installed on the air pipe to control the opening and closing of the air circuit. When the vacuum air pump is turned on and the solenoid valve is closed, the air in the suction cup 17 can be extracted to form a negative pressure. At this time, the air pump and the solenoid valve are turned off to achieve continuous adsorption of the robot's single leg; when the air pump is turned off and the solenoid valve is turned on, external air enters the suction cup 17 so that the negative pressure disappears. At this time, the robot can lift the leg and perform the next action. In this embodiment, a total of 6 vacuum air pumps 17, 6 air pipes and 6 solenoid valves are included, and they are installed on the six mechanical legs accordingly. By intermittently controlling these adsorption modules, the multimodal mobile hexapod robot can achieve the wall climbing function.

[0060] The multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in this embodiment also includes a laser radar 18 and an RGB camera 7; the laser radar 18 is installed above the main control room 14 through a hexagonal copper column 15 to obtain environmental information; the RGB camera 7 is fixed above the end of the third link 8 of the five-axis robotic arm to obtain environmental images.

[0061] It also includes an IMU inertial navigation module, which is used to obtain the robot's own posture information.

[0062] The control system of the six groups of robots includes a power supply, a host PC, a Raspberry Pi 4B and an Arduino UNO development board; wherein the host PC is remotely connected to the Raspberry Pi 4B, the Raspberry Pi 4B is installed in the main control room 14, and is respectively connected to the Arduino UNO development board, the robotic arm single-axis servo 3, the robotic arm dual-axis servo 5, the serial bus servo 10, the drive motor 22 with an encoder, the laser radar 18, the IMU inertial navigation module and the RGB camera 7; the Arduino UNO development board is installed in the adsorption chamber 13, and is connected to the vacuum air pump and the solenoid valve.

[0063] The adsorption chamber 13 is fixedly installed on the fuselage body 2, and is used to load a power supply and a Raspberry Pi 4B. The Raspberry Pi 4B is connected to the Arduino UNO development board, three 20 kg·cm PWM single-axis servos, two 15kg·cm PWM dual-axis servos and one 20 kg·cm PWM dual-axis servos in the adsorption chamber 13 through lines, a serial bus servo 32, a combination module of a Mecanum wheel 23 and a drive motor 22 with an encoder, a laser radar 18, an IMU inertial navigation module and an RGB camera 7. The main control room 14 is fixedly installed on the adsorption chamber 13, and the Arduino UNO development board is connected to control the vacuum air pump and the solenoid valve; the laser radar 18 is fixedly installed above the main control room 14 through a hexagonal copper column 15.

[0064] like Figure 5 As shown, the control system is regulated by the organization level, coordination level and execution level.

[0065] The execution level includes: a vacuum air pump, a solenoid valve, a single-axis servo 3 for driving the joint, a dual-axis servo 5, a serial bus servo 10 or a gripper servo 12, a drive motor 22 with an encoder, an RGB camera 7, and a laser radar 18;

[0066] The coordination level includes: Raspberry Pi 4B, Arduino UNO development board;

[0067] The organizational level includes the communication system between the host PC and each controller; the Raspberry Pi 4B enables the robot to process the multimodal data of the sensor in a complex dynamic environment and run algorithms such as forward and inverse kinematics and video processing. Its reserved 40-pin GPIO pins can control the 24-channel serial bus servos 32 of the legs and the 6 PWM servos of the five-axis robot arm after being equipped with an expansion board; the Raspberry Pi 4B and the Arduino UNO development board use serial communication to send data from the Raspberry Pi 4B to the Arduino UNO development board; for communication with the PC side, the host PC 22 can be used to control the slave Raspberry Pi 4B through the IP address in the same local area network; the Arduino UNO development board is used as a controller for the adsorption structure. The development board has more pin resources and an interface for serial communication. These pin resources can control the 6 vacuum air pumps 17 and 6 The laser radar 18, RGB color camera 7, drive motor 22 with encoder, IMU inertial navigation module and other external devices are mainly connected through the USB port of Raspberry Pi 4B; the laser radar 18 completes the perception of the plane environment by continuously rotating the scanning port; the RGB camera 7 is responsible for transmitting the surrounding images to assist the robot operator to complete tasks such as moving and grabbing; the drive motor 22 with encoder is responsible for generating odometer information, and then recording the mileage of the robot to complete the subsequent map building and navigation function; the IMU inertial navigation module is responsible for sensing the robot's own posture information; the PC host computer 22 is mainly used to remotely control the Raspberry Pi 4B, and obtain communication contact through the IP address under the same local area network; the PC host computer 22 can display multi-modal information such as images collected by the RGB color camera 7, information from the laser radar 18, and odometer information generated by the encoder drive motor 22 through visualization tools such as Rviz.

[0068] The multimodal mobile hexapod robot has different working functions when working according to its different working forms.

[0069] First, when the robot is in the wall-climbing state, it uses the negative pressure adsorption principle to achieve adsorption of the wall through the suction cup 17, and then performs gait and trajectory planning on the six sets of mechanical legs to achieve motion control; uses sensors such as the RGB camera 7 to collect data on the surrounding environment; uses color space feature extraction, YOLOv5 and other visual positioning algorithms to identify defective walls, detect defects in the target, and use the five-axis robotic arm on the back to perform simple cleaning of spider webs and obvious dirt on the wall. If necessary, it can carry a water gun for deep cleaning.

[0070] Secondly, when the robot is in an off-road mode, such as performing tasks such as field environment detection and post-disaster human life search in unfamiliar jungles, post-earthquake rescue sites, etc., by installing support feet 24, the robot can achieve the movement and forward movement function that wheeled robots cannot accomplish in the field and complex post-disaster environments; use laser radar 18 and other sensors to collect surrounding data and signs of human life, and collect environmental data; use Laplasian of Gaussian and Canny edge extraction algorithms to extract life signs to assist search and rescue personnel in search and rescue, and use target detection algorithms such as YOLOv5 to directly detect human life signs and process the collected human information; use the mechanical arm on the back to perform simple obstacle excavation and transportation work at the post-disaster site;

[0071] Finally, when in a fast-moving state, the robot can perform tasks such as family companionship, life services, and material transportation in factory scenes in indoor environments; fast movement is achieved through the Mecanum wheels 5 carried by the fourth link 1 of the mechanical legs at the ends of the four mechanical legs, namely the front left, front right, rear left, and rear right; the RGB camera 7, lidar 18, and other sensors are used to collect data on indoor closed environment scenes, obstacle data that may appear at any time, and predetermined target data, and to collect environmental data; the environmental information collected by sensors such as the lidar 18 is processed, and the robot's autonomous navigation function is realized in combination with algorithms such as amcl positioning and A* path planning; the robotic arm on the back can be used to do some simple housework such as throwing garbage and delivering things in home service scenes, and to carry small materials in factory scenes.

[0072] When the robot is working, the RGB camera 7 collects surrounding image data, the laser radar 18 scans and collects the surrounding environment, generates point cloud data of the required operation, the IMU inertial navigation module 26 calculates the five-axis robot arm posture data, and transmits the data to the host PC, and uses Matlab to solve the joint angles required for a specific posture, which are published to the corresponding actuators through the Raspberry Pi 4B in the subsequent physical prototype for execution, and the target rotation values ​​of all servos are converted into actual angles through PWM waves and serial ports, etc., and the servos of the mechanical legs are driven to move the robot to the calculated position, and then the five-axis robot arm is driven to move each joint to complete the operation task; the Raspberry Pi 4B and the Arduino UNO development board realize data exchange through serial communication, and the Raspberry Pi 4B and the host PC realize communication through remote control software; the Arduino UNO development board controls the start or stop of the vacuum pump and controls the on and off of the solenoid valve to jointly realize the vacuum adsorption function; the theoretically calculated rotation speed is transmitted to the drive motor 22 to realize the rapid movement of the robot.

[0073] Example 2

[0074] This embodiment provides a travel control method for the multi-modal mobile hexapod robot provided in Embodiment 1. The travel process is as follows: Figure 7 As shown, when the robot is transformed into two forms, wall climbing and off-road, the ends of the six groups of mechanical legs are replaced with suction cups 17 or support feet 24, and the six groups of mechanical legs are divided into two operating groups for operation. The operating group is composed of the front and rear groups of mechanical legs on one side of the fuselage body 2 and the middle group of mechanical legs on the other side of the fuselage body 2. The two operating groups operate alternately. The present invention adopts an improved triangular gait, which reduces the number of serial bus servos running at the same time and reduces the power requirements of the power supply.

[0075] like Fig. 9 As shown, taking the forward movement as an example, the forward movement control method specifically includes:

[0076] Initially, the mechanical legs of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot are divided into two groups, one group includes one leg in the middle of one side of the body and two legs on the other side, and the rest are another group, which are recorded as positive-phase legs and negative-phase legs respectively;

[0077] When controlling the multimodal mobile hexapod robot to move, the robot's inverted leg is lifted and swung forward to the target position, and the inverted leg is lowered after reaching the target position;

[0078] When the inverse leg is lowered, lift the positive leg and use the inverse leg to push the fuselage forward;

[0079] When the positive-phase leg swings to the target position and is lowered, lift the negative-phase leg and use the positive-phase leg to push the fuselage forward;

[0080] This process continues until the robot reaches the target position.

[0081] Example 3

[0082] The present embodiment provides a steering control method for a multimodal mobile hexapod robot provided in Embodiment 1, wherein the foot mechanism of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot is a suction cup 17 or a supporting foot 24, as shown in FIG8 . When the robot is transformed into two forms, namely, wall climbing and off-road, the ends of the six groups of mechanical legs are replaced with suction cups 17 or supporting feet 24, and the six groups of mechanical legs are divided into two operating groups for operation. The operating groups are composed of the front and rear groups of mechanical legs on one side of the fuselage body 2 and the middle group of mechanical legs on the other side of the fuselage body 2. The two operating groups operate alternately, and the two operating groups adopt an improved triangular gait to move forward, and use the cubic polynomial interpolation method to plan the path in the joint space.

[0083] like Fig.10 As shown, taking right turn as an example, the steering control method includes:

[0084] Initially, the mechanical legs of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot are divided into two groups, one group includes one leg in the middle of one side of the body and two legs on the other side, and the rest are another group, which are recorded as positive-phase legs and negative-phase legs respectively;

[0085] When controlling the multimodal mobile hexapod robot to turn, lift the robot's positive leg and rotate it clockwise to the target position, and then put it down after reaching the target position.

[0086] When the positive leg is put down, lift the negative leg, rotate the positive leg counterclockwise to the initial position, and at the same time, rotate the negative leg clockwise to the target position, put down the negative leg, and lift the positive leg;

[0087] This process continues until the main body of the robot reaches the target direction.

[0088] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside" and the like indicate positions or positional relationships based on the positions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement, etc. between the components in a certain specific posture. If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly. It is only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and does not indicate or imply 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 of the present invention. In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. 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", "second", etc. may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more.

[0089] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by specific circumstances.

[0090] The embodiments of the present invention are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the enlightenment of the present invention, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms without departing from the scope of protection of the purpose of the present invention and the claims, which all fall within the protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A multimodal mobile hexapod robot, characterized in that: It includes a robot body, an adsorption module and a control system; The robot body comprises a mechanical arm, a body, six mechanical legs and six replaceable foot mechanisms, wherein the mechanical legs are symmetrically mounted on both sides of the body, with three legs mounted on each side, the mechanical arm is mounted on the upper surface of the body, and the foot mechanisms are mounted one-to-one on the mechanical legs, wherein the foot mechanisms are selected from one of a suction cup (17), a support foot (24) and a combination module, wherein the combination module comprises a Mecanum wheel (23) and a drive motor (22) with an encoder, and the drive motor (22) with an encoder is used to drive the Mecanum wheel (23) to rotate; The adsorption module is mounted on the body and connected to the suction cup (17), and is used to realize the wall climbing function of the multi-modal mobile hexapod robot; The control system is mounted on the machine body and is respectively connected to the driving motors (22) of the mechanical arm, the mechanical leg, the adsorption module and the combination module for communication, and is used to control the movement of the mechanical arm and the mechanical leg, control the opening or closing of the adsorption module, and control the direction and speed of the driving motor.

2. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fuselage comprises a fuselage body (2), an adsorption chamber (13) and a main control chamber (14); the main control chamber (14) is mounted on the upper surface of the fuselage body (2), and the adsorption chamber (13) is mounted on the upper surface of the main control chamber (14).

3. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The robotic arm is a five-axis robotic arm, comprising a first robotic arm connecting rod (11), a second robotic arm connecting rod (9), a third robotic arm connecting rod (8), two robotic arm single-axis steering gears (3), three robotic arm double-axis steering gears (5), a sliding bearing (4), a gripper (6), a gripper steering gear (12), and a robotic arm frame (16); The first connecting rod (11), the second connecting rod (9) and the third connecting rod (8) of the mechanical arm are connected in sequence via a mechanical arm dual-axis steering gear (5); the clamping claw (6) is connected to the other end of the third connecting rod (8) of the mechanical arm via a mechanical arm single-axis steering gear (3); and the clamping claw steering gear (12) is mounted on the clamping claw (6) and is used to drive the clamping claw (6) to open or close; The other end of the first connecting rod (11) of the mechanical arm is connected to the upper surface of the sliding bearing (4) via a mechanical arm dual-axis steering gear (5); the lower surface of the sliding bearing (4) is connected to a mechanical arm single-axis steering gear (3); and the mechanical arm single-axis steering gear (3) on the lower surface of the sliding bearing (4) is mounted on the upper surface of the fuselage via a mechanical arm frame (16).

4. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to claim 3, characterized in that: The mechanical leg comprises a first mechanical leg connecting rod (20), a second mechanical leg connecting rod (19), a third mechanical leg connecting rod (21), a fourth mechanical leg connecting rod (1) and a serial bus servo (10), wherein the first mechanical leg connecting rod (20), the second mechanical leg connecting rod (19), the third mechanical leg connecting rod (21) and the fourth mechanical leg connecting rod (1) are connected in sequence via the serial bus servo (10).

5. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The adsorption module is installed in the adsorption chamber (13); the adsorption module comprises an air pipe, a vacuum air pump and a solenoid valve, the air pipe is connected between the suction cup (17) and the vacuum air pump, and the solenoid valve is installed on the air pipe and is used to control the opening and closing of the air path.

6. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: It also includes a laser radar (18) and an RGB camera (7); the laser radar (18) is installed above the main control room (14) through a hexagonal copper column (15) for acquiring environmental information; the RGB camera (7) is installed on the third connecting rod (8) of the mechanical arm for acquiring environmental images.

7. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The control system includes a power supply, a host PC, a Raspberry Pi 4B and an Arduino UNO development board; The host PC is remotely connected to a Raspberry Pi 4B, and the Raspberry Pi 4B is installed in a main control room (14) and is respectively connected to an Arduino UNO development board, a robotic arm single-axis servo (3), a robotic arm dual-axis servo (5), a serial bus servo (10), a drive motor with an encoder (22), a laser radar (18), and an RGB camera (7); The Arduino UNO development board is installed in the adsorption chamber (13) and is communicatively connected with the vacuum air pump and the solenoid valve.

8. The multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to claim 7, characterized in that: It also includes an IMU inertial navigation module, which is connected to the Raspberry Pi 4B to obtain the robot's own posture information.

9. A method for controlling the movement of a multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The foot mechanism of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot is a suction cup or a supporting foot, and the travel control method includes: Initially, the mechanical legs of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot are divided into two groups, one group includes one leg in the middle of one side of the body and two legs on the other side, and the rest are another group, which are recorded as positive-phase legs and negative-phase legs respectively; When controlling the multimodal mobile hexapod robot to move, lift the robot's inverted legs and swing them forward / backward to the target position, and then put down the inverted legs after reaching the target position; When the inverted leg is lowered, lift the positive leg and use the inverted leg to push the fuselage forward / backward; When the positive-phase leg swings to the target position and is lowered, lift the negative-phase leg and use the positive-phase leg to push the fuselage forward / backward; This process continues until the robot reaches the target position.

10. A steering control method for a multimodal mobile hexapod robot according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The foot mechanism of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot is a suction cup or a supporting foot, and the steering control method includes: Initially, the mechanical legs of the multimodal mobile hexapod robot are divided into two groups, one group includes one leg in the middle of one side of the body and two legs on the other side, and the rest are another group, which are recorded as positive-phase legs and negative-phase legs respectively; When controlling the multi-modal mobile hexapod robot to turn, lift the robot's positive leg and rotate it clockwise / counterclockwise to the target position, and then put down the positive leg after reaching the target position; When the positive leg is put down, lift the negative leg, rotate the positive leg counterclockwise / clockwise to the initial position, and at the same time, rotate the negative leg clockwise / counterclockwise to the target position, put down the negative leg, and lift the positive leg; This process continues until the robot reaches the target direction.

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