Novel robot system and method for electric power iron tower climbing acceptance inspection

Abstract

The invention provides a novel robot system and method for electric power iron tower climbing acceptance inspection. The system comprises a series mechanical arm with seven joints, clamping tools, binocular depth cameras and a central controller, the mechanical arm is structurally symmetrical, rotating shafts of the three joints at the end intersect with one point, the clamping tool I, the binocular depth camera and the clamping tool II are symmetrically arranged at the two ends of the mechanical arm, and the binocular depth camera II is connected with the central controller. A screwing tool I is arranged at the bottom of the clamping tool I. A screwing tool II is arranged at the bottom of the clamping tool II. The central controller is installed on the mechanical arm, and software modules configured in the central controller comprise a motion control module of the mechanical arm and the clamping tool, a visual recognition positioning module and a picture collection and network transmission module.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of power infrastructure acceptance robots, and in particular to a new type of power tower climbing acceptance robot. Background Art

[0002] In the field of power infrastructure, the acceptance stage of power towers of transmission lines usually adopts manual climbing acceptance, which is difficult and dangerous. In addition, project managers do not have the qualifications for high-altitude operations, and it is difficult to understand the situation on the tower in real time, thus failing to ensure the correctness of the acceptance results. The development of a new type of power tower climbing acceptance robot is of great significance to the acceptance of power towers. The design of the power tower climbing acceptance robot faces the following problems: First, the target points in the climbing process are changeable, and the climbing robot needs to be able to achieve cross-transposition and multi-directional reachability in three-dimensional space. In addition, the tower body of the power tower has beams and protruding bolts, and the climbing environment is complex. Second, the power tower body can only clamp a single object, and the angle steel surface is wide, so it is impossible to perform enveloping clamping. Fourth, the tower climbing robot's function of detecting the tightness of the tower bolts requires high precision of the climbing robot's terminal operation, and the climbing robot needs to have visual positioning and guidance capabilities. Fifth, the tower climbing robot needs to detect the missing parts and bending of the tower material through image recognition. The current climbing robot cannot meet the above requirements at the same time. Summary of the invention

[0003] The technical problem solved by the present invention is to provide a new robot system and method for climbing and accepting electric power towers, so as to solve the problems raised in the above-mentioned background technology.

[0004] The technical problem solved by the present invention is achieved by adopting the following technical solutions:

[0005] A novel robot system for climbing and accepting electric power towers comprises a mechanical arm, a clamping tool I, a clamping tool II, a binocular depth camera I, a binocular depth camera II, a screwing tool I, a screwing tool II and a central controller. The clamping tool I, the clamping tool II, the binocular depth camera I and the binocular depth camera II are respectively fixed at the symmetrical ends of the mechanical arm, the screwing tool I and the screwing tool II are respectively fixed at the bottom of the clamping tool I and the clamping tool II, the central controller is installed on the mechanical arm joints (1-4), the central controller is connected to control the mechanical arm, the clamping tool I, the clamping tool II, the binocular depth camera I and the binocular depth camera II, and the software modules configured in the central controller include a motion control module for the mechanical arm and the clamping tool, a visual recognition and positioning module, and a visual image acquisition and network transmission module.

[0006] The visual recognition and positioning module obtains the point cloud data of the tower angle steel through a binocular depth camera, obtains the normal vector of the angle steel surface through point cloud filtering and plane fitting, and determines it as the Z axis of the point to be climbed. The outer edge of the angle steel is obtained through edge extraction, and the outer edge line of the angle steel is defined as the Y axis of the point to be climbed. The X axis is perpendicular to the Y axis and the Z axis to determine the posture information of the point to be climbed. According to the three-dimensional point cloud reconstruction, the width information of the angle steel is obtained to determine the clamping area of ​​the angle steel. The intersection of the maximum distance that the robotic arm can cross along the angle steel, the outer edge of the angle steel, and the upper surface of the angle steel is defined as the position information of the point to be climbed. If the width of the angle steel is smaller than the clampable surface of the robotic arm clamping tool, the position of the point to be climbed is compensated along the X direction. If the angle steel point to be climbed is attached with a beam or bolt, etc., the position of the point to be climbed is compensated along the Y axis direction of the point to be climbed.

[0007] The visual positioning module identifies the bolts through machine learning, and then obtains the position and posture of the upper surface of the bolt to be detected by performing three-dimensional reconstruction on the bolt to be detected.

[0008] The robot arm is a serial robot arm with 7 joints. The robot arm has a symmetrical structure. Three joints are arranged on both sides of the robot arm, and the rotation axes of the three joints are extended and orthogonal. The three cross joints are used to adjust the posture of the end of the robot arm. The three joints at both ends are connected by a rotating joint in the middle of the robot arm, and cross movement is achieved around the rotation axis.

[0009] The visual recognition module obtains the position information of the climbing point, and the motion control module controls the driving components of the robotic arm. The robotic arm performs cross-positioning and position changes to realize the robot's automatic leaping forward or lateral climbing function.

[0010] The clamping tool I and clamping tool II include a driving component, an upper clamping plate, a lower clamping plate, a nut screw transmission mechanism, and a rubber pad. The driving component is fixedly connected to the upper clamping plate, and the upper clamping plate is connected to the end joint of the mechanical arm; the lower clamping plate is provided with a nut hole in the extension line direction of the rotating axis of the driving component, the upper end of the nut screw transmission mechanism is connected to the driving component, and the lower end of the nut screw transmission mechanism is meshed with the nut hole of the lower clamping plate, and a nut screw transmission mechanism is respectively provided on both sides of the nut screw transmission mechanism to assist the movement and clamping of the upper and lower clamping plates.

[0011] The screwing tool I and screwing tool II include a flange, a connecting piece, and a nut sleeve. The flange is connected to the extension line of the rotation axis of the end joint of the robotic arm on the lower clamping plate. The upper end of the connecting rod inside the connecting piece is connected to the flange using a fixing screw with an elastic rubber pad. A compression spring is enveloped on the outside of the connecting rod. The inside of the nut sleeve is set to a hexagonal shape and has a chamfered design on the edge.

[0012] The position information of the bolt to be inspected obtained by the visual recognition module is transmitted to the motion control module in real time. The motion control module then completes the bolt tightness inspection based on vision guidance through the position-based visual servo algorithm.

[0013] The image acquisition and network transmission module uses a binocular depth camera to capture images of the power tower materials to be inspected, and transmits the captured images to a ground server via a network transmission module. The ground server performs image recognition to detect missing parts and bent tower materials of the power tower.

[0014] A working method of a novel robot for climbing and accepting electric power towers comprises the following steps:

[0015] Each clamping tool of the climbing robot is attached to the metal angle steel of the power tower body and clamps the angle steel; when the robot needs to change the target point or change the posture, the motion control module controls the driving components on the corresponding clamping tool to open the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool, and controls the driving components in the corresponding mechanical arm to adjust the posture of the clamping tool so that the clamping tool moves out of the angle steel, and adjusts the posture of the binocular depth camera so that the binocular depth camera can obtain the three-dimensional point cloud information of the angle steel at the point to be climbed, and calculates the point to be climbed through the visual positioning module. The position and posture of the climbing point are determined by the motion control module, and the posture information of the climbing point is sent to the motion control module. The motion control module controls the driving components of the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm performs the corresponding action and changes the posture, driving the lower surface of the upper clamping plate of the corresponding clamping tool to fit the angle steel to be clamped on the power tower, so that the lower surface of the upper clamping plate of the clamping tool is directly opposite to and close to the upper surface of the angle steel of the power tower. The motion control module controls the driving components on the clamping tool so that the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool are close to each other and tightly clamp the angle steel, completing the leaping forward or lateral climbing movement;

[0016] If the errors introduced by the robot arm control and visual measurement result in the lower surface of the upper clamping plate on the clamping tool not facing and close to the upper surface of the power tower angle steel, the motion controller first controls the robot arm to move downward in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface of the power tower angle steel until the motion control module detects that the current of a driving component of the robot arm exceeds the set current threshold, and then stops moving;

[0017] If the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool are not completely aligned with the angle steel plane during the process of the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool approaching each other, the flexible deformation of the mechanical arm itself will compensate for this error, so that the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool fit the angle steel surface and clamp the angle steel of the power tower;

[0018] A working method of a novel robot for climbing and accepting electric power towers comprises the following steps:

[0019] Each clamping tool of the climbing robot is attached to the metal angle steel of the power tower body and clamps the angle steel; when the robot needs to perform bolt tightness detection, the motion control module controls the driving components on the corresponding clamping tools to open the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tools, and controls the driving components in the corresponding mechanical arms to adjust the posture of the clamping tools so that the clamping tools move out of the angle steel, and adjust the posture of the binocular depth camera so that the binocular depth camera can obtain the color image and point cloud information of the bolt to be detected. The visual recognition and positioning module identifies the bolt to be detected, obtains the posture of the center point of the upper surface of the bolt to be detected, and sends the obtained posture information to the motion control module. Control module, the motion control module controls each driving component of the robotic arm to perform corresponding actions, and continuously adjusts the posture of the screwing tool according to the posture information of the surface of the bolt to be detected obtained in real time by the visual recognition and positioning module, so that the screwing tool reaches above the bolt to be detected, and the sleeve at the end of the screwing tool faces the upper surface of the bolt. The motion control module controls the robotic arm to move slowly in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface of the bolt, so that the nut sleeve of the screwing tool covers the bolt, controls the driving component of the joint at the end of the robotic arm connected to the screwing tool, collects the current information of the driving component, determines the tightness of the tower bolt, and completes the tightness detection of the tower bolt.

[0020] A working method of a novel robot for climbing and accepting electric power towers comprises the following steps:

[0021] The clamping tools of the climbing robot are attached to the metal angle steel of the power tower body and clamp the angle steel; when the robot needs to detect tower material defects and missing parts, the motion control module controls the driving components on the corresponding clamping tools to open the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tools, and controls the driving components in the corresponding mechanical arms to adjust the posture of the clamping tools so that the clamping tools move out of the angle steel, and then controls the driving components of the mechanical arms. The mechanical arms perform corresponding actions, change their postures, and move the binocular depth camera to the tower material to be inspected. The depth camera collects images of the tower materials at the inspection points from all directions and angles through the image acquisition module, and transmits the collected images to the ground server through the network transmission module. The image recognition module of the ground server detects missing parts and bending of tower materials.

[0022] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the present invention can solve the problem that in a complex power tower climbing environment, the climbing robot can realize cross-positioning and be reachable in multiple directions in three-dimensional space. When only angle steel can be clamped on the power tower, the clamping tool is not limited by the size and installation orientation of the angle steel, and can be easily clamped with large clamping force and can self-lock when power is off. The recognition and positioning module of the climbing robot can identify the position of the positioning bolts, and can guide the robotic arm to perform precise plugging and unplugging operations in real time to complete the tightness detection of the bolts on the power tower. The image acquisition and network transmission module can ensure that the climbing robot can collect the corresponding tower material images according to the requirements of image recognition and transmit them to the ground server, and the ground server completes the detection of missing parts and bending of tower materials. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the mechanical arm of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the clamping tool of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the screwing tool of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 5 This is a flow chart of the leaping forward climbing process of the climbing robot of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 6 This is a flow chart of the lateral climbing process of the climbing robot of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 7 This is a flow chart of the clamping process of the climbing robot of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 8 This is a flowchart of the tightness detection of the climbing robot of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In order to make the technical means for realizing the present invention, the creative features, the objectives and effects to be achieved easy to understand, the present invention is further explained below in conjunction with specific diagrams. In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly stipulated and limited, the terms "installation", "connection" and "connection" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, it can be a fixed connection or a detachable connection, or an integral connection can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be internal communication between two elements.

[0032] like Figures 1 to 4As shown, a new robot system for climbing and accepting electric power towers includes: a mechanical arm 1, a clamping tool I2, a clamping tool II3, a binocular depth camera I6, a binocular depth camera II7, a screwing tool I4, a screwing tool II5, and a central controller 8. The clamping tool I2, the clamping tool II3, the binocular depth camera I6, and the binocular depth camera II7 are fixed at the ends of both sides of the mechanical arm 1, the screwing tool I4 is fixed at the bottom of the clamping tool I2, and the screwing tool II5 is fixed at the bottom of the clamping tool II3. The central controller 8 is installed on the mechanical arm 1, and the central controller 8 is connected to control the mechanical arm 1, the clamping tool I2, the clamping tool II3, the binocular depth camera I6, and the binocular depth camera II7. The software modules configured in the central controller include a motion control module for the mechanical arm and the clamping tool, a visual recognition and positioning module, and an image acquisition and network transmission module.

[0033] The binocular depth camera I6 and the binocular depth camera II7 collect the point cloud data of the iron tower angle steel. The visual recognition and positioning module obtains the normal vector of the angle steel surface through point cloud filtering and plane fitting, and determines it as the Z axis of the point to be climbed. The outer edge of the angle steel is obtained through edge extraction, and the outer edge line of the angle steel is defined as the Y axis of the point to be climbed, and the X axis is perpendicular to the Y axis and the Z axis. According to the three-dimensional point cloud reconstruction, the width information of the angle steel is obtained, and the clamping area of ​​the angle steel is determined according to the width information of the angle steel. The intersection of the maximum distance that the robot arm can cross along the angle steel, the outer edge of the angle steel, and the upper surface of the angle steel is defined as the position point of the point to be climbed. If there is a beam or bolt protrusion in the range of a circle with the maximum distance point as the center and the length of the clamping tool as the diameter near the maximum distance point that the angle steel can cross, then distance compensation is performed in the negative direction of the Y direction of the point to be climbed. If the width of the angle steel is less than the clampable surface of the clamping tool, distance compensation is performed in the negative direction of the X direction of the point to be climbed.

[0034] The binocular depth camera I6 and the binocular depth camera II7 collect color images and three-dimensional point cloud information of the bolts. The visual recognition and positioning module is based on machine learning, identifies the bolts through the color images of the bolts to be detected, and then reconstructs the bolts in three dimensions through the three-dimensional point cloud information to obtain the posture information of the upper surface of the bolts to be detected.

[0035] The robot 1 is a serial robot with 7 joints, which are: joint 11, joint 12, joint 13, joint 14, joint 15, joint 16, and joint 17. The rotation axes of joint 11 and joint 12 intersect at one point, the parallel line of the rotation axis of joint 13 intersects with joints 11 and 12, the rotation axes of joint 16 and joint 17 intersect at one point, the parallel line of the rotation axis of joint 15 intersects with joints 16 and 17, and joints 13 and 15 are connected to joint 14 via a connecting rod.

[0036] The robot arm 1 is a symmetrical structure as a whole. The clamping tool 2 or 3 at either end of the robot arm 1 is fixed to the angle steel of the power tower. The visual recognition and positioning module obtains the three-dimensional information of the point to be climbed, and controls the operation of each driving component of the 7 joints in the robot arm through the motion control module, changes the posture of the other end of the robot, and performs the climbing task.

[0037] The clamping tool I2 and the clamping tool II3 include a driving component 21, an upper clamping plate 22, a lower clamping plate 23, a nut screw transmission mechanism 24, a rubber pad 25, and a rubber pad 26. The driving component is fixedly connected to the upper clamping plate, and the upper clamping plate is connected to the joint 11 or the joint 17; the lower clamping plate is provided with a nut hole in the extension line direction of the rotating axis of the driving component, the upper end of the nut screw transmission mechanism is connected to the driving component, and the lower end of the nut screw transmission mechanism is engaged with the nut hole of the lower clamping plate, and a nut screw transmission mechanism is respectively provided on both sides of the nut screw transmission mechanism to assist in the movement and clamping of the upper and lower clamping plates. The clamping tool I2 and the clamping tool II3 change the distance between the upper and lower clamping plates 22, 23 of the clamping tool through the motion control module, change the clamping force of the clamping tool, and combine the posture change of the robotic arm 1 to assist in achieving the climbing task of the climbing robot;

[0038] The screwing tool I4 and screwing tool II5 include a flange 31, a connecting piece 32, and a nut sleeve 33. The flange is connected to the extension line of the joint rotation axis of the end of the mechanical arm on the lower clamping plate. The upper end of the connecting rod inside the connecting piece is connected to the flange using a fixing screw with an elastic rubber pad. A compression spring is enveloped on the outside of the connecting rod. The inside of the nut sleeve is set to a hexagonal shape and has a chamfered design on the edge.

[0039] The motion control module controls the joints of the robot arm 1 in real time through the bolt posture information obtained by the visual recognition and positioning module, and adjusts the end posture of the robot arm 1 so that the screwing tool can be smoothly put on the outside of the bolt with a slight error, completing the function of tower bolt tightness detection.

[0040] The binocular depth camera I6 and the binocular depth camera II7 collect image data of the power tower materials through the image acquisition module, and transmit the image data to the ground server through the network transmission module. The ground server detects missing parts and bending of the tower materials through image learning.

[0041] The working principle of the present invention is:

[0042] like Figures 5 to 7 As shown, when a new type of robot used for tower climbing acceptance performs climbing work, when the climbing robot performs leaping forward climbing, its process and steps are as follows: 1) The motion control module controls the driving component 21 of the clamping tool 2 to make the lower clamping plate 23 of the clamping tool away from the lower surface of the angle steel of the power tower, such as Figure 6As shown in (A), the motion control module controls the driving components in the robot arm 1 to move the clamping tool 2 out of the angle steel. Figure 6 As shown in (B), the position and posture of the binocular depth camera 7 is adjusted so that the binocular depth camera 7 can obtain the three-dimensional point cloud information of the angle steel at the point to be climbed, and the position and posture of the point to be climbed is calculated by the visual positioning module, and the position and posture information of the point to be climbed is transmitted to the motion control module. The motion control module controls the driving components of the robot arm 1, and the robot arm performs the corresponding cross-position flipping action to drive the clamping tool 2 to the vicinity of the point to be clamped. Figure 6 As shown in (C), the motion control module controls the robot arm to perform translational motion, so that the rubber pad 25 in the upper clamping plate 22 of the clamping tool 2 is directly opposite to and close to the upper surface of the angle steel of the power tower, and performs a clamping operation to complete the forward climbing motion as shown in FIG. Figure 6 (D), when the climbing robot performs lateral climbing, the process and steps are as follows: 1) The motion control module controls the driving component 21 of the clamping tool 2 to make the lower clamping plate 23 of the clamping tool away from the lower surface of the angle steel of the power tower, such as Figure 7 As shown in (A), the motion control module controls the driving components in the robot arm 1 to move the clamping tool 2 out of the angle steel. Figure 7 As shown in (B), the position and posture of the binocular depth camera 7 is adjusted so that the binocular depth camera 7 can obtain the three-dimensional point cloud information of the angle steel at the point to be climbed, and the position and posture of the point to be climbed is calculated by the visual positioning module, and the position and posture information of the point to be climbed is transmitted to the motion control module. The motion control module controls the driving component of the robot arm 1, and the robot arm executes the action of moving the crossbeam angle steel to the side, driving the clamping tool 2 to the vicinity of the point to be clamped. Figure 7 As shown in (C), the motion control module controls the robot arm to perform translational motion, so that the rubber pad 25 in the upper clamping plate 22 of the clamping tool 2 is directly opposite to and close to the upper surface of the angle steel of the power tower, and performs a clamping operation to complete the lateral climbing motion. Figure 7 (D), when the clamping tool is clamped, the process and steps are as follows: 1) The motion control module controls the driving components of the robot arm 1, so that the end of the joint 11 of the robot arm 1 moves downward in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the angle steel of the power tower, until the controller 8 detects that the current of the driving component of a joint of the robot arm 1 exceeds the set current threshold, and then stops moving, such as Figure 8 As shown in (A) and 8 (B), the motion control module controls the driving component 21 on the robot arm clamping tool 2, so that the upper clamping plate 22 and the lower clamping plate 23 of the clamping tool 2 are close to each other and tightly clamp the angle steel, as shown in FIG. Figure 8As shown in (C), in the process of the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool 2 approaching each other, due to the error introduced by the robot arm motion control and the visual positioning module, the upper and lower clamping plates 22 and the lower clamping plate 23 of the robot arm clamping tool 2 cannot be completely parallel to the angle steel. In the process of approaching and clamping the angle steel, the lower clamping plate compensates for this part of the error through the flexible deformation of the robot arm itself, so that the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool are completely in contact with the angle steel and clamped, as shown in FIG. Figure 8 As shown in (D), the auxiliary robot arm 1 completes the forward climbing and lateral climbing movements.

[0043] like Figure 8 As shown in the figure, when a new type of robot used for climbing and accepting power towers performs bolt tightening detection, its process and steps are as follows: 1) the motion control module controls the driving component 21 of the clamping tool 2 to make the lower clamping plate 23 of the clamping tool away from the lower surface of the angle steel of the power tower; the motion control module controls the driving components in the mechanical arm 1 to move the clamping tool 2 out of the angle steel, and adjusts the posture of the binocular depth camera 7 so that the binocular depth camera 7 can obtain the color image and point cloud information of the bolt to be detected; the visual recognition and positioning module identifies the bolt to be detected, and obtains the posture of the center point of the upper surface of the bolt to be detected, and transmits the obtained posture information to the motion control module; the motion control module The block controls each driving component of the robot arm to perform corresponding actions, and continuously adjusts the posture of the screwing tool 4 according to the posture information of the surface of the bolt to be detected obtained in real time by the visual recognition and positioning module, so that the screwing tool 4 reaches the top of the bolt to be detected, and the sleeve 33 at the end of the screwing tool 4 is facing the upper surface of the bolt. The motion control module controls the end of the joint 11 of the robot arm 1 to move slowly in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface of the bolt, so that the nut sleeve 33 of the screwing tool 4 covers the bolt. The motion control module controls the driving component of the joint 17 of the robot arm 1, and the controller 8 collects the current of the driving component of the joint 11 to determine the tightness of the tower bolts and complete the tightness detection of the tower bolts.

[0044] When a new robot used for climbing and accepting power towers is used to detect missing parts and bending of tower materials, the motion control module first controls the driving component 21 of the clamping tool 2 to keep the lower clamping plate 23 of the clamping tool away from the lower surface of the angle steel of the power tower, and controls the driving components in the mechanical arm 1 to move the clamping tool 2 out of the angle steel. The motion control module controls the driving components of the mechanical arm 1 to change the posture, driving the binocular depth camera 7 to move to the tower material to be detected. The binocular depth camera 7 uses the image acquisition module to collect pictures of the tower materials at the points to be detected from all directions and angles, and transmits the collected pictures to the ground server through the network transmission module. The image recognition module of the ground server detects the missing parts and bending of the tower materials.

[0045] The 7-DOF mechanical arm of the present invention has a symmetrical structure and redundant degrees of freedom, which can easily complete the cross-reversal of the mechanical arm. The clamping mechanism has a single-drive connecting rod mechanism. By controlling the driving component to change the position of the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool to change the clamping force of the clamping tool, the adaptability problems of climbing, overcoming obstacles, and turning in complex pole tower environments have been overcome, and the robot's climbing operations along the main materials and beams of the power tower have been realized. The screwing tool has a built-in chamfering design. Under the guidance of vision, it can realize the fine operation of the screwing tool on the bolts and realize the tightness detection of the bolts on the tower. The binocular depth camera can not only identify the position and posture of the positioning bolts, but also detect the tower materials, and realize the detection of missing parts and bending of the tower materials.

[0046] The present invention utilizes the limited space of the power tower body to obtain the effective clamping surface of the tower angle steel, ensuring that the clamping tool can stably clamp on the angle steel. When the target point changes or the power tower has beams and bolts protruding, as long as one end of the clamping tools at both ends of the 7-DOF mechanical arm is clamped on the angle steel, the clamping stability of the entire robot can be guaranteed. In addition, the 7-DOF mechanical arm can move flexibly to change the position and posture of the climbing robot, ensuring the flexible climbing and obstacle crossing of the climbing robot body; at the same time, the climbing robot has a binocular depth camera and a screwing tool, which can realize the detection of the tightness of the tower bolts and the detection of missing parts and bending of tower materials.

[0047] The above shows and describes the basic principles and main features of the present invention and the advantages of the present invention. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and the above embodiments and descriptions are only for explaining the principles of the present invention. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, the present invention may have various changes and improvements, and these changes and improvements fall within the scope of the present invention to be protected. The scope of protection of the present invention is defined by the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A new type of robot system for climbing and accepting electric power towers, comprising a 313 configuration serial robot arm with 7 joints, a clamping tool, a screwing tool, a binocular depth camera and a central controller, wherein the clamping tool and the binocular depth camera are fixed at the end of the robot arm, a screwing tool is arranged at the bottom of the clamping tool, and the central controller is installed on the extension line of the rotating shaft of the robot arm joint (1-4), and the software modules configured inside the central controller include a motion control module for the robot arm and the clamping tool, a visual recognition and positioning module, and a visual image acquisition and network transmission module.

2. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The visual recognition and positioning module obtains the point cloud information of the angle steel and bolts of the power tower through a binocular depth camera and calculates the position information of the climbing points on the angle steel and the bolts.

3. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The identification and positioning module obtains the point cloud data of the iron tower angle steel through a binocular depth camera, obtains the normal vector of the angle steel surface through point cloud filtering and plane fitting, determines it as the Z axis of the point to be climbed, obtains the outer edge of the angle steel through edge extraction, and defines the edge line of the angle steel as the Y axis of the point to be climbed, and the X axis is perpendicular to the Y axis and the Z axis; obtains the width information of the angle steel according to the three-dimensional point cloud reconstruction, and determines the clamping area of ​​the angle steel according to the width information of the angle steel; defines the intersection of the maximum distance that the robotic arm can cross along the angle steel, the outer edge of the angle steel, and the upper surface of the angle steel as the position of the point to be climbed; if the width of the angle steel is smaller than the clampable surface of the clamping tool, the position of the point to be climbed is compensated along the X axis direction of the point to be climbed, and if the angle steel point to be climbed is attached with a beam or bolt, etc., the position of the point to be climbed is compensated along the Y axis direction of the point to be climbed.

4. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The visual recognition and positioning module first identifies the bolts through machine learning, and then obtains the position and posture of the upper surface of the bolt to be detected through three-dimensional reconstruction of the bolts.

5. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: While the visual recognition and positioning module locates the surface of the angle steel to be clamped, the motion control module controls the distance between the upper and lower clamping surfaces of the clamping tool, changes the clamping force of the clamping tool on the tower angle steel, and cooperates with the cross-positioning of the serial robotic arms to change the posture and realize automatic climbing of the robot.

6. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: The serial robot arm has 7 joints. The robot arm is a symmetrical structure as a whole. The robot arm can achieve cross movement around joints (1-4); the rotation axes of the three joints at the end of the robot arm are orthogonal, and the posture adjustment of the end of the robot arm is achieved through the three cross joints.

7. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The clamping tool is a plate-type clamping structure, comprising two upper and lower clamping plates, and rubber pads are arranged on the clamping plates to enhance the friction between the clamping tool and the angle steel; the upper clamping plate of the clamping tool is connected to the joint shaft at the end of the mechanical arm, and the driving component is fixedly connected to the upper clamping plate; the lower clamping plate is provided with a nut hole in the extension line direction of the rotating axis of the driving component, the upper end of the nut screw transmission mechanism is connected to the driving component, and the lower end of the nut screw transmission mechanism is engaged with the nut hole of the lower clamping plate, and a nut screw transmission mechanism is respectively arranged on both sides of the nut screw transmission mechanism to assist the movement and clamping of the upper and lower clamping plates; the motion controller controls the driving component, and changes the clamping force of the clamping tool by changing the distance between the upper and lower clamping plates, thereby realizing the clamping function of the clamping tool on the angle steel.

8. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The screwing tool is of nut sleeve type, comprising a flange, a connecting piece, and a nut sleeve. The flange is connected to the extension line of the joint rotation axis of the end of the mechanical arm on the lower clamping plate. The upper end of the connecting rod inside the connecting piece is connected to the flange using a fixing screw with an elastic rubber pad. A compression spring is enveloped on the outside of the connecting rod. The inside of the nut sleeve is set to a hexagonal shape and has a chamfered design on the edge, so that the screwing tool can be smoothly put on the outside of the bolt with a slight positioning error, thereby completing the function of tower bolt tightening detection.

9. A novel robot system for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The binocular depth camera collects image data of power tower materials through the image acquisition module, and transmits the image data to the ground server through the network transmission module. The ground server uses image learning to detect missing parts and bent tower materials.

10. A working method of a novel robot for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as described in claims 1, 3 and 5, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Each clamping tool of the climbing robot is attached to the metal angle steel of the power tower body and clamps the angle steel; when the robot needs to change the target point or change the posture, the motion control module controls the driving components on the corresponding clamping tool to open the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool, and controls the driving components in the corresponding mechanical arm to adjust the posture of the clamping tool so that the clamping tool moves out of the angle steel, and adjusts the posture of the binocular depth camera so that the binocular depth camera can obtain the three-dimensional point cloud information of the angle steel at the point to be climbed, and calculates the point to be climbed through the visual positioning module. The position and posture of the climbing point are determined by the motion control module, and the posture information of the climbing point is sent to the motion control module. The motion control module controls the driving components of the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm performs the corresponding action and changes the posture, driving the lower surface of the upper clamping plate of the corresponding clamping tool to fit the angle steel to be clamped on the power tower, so that the lower surface of the upper clamping plate of the clamping tool is directly opposite to and close to the upper surface of the angle steel of the power tower. The motion control module controls the driving components on the clamping tool so that the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool are close to each other and tightly clamp the angle steel, completing the leaping forward or lateral climbing movement; If the errors introduced by the robot arm control and visual measurement result in the lower surface of the upper clamping plate on the clamping tool not facing and close to the upper surface of the power tower angle steel, the motion controller first controls the robot arm to move downward in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface of the power tower angle steel until the motion control module detects that the current of a driving component of the robot arm exceeds the set current threshold, and then stops moving; If the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool are not completely aligned with the plane of the angle steel when the two clamping plates of the clamping tool are brought together, the flexible deformation of the robotic arm itself will compensate for this error, so that the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tool fit the surface of the angle steel and clamp the angle steel of the power tower.

11. A working method of a novel robot for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as described in claims 1, 4 and 8, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Each clamping tool of the climbing robot is attached to the metal angle steel of the power tower body and clamps the angle steel; when the robot needs to perform bolt tightness detection, the motion control module controls the driving components on the corresponding clamping tools to open the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tools, and controls the driving components in the corresponding mechanical arms to adjust the posture of the clamping tools so that the clamping tools move out of the angle steel, and adjust the posture of the binocular depth camera so that the binocular depth camera can obtain the color image and point cloud information of the bolt to be detected. The visual recognition and positioning module identifies the bolt to be detected, obtains the posture of the center point of the upper surface of the bolt to be detected, and sends the obtained posture information to the motion control module. Control module, the motion control module controls each driving component of the robotic arm to perform corresponding actions, and continuously adjusts the posture of the screwing tool according to the posture information of the surface of the bolt to be detected obtained in real time by the visual recognition and positioning module, so that the screwing tool reaches above the bolt to be detected, and the sleeve at the end of the screwing tool faces the upper surface of the bolt. The motion control module controls the robotic arm to move slowly in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface of the bolt, so that the nut sleeve of the screwing tool covers the bolt, controls the driving component of the joint at the end of the robotic arm connected to the screwing tool, collects the current information of the driving component, determines the tightness of the tower bolt, and completes the tightness detection of the tower bolt.

12. The working method of a novel robot for climbing and inspecting electric power towers as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: The clamping tools of the climbing robot are attached to the metal angle steel of the power tower body and clamp the angle steel; when the robot needs to detect tower material defects and missing parts, the motion control module controls the driving components on the corresponding clamping tools to open the upper and lower clamping plates of the clamping tools, and controls the driving components in the corresponding mechanical arms to adjust the posture of the clamping tools so that the clamping tools move out of the angle steel, and then controls the driving components of the mechanical arms. The mechanical arms perform corresponding actions and change their postures, and move the binocular depth camera to the tower material to be inspected. The binocular depth camera uses the image acquisition module to collect images of the tower materials at the inspection points from all directions and angles, and transmits the collected images to the ground server through the network transmission module. The image recognition module of the ground server detects missing parts and bending of tower materials.

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