Modularized snakelike robot suitable for complex terrains and control system of modularized snakelike robot
Through the modular design and the application of auxiliary mechanisms, the problems of stability and motion efficiency of existing snake robots in complex terrain are solved, achieving more efficient control and stronger flexibility.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202510172480.8
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-02-17
- Publication Date
- 2025-04-25
- Estimated Expiration
- 2045-02-17
AI Technical Summary
Existing snake robots have difficulty in taking into account the passing and high-speed motion requirements of complex terrain, and are not stable when moving slopes. They need to rely on sensors and complex algorithms to adjust their gaits, significantly increasing the difficulty of control.
A modular snake robot is designed, including a snake head module, a snake tail module and multiple snake body modules. The snake body module is composed of a torso unit and a joint unit. The joint unit adopts a dual-axis servo and a cross orthogonal bracket structure. The torso unit drives the roller forward through a dual-axis motor, and the auxiliary mechanism disperses weight, offsets gravity torque, and improves stability.
Through the modular design and the application of auxiliary mechanisms, the stability and motion efficiency of snake robots in complex terrain are improved, flexibility and operating range are enhanced, dependence on complex algorithms and sensors is reduced, and more efficient control is achieved.
Smart Images

Figure CN119871359A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of bionic robots, and in particular relates to a modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrains and a control system thereof. Background Art
[0002] Modular snake-like robots are a typical application of bionic principles in robotics. Snakes, with their unique limbless movement and highly flexible body structure, show excellent adaptability in complex environments. By imitating the movement pattern and body structure of snakes, the designed snake-like robot has the advantages of reasonable structure, flexible control, reliable performance, and strong scalability. It has broad application prospects in many fields, such as searching for the wounded in the ruins after earthquakes, landslides and fires, and surveying and clearing pipes in narrow and dangerous environments.
[0003] Currently, most snake-like robots use fixed modular designs or single motion modes (such as pure wheel or pure track), which makes it difficult to balance the passability of complex terrain and the need for high-speed movement. In addition, the traditional cylindrical or rectangular body design is not stable enough when moving on slopes, and is prone to rolling due to gravity torque on steep slopes. It needs to rely on sensors and complex algorithms to adjust the gait, which significantly increases the difficulty of control. The flexibility and operating range of existing snake-like robots are not high, and their movement ability is limited by the number of joints and the length of the robot, which needs to be improved. Summary of the invention
[0004] To solve the above problems, the present invention discloses a modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain and its control system. The number of snake body module groups of the snake-like robot can be changed according to specific work needs, and auxiliary mechanisms are used to improve the stability and movement efficiency of the snake-like robot on slopes and complex terrains. The terrain adaptability of tracks and the high-speed characteristics of wheels are combined to improve the stability and adaptability of movement.
[0005] To achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is as follows: A modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain, comprising a snake head module, a snake tail module and a plurality of snake body modules and a control system thereof; The snake body module is composed of a trunk unit and a joint unit. The joint unit adopts two dual-axis servos and a cross-orthogonal bracket structure to realize left-right and up-down movement with two degrees of freedom. The trunk unit drives the rollers through a dual-axis motor to make the robot move forward, and an auxiliary mechanism is provided under the trunk unit. The snake head module further integrates laser radar, depth camera, and onboard computer on the basis of the snake body module, senses the environment through sensors and performs data processing to control the movement of the robot. The snake tail module adopts a crawler structure, which is suitable for moving in complex terrain. The snake head module, snake tail module and snake body module are all connected to the control system.
[0006] Furthermore, the trunk unit includes an upper trunk shell, a lower trunk shell, a dual-axis DC motor, rollers, an axis end fixing sleeve and an auxiliary mechanism; the upper trunk shell and the lower trunk shell are semicircular structures, a partition is provided at the lower edge of the upper trunk shell, a mounting block is provided at the front end of the upper trunk shell, a connecting plate 1 is provided at the rear end of the upper trunk shell, a connecting plate 2 is provided at the rear end of the lower trunk shell, snap rings are provided at the lower sides of the upper trunk shell and inserted into the grooves at the upper edge of the lower trunk shell, and the two are connected by screws, two rollers are arranged at both ends of the dual-axis DC motor, and the outer sides of the rollers are fixed by the axis end fixing sleeves The auxiliary mechanism comprises an arc-shaped connecting piece and an extension plate, and the arc-shaped connecting piece is arranged at the lower part of the outer shell of the torso, and the arc-shaped connecting piece is connected to the screw mounting block by bolts, and a wheel gap is arranged on the arc-shaped connecting piece, and the rollers on both sides extend out of the window and the wheel gap, and the extension plate is connected to the arc-shaped connecting piece and extends outward, and the lowermost end of the roller is lower than the lowermost end of the auxiliary mechanism.
[0007] Furthermore, the motor limiting structure includes a motor plane, two limiting plates and four elastic limiting columns. The motor plane is arranged in the middle part of the lower outer shell of the torso, and two limiting plates are arranged at the front and back, and four elastic limiting columns are arranged at the left and right. The dual-axis DC motor is placed flat on the motor plane, clamped by the two limiting plates at the front and back, and clamped by the four elastic limiting columns at the left and right, so as to fix the dual-axis DC motor.
[0008] Furthermore, the joint unit includes a dual-axis servo one, a dual-axis servo two, a main steering wheel, an auxiliary steering wheel, a snake body connecting piece, and a cross orthogonal bracket. The front end of the cross orthogonal bracket is connected to the output shaft of the dual-axis servo one, the rear end of the cross orthogonal bracket is connected to the dual-axis servo two, the snake body connecting piece is connected to the output shaft of the dual-axis servo two, and an installation groove is provided above the snake body connecting piece.
[0009] Furthermore, adjacent trunk units are connected through the mounting block at the front end of the trunk upper shell and the mounting groove on the snake body connector, connecting plate 1 and connecting plate 2 are connected to dual-axis servo 1, and the trunk unit and the joint unit are connected through self-tapping screws.
[0010] Furthermore, the snake head module includes a snake body module and a laser radar, an onboard computer, a depth camera, and a camera connecting frame. The laser radar is arranged above the torso unit, the onboard computer is arranged above the partition, a bracket fixing end is provided at the front end of the torso unit, the camera connecting frame is connected to the bracket fixing end by two hand screws, and the depth camera is connected to the camera connecting frame.
[0011] Furthermore, the tail module is a crawler structure, including a tail connector, a track bracket, a fixed shaft 1, a track, a shaft end retaining ring, a single-axis DC motor, a fixed shaft 2, a gear, a sprocket 1, a sprocket 2 and a baffle, the tail connector is connected to the track bracket, the front end of the tail connector is connected to the dual-axis servo of the previous body module, the track bracket is respectively equipped with sprocket 1 and sprocket 2 through fixed shaft 1 and fixed shaft 2, the single-axis DC motor is fixed on the track bracket, the output shaft of the single-axis DC motor is connected to the gear, the gear is meshed with the inner gear of sprocket 2, the baffle is arranged on the outside of the track bracket, and the track is meshed with the outer gears of sprocket 1 and sprocket 2.
[0012] The control system includes perception fusion layer, navigation planning layer, communication control layer, motion execution layer and power management layer: The perception fusion layer consists of a depth camera, a lidar, a GNSS module, and an IMU module to obtain environmental information and its own posture information and perform preliminary perception fusion; The navigation planning layer is composed of computers and onboard computers, which receive data from the perception fusion layer for analysis and decision-making to achieve path planning; The communication control layer consists of Bluetooth module and voice recognition module to realize human-computer interactive control; The motion execution layer is composed of a steering gear controller and several dual-axis steering gears. It receives instructions from the host computer and the main controller, sends command sets through the serial bus, and realizes the motion execution of the steering gear. At the same time, the motion execution layer controls the dual-axis DC motor and the single-axis DC motor to drive the driving wheel and crawler track forward. The power management layer consists of power supplies and power management modules, providing stable power supply to the other four layers.
[0013] The control system uses the Ubuntu 20.04 operating system and implements the functions of motion control, environmental perception, mapping, path planning and communication through ROS1 noetic.
[0014] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: (1) The present invention provides a modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrains. By connecting adjacent snake body modules in series in sequence through connecting components, a multi-joint continuous motion chain is constructed. The number of snake body module groups of the snake-like robot can be increased or decreased according to specific work needs, thereby enhancing the flexibility and operating range of the robot, solving the problem that the robot's movement ability is limited by the number of joints and the length of the robot, and improving the environmental adaptability of the snake-like robot.
[0015] (2) The present invention uses a drive assist mechanism that can disperse the weight of the robot, generate reverse torque to offset the rolling torque caused by gravity, increase the contact area with the ground, keep the robot stable when moving on a slope, and avoid rolling due to gravity torque when facing a steep slope; in environments with small obstacles such as grass, gravel, and rock slopes, the mechanism can push the obstacles to assist the robot's movement. The mechanism is light and simple, reduces the robot's dependence on complex algorithms and sensors, improves control efficiency, and significantly improves the stability and movement efficiency of the snake-like robot on slopes and complex terrain.
[0016] (3) The present invention combines the advantages of wheeled snake-like robots and tracked snake-like robots. The snake body adopts a wheeled structure, and the snake tail adopts a tracked structure. The snake-like robot can switch between wheeled mode and tracked mode by disassembling the module to adapt to different road environments. The wheeled structure can switch between passive wheeled mode and active wheeled mode according to task requirements. The wheels and tracks work together, combining the terrain adaptability of tracks with the high-speed characteristics of wheels, and improving the stability and adaptability of the snake-like robot's movement.
[0017] (4) The present invention adopts a single-joint dual-degree-of-freedom design. Two orthogonal dual-axis servos are connected by a cross-orthogonal bracket, so that a single joint unit can achieve compound motion, increasing the maneuverability and flexibility of the snake-like robot. (5) The present invention collects the surrounding environment data and the posture data of the snake-like robot through the laser radar, depth camera, GNSS module and IMU module, performs real-time positioning and map construction for the snake-like robot, and realizes the combined navigation function. The robot is directly given instructions through the voice module and Bluetooth communication, realizing the motion control of the snake-like robot. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention.
[0019] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of the snake body module in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0020] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the structure of the joint unit in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0021] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the structure of the trunk unit in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0022] Figure 5 Detailed description of the invention FIG.
[0023] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the motor limit structure in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0024] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the structure of the snake head module in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0025] Figure 8 Detailed description of the invention Figure 2 is an exploded view of the snake head module in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0026] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of the structure of the snake tail module in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0027] Fig.10 1 is an exploded view of the tail module in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0028] Fig.11 It is a schematic diagram of the control system structure of the present invention.
[0029] List of Figure Symbols: 1. Snake head module, 2. Snake body module, 3. Snake tail module, 4. Trunk unit, 5. Joint unit, 6. Dual-axis servo 1, 7. Main steering plate, 8. Snake body connector, 9. M3*6 screws, 10. Auxiliary steering plate, 11. M2*6 self-tapping screws, 12. Cross orthogonal bracket, 13. Mounting slot, 14. Shaft end fixing sleeve, 15. Roller, 16. Trunk lower shell, 17. Auxiliary mechanism, 18. M3 nut, 19. Screw mounting block, 20. M3*10 screws, 21. Dual-axis DC motor, 22. M3*5 screws, 23. Mounting block, 24. Trunk upper shell, 25. LiDAR, 26. Dual-axis servo 2, 27. Bracket fixing end, 28. Onboard computer, 29. M3*4 screws, 30. Thumb screws, 31. Camera connecting frame, 32. Depth camera, 34. Track bracket, 35. Fixed shaft one, 36. Track, 37. Shaft end retaining ring, 38. Single-axis DC motor, 39. Fixed shaft two, 40. Gear, 41. Sprocket two, 42. Sprocket one, 43. Baffle, 44. M4*6 screws, 45. M2*4 self-tapping screws, 46. Partition, 47. Connecting plate one, 48. Connecting plate two, 49. Groove, 50. Motor plane, 51. Window, 52. Arc connector, 53. Extension plate, 54. Wheel gap, 55. Limit plate, 56. Elastic limit column, 57. Snap ring. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0030] The present invention will be further explained below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the following specific embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention and are not used to limit the scope of the present invention.
[0031] As shown in the figure, the modular snake-like robot and its control system suitable for complex terrain described in the present invention include a snake head module 1, a snake tail module 3 and multiple snake body modules 2; the snake body module 2 is composed of a trunk unit 4 and a joint unit 5, and the joint unit 5 adopts two dual-axis servos 6, 26 and a cross orthogonal bracket 12 structure to achieve left and right and up and down two degrees of freedom movement; the trunk unit 4 drives the roller 15 through a dual-axis DC motor 21 to make the robot move forward, and the auxiliary mechanism 17 under the trunk unit 4 is used to improve the stability of the robot facing complex environments such as slopes. The snake head module 1 integrates a snake body module 2, a laser radar 25, a depth camera 32, an onboard computer 28 and other hardware. It senses the environment through sensors and processes data to control the movement of the robot. The snake tail module 3 adopts a tracked structure, which has good terrain adaptability and is suitable for traveling in complex terrain. The overall control system is divided into five levels: perception fusion, navigation planning, communication control, motion execution and power management. It adopts a modular design, which is easy to expand and upgrade. It runs under the Ubuntu 20.04 system and realizes various functions such as motion control, environmental perception, mapping, path planning and communication through ROS1 noetic. The robot combines the characteristics of wheels and tracks, and uses auxiliary mechanisms to improve the movement efficiency and stability in complex terrain. It has strong adaptability and control accuracy.
[0032] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention. The snake-like robot is composed of a snake head module 1, a snake tail module 3 and six snake body modules 2 connected in series, forming a continuous motion chain of the robot. The snake body module 2 is composed of a trunk unit 4 and a joint unit 5. The snake head module 1 and the trunk unit 4, the adjacent trunk units, and the trunk unit 4 and the snake tail module 3 are all connected through the joint unit 5. The joint unit 5 is composed of two orthogonal dual-axis servos and has two degrees of freedom. The number of snake body modules can be changed, and the rollers can be detached to adapt to different working environments.
[0033] Figure 2 : is a schematic diagram of the structure of the snake body module in an embodiment of the present invention. The snake body module is composed of a trunk unit 4 and a joint unit 5. The front end between adjacent trunk units is connected to a dual-axis servo 6 through a connecting plate 1 47 and a connecting plate 2 48, and the rear end is connected through the mounting block 23 on the trunk upper shell 24 and the trunk lower shell 16 and the mounting groove 13 on the snake body connector 8 through M3 screws; the trunk unit 4 and the joint unit 5 are connected by M2 self-tapping screws.
[0034] Figure 3It is a structural schematic diagram of the joint unit in an embodiment of the present invention. The joint unit 5 is composed of a dual-axis steering gear 1 6, a dual-axis steering gear 2 26, a main steering disc 7, a secondary steering disc 10, a snake body connector 8, and a cross orthogonal bracket 12. The two dual-axis steering gears 6 and 26 have the same structure and are arranged perpendicular to each other. The spline shaft of the dual-axis steering gear is connected to the main steering disc 7, and the smooth shaft is connected to the secondary steering disc 10. The two dual-axis steering gears are connected through a cross orthogonal bracket 12. One end of the cross orthogonal bracket 12 is connected to the main and secondary steering discs of the dual-axis steering gear 1 6 through an M3*6 screw 9, and the other end is connected to the housing of the dual-axis steering gear 2 26 through an M2*6 self-tapping screw 11. The snake body connector 8 is connected to the main and secondary steering discs of the dual-axis steering gear 2 26 through an M3*6 screw 9. The joint module has two degrees of freedom, which can realize the left and right swing and up and down swing of the snake body module 2.
[0035] Figure 4 : is a schematic diagram of the structure of the trunk unit in an embodiment of the present invention. The trunk unit 4 is composed of an upper trunk shell 24, a lower trunk shell 16, a dual-axis DC motor 21, a roller 15, an axis end fixing sleeve 14 and an auxiliary mechanism 17. The auxiliary mechanism 17 generates a reverse torque to offset the rolling torque caused by gravity by dispersing the weight of the robot, so that the robot remains stable when moving on a slope, and avoids the rolling of the wheeled structure due to the gravity torque when facing a steep slope. At the same time, the mechanism reduces the dependence on complex algorithms and sensors, and improves control efficiency. At the same time, in environments with small obstacles such as grass, gravel, and rock slopes, the auxiliary mechanism 17 assists the robot in climbing or going downhill by passively pushing the obstacles, which significantly improves the stability and movement efficiency of the snake-like robot on slopes and complex terrains.
[0036] Figure 5It is an exploded view of the trunk unit in the embodiment of the present invention. A partition 46 is provided at the lower edge of the upper shell 24 of the trunk, and the interior of the upper shell 24 of the trunk is convenient for wiring; snap rings 57 are provided at the lower sides of the upper shell of the trunk and inserted into the grooves 49 at the upper edge of the lower shell of the trunk, and the two are connected by M3*5 screws 22. Two rollers 15 are provided at both ends of the dual-axis DC motor 21, and the outer sides of the rollers 15 are fixed by shaft end fixing sleeves 14. A motor limiting structure is provided in the middle of the lower shell 16 of the trunk, and the dual-axis DC motor 21 is fixed in the motor limiting structure. Screw mounting blocks 19 are provided at the front and rear ends of the motor limiting structure, and windows are provided on the left and right sides of the motor limiting structure. The auxiliary mechanism includes an arc-shaped connector 52 and an extension plate 53. The arc-shaped connector 52 is arranged below the lower shell 16 of the trunk. The arc-shaped connector 52 is connected to the screw mounting block 19 through four M3*10 screws 20. The arc-shaped connector 52 is provided with a wheel gap 54. The rollers 15 on both sides extend out of the window 51 and the wheel gap 54. The extension plate 53 is connected to the arc-shaped connector 52 and extends outward. The lowermost end of the roller 15 is lower than the lowermost end of the auxiliary mechanism 17 (the auxiliary mechanism 17 is not attached to the ground), ensuring that the tire contacts the ground during movement to reduce the wear of the auxiliary mechanism 17. The rotation of the dual-axis DC motor 21 drives the rotation of the roller 15 to realize the forward drive of the trunk.
[0037] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the motor limiting structure in the embodiment of the present invention. The motor limiting structure includes a motor plane 50, two limiting plates 55 and four elastic limiting columns 56. The motor plane 50 is arranged in the middle of the lower housing 16 of the trunk, and two limiting plates 55 are arranged at the front and back, and four elastic limiting columns 56 are arranged at the left and right. The dual-axis DC motor 21 is placed flat on the motor plane 50, and is clamped by the two limiting plates 55 at the front and back, and by the four elastic limiting columns 56 at the left and right, so as to fix the dual-axis DC motor; The extension plate 53 of the present invention can be foldable or rotatably connected to the arc-shaped connecting member 52, and can smoothly pass through narrow pipes or holes.
[0038] Figure 7 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the snake head module in an embodiment of the present invention. The snake head module is composed of a laser radar 25, an onboard computer 28, a depth camera 32, a camera connecting frame 31 and a trunk unit 4.
[0039] Figure 8It is an exploded view of the snake head module in the embodiment of the present invention. The laser radar 25 is set above the trunk unit 4 by M3 screws; the onboard computer 28 is fixed on the lower edge of the trunk upper shell 24 by M2 screws. The bracket fixing end 27 is provided at the front end of the trunk unit. The camera connecting frame 31 is connected to the bracket fixing end 27 by two hand screws 30, and has the freedom of up and down swing. The pitch angle of the camera can be manually adjusted by loosening the hand screws 30; the depth camera 32 is connected to the camera connecting frame 31 by M3*4 screws 29. The snake head module is the center of the control system, including sensors such as the laser radar 25 and the depth camera 32 to perceive environmental information, collect posture data, establish environmental maps, identify target content and transmit it to the onboard computer 28 through the USB interface. The onboard computer 28 processes the relevant data to control the rotation of the servo and the motor to realize the motion control of the robot.
[0040] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of the structure of the tail module in the embodiment of the present invention. The tail module is a crawler structure, which is composed of a tail connector 33, a crawler bracket 34, a fixed shaft 1 35, a crawler 36, a shaft end retaining ring 37, a single-axis DC motor 38, a fixed shaft 2 39, a gear 40, a sprocket 1 42, a sprocket 2 41 and a baffle 43.
[0041] Fig.10 It is an exploded view of the tail module in the embodiment of the present invention. The tail connector 33 is connected to the track bracket 34 through four M2*4 self-tapping screws 45, and the tail connector 33 is connected to the main and auxiliary steering plates of the dual-axis servo of the previous body module through M3 screws. The track bracket 34 is equipped with sprocket 1 42 and sprocket 2 41, which are fixed to the track bracket 34 through fixed shaft 1 35 and fixed shaft 2 39 respectively; the single-axis DC motor 38 is fixed to the track bracket 34 through M3 screws, and the output shaft of the single-axis DC motor 38 is connected to the gear 40, and the gear 40 is meshed with the inner gear of the sprocket 2 41; the internal space of the track bracket 34 is used to place components such as batteries, which are fixed by two baffles 43, and the baffles 43 are fixed to the track bracket 34 through M4*6 screws 44. The crawler 36 meshes with the outer gears of the sprocket 1 42 and the sprocket 2 41, and the gear 40 rotates through the rotation of the single-axis DC motor 38, driving the sprocket 2 41 to rotate, so that the crawler 36 can be meshed and transmitted forward, driving the sprocket 42 to rotate, and the crawler is pushed forward; the crawler structure can adapt to muddy, sandy, gravel and other complex terrains due to its large ground contact area and low pressure, avoiding sinking or slipping, and the crawler imitates the anisotropic friction characteristics of biological snake scales, optimizes the propulsion efficiency in complex terrain, disperses the weight and wide support surface, and significantly reduces the risk of center of gravity shift. The wheeled and crawler types of the present invention work together, combining the terrain adaptability of the crawler with the high-speed characteristics of the wheeled type, and improving the stability and adaptability of the movement of the snake-like robot.
[0042] Fig.11 It is a schematic diagram of the control system structure of the present invention. The control system can be divided into the following five parts: perception fusion layer, navigation planning layer, communication control layer, motion execution layer and power management layer. The perception fusion layer is composed of a depth camera, a laser radar, a GNSS module and an IMU module, which obtains environmental information and its own posture information and performs preliminary perception fusion; the navigation planning layer is composed of a computer and an onboard computer, which receives the data of the perception fusion layer for analysis and decision-making to realize path planning; the communication control layer is composed of a Bluetooth module and a voice recognition module to realize human-computer interactive control; the motion execution layer is composed of a steering gear controller and several dual-axis steering gears, which receive instructions from the host computer and the main controller, send command sets through the serial bus, and realize the motion execution of the steering gear. At the same time, the motion execution layer controls the dual-axis DC motor and the single-axis DC motor to drive the driving wheel and the crawler forward; the power management layer is composed of a power supply and a power management module to provide stable power supply for the other four layers. The hardware circuit design adopts a modular approach, and each module is connected to the onboard computer and the main controller through an interface number. This design method is convenient for future expansion and upgrading, and is convenient for the integration of newly added modules with the existing system. The snake robot software uses the Ubuntu 20.04 operating system and ROS1 noetic to achieve motion control, environmental perception, mapping, path planning and communication functions.
[0043] It should be noted that the above content only illustrates the technical idea of the present invention and cannot be used to limit the protection scope of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention. These improvements and modifications all fall within the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.
Claims
1. A modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain, characterized by: It includes a snake head module, a snake tail module and multiple snake body modules and their control systems; The snake body module is composed of a trunk unit and a joint unit. The joint unit adopts two dual-axis servos and a cross-orthogonal bracket structure to realize left-right and up-down movement with two degrees of freedom. The trunk unit drives the rollers through a dual-axis motor to make the robot move forward, and an auxiliary mechanism is provided under the trunk unit. The snake head module further integrates laser radar, depth camera, and onboard computer on the basis of the snake body module, senses the environment through sensors and performs data processing to control the movement of the robot. The snake tail module adopts a crawler structure, which is suitable for moving in complex terrain. The snake head module, snake tail module and snake body module are all connected to the control system.
2. A modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 1, characterized in that: The trunk unit includes an upper trunk shell, a lower trunk shell, a dual-axis DC motor, rollers, a shaft end fixing sleeve and an auxiliary mechanism; the upper trunk shell and the lower trunk shell are semicircular structures, the lower edge of the upper trunk shell is provided with a partition, the front end of the upper trunk shell is provided with a mounting block, the rear end of the upper trunk shell is provided with a connecting plate 1, the rear end of the lower trunk shell is provided with a connecting plate 2, and the lower sides of the upper trunk shell are provided with snap rings inserted into the grooves on the upper edge of the lower trunk shell, and the two are connected by screws, and two rollers are arranged at both ends of the dual-axis DC motor, and the outer sides of the rollers are fixed by shaft end fixing sleeves. A motor limiting structure is provided in the middle of the inner side of the lower outer shell of the torso, screw mounting blocks are provided at the front and rear ends of the motor limiting structure, windows are provided on the left and right sides of the motor limiting structure, the dual-axis DC motor is fixed in the motor limiting structure, the auxiliary mechanism includes an arc-shaped connecting piece and an extension plate, the arc-shaped connecting piece is arranged below the lower outer shell of the torso, the arc-shaped connecting piece is connected to the screw mounting block by bolts, a wheel gap is provided on the arc-shaped connecting piece, the rollers on both sides extend out of the window and the wheel gap, the extension plate is connected to the arc-shaped connecting piece and extends outward, and the lowermost end of the roller is lower than the lowermost end of the auxiliary mechanism.
3. A modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 2, characterized in that: The motor limiting structure includes a motor plane, two limiting plates and four elastic limiting columns. The motor plane is arranged in the middle of the lower outer shell of the trunk, and two limiting plates are arranged at the front and back, and four elastic limiting columns are arranged at the left and right. The dual-axis DC motor is placed flat on the motor plane, clamped by the two limiting plates at the front and back, and clamped by the four elastic limiting columns at the left and right, so as to fix the dual-axis DC motor.
4. The modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 1, characterized in that: The joint unit includes a dual-axis servo engine 1, a dual-axis servo engine 2, a main steering plate, an auxiliary steering plate, a snake body connecting piece, and a cross orthogonal bracket. The front end of the cross orthogonal bracket is connected to the output shaft of the dual-axis servo engine 1, the rear end of the cross orthogonal bracket is connected to the dual-axis servo engine 2, the snake body connecting piece is connected to the output shaft of the dual-axis servo engine 2, and a mounting groove is provided above the snake body connecting piece.
5. A modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 4, characterized in that: Adjacent trunk units are connected via mounting blocks at the front end of the trunk upper shell and mounting grooves on the snake body connector; connecting plate 1 and connecting plate 2 are connected to dual-axis servo 1; and the trunk unit and the joint unit are connected via self-tapping screws.
6. The modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 2, characterized in that: The snake head module includes a snake body module, a laser radar, an onboard computer, a depth camera, and a camera connecting frame. The laser radar is arranged above the torso unit, the onboard computer is arranged above the partition, a bracket fixing end is provided at the front end of the torso unit, the camera connecting frame is connected to the bracket fixing end by two hand screws, and the depth camera is connected to the camera connecting frame.
7. The modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tail module is a crawler structure, including a tail connector, a crawler bracket, a fixed shaft 1, a crawler, a shaft end retaining ring, a single-axis DC motor, a fixed shaft 2, a gear, a sprocket 1, a sprocket 2 and a baffle. The tail connector is connected to the crawler bracket, and the front end of the tail connector is connected to the double-axis servo of the previous body module. The crawler bracket is respectively equipped with sprocket 1 and sprocket 2 through fixed shaft 1 and fixed shaft 2. The single-axis DC motor is fixed on the crawler bracket, and the output shaft of the single-axis DC motor is connected to the gear, which is meshed with the inner gear of sprocket 2. The baffle is arranged on the outside of the crawler bracket, and the crawler is meshed with the outer gears of sprocket 1 and sprocket 2.
8. The modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control system includes perception fusion layer, navigation planning layer, communication control layer, motion execution layer and power management layer: The perception fusion layer consists of a depth camera, a lidar, a GNSS module, and an IMU module to obtain environmental information and its own posture information and perform preliminary perception fusion; The navigation planning layer is composed of computers and onboard computers, which receive data from the perception fusion layer for analysis and decision-making to achieve path planning; The communication control layer consists of Bluetooth module and voice recognition module to realize human-computer interactive control; The motion execution layer is composed of a steering gear controller and several dual-axis steering gears. It receives instructions from the host computer and the main controller, sends command sets through the serial bus, and realizes the motion execution of the steering gear. At the same time, the motion execution layer controls the dual-axis DC motor and the single-axis DC motor to drive the driving wheel and crawler track forward. The power management layer consists of power supplies and power management modules, providing stable power supply to the other four layers.
9. A modular snake-like robot suitable for complex terrain according to claim 8, characterized in that: The control system uses the Ubuntu 20.04 operating system and implements the functions of motion control, environmental perception, mapping, path planning and communication through ROS1 noetic.
Citation Information
Patent Citations
Water quality detection bionic mechanical snake
CN109515654A
Multi-gait snake-shaped robot integrating crawler-type advancing mechanism and snake neck joint
CN110293543A
Snakelike robot and control method thereof
CN113021323A
Executive arm of continuous-body robot
CN113172614A
Snakelike robot with belly scales
CN222345577U
Cited By
Connecting structure and multi-joint snakelike robot comprising same
CN120287277A
A connection structure and a multi-joint snake-like robot comprising the same
CN120287277B
Snakelike robot for intelligent sensing of power pipeline
CN121403336A