Amphibious ultrasonic soft robot
By developing amphibious ultrasonic soft robots, combining flexible ultrasonic arrays and quadruped soft robots, the problem of difficulty in effective defect detection in complex terrain and narrow spaces in the prior art is solved, and multi-directional movement and underwater imaging and positioning functions are realized, with excellent performance and adaptability.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202510059765.0
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-01-15
- Publication Date
- 2025-06-03
AI Technical Summary
The prior art is difficult to effectively detect defects in narrow pipes, complex terrain and semi-enclosed spaces, especially the inability to achieve the perfect combination of internal depth detection of materials and flexible robots and sensors.
An amphibious ultrasonic soft robot is developed, using flexible ultrasonic arrays and four-legged soft robots, combining a filling and deflation system and an imaging system to realize multi-directional movement and defect detection of complex terrain, and has the functions of underwater imaging and positioning.
It realizes multi-directional movement and defect detection in complex terrain and narrow spaces, has the functions of underwater imaging and positioning, and has the characteristics of light weight, fast response, small size, modularity, simple operation and rich functions.
Smart Images
Figure CN120080970A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of automatic detection, and particularly relates to an amphibious ultrasonic soft robot. Background Art
[0002] For narrow pipes, complex terrains, and semi-closed spaces that are difficult to detect by traditional defect detection methods such as ultrasonic testing, radiographic testing, magnetic particle testing, and eddy current testing, the current solution is to use a programmable soft robot to carry sensing modules such as vision, infrared, and laser for detection. However, for the above-mentioned visual inspection, on the one hand, it is impossible to perform in-depth detection of damage and defects such as corrosion defects and holes that appear inside the material, and on the other hand, it is difficult to achieve a perfect organic combination of rigid sensors and flexible robots, thus affecting the sensor accuracy and the movement of the soft robot.
[0003] Benefiting from the development of flexible electronics, hard ultrasonic arrays are expected to be replaced by flexible ultrasonic arrays in three-dimensional imaging of complex surfaces. Ultrasonic testing methods have inherent advantages such as high sensitivity, strong penetration, and low cost. The development and introduction of flexible ultrasonic arrays make it possible to achieve an organic combination with soft robots; due to the material characteristics and good encapsulation of pneumatic soft robots, such robots can be further applied to underwater task scenarios and are expected to perform tasks such as underwater terrain imaging, underwater terrain detection, and water depth measurement.
[0004] Therefore, it is very urgent to develop an amphibious ultrasonic soft robot with defect imaging and echo positioning functions. Summary of the Invention
[0005] The present invention provides an amphibious ultrasonic soft robot, which has the characteristics of light weight, fast response, small size, modularization, simple operation, and rich functions, and can realize functions such as multi-directional movement, defect detection in narrow pipes and complex terrains, underwater terrain imaging and positioning.
[0006] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:
[0007] An amphibious ultrasonic soft robot, which includes a flexible ultrasonic array, a quadruped soft robot, an air charging and discharging system, and an imaging system;
[0008] The flexible ultrasonic array is adhered to the bottom surface of the quadruped soft robot for completing ultrasonic detection during the walking of the quadruped soft robot;
[0009] The air charging and discharging system is connected to the quadruped soft robot for pneumatic control of the quadruped soft robot to achieve walking in multiple directions;
[0010] The imaging system is connected to the flexible ultrasonic array, and is used to drive the flexible ultrasonic array and receive echo information.
[0011] Furthermore, the flexible ultrasonic array includes a packaged upper electrode, a lower electrode, and nine composite piezoelectric materials;
[0012] The nine composite piezoelectric materials are arranged in an array and bonded between the upper electrode and the lower electrode to form a conductive circuit; both the upper electrode and the lower electrode have three electrical connection lines; the electrical connection lines are connected to the imaging system through conductive flat cables;
[0013] The addressing method of the flexible ultrasonic array is N+N, and one electrical connection line of the upper electrode and one electrical connection line of the lower electrode jointly determine the driving of the composite piezoelectric material.
[0014] Furthermore, the upper electrode and the lower electrode are made by cutting Ni-based conductive tape with a laser marking machine;
[0015] Both the upper electrode and the lower electrode are in the form of island-bridge electrodes with 3×3 islands.
[0016] Furthermore, the quadruped soft robot has a cross-shaped structure and forms four soft feet extending along its radial direction;
[0017] Each of the soft feet has a plurality of air chambers communicating radially;
[0018] The air charging and discharging system is communicated with the air chambers of each soft foot and is used to control the air charging and discharging of each soft foot.
[0019] Furthermore, the quadruped soft robot uses Ecoflex material to build air chambers by casting in a 3D printed mold;
[0020] The bottom of the quadruped soft robot is provided with two encapsulation layers, namely an Ecoflex encapsulation layer and a PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) encapsulation layer, and the PDMS encapsulation layer is encapsulated on the outside of the Ecoflex encapsulation layer;
[0021] The flexible ultrasonic array is adhered to the bottom surface of the PDMS encapsulation layer.
[0022] Furthermore, the flexible ultrasonic array is adhered to the PDMS encapsulation layer through PDMS.
[0023] Furthermore, a criss-cross lattice pattern for increasing the contact area is provided between the Ecoflex encapsulation layer and the PDMS encapsulation layer.
[0024] Further, the charging and discharging system is communicated with the air chamber in the soft foot through a silica gel tube.
[0025] Further, the composite piezoelectric material is a 1-3 composite piezoelectric material.
[0026] Further, the flexible ultrasonic array is encapsulated and reinforced with PDMS.
[0027] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:
[0028] For the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot of the present invention, both the flexible ultrasonic array and the quadruped soft robot adopt a fully flexible design, which can better adapt to complex terrains and narrow spaces; the quadruped soft robot is communicated with the charging and discharging system, and the bending angles and sequence of the four soft feet can be freely controlled through the charging and discharging system, realizing a more flexible movement direction and movement speed; the air chamber volumes of the four soft feet first increase and then decrease, which is beneficial for the soft feet to achieve large-angle bending based on strain concentration and improve the movement efficiency; the flexible ultrasonic array adopts the N+N addressing method, reducing the number of signal inputs and the processing complexity. The design of the two-dimensional array of the composite piezoelectric material can realize the dimensional leap from single-point imaging to volume imaging directly when stationary, making the path imaging details richer; the good encapsulation brought by the pneumatic control of the quadruped soft robot through the charging and discharging system enables the above-mentioned amphibious ultrasonic soft robot to be further applied to underwater task scenarios by adding weights, and can realize underwater floating and walking and is expected to perform tasks such as underwater terrain imaging, underwater terrain detection, and water depth measurement.
[0029] Therefore, by adopting the above-mentioned amphibious ultrasonic soft robot, functions such as multi-directional movement, defect detection of narrow pipelines and complex terrains, underwater terrain imaging and positioning can be realized, and it has the characteristics of light weight, fast response, small volume, modularization, simple operation, and rich functions. Description of the Drawings
[0030] Figure 1 is the overall structural schematic diagram of the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot of the present invention;
[0031] Figures 2a - 2d is Figure 1 the manufacturing flow chart of the flexible ultrasonic array in
[0032] Figure 3 is the impedance test chart of the composite piezoelectric material;
[0033] Figures 4a - 4d is the manufacturing flow chart of the quadruped soft robot;
[0034] Figure 5 is the mechanical characterization of the Ecoflex encapsulation layer and the PDMS encapsulation layer;
[0035] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the grid-like texture between the Ecoflex encapsulation layer and the PDMS encapsulation layer;
[0036] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the multi-directional motion control principle of the quadruped soft robot;
[0037] Figure 8 Actual shot diagrams of the motion distance, pneumatic foot bending angle, hot plugging of the air path, and underwater diving of the quadruped soft robot in one motion cycle;
[0038] Figure 9 Schematic diagram of the connection structure between the quadruped soft robot and the air path catheter;
[0039] Figure 10 Test result diagram of the block defect tested by the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot;
[0040] Figure 11 Actual measurement diagram of the echolocation during the diving process of the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot.
[0041] Among them, 1 - flexible ultrasonic array, 2 - quadruped soft robot, 3 - air charging and discharging system, 4 - imaging system, 11 - Ni-based conductive tape, 12 - lower electrode, 13 - upper electrode, 14 - composite piezoelectric material, 15 - conductive cable, 16 - Pi, 17 - PDMS material, A - copper plate, B - glass plate, C - 3D printing mold one, D - 3D printing mold two, 21 - Ecoflex liquid, 22 - Ecoflex liquid layer, 23 - PDMS liquid layer, 24 - rigid air pipe, 25 - thin silicone tube. Specific implementation manners
[0042] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
[0043] The embodiments of the present invention provide an amphibious ultrasonic soft robot, as Figure 1As shown in the figure, the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot includes a flexible ultrasonic array 1, a quadruped soft robot 2, an inflation and deflation system 3, and an imaging system 4. The flexible ultrasonic array 1 is adhered to the center position of the bottom surface of the quadruped soft robot through PDMS, and is used to complete ultrasonic detection during the walking of the quadruped soft robot 2. The inflation and deflation system 3 is connected to the quadruped soft robot 2 through a thin silica gel tube, and is used to realize the pneumatic control of the quadruped soft robot 2 to achieve walking in multiple directions. The imaging system 4 is connected to the flexible ultrasonic array 1 through a thin wire to realize the driving and signal transmission of the flexible ultrasonic array 1, such as receiving echo information. The imaging system 4 can be a pulse transmitter-receiver.
[0044] The flexible ultrasonic array 1 includes an upper electrode 13, a lower electrode 12, and nine composite piezoelectric materials 14 encapsulated in the outer layer of PDMS. The nine composite piezoelectric materials 14 are distributed in a 3-row and 3-column array and are bonded between the upper electrode 13 and the lower electrode 12 to form a conductive circuit. Both the upper electrode 13 and the lower electrode 12 have three electrical connection lines. The upper electrode 13 has three electrical connection lines labeled I, II, and III respectively, and the lower electrode 12 has three electrical connection lines labeled IV, V, and VI respectively. The electrical connection lines are connected to the imaging system 4 through a conductive cable. The addressing method of the flexible ultrasonic array 1 is N+N. One electrical connection line of the upper electrode 13 and one electrical connection line of the lower electrode 12 jointly determine the driving of the composite piezoelectric material 14. Therefore, the three electrical connection lines of the upper electrode 13 and the three electrical connection lines of the lower electrode 12 jointly determine the driving of the nine composite piezoelectric materials 14, for example: (I,IV), (I,V), (II,V), etc.
[0045] Figures 2a - 2d Shows the entire preparation process of the flexible ultrasonic array 1. First, as Figure 2a shown, the Ni-based conductive tape 11 is patterned by laser direct writing, such as cutting the Ni-based conductive tape 11 by a laser marking machine. The substrate used for preparing the lower electrode 12 is copper plate A, and the substrate used for preparing the upper electrode 13 is glass plate B. Secondly, as Figure 2b shown, the composite piezoelectric materials 14 are sequentially adhered to the lower electrode 12. The composite piezoelectric material 14 can be a cube with a square cross-section with a side length of 2 mm and a thickness of 0.3 mm. A cut with a width of 0.03 mm is provided at intervals of 0.12 mm along the side length direction of each composite piezoelectric material 14, and epoxy resin is poured into the cut to make the directivity and directionality of the ultrasonic waves of the composite piezoelectric material 14 better, the signal more excellent, the longitudinal vibration significant, and the transverse vibration weakened. Then, the upper electrode 13 is aligned and bonded with the lower electrode 12 through the glass plate B. Then, as Figure 2c shown, the electrical connection is strengthened with a conductive cable 15 and the entire device is transferred from the copper plate A using Pi (polyimide). Finally, as Figure 2dAs shown, the device is encapsulated with PDMS material 17. As Figure 3 shown, the average resonance frequency of the nine 1-3 composite piezoelectric materials is 5.18 MHz, and there is a high degree of consistency between the array elements.
[0046] As Figures 4a - 4d shown, the quadruped soft robot 2 is formed with an air chamber by injecting Ecoflex liquid 21 into the 3D printing mold C. This process requires placing it in a vacuum oven at 55 °C for 48 hours and then demolding; afterwards, as Figure 4b shown, the demolded part is placed into the 3D printing mold D filled with the Ecoflex liquid layer 22 for bottom encapsulation to form the Ecoflex encapsulation layer for closing the opening of the air chamber. This process requires placing it in a vacuum oven at 55 °C for 12 hours for demolding; as Figure 4c shown, the secondary encapsulation at the bottom uses PDMS to form the PDMS liquid layer 23 in the 3D printing mold D. The four groups of semi-finished soft robots with the Ecoflex encapsulation layer at the bottom are placed in it to form the PDMS encapsulation layer at the bottom. Finally, as Figure 4d shown, the flexible ultrasonic array 1 and the quadruped soft robot 2 are bonded with PDMS to complete the fabrication of the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot.
[0047] As Figure 5 shown, low-cycle fatigue tests were carried out on the Ecoflex material under different strains. The results show that the Ecoflex material maintains good elastic deformation within 150% strain, proving that the soft robot can be reused repeatedly for a long time; then, the Young's moduli of the Ecoflex encapsulation layer and the PDMS encapsulation layer were further compared. The former has a smaller Young's modulus and is easier to inflate and deform. Therefore, the quadruped bends towards the PDMS encapsulation layer side.
[0048] In order to bond the two materials of the Ecoflex encapsulation layer and the PDMS encapsulation layer more tightly, a microstructure as Figure 6 shown was designed. Compared with the two smooth materials, the microstructure increases the contact area between them, making the adhesion more firm. This microstructure can also be applied to the bottom layer to reduce the contact friction force and make the soft robot easier to move. The microstructure can be a cross-grid pattern for increasing the contact area.
[0049] As Figure 7 shown, the quadruped soft robot 2 has a cross-shaped structure and forms four soft feet extending along its radial direction. Through the four soft feet, it can achieve movement in eight directions, better adapting to complex terrains. Each soft foot has a plurality of air chambers connected radially, as Figure 4aThe shown 3D printed mold C has multiple cross plates radially spaced along the soft foot and radial partitions connecting between the respective cross plates. Chambers within the soft foot are formed by the cross plates, and radial gas channels connecting the respective gases are formed by the radial partitions. The air charging and discharging system 3 communicates with the chambers of each soft foot and is used to control the air charging and discharging of each soft foot. The air charging and discharging system 3 can use a commercial air pump and be programmed and driven by an Arduino UNO board. The quadruped soft robot 2 is connected to the air charging and discharging system 3 through a thin silicone tube. By programming the sequential air charging and discharging control of different numbers and positions of the soft feet, multi-directional movement of the quadruped soft robot 2 is achieved.
[0050] The four soft feet are respectively represented by a, b, c, and d. Forward and backward movement in the positive direction can be achieved by controlling two feet of the soft robot. For example, simultaneously controlling soft foot a and c, or simultaneously controlling soft foot b and d. Diagonal forward and backward movement can be achieved by controlling the four soft feet. For example, simultaneously controlling (a, d; b, c), (a, b; d, c). Figure 8 A series of specific embodiments of the quadruped soft robot 2 are shown. Among them, a movement cycle of the quadruped soft robot 2 can be about 1.5 cm. The pneumatic soft foot can achieve a bending angle from 0 - 90°. The traveling speed can be changed by changing the air charging and discharging frequency, and the running distance of one cycle can be changed by changing the air charging and discharging duration. The air duct supports hot plugging, and the driven soft foot can be changed at any time for testing. Finally, the diving ability of the quadruped soft robot 2 under the addition of a counterweight is shown. As Figure 9 As shown, for the explanation of the hot plugging function of the air duct, the hard air pipe 24 has a relatively large Young's modulus and is directly inserted into the air chamber of the quadruped soft robot 2. Because the thin silicone tube 25 has a small Young's modulus, after being stuffed into the hard air pipe 24, its tendency to return to its original state causes it to be fixed within the hard air pipe 24.
[0051] As Figure 10 Shown, the ultrasonic soft robot is placed on the path with an aluminum alloy defect test block, and the signals collected by the flexible ultrasonic array 1 in the 1 - 3 composite piezoelectric material 14 (Ⅱ, Ⅴ) are selected for analysis. Using x = vt / 2, where x is the position of the defect from the surface, v is the speed of ultrasound propagation in aluminum alloy which is 6300 m / s, and t is the flight time of the ultrasound, it can be obtained that the (Ⅱ, Ⅴ) array elements show defects at 1.25 cm and 3.30 cm. After actual testing, the actual positions of the defects are 1.00 cm and 3.50 cm, and the accuracies are 80% and 94% respectively. In addition, as Figure 11 Shown, the ultrasonic soft robot also has the ability of underwater detection. Through echolocation, the distance from the water bottom can be updated in real time, demonstrating the potential of underwater detection.
[0052] When using the above-mentioned amphibious ultrasonic soft robot for defect detection in narrow pipelines and complex terrains, according to the detection path, the movement process of the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot is programmed through the air charging and discharging system 3. After placing the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot at the detection entrance and starting the program, defect detection on the path can be carried out, and the implementation results will be presented on the imaging system 4. For underwater echolocation and defect detection, it can be carried out by increasing the counterweight and adjusting the air charging and discharging, floating up and diving, and the distance from the bottom of the water will be displayed during this process.
[0053] Since both the flexible ultrasonic array 1 and the quadruped soft robot 2 adopt a fully flexible design, the above-mentioned amphibious ultrasonic soft robot can better adapt to complex terrains and narrow spaces; the quadruped soft robot 2 is connected to the air charging and discharging system 3, and the bending angles and sequence of the four soft feet can be freely controlled through the air charging and discharging system 3, realizing a more flexible movement direction and movement speed; the air chamber volumes of the four soft feet first increase and then decrease, which is beneficial for the soft feet to achieve large-angle bending based on strain concentration and improve the movement efficiency; the flexible ultrasonic array 1 adopts an N+N addressing method, reducing the number of signal inputs and the processing complexity. The design of the two-dimensional array of the composite piezoelectric material 14 can achieve the dimensional leap from single-point imaging to volume imaging directly when stationary, making the path imaging details richer; the good encapsulation brought by the pneumatic control of the quadruped soft robot 2 through the air charging and discharging system 3 enables the above-mentioned amphibious ultrasonic soft robot to be further applied to underwater task scenarios by increasing the counterweight, and it can realize floating and sinking and walking underwater and is expected to perform tasks such as underwater terrain imaging, underwater terrain detection, and water depth measurement.
[0054] Compared with the prior art, the amphibious ultrasonic soft robot provided by the present invention can realize functions such as multi-directional movement, defect detection in narrow pipelines and complex terrains, underwater terrain imaging and positioning, etc., and has the characteristics of light weight, fast response, small volume, modularization, simple operation, and rich functions.
[0055] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalent technologies, the present invention also intends to include these changes and modifications.
Claims
1. An amphibious ultrasonic soft robot, characterized in that: Includes flexible ultrasound array, quadruped soft robot, inflation and deflation system and imaging system; The flexible ultrasonic array is adhered to the bottom surface of the quadruped soft robot and is used to complete ultrasonic detection when the quadruped soft robot is walking; The inflation and deflation system is in communication with the quadruped soft robot and is used to pneumatically control the quadruped soft robot to achieve walking in multiple directions; The imaging system is connected to the flexible ultrasonic array and is used to drive the flexible ultrasonic array and receive echo information.
2. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flexible ultrasonic array includes a packaged upper electrode, a lower electrode and 9 composite piezoelectric materials; 9 composite piezoelectric materials are distributed in an array and bonded between the upper electrode and the lower electrode to form a conductive loop; the upper electrode and the lower electrode each have 3 electrical connection lines; the electrical connection lines are connected to the imaging system through conductive wiring; The addressing mode of the flexible ultrasonic array is N+N, and one electrical connection line of the upper electrode and one electrical connection line of the lower electrode jointly determine the driving of the composite piezoelectric material.
3. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The upper electrode and the lower electrode are made by cutting the Ni-based conductive tape with a laser marking machine; The upper electrode and the lower electrode are both island bridge electrodes having 3×3 islands.
4. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The quadruped soft robot has a cross-shaped structure and forms four soft feet extending along its radial direction; Each of the soft feet has a plurality of air chambers connected in radial direction; The inflation and deflation system is communicated with the air chamber of each soft foot and is used for controlling the inflation and deflation of each soft foot.
5. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The quadruped soft robot uses Ecoflex material to construct an air chamber through 3D printing mold casting; The bottom of the quadruped soft robot is provided with two encapsulation layers, namely an Ecoflex encapsulation layer and a PDMS encapsulation layer, and the PDMS encapsulation layer is encapsulated on the outside of the Ecoflex encapsulation layer; The flexible ultrasonic array is adhered to the bottom surface of the PDMS packaging layer.
6. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: The flexible ultrasonic array is adhered to the PDMS packaging layer through PDMS.
7. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: Vertical and horizontal lattice patterns for increasing the contact area are arranged between the Ecoflex packaging layer and the PDMS packaging layer.
8. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The inflation and deflation system is communicated with the air chamber in the soft foot through a silicone tube.
9. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The composite piezoelectric material is a 1-3 composite piezoelectric material.
10. The amphibious ultrasonic soft robot according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The flexible ultrasonic array is packaged and reinforced by using PDMS.