Upper limb active power-assisted exoskeleton robot

Abstract

The invention relates to an upper limb active power-assisted exoskeleton robot which comprises a back plate and two power-assisted mechanisms. The two power-assisted mechanisms are distributed at the left end and the right end of the back plate respectively. The power assisting mechanism comprises a shoulder sliding assembly, a driving assembly and an arm transmission assembly. The shoulder sliding assembly comprises a sliding rail, a sliding block and a connecting piece. And the sliding rail is arranged on the back plate. The sliding block is arranged on the sliding rail in a sliding mode and can slide in the left-right direction. The connecting piece is arranged on the sliding block. The driving assembly comprises a mounting part, a driving motor and an output part. The driving motor is arranged in the mounting component, and an output shaft of the driving motor is connected to the arm transmission assembly through the output component. The installation part is hinged to the connecting piece, and the hinged axis is vertical. The arm transmission assembly is connected to the output component and can be connected with the upper limbs of the user so as to assist the user in lifting under the driving of the driving motor. When the exoskeleton robot is used, the smoothness and comfort are high.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of exoskeleton robots, and particularly to an upper limb active assist exoskeleton robot. Background Art

[0002] The upper limb is the basis for the human body to complete basic physiological activities, ensuring the basic movement ability of the human body. The upper limb weight-bearing lifting action is one of the more common movement behaviors in human daily life and is irreplaceable. The upper limb active assist exoskeleton robot can provide assistance during the upper limb movement process, help the user share the weight of the lifted object, enhance the user's own strength, and be used in scenarios for assisting fixation and auxiliary support to reduce the fatigue of the user's arm.

[0003] In industrial scenarios, when workers need to repeatedly carry items weighing dozens of kilograms for a long time, the upper limb exoskeleton robot can provide additional strength support for the wearer, thus helping the wearer easily carry heavy objects; for people who need upper limb rehabilitation training, the upper limb exoskeleton robot can also help and guide the wearer to perform active rehabilitation training by formulating specific movement patterns, serving as a tool for strength compensation to restore the upper limb movement function.

[0004] The human shoulder joint actually has multiple degrees of freedom, including swinging back and forth around the joint and swinging in and out around the joint. Due to considerations of stability, existing upper limb exoskeleton robots usually have only a single degree of freedom at the shoulder joint. This structure ensures the reliability of the mechanical system to a certain extent, but due to the inconsistency with the number of degrees of freedom of the human shoulder joint, it greatly limits the shoulder movement range of the wearer and cannot provide sufficient movement range. At the same time, due to the mismatch of degrees of freedom, the exoskeleton robot may lag or overcompensate when following the human movement, resulting in unstable human-machine interaction and reducing the comfort and user experience of wearing. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an upper limb active assist exoskeleton robot.

[0006] The upper limb active assist exoskeleton robot provided by the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0007] An upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot comprises a back plate and two power-assist mechanisms; the two power-assist mechanisms are respectively distributed at the left and right ends of the back plate; the power-assist mechanisms comprise a shoulder sliding assembly, a driving assembly and an arm transmission assembly; wherein the shoulder sliding assembly comprises a slide rail, a slider and a connecting piece; the slide rail is arranged on the back plate; the slider is slidably arranged on the slide rail and can slide in the left and right directions; the connecting piece is arranged on the slider; the driving assembly comprises a mounting component, a driving motor and an output component; the driving motor is arranged in the mounting component, and its output shaft is connected to the arm transmission assembly through the output component; the mounting component is hinged to the connecting piece, and the axis of the hinge is vertical; the arm transmission assembly is connected to the output component and can be connected to the upper arm of the user's upper limb to assist the user in lifting under the drive of the driving motor.

[0008] Optionally, the mounting component includes a shell and a hinge component; the shell is used to accommodate the drive motor, and its shape is adapted to the shape of the drive motor; the hinge component is arranged on the side of the shell away from the user, and is hinged to the connecting piece; the shell has multiple hollow settings to reduce the weight of the shell.

[0009] Optionally, the output component is connected to a flange mounted on the output shaft of the driving motor via bolts; an installation window is provided on one side of the housing on which the hinged component is mounted; the installation window is provided at a position that allows the screw holes of the output component for passing the bolts to be exposed, thereby facilitating the installation of the bolts.

[0010] Optionally, the arm connecting component includes a guide shaft, a fixing, an arm connecting part and an arm binding part; the fixing part is fixedly connected to the driving component; the guide shaft is arranged on the fixing part in a vertical direction; the arm connecting part is slidably arranged on the guide shaft, and can slide on the guide shaft along the axial direction of the guide shaft when the user's upper limb upper arm moves; the arm binding part is used to connect the user's upper limb upper arm, and is rotatably connected to the arm connecting part, and can rotate around an axis parallel to the rotation axis of the shoulder joint when the arm performs a lifting action.

[0011] Optionally, two legs extend out in a Y shape from opposite ends of the fixing member on the side close to the user; the legs are opposite to each other in the vertical direction; a guide shaft is provided between every two legs opposite to each other in the vertical direction; and the arm connecting component is slidably matched with the two guide shafts.

[0012] Optionally, the arm connection component includes a sliding part and a rotating part; the sliding part is in sliding fit with the guide shaft; the rotating part is rotatably arranged on the side of the sliding part close to the user, and the rotation axis is parallel to the rotation axis of the user's shoulder joint when the arm makes a lifting motion.

[0013] Optionally, the arm binding component includes a rotating disk and an enclosing part; the rotating disk is coaxially arranged on the side of the rotating part close to the user and can rotate coaxially with the rotating part; the enclosing part is fixedly installed on the side of the rotating disk close to the user and is used to connect the upper arm of the user's upper limb.

[0014] Optionally, the rotating part includes a base rotating shaft and two convex platforms; the base is connected to the sliding part by bolts; the rotating shaft is arranged on the side of the base close to the user and is rotatably connected to the rotating disk; the rotating disk rotates around the axis of the rotating shaft; the cross-sectional shapes of the two convex platforms along the radial direction of the rotating shaft are both parts of the same circular ring; the two convex platforms are both arranged on the side of the base close to the user, and the two convex platforms are symmetrically distributed with respect to a diameter of the circular ring where they are located; two arc-shaped grooves are formed on the rotating disk; the arc-shaped grooves correspond to the convex platforms one by one; the convex platforms are embedded in the corresponding arc-shaped grooves, so that the rotating disk and the base can rotate freely, and after the convex platforms contact the inner walls in the circumferential direction of the arc-shaped grooves, the rotating disk can be driven by the convex platforms to rotate.

[0015] Optionally, the circumferential angle at which the convex platform can slide in the corresponding arc-shaped groove is 110°-130°.

[0016] Optionally, the enclosing part is a part of a cylinder, and its cross-section is two-thirds of a complete circular ring; and the enclosing part can at least completely wrap the rear side of the user's upper arm.

[0017] As described above, the upper limb active assist exoskeleton robot of the present invention has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0018] 1. Through the mutual cooperation of the slider and the slide rail, the exoskeleton robot of the present invention can achieve high-precision linear motion under the high-load condition of the arm carrying heavy objects, increasing the sliding freedom degree in the actual use process, thereby improving the fluency of the exoskeleton robot during use, and maintaining good motion stability while increasing the shoulder freedom degree of the exoskeleton robot.

[0019] 2. In the part of the drive component and the arm transmission component, the present invention realizes the combination of the sliding freedom degree and the rotating freedom degree through the rotational cooperation between the rotating disk and the rotating part and the sliding cooperation between the guide shaft and the sliding part, can better simulate the multi-directional motion state of the human upper arm when cooperating with the abduction and adduction of the shoulder joint, meet the comfort of the interaction between the arm and the exoskeleton robot, and improve the human-machine cooperation.

[0020] 3. The exoskeleton robot of the present invention also limits the angle range of free rotation of the arm binding component through the cooperation of the boss and the arc groove, ensuring that the arm binding component can not only rotate with the arm but also assist the user in lifting under the drive of the drive motor. While ensuring the lifting function, it also ensures the redundant comfort when the user's upper arm moves in cooperation with the overall exoskeleton robot. Description of the Drawings

[0021] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the upper limb active exoskeleton robot.

[0022] Figure 2 is another schematic diagram of the overall structure of the upper limb active exoskeleton robot.

[0023] Figure 3 is another schematic diagram of the overall structure of the upper limb active exoskeleton robot.

[0024] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the torque direction of the slider.

[0025] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the torque of the slider when the upper limb active exoskeleton robot assists the user in carrying.

[0026] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the drive component.

[0027] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the arm connection component.

[0028] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the rotating part.

[0029] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the rotating disk.

[0030] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure after the rotating part and the rotating disk are assembled.

[0031] Figure 11 is a simplified diagram of the equivalent mechanism motion of the upper limb active exoskeleton robot.

[0032] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of each parameter when calculating the maximum torque of the shoulder joint.

[0033] Figure 13 is the motor characteristic curve of the motor with the model number RMD-X8 1:9V2.

[0034] Reference numerals: 1, back panel; 11, back support; 111, chest binding interface; 12, support plate; 13, shoulder binding interface; 2, slider; 21, slide rail; 211, limiting member; 3, connecting member; 31, first connecting portion; 32, second connecting portion; 4, arm connecting assembly; 41, guide shaft; 42, fixing member; 421, support leg; 43, arm connecting member; 431, sliding portion; 432, rotating portion; 4321, base; 4322, rotating shaft; 4323, boss; 44, arm binding member; 441, rotating disk; 4411, arc groove; 442, surrounding member; 5, drive assembly; 51, mounting member; 511, housing; 512, hinge member; 52, drive motor; 53, output member. Detailed implementation manners

[0035] The following uses specific specific examples to illustrate the implementation manners of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the content disclosed in this specification. The present invention can also be implemented or applied through other different specific implementation manners. Various details in this specification can also be modified or changed based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It should be noted that, without conflict, the following embodiments and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other. It should also be understood that the terms used in the embodiments of the present invention are for describing specific specific implementation manners, rather than for limiting the protection scope of the present invention. The test upper limb active assist exoskeleton robot in the following embodiments without specifying specific conditions usually follows conventional conditions or the conditions recommended by each manufacturer.

[0036] It should be noted that the structures, ratios, sizes, etc. shown in the drawings of this specification are only used to cooperate with the content disclosed in the specification for those skilled in this technology to understand and read, and are not used to limit the limited conditions under which the present invention can be implemented. Therefore, they do not have technical essence. Any modification of the structure, change of the proportional relationship, or adjustment of the size, without affecting the effects that the present invention can produce and the purposes that can be achieved, should still fall within the scope covered by the technical content disclosed in the present invention. At the same time, the terms such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "middle", and "one" used in this specification are only for the convenience of clear description and are not used to limit the scope under which the present invention can be implemented. The change or adjustment of their relative relationships, without substantial change in the technical content, should also be regarded as the scope within which the present invention can be implemented.

[0037] The movement of the arm joints of the human body is not simply composed in series, but is a multi-degree-of-freedom parallel joint, and the drive is the muscle groups attached to the body or the arm. The shoulder joint is a three-degree-of-freedom parallel joint, the wrist joint and the elbow joint each have two-degree-of-freedom joints, and an arm has a total of seven degrees of freedom without including finger joints.

[0038] Please refer to Figures 1-13 , the present invention discloses an upper limb active assist exoskeleton robot, which includes a back plate 1 and two assist mechanisms. The two assist mechanisms are respectively distributed at the left and right ends of the back plate 1. The assist mechanism includes a shoulder sliding assembly, a drive assembly 5 and an arm transmission assembly. Among them, the shoulder sliding assembly includes a slide rail 21, a slider 2 and a connecting member 3. The slide rail 21 is arranged on the back plate 1. The slider 2 is slidably arranged on the slide rail 21 and can slide in the left-right direction. The connecting member 3 is arranged on the slider 2. The drive assembly 5 includes a mounting member 51, a drive motor 52 and an output member 53. The drive motor 52 is arranged in the mounting member 51, and its output shaft is connected to the arm transmission assembly through the output member 53. The mounting member 51 is hinged to the connecting member 3, and the axis of the hinge is vertical. The arm transmission assembly is connected to the output member 53 and can be connected to the upper arm of the user's upper limb to assist the user in lifting under the drive of the drive motor 52.

[0039] Please refer to Figures 1-3 , when the exoskeleton robot of the present invention is worn on the user's body, the back plate 1 fits on the back of the body. The back plate 1 is a sheet metal part and is in the shape of a long and flat oval that is symmetrical left and right. In order to better adapt to the full curve of the arc of the human back, both ends of the back plate 1 are bent towards the user, and the bending angle is 5° - 10°, such as 5°, 6°, 7°, 8°, 9°, 10°. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bending angles of both ends of the back plate 1 are both 8°.

[0040] When only supported by the back plate 1, the wearing stability of the exoskeleton robot is not good, and the user is prone to fall backward due to the weight of the exoskeleton robot. Therefore, a back support 11 is provided at the lower part of the back plate 1 as a support. The back support 11 is centrally arranged in the length direction of the back plate 1 and extends downward along the direction of the user's spine. And, a support plate 12 is fixedly connected to the lower end of the back support 11. The support plate 12 is a rectangular plate, and its length direction is parallel to the left-right direction. The function of the support plate 12 is to increase the contact area between the exoskeleton robot and the user's back and improve the wearing comfort of the exoskeleton robot. In order to reduce the weight of the back support 11, the back support 11 can be provided with local hollowing.

[0041] Two shoulder binding interfaces 13 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right of the back plate 1. A shoulder strap (not shown in the figure) is threaded through each shoulder binding interface 13 for fixing between the back plate 1 and the user's shoulders. The two shoulder straps can respectively pass through the two shoulder binding interfaces 13 and then bypass the two shoulders of the user.

[0042] On the lower part of the back plate 1, a number of chest binding interfaces 111 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right. A chest strap (not shown in the figure) is inserted into each chest binding interface 111 for fixing between the back plate 1 and the user's chest. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, two chest binding interfaces 111 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the lower side of the back plate 1. In actual use, a chest strap is inserted into each of the two chest binding interfaces 111. After the two chest straps are wound around to the front of the user's chest, a buckle such as a backpack buckle is used for connection. Through the cooperation of the back support member 11 and the chest strap, it is possible to prevent the user from falling backward due to the weight of the exoskeleton robot, and at the same time, it can also play a role in assisting the fixation of the exoskeleton robot to prevent the back plate 1 from moving widely left and right.

[0043] The structures of the two assisting mechanisms are the same and respectively correspond to the user's left shoulder and right shoulder. Specifically, please refer to FIG. -, the slider 2 on the back plate 1 can slide through the cooperation with the slide rail 21. Specifically, the length direction of the slide rail 21 is parallel to the length direction of the back plate 1. There are two slide rails 21 in total, both located on the side of the back plate 1 away from the user, and are respectively arranged near both ends of the back plate 1. One slider 2 is arranged on each slide rail 21.

[0044] More specifically, both ends of the slide rail 21 are provided with limiting members 211 to limit the sliding stroke of the slider 2. The sliding stroke of the slider 2 is between 30 mm and 40 mm. On the one hand, the needs of different users' shoulder widths need to be considered, and on the other hand, the weights on the left and right sides of the exoskeleton robot and the torsional moment to be borne need to be balanced. For example, it can be 30 mm, 35 mm, 40 mm. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sliding stroke of the slider 2 is 35 mm.

[0045] For the selection of the slider 2, please refer to Figure 4 , when the slider 2 is in motion, it will be subjected to forces in three directions: up and down swing, left and right swing, and rolling, which are represented by MA, MB, and MC respectively. Its static torsional moment load needs to meet the requirement of bearing a weight of more than 20 kg during handling to ensure that the structure will not be damaged when the arm is handling heavy objects. Its force analysis is as Figure 5 shown. Taking a 175 cm normal standard body user as an example, the straight-line distance Lm from the slider 2 to the center position of the shoulder joint is 0.25 m. When handling a 20 kg heavy object (the direction of the force is as Figure 5 shown by F in the figure), the torque received by the slider 2 is 50 Nm. When the slider 2 is cooperating to handle heavy objects, the main force direction is the left and right swing direction Mb. Therefore, the slider 2 of the present invention selects a heavy-duty guide rail slider 2, and the static allowable torque of the slider 2 is greater than 60 Nm, such as 69 Nm, which can meet the requirements of the specific handling use scenario.

[0046] The connecting member 3 includes a first connecting portion 31 and a second connecting portion 32. The first connecting portion 31 is in the shape of a rectangular plate and is attached to the side of the slider 2 away from the back plate 1 by bolts. The second connecting portion 32 is fixed to the side of the first connecting portion 31 facing away from the slider 2 and is in the shape of a long strip. It extends outward from the first connecting portion 31 in a horizontal direction and away from the center of the back plate 1. A detachable connection between the second connecting portion 32 and the first connecting portion 31 can be achieved by a pin, so that the first connecting portion 31 and the second connecting portion 32 can be easily disassembled and assembled.

[0047] Please refer to Figure 6 , the driving assembly 5 includes a mounting member 51, a driving motor 52 and an output member 53. The mounting member 51 is hinged to the second connecting portion 32. The driving motor 52 is disposed on the mounting member 51, and the axis of the output shaft is parallel to the axis of rotation of the shoulder joint when the arm makes a lifting motion. The output member 53 is fixedly connected to the output shaft of the driving motor 52 and is connected to the arm connecting assembly 4.

[0048] Specifically, the mounting member 51 includes a housing 511 and a hinged member 512. The housing 511 is used to accommodate the driving motor 52, and its shape is adapted to the shape of the driving motor 52. There are reserved screw holes on the housing 511 for fixing the driving motor 52 therein by bolts. The hinged member 512 is fixedly connected to the side of the housing 511 facing away from the user. As a whole, it is in the shape of a long strip and extends horizontally from the housing 511 in the arc of the shoulder joint towards the user's back direction. The end portion thereof facing away from the housing 511 is hinged to the second connecting portion 32. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there are multiple hollowed-out settings on the housing 511 to reduce the weight of the housing 511. The output member 53 is in the shape of a long strip, and one end is fixedly connected to the output shaft of the driving motor 52 by bolts.

[0049] Please refer to Figures 7-10 , the arm connecting assembly 4 includes a guide shaft 41, a fixing member 42, an arm connecting member 43 and an arm binding member 44. The fixing member 42 is fixedly connected to the driving assembly 5 and can move under the drive of the driving assembly 5. The guide shaft 41 is fixed on the fixing member 42 in the vertical direction. The arm connecting member 43 is slidably disposed on the guide shaft 41 and can slide along the axial direction of the guide shaft 41. The arm binding member 44 is rotatably connected to the arm connecting member 43 and can rotate around an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the shoulder joint when the arm makes a lifting motion, and is used to connect the upper arm of the user.

[0050] Specifically, the fixing member 42 is in the shape of a rectangular plate, and the side facing away from the user is fixedly connected to the output member 53. At both ends of the fixing member 42 near the user, two legs 421 extend out in a Y shape respectively. A guiding shaft 41 is installed between every two legs 421 that are opposite to each other in the vertical direction. Through the guiding of the guiding shaft 41 and the limiting of the legs 421, a sliding degree of freedom is added to the arm connecting assembly 4, increasing the smoothness and fluency when the arm connecting assembly 4 rotates.

[0051] The arm connecting member 43 includes a sliding portion 431 and a rotating portion 432. Both guiding shafts 41 pass through the sliding portion 431, enabling the sliding portion 431 to slide under the guiding of the two guiding shafts 41. The rotating portion 432 is installed on the side of the sliding portion 431 near the user, and can rotate around its own axis, and the rotation axis is parallel to the rotation axis of the shoulder joint when the arm makes a lifting motion.

[0052] The arm binding member 44 includes a rotating disk 441 and an enclosing member 442. The rotating disk 441 is coaxially connected to the side of the rotating portion 432 near the user and can rotate coaxially with the rotating portion 432. The enclosing member 442 is fixedly installed on the side of the rotating disk 441 near the user for connecting the upper arm of the user's upper limb.

[0053] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rotating portion 432 includes a base 4321, a rotating shaft 4322, and a boss 4323. The base 4321 is in the shape of a disk, and the side facing away from the user is connected to the sliding portion 431 by bolts. The rotating shaft 4322 is coaxially and fixedly connected to the side of the base 4321 near the user for rotatably connecting with the rotating disk 441. The cross-section of the boss 4323 is a part of a ring. The number of bosses 4323 is two, and both are formed on the side of the rotating portion 432 near the user. An arc-shaped groove 4411 corresponding to the boss 4323 is formed on the rotating disk 441. After the rotating portion 432 and the rotating disk 441 are installed in place, the two bosses 4323 are respectively embedded in an arc-shaped groove 4411. The cooperation of the arc-shaped groove 4411 and the boss 4323 enables there to be a space for free rotation between the rotating portion 432 and the rotating disk 441. However, when driven by the driving motor 52, after the boss 4323 contacts the inner wall in the circumferential direction of the arc-shaped groove 4411, the driving force of the driving motor 52 is transmitted to the enclosing member 442 via the output member 53, the rotating portion 432, and the rotating disk 441, driving the enclosing member 442 to assist the user in lifting.

[0054] Furthermore, the circumferential angle at which the boss 4323 can slide in the arc-shaped groove 4411 is 110° - 130°, such as 110°, 120°, or 130°. Preferably, 120° is selected in this embodiment.

[0055] The designs of the boss 4323 and the arc groove 4411 reserve space for the free rotation of the user's upper arm, providing better comfort, and also ensuring that the power of the drive motor 52 can be transmitted to the user's upper arm to assist the user in lifting.

[0056] The surrounding member 442 can be cylindrical, capable of annularly surrounding the user's upper arm, or it can be a part of a cylinder and does not completely surround the user's upper arm. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the surrounding member 442 is a part of a cylinder, and its cross-section is two-thirds of a complete circle. After the surrounding member 442 is installed on the rotating disk 441, it can surround the user's upper arm from the rear side of the upper arm. A strap groove is reserved at the opening edge of the surrounding member 442. After the user's upper arm is wrapped by the surrounding member 442 through the opening of the surrounding member 442, the surrounding member 442 can be further fixed to the upper arm by threading a strap through the strap groove and surrounding the upper arm. Through the foregoing design, the user can more conveniently wear the surrounding member 442 on the upper arm. Moreover, when the surrounding member 442 moves under the drive of the drive motor 52, the surrounding member 442 will apply a lifting force to the upper arm from the rear side of the upper arm, significantly increasing the transmission efficiency of the power of the drive motor 52, and the feeling of the upper arm being lifted is also more intuitive.

[0057] In summary, please refer to Figure 11 , the exoskeleton robot of the present invention can be equivalently regarded as a connecting rod-slider 2 combined structure. The cooperation between the second connecting portion 32 and the hinge member 512 can be equivalently regarded as a rotating pair. Through the analysis of the movement of the human shoulder joint, the present invention applies active drive in the direction of the main force movement of the shoulder joint to meet the power assistance requirements for the movement of lifting and carrying the upper arm. At the same time, multiple rotational degrees of freedom and a translational passive degree of freedom are designed to adapt to the abduction and adduction of the shoulder joint, simulate the position of the rotation center of the shoulder joint, and meet the requirements of movement flexibility. At the intersection of the upper arm and the exoskeleton, a rotational and a translational passive degree of freedom are designed to improve the human-machine coordination. And in order to meet the requirement of light weight, no power assistance structure is designed during the flexion and extension of the elbow joint.

[0058] The following analyzes the torque of the exoskeleton robot of the present invention: When designing the exoskeleton robot, it is necessary to calculate the maximum joint torque required for the active joint, and this torque value has important guiding significance. First, calculate the maximum torque of the shoulder joint. As Figure 12 shown, when the human body is carrying a heavy object, the shoulder joint bears the maximum torque when it is at the position shown in Figure 12 . Since the speed of the human body during carrying is relatively slow, the torque effects brought by inertial force, Coriolis force, and sliding friction can be ignored. Then the maximum torque of the shoulder joint can be calculated by the following formula:

[0059] τ_1 = mg·l_1

[0060] In the formula, τ_1 is the maximum torque of the shoulder joint, m is the mass of the object being lifted, and l_1 is the length of the upper arm of the user's upper limb.

[0061] In practical applications, it is necessary to select the drive motor 52 according to the calculated maximum torque of the shoulder joint. From the average data, the height range of adult males is between 1678 mm and 1814 mm, the upper arm length range is 313 mm to 349 mm, and the forearm length range is 237 mm to 268 mm. In order to make the exoskeleton robot of the present invention compatible with various height populations and meet the assistance requirements, the upper arm length is selected as 330 mm. When the designed lifting mass is 10 kg, since people generally need to coordinate the actions of both hands when lifting and carrying, a single arm is selected to lift a 5 kg heavy object. Substituting it into the above formula, the maximum torque of the shoulder joint is calculated to be 16.5 Nm.

[0062] When selecting the drive motor 52, it is only necessary to meet the required maximum torque of 16.5 Nm. For example, a motor with the model RMD-X8 1:9V2 is selected as the drive motor 52, its rated output torque is 10 Nm, and the maximum output torque is 25 Nm. Its motor characteristic curve is as Figure 13 shown, which can meet the torque requirements of the shoulder joint.

[0063] When designing to carry heavy objects of other masses, the above method is also used for design calculation and selection of the drive motor 52.

[0064] Compared with the prior art, through the mutual cooperation of the slider 2 and the slide rail 21, the exoskeleton robot of the present invention can achieve high-precision linear motion under the high-load condition of the arm carrying heavy objects, increasing the sliding freedom degree in the actual use process, thereby improving the fluency of the exoskeleton robot during use, and maintaining good motion stability while increasing the shoulder freedom degree of the exoskeleton robot.

[0065] In the part of the drive assembly 5 and the arm transmission assembly, the present invention realizes the combination of the sliding freedom degree and the rotational freedom degree through the rotational cooperation of the rotating disk 441 and the rotating part 432, and the sliding cooperation of the guide shaft 41 and the sliding part 431, which can better simulate the multi-directional motion state of the human upper arm when cooperating with the abduction and adduction of the shoulder joint, meet the comfort of the interaction between the arm and the exoskeleton robot, and improve the human-machine synergy.

[0066] The exoskeleton robot of the present invention also limits the freely rotatable angle range of the arm binding component 44 through the cooperation of the convex platform 4323 and the arc-shaped groove 4411, ensuring that the arm binding component 44 can not only rotate with the arm but also assist the user to lift under the drive of the drive motor 52. While ensuring the lifting function, it also ensures the redundant comfort when the user's upper arm and the exoskeleton robot move as a whole.

[0067] The above embodiments are only illustrative of the principles and effects of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any person familiar with this technology can modify or change the above embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, all equivalent modifications or changes made by those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field without departing from the spirit and technical idea disclosed by the present invention should still be covered by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An upper limb active power-assisted exoskeleton robot, characterized in that: It comprises a back plate (1) and two power-assisting mechanisms; the two power-assisting mechanisms are respectively distributed at the left and right ends of the back plate (1); the power-assisting mechanisms comprise a shoulder sliding assembly, a driving assembly (5) and an arm transmission assembly; wherein, The shoulder sliding assembly comprises a slide rail (21), a slider (2) and a connecting member (3); the slide rail (21) is arranged on the back plate (1); the slider (2) is slidably arranged on the slide rail (21) and can slide in the left and right directions; the connecting member (3) is arranged on the slider (2); The driving assembly (5) comprises a mounting component (51), a driving motor (52) and an output component (53); the driving motor (52) is arranged in the mounting component (51), and its output shaft is connected to the arm transmission assembly through the output component (53); the mounting component (51) is hinged to the connecting member (3), and the axis of the hinge is vertical; The arm transmission assembly is connected to the output component (53) and can be connected to the upper arm of the user to assist the user in lifting under the drive of the drive motor (52).

2. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mounting component (51) comprises a housing (511) and a hinge component (512); The housing (511) is used to accommodate the drive motor (52), and its shape is adapted to the shape of the drive motor (52); The hinge component (512) is arranged on a side of the housing (511) facing away from the user and is hinged to the connecting member (3); The outer shell (511) has multiple hollowed-out locations to reduce the weight of the outer shell (511).

3. According to the upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot of claim 2, the output component (53) is connected to a flange sleeved on the output shaft of the drive motor (52) by bolts; A mounting window is provided on one side of the housing (511) where the hinge component (512) is mounted; the mounting window is provided at a position where a screw hole of the output component (53) for passing a bolt can be exposed, thereby facilitating the installation of the bolt.

4. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The arm connection assembly (4) comprises a guide shaft (41), a fixing member (42), an arm connection member (43) and an arm binding member (44); The fixing member (42) is fixedly connected to the driving assembly (5); The guide shaft (41) is arranged on the fixing member (42) along the vertical direction; The arm connection component (43) is slidably disposed on the guide shaft (41) and can slide on the guide shaft (41) along the axial direction of the guide shaft (41) when the user's upper arm moves; The arm binding component (44) is used to connect the user's upper arm, and is rotatably connected to the arm connecting component (43) and can rotate around an axis parallel to the rotation axis of the shoulder joint when the arm is lifting.

5. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: Two legs (421) are extended in a Y shape from opposite ends of the fixing member (42) on a side close to the user; the legs (421) are opposite to each other in a vertical direction; A guide shaft (41) is provided between each two supporting legs (421) that are opposite to each other in the vertical direction; The arm connection component (43) is slidably matched with the two guide shafts (41).

6. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The arm connection component (43) comprises a sliding portion (431) and a rotating portion (432); The sliding portion (431) is slidably matched with the guide shaft (41); The rotating part (432) is rotatably arranged on a side of the sliding part (431) close to the user, and the rotation axis is parallel to the rotation axis of the user's shoulder joint when the arm performs a lifting action.

7. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The arm binding component (44) comprises a rotating disk (441) and a surrounding component (442); The rotating disk (441) is coaxially arranged on a side of the rotating portion (432) close to the user, and can rotate coaxially with the rotating portion (432); The enclosure (442) is fixedly mounted on a side of the rotating disk (441) close to the user, and is used to connect to the user's upper arm.

8. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 7, characterized in that: The rotating part (432) includes a base (4321), a rotating shaft (4322) and two bosses (4323); The base (4321) is connected to the sliding part (431) via bolts; The rotating shaft (4322) is arranged on a side of the base (4321) close to the user, and is rotatably connected to the rotating disk (441); the rotating disk (441) rotates around the axis of the rotating shaft (4322); The cross-sectional shapes of the two bosses (4323) along the radial direction of the rotating shaft (4322) are both parts of the same circular ring; the two bosses (4323) are both arranged on the side of the base (4321) close to the user, and the two bosses (4323) are symmetrically distributed along a diameter of the circular ring where they are located; The rotating disk (441) is provided with two arc-shaped grooves (4411); the arc-shaped grooves (4411) correspond to the bosses (4323) one by one; the bosses (4323) are embedded in the corresponding arc-shaped grooves (4411), so that the rotating disk (441) and the base (4321) can rotate freely, and after the bosses (4323) contact the inner walls of the arc-shaped grooves (4411) in the circumferential direction, the bosses (4323) can drive the rotating disk (441) to rotate.

9. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 8, characterized in that: The boss (4323) can slide within the corresponding arc groove (4411) at a circumferential angle of 110°-130°.

10. The upper limb active power-assist exoskeleton robot according to claim 7, characterized in that: The enclosure (442) is a portion of a cylinder, and its cross section is two-thirds of a complete circular ring; Furthermore, the enclosure (442) can at least completely wrap the back side of the user's upper arm.

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