Bionic manipulator for removing outrigger of gantry crane

Abstract

A bionic manipulator for removing the support leg of a portal crane comprises a manipulator base, a palm shell, an independent driving thumb assembly and a plurality of other finger assemblies cooperatively arranged on the palm shell, each finger is provided with a flexible contact element on the contact surface of the support leg of the portal crane; further comprising a driving mechanism connected with the finger assembly, and a sensor network comprising a knuckle root force sensor and a base inclination sensor, the system is electrically connected with a central control system having a position and speed double closed loop feedback network. When the constraint of the support leg removal is released and the tipping starts, the inclination sensor and the force sensor can be used to evaluate the tipping intensity and real-time energy consumption error of the support leg at high frequency, the global dynamic stiffness coefficient is dynamically adjusted, the multi-finger is divided into a high-strength support area opposite to the center of the overturning and a peripheral flexible follow-up area, and a stepped adaptive stiffness clamping force is output.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane, belonging to the field of robotic arm technology. Background Technology

[0002] Gantry cranes are critical lifting equipment in port, freight yard, and bridge construction sites, and their overall size and weight are enormous. When a gantry crane reaches the end of its service life or needs to be dismantled due to a change in construction site, the dismantling of its tilting legs is usually a high-risk construction phase. The legs of large gantry cranes are typically tens of meters high, with a huge windward area. Even without a load, the lateral thrust generated by natural wind can reach several tons or even tens of tons. When the connecting bolts at the bottom of the leg are cut or gas-cut, the leg loses its bottom restraint. At this moment, the extremely high center of gravity of the leg is very likely to exceed its initial support surface, generating a huge overturning moment, causing the leg to collapse outwards uncontrollably and at an accelerated pace. If the legs on both sides are not dismantled asynchronously, the remaining single leg, without the restraint of the overall bending stiffness of the rail, is more likely to be affected by the chain vibration caused by the swinging or moving of the hook, which can easily induce overall overturning and damage.

[0003] In existing technologies, Chinese patents with publication numbers CN111908334A and CN212740454U represent relatively typical auxiliary solutions for the installation and removal of gantry crane outriggers. The core of these solutions lies in constructing a rigid triangular stable structure: reinforced concrete anchors are poured into the ground between the two outriggers of the gantry crane, and upper and lower hinge seats are installed, connected by steel supports. The steel supports are typically in the form of steel trusses or steel pipes, composed of multiple standard sections connected by bolts or flanges, with connecting forks at both ends connected by pins. Some solutions also include double-ended screws at the tail of the steel supports for fine-tuning the verticality of the outriggers. This solution utilizes the tensile and compressive properties of the steel supports to form a stable triangular support with the gantry crane outriggers, solving the problem of excessive flexibility and severe swaying associated with traditional guy ropes. However, this solution has certain limitations: firstly, it is a rigid fixing approach, requiring pre-cast concrete anchors or embedded parts in the ground, resulting in a long construction preparation period and strict requirements for the construction site. Secondly, this structure is primarily designed to maintain the stability of the outriggers during the initial static assembly or disassembly phases, and cannot cope with the dynamic overturning process that occurs when the bolts at the bottom of the outriggers are cut. Once the outriggers lose their bottom restraint and begin to tilt, this rigid support structure cannot yield accordingly, easily leading to rigid collisions, causing the outrigger steel structure to twist or the support structure to fail and collapse. Thirdly, this design mainly addresses the lateral stability of the outriggers and does not include a catch-up and buffering mechanism after the outriggers tilt.

[0004] Chinese patent CN220201193U discloses a lighter-weight strut device. It consists of two strut bodies, each composed of a first steel pipe, a second steel pipe, and a double-hook tensioner in the middle. The strut length is adjusted by rotating the tensioner. The two struts are connected as a whole by angle iron, and ear plates are welded to the steel pipes with right-angle stiffening plates for connection to the outriggers. This solution aims to replace traditional scaffolding steel pipe erection, allowing for manual adjustment and fixation of the outrigger spacing, offering advantages such as low cost and relatively simple operation. However, this solution still falls under the category of static rigid support: First, although the strut composed of the double-hook tensioner and steel pipes is length-adjustable, it is essentially a fixed-length rigid member, lacking the ability to retract or absorb energy during movement. Second, this device primarily addresses the alignment problem during outrigger assembly and static anti-sway, completely failing to address the risk of sudden collapse during outrigger dismantling. When the outrigger begins to tilt due to instability, the support pole cannot dynamically adjust to follow the movement trajectory of the outrigger, making it highly susceptible to shearing damage or being knocked away by the outrigger, posing a secondary threat of injury to personnel on site.

[0005] In earlier existing technologies and some current simplified operations, guy ropes were often used in conjunction with hand-operated hoists or ropes were directly tied to the top of the outriggers for manual or crane-assisted traction. This method uses flexible ropes to restrict the displacement of the outriggers, attempting to control the tilting direction during dismantling. However, since guy ropes can only withstand tensile force and cannot provide compressive stiffness, the outriggers sway greatly in the vertical direction, resulting in poor structural stability. Especially during the dismantling phase, once the bottom restraints are released, the flexible traction of the ropes alone is insufficient to accurately control the tilting posture of outriggers weighing tens of tons and tens of meters high, potentially leading to serious accidents such as rope breakage, disengagement, or outrigger rollover. Furthermore, this method is highly dependent on the experience and physical strength of the operators, lacks standardized mechanical safeguards, and is a passive defense method that cannot mitigate the impact kinetic energy generated when the outriggers tilt, posing significant safety hazards.

[0006] Traditional outrigger dismantling methods often employ rigid countermeasures or passive traction. Some methods involve creating a rigid triangular stability structure by pouring concrete anchors on the ground and erecting steel truss struts, or using manually operated double-hook tensioner struts to fine-tune the outrigger position. While these methods can limit minor swaying of the outrigger during static assembly or initial dismantling, they are essentially fixed-length rigid supports, completely lacking the ability to retract, yield, or absorb energy dynamically. During the dynamic process of cutting off the bottom connector of the outrigger and the instantaneous release of gravitational potential energy and overturning kinetic energy, these rigid supports cannot follow the tilting arc of the outrigger, resulting in violent rigid collisions. This can easily lead to severe local twisting of the outrigger steel structure or failure and instability of the supporting components themselves, or even secondary impact damage to on-site components due to breakage and ejection. The traditional flexible traction solution using guy ropes and hand-operated hoists is problematic because the ropes can only withstand tension and have a large amount of sway. When the outriggers, which weigh tens of tons, tip over, the passive pulling makes it difficult to achieve precise control over the tipping posture. It also cannot effectively dissipate the huge gravitational potential energy at the moment of landing, posing a risk of hard impact damage to the equipment.

[0007] Therefore, it is urgent to improve the existing technology to solve the problem that rigid collision instability or collision damage is easily caused during the dismantling of gantry crane outriggers due to the lack of follow-up yielding and gradual dissipation of gravitational energy. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The purpose of this invention is to overcome the shortcomings and deficiencies of the existing technology and to provide a bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane.

[0009] A bionic robotic hand for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane includes a robotic hand base; a palm housing mounted on the robotic hand base; multiple bionic finger assemblies cooperatingly disposed on the palm housing, the multiple bionic finger assemblies including an independently driven thumb assembly and multiple other cooperating finger assemblies, each of the bionic finger assemblies having a flexible contact element on its contact surface with the gantry crane outrigger; a driving mechanism connected to each of the bionic finger assemblies for driving the knuckles of each bionic finger assembly to perform independent or cooperative grasping movements; and a sensor network including force sensors disposed at the base of the knuckles of each bionic finger assembly for real-time acquisition of the real-time grasping force of each bionic finger assembly on the gantry crane outrigger.

[0010] Preferably, the other finger components that work together include a little finger component, a ring finger component, a middle finger component, and an index finger component arranged in parallel. The little finger component, the ring finger component, the middle finger component, and the index finger component are all arranged opposite to the thumb component, thereby forming a distributed surface contact constraint on the gantry crane outrigger through a multi-finger adaptive envelope.

[0011] Preferably, the sensor network further includes a tilt sensor disposed at the root of the manipulator base, the tilt sensor being used to collect the real-time tilting angle and real-time tilting speed of the gantry crane outriggers during the tilting process.

[0012] Preferably, the robotic arm base is connected to a follower support frame body via a transmission linkage arm. The follower support frame body includes a multi-dimensional adjustable ladder and a heavy-duty motorized base that carries the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder. The end of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder is fixedly connected to the transmission linkage arm.

[0013] Preferably, the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder includes a slewing drive mechanism installed on the heavy-duty motorized base, a slewing bearing driven by the slewing drive mechanism to perform full slewing motion, and a multi-section telescopic boom mounted on the slewing bearing. The multi-section telescopic boom achieves step-by-step extension and retraction under the pushing and pulling action of the hydraulic drive cylinder.

[0014] Preferably, the sensor network further includes displacement sensors disposed between the multiple telescopic boom sections, the displacement sensors being used to collect the current elongation of the multidimensional adjustable ladder in real time.

[0015] Preferably, the heavy-duty motorized base is provided with a bottom box-shaped bottom beam and a counterweight thick steel plate. The bottom periphery of the counterweight thick steel plate is provided with multiple heavy-duty omnidirectional casters with locking mechanisms. The drive wheel axle of the heavy-duty motorized base is provided with a speed encoder for collecting the displacement speed of the entire machine of the follow-up support frame.

[0016] Preferably, it also includes a central control system electrically connected to the sensor network and the drive mechanism. The central control system dynamically divides the plurality of bionic finger assemblies into a high-strength support area facing the overturning center and a flexible follow-up area located outside the high-strength support area, based on the data collected by the tilt sensor.

[0017] Preferably, the central control system assesses the severity of the gantry crane outrigger tilting based on the gripping force data collected by the force sensor, and adjusts the global dynamic stiffness coefficient accordingly. This allows the bionic finger assembly located in the high-strength support zone to obtain a high-stiffness gripping force to counteract the main overturning moment, while the bionic finger assembly located in the flexible follow-up zone is set to a low-stiffness force to provide follow-up deformation compensation.

[0018] Preferably, the central control system has a built-in position and velocity dual closed-loop feedback network. When the gantry crane outriggers tilt downwards, the central control system dynamically adjusts the hydraulic retraction rate of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder and the overall backward speed of the heavy-duty motorized base based on the real-time feedback data from the sensor network. This causes the palm shell, carried by the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder, to move the bionic finger components in a compound motion of retraction and backward movement, conforming to the falling arc of the gantry crane outriggers, thereby dissipating the gravitational potential energy and impact kinetic energy of the gantry crane outriggers. This invention offers significant advantages: by utilizing a multi-finger collaborative adaptive envelope gripping architecture in conjunction with a global multi-dimensional sensor feedback network, and under the regulation of a central control system, it achieves dynamic division between a high-strength rigid support zone and an outer flexible follow-up zone, as well as composite motion yielding of the jig body. Compared to existing technologies, this invention eliminates the limitations of traditional rigid bracing and passive guy rope tensioning. Utilizing an independently or collaboratively adjustable biomimetic multi-finger structure combined with flexible contact components, it enables large-area, fully enveloped, distributed surface contact adaptive clamping for heavy-duty gantry crane outriggers with complex or irregular cross-sectional features. Throughout the tilting process, it applies omnidirectional tensile and compressive constraints to the outriggers, completely avoiding the defects of single-point fixing leading to easy detachment and slippage, and localized stress concentration causing twisting and damage to the outrigger steel. Meanwhile, by integrating sensors installed at key locations such as the base of the outriggers and the base of the base, the nonlinear impact force and inertial center of gravity change at the moment the bottom bolts break can be accurately sensed. This drives the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder and heavy-duty chassis connected in series to control the entire machine to perform an active follow-up retreating action while retracting, perfectly matching the actual tilting trajectory of the outriggers. This control mechanism, through the active variable stiffness adjustment of the multi-fin and the damping effect of the hydraulic servo system, transforms the originally violent and uncontrollable collision and collapse into a completely controlled and smooth soft landing process. It achieves a step-by-step efficient dissipation of impact kinetic energy and a gradual dissipation of gravitational potential energy, ensuring the inherent safety of the entire demolition process. This greatly reduces the rigidity dependence of high-risk component dismantling operations on site hardening and concrete embedded parts, and improves the mobility of relocation and equipment reuse rate. Attached Figure Description

[0019] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, obtaining other drawings based on these drawings without creative effort still falls within the scope of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to the present invention.

[0021] Figure 2This is a schematic diagram of the heavy-duty motorized base structure of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the multidimensional adjustable cloud ladder structure of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the end effector structure of a bionic robotic arm.

[0024] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the end effector of a bionic robotic arm from another angle.

[0025] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the sensor arrangement.

[0026] Figure 7 Workflow diagram of the follow-up support frame.

[0027] In the diagram: 1. Load-bearing platform; 2. Slewing bearing; 3. Slewing drive mechanism; 4. Counterweight thick steel plate; 5. Heavy-duty swivel casters; 6. Bottom box-type base beam; 7. Control console; 8. Hydraulic drive cylinder; 9. Hydraulic frame; 10. Ladder arm I; 11. Ladder arm II; 12. Ladder arm III; 13. Bionic clamp control box; 14. Robotic arm base; 15. Transmission linkage arm; 16. Palm shell; 17. Little finger assembly; 18. Ring finger assembly; 19. Middle finger assembly; 20. Index finger assembly; 21. Thumb assembly; 22. Protective shell; 23. Load-bearing frame; 24. Heavy-duty joint assembly; 241. Joint shaft; 242. Heavy-duty bearing; 243. Limiting load-bearing structure. Detailed Implementation

[0028] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0029] It should be noted that all uses of "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present invention are for the purpose of distinguishing two entities or parameters with the same name but different names. It is clear that "first" and "second" are only for the convenience of expression and should not be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present invention. Subsequent embodiments will not explain this in detail.

[0030] The directional and positional terms used in this invention, such as "up," "down," "front," "back," "left," "right," "inner," "outer," "top," "bottom," and "side," are merely for reference to the accompanying drawings. Therefore, the directional and positional terms used are for illustrating and understanding this invention, and not for limiting the scope of protection of this invention.

[0031] This invention addresses the shortcomings of existing gantry crane outrigger removal equipment, which cannot effectively cope with the nonlinear impact at the moment of bolt breakage, lack an adaptive retreat and buffer mechanism for spatial motion trajectory, and are prone to rigid collisions or lateral slippage that could cause deformation or overall collapse of the crane's steel structure.

[0032] Based on this, and to improve the problems in related technologies, embodiments of this application provide a bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane, such as... Figure 1-7 The device includes a robotic arm base 14; a palm housing 16 mounted on the robotic arm base 14; multiple bionic finger assemblies cooperatingly disposed on the palm housing 16, the multiple bionic finger assemblies including an independently driven thumb assembly 21 and multiple other cooperating finger assemblies, each bionic finger assembly having a flexible contact element on its contact surface with the gantry crane outrigger; a drive mechanism connected to each bionic finger assembly for driving the knuckles of each bionic finger assembly to perform independent or cooperative grasping movements; and a sensor network including force sensors disposed at the base of the knuckles of each bionic finger assembly, the force sensors being used to collect real-time grasping force of each bionic finger assembly on the gantry crane outrigger.

[0033] The force sensor is positioned between the finger joint support frame and the joint connection to detect the combined forces generated by axial pressure, radial load, and overturning moment along the load-bearing path. The force sensor employs a high-range sensing element suitable for heavy-duty impact environments, and its detection range covers both static and dynamic impact loads during the clamping process of the gantry crane's outriggers.

[0034] At the initial stage of operation, the heavy-duty motorized base moves the main body of the follow-up receiving frame into position and locks the heavy-duty swivel casters 5. The multi-dimensional adjustable ladder adjusts the spatial angle, sending the robotic arm base 14 and the palm housing 16 to the predetermined position on the outrigger surface. The drive mechanism operates, controlling the thumb assembly 21 and the four-finger assembly to cooperate and close, so that the flexible contact parts on the surface of each finger assembly fully envelop and adaptively clamp onto the outer wall of the crane outrigger. At this time, the force sensor continuously feeds back the initial preload data, ensuring that the outrigger and the frame become a relatively unified moving whole, thereby achieving precise control of the outrigger posture.

[0035] Thanks to the independently driven thumb assembly 21 and multi-finger collaborative gripping design, the robotic arm can perfectly adapt to heavy-duty gantry crane legs with irregular polygonal cross-sections such as square, round, or conical shapes. The multi-directional distributed surface contact significantly increases the force-bearing area, eliminating localized plastic deformation of the leg steel caused by stress concentration in traditional solutions. Simultaneously, the force sensor located at the base of the knuckles overcomes the blindness of existing support structures that lack force sensing, preventing the identification of sudden force changes when the leg constraint is released. This provides a precise and high-frequency data reference for the control system to respond to the leg's tilting arc and execute active buffering actions under heavy loads, thus transforming uncontrollable tipping and collapse into a smooth and controlled soft landing. A continuous load transfer path is formed by the load-bearing frame, heavy-duty joint components, and locking load-bearing structure, allowing the gripping load to be shared by multiple knuckles, preventing structural failure due to excessive bending moments at a single joint.

[0036] Optionally, in some embodiments, the other finger components that work together include a little finger component 17, a ring finger component 18, a middle finger component 19, and an index finger component 20 arranged in parallel. The little finger component 17, the ring finger component 18, the middle finger component 19, and the index finger component 20 are all arranged opposite to the thumb component 21, thereby forming a distributed surface contact constraint on the gantry crane outrigger through a multi-finger adaptive envelope.

[0037] Each component internally employs multi-joint drive bearings and drive linkage arms 15 for cascading. The drive mechanism controls the independent adduction or extension of each finger by pushing and pulling the drive linkage arms 15. When each finger joint contacts the gantry crane's outrigger, due to the irregular and variable angles of the outrigger surface, the mechanical finger joints will adaptively close segment by segment under the action of linkage damping until all finger joints and the palm shell 16 are covered by the outer wall of the outrigger. The flexible contact element deforms and absorbs energy, forming a large-area distributed friction force and compression force surface, generating stable omnidirectional three-dimensional spatial constraints of tension and compression.

[0038] The bionic finger assembly does not employ a typical flexible robot finger structure, but rather a load-bearing knuckle structure suitable for heavy-duty support conditions. Each knuckle assembly includes an outer protective shell 22, a load-bearing frame 23 disposed inside the outer protective shell, and a heavy-duty joint assembly 24 connecting adjacent knuckles. The load-bearing frame 23 extends along the length of the knuckle and is fixedly connected to the heavy-duty joint assembly 24, used to transmit the clamping load and overturning moment generated by the gantry crane outriggers to the robot arm base.

[0039] The heavy-duty joint assembly 24 includes a joint shaft 241, a heavy-duty bearing 242 sleeved on the outside of the joint shaft, and a limiting bearing structure 243 disposed on both sides of the joint shaft; the heavy-duty bearing is used to realize the rotation adjustment between the phalanges, and the limiting bearing structure is used to limit the excessive rotation between adjacent phalanges in the clamping state, so that multiple phalanges form a continuously stressed bearing chain.

[0040] After the enveloping clamping is completed, each bionic finger component enters the load-bearing state. The limiting load-bearing structure in the heavy-duty joint component is activated, so that the adjacent finger joints maintain a preset clamping angle and restrict relative rotation. At this time, multiple finger joints are transformed from a continuous motion mechanism into a rigid load-bearing structure, thereby avoiding the concentrated action of the weight of the gantry crane outriggers and the tipping impact load on a single transmission bearing or transmission link arm.

[0041] The five-finger configuration of this embodiment significantly improves the gripping stability and anti-tipping / slipping capabilities of the heavy-duty manipulator in harsh outdoor engineering environments. Compared to the drawbacks of ordinary dual-jaw grippers, which are prone to horizontal slippage along the axial direction or lateral rollover and slippage of the outriggers due to uneven force distribution, the parallel little finger assembly 17, ring finger assembly 18, middle finger assembly 19, and index finger assembly 20, together with the thumb assembly 21, provide an extremely wide axial support span and multi-directional circumferential stiffness. When the crane outriggers are subjected to several tons of lateral shear thrust generated by multi-directional natural wind at the moment of cut-off, the distributed surface contact of the five fingers can firmly lock the outriggers in the lateral and torsional directions, providing all-round lateral anti-tipping stability.

[0042] Those skilled in the art can also use a symmetrical arrangement of double thumb components and three-finger components to create a relatively closed envelope structure, which can also achieve the effect of omnidirectional restraint and prevention of outrigger slippage.

[0043] Optionally, in some embodiments, the sensor network further includes a tilt sensor disposed at the root of the manipulator base 14, the tilt sensor being used to collect in real time the real-time tilting angle and real-time tilting speed of the gantry crane outriggers during the tilting process.

[0044] The tilt sensor is rigidly mounted on the bottom centerline of the manipulator base 14 or the palm housing 16. Since the manipulator is integrated with the outrigger, the sensor's dual-axis angle changes can reflect the absolute attitude of the gantry crane's outrigger in the spatial coordinate system without lag. When the connection at the bottom of the outrigger is cut off and the tilting begins, the tilt sensor can not only output the current real-time tilting angle at an extremely high frequency, but also directly calculate the real-time tilting velocity of the outrigger during tilting through its built-in high-speed differential unit, providing the most intuitive information support for the system to determine the tilting direction and inertial state.

[0045] This design enables the invention to perform global attitude and situation calculation and prediction. Traditional support equipment, unable to obtain the precise tilting speed of components in real time, often passively bears the pressure when the components reach their limit, easily leading to overload deformation and damage. However, by collecting angle and angular velocity feedback from tilt sensors, the control system can respond instantaneously at the initial minute angle change of the outrigger tilt, accurately distinguishing whether the current tilting state is a smooth, gradual, controlled tilt or a nonlinear accelerated collapse caused by hook swing or ground micro-vibrations. This allows for precise matching of damping and yielding speeds to subsequent multi-stage ladders and chassis in the first instance.

[0046] Those skilled in the art can also replace the tilt sensor with a high-precision three-axis gyroscope and accelerometer combination module, and use an inertial navigation algorithm to fuse and calculate the same tilt velocity and position attitude characteristics.

[0047] Optionally, in some embodiments, the robotic arm base 14 is connected to a follower receiving frame body via a transmission linkage arm 15. The follower receiving frame body includes a multi-dimensional adjustable ladder and a heavy-duty motorized base carrying the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder. The end of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder is fixedly connected to the transmission linkage arm 15.

[0048] The transmission linkage arm 15 is designed as a high-strength, thick-walled hollow tube structure with extremely high bending stiffness. One end is rigidly fixed to the manipulator base 14 with high-strength bolts, and the other end is directly flange-connected to the top section of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder. The multi-dimensional adjustable ladder is responsible for extending and lifting the transmission linkage arm 15 and the bionic manipulator at its end to the critical position of the crane outrigger to be disassembled, tens of meters high. The heavy-duty motorized base, as the bottom mass base, smoothly and safely transmits all the loads and torques borne by the entire machine to the construction ground. The transmission linkage arm 15 is not only used to drive the bionic manipulator's posture adjustment, but also serves as the main force transmission component under heavy load conditions. It has an internal reinforcing rib structure to improve axial load-bearing capacity and bending resistance. The horizontal impact force and overturning moment generated during the tilting of the gantry crane outrigger are transmitted to the heavy-duty motorized base via the bionic finger assembly, palm shell 16, and transmission linkage arm 15.

[0049] This embodiment constructs a series-type heavy-duty servo mechanical load-bearing system with a large spatial adaptability and a high structural counterweight foundation. This completely eliminates the strict pre-set limitations of existing fixed frame solutions, which require ground-poured concrete anchors and the erection of large pre-embedded pile foundations, greatly reducing the construction period and construction costs. Utilizing the low center of gravity counterweight foundation generated by the heavy-duty mobile base, combined with the long cantilever ladder, it can easily withstand the tens of tons of horizontal thrust and the powerful high center of gravity lateral overturning moment transmitted along the transmission linkage arm 15 when the outriggers disconnect, ensuring the stability of the entire machine.

[0050] Optionally, in some embodiments, the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder includes a slewing drive mechanism 3 mounted on the heavy-duty motorized base, a slewing bearing 2 driven by the slewing drive mechanism 3 to perform full slewing motion, and a multi-section telescopic boom mounted on the slewing bearing 2, wherein the multi-section telescopic boom achieves step-by-step extension and retraction under the pushing and pulling action of the hydraulic drive cylinder 8.

[0051] The slewing drive mechanism 3 consists of a high-torque hydraulic motor and a reduction gearbox, driving the slewing bearing 2 to rotate 360° horizontally on the load-bearing platform 1. The multi-section telescopic boom is specifically composed of ladder arms I 10, II 11, and III 12, which are constructed from large-section box-type welded trusses and nested sequentially. One end of the hydraulic drive cylinder 8 is hinged to the hydraulic frame 9 above the slewing bearing 2, and the piston rod end is hinged to the middle section of ladder arm I 10. It adjusts the pitch angle of the entire ladder through its own extension and retraction. Simultaneously, the boom section is equipped with cascaded telescopic cylinders or wire rope speed-multiplying mechanisms to achieve longitudinal, step-by-step extension and retraction adjustments in both the horizontal and vertical directions.

[0052] This structure, through the decoupling and coupling of three-dimensional multi-degree-of-freedom elements—horizontal rotation, variable amplitude elevation, and progressive extension—constitutes a highly spatially inclusive attitude alignment system. It allows the main body of the servo-mounted support frame to flexibly dock in scattered, narrow construction sites with dense large machinery, without the need for repeated reversing for alignment. Simply by controlling the rotation of the slewing bearing 2 and the high-precision extension of the boom sections 10, 11, and 12 via the control console 7, it can accurately and smoothly align with the gantry crane outriggers, which have different initial tilt angles and engagement heights, achieving flexible deployment in all directions.

[0053] Optionally, in some embodiments, the sensor network further includes displacement sensors disposed between the multiple telescopic boom sections, the displacement sensors being used to collect the current elongation of the multidimensional adjustable ladder in real time.

[0054] The displacement sensors can be either pull-wire type fully digital displacement sensors or non-contact laser rangefinders, rigidly fixed between the nested moving overlapping surfaces of ladder arms I10, II11, and III12. When the arm sections move relative to each other under external force or hydraulic cylinder thrust, the pull-wire or laser signal changes synchronously. The control system accumulates the relative displacements of each section, and can then calculate the total current elongation and instantaneous amplitude of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder from the base center to the last actuator in real time with high frequency and precision.

[0055] By accurately knowing the true current elongation of the multi-section telescopic arm, the system can input the geometric parameters into the closed-loop algorithm in real time. In conjunction with the aforementioned angle sensor, it can accurately calculate the absolute displacement and falling speed of the current bionic robotic hand shell 16 in the global three-dimensional construction space in real time, so that the following action of the frame will never produce structural stiffness or hard impact due to geometric calculation deviation.

[0056] Optionally, in some embodiments, the heavy-duty motorized base is provided with a bottom box-shaped bottom beam 6 and a counterweight thick steel plate 4. The bottom periphery of the counterweight thick steel plate 4 is provided with a plurality of heavy-duty omnidirectional casters 5 with locking mechanisms. The drive wheel axle of the heavy-duty motorized base is provided with a speed encoder for collecting the displacement speed of the entire machine of the follow-up receiving frame.

[0057] The bottom box-shaped bottom beam 6 forms the chassis frame, and a single piece of ultra-thick solid carbon steel counterweight plate 4 is welded to its upper surface. Its massive weight directly lowers the system's primary load-bearing center of gravity to a position close to the ground axle. Heavy-duty swivel casters 5 are evenly distributed at the four corners, and the locking mechanism includes double-brake hydraulic brake shoes or mechanical rail clamps. A drive motor (not shown) is connected to the drive wheel axle, and a speed encoder (such as a photoelectric encoder or magnetoelectric encoder) is coaxially mounted on the drive wheel axle end. When the follow-up reverse action is initiated, the encoder directly collects the absolute overall displacement speed of the chassis body relative to the ground by measuring the number of rotations and frequency.

[0058] This integrated mobile counterweight chassis enables the system to maintain high mobility and rapid relocation capabilities while providing robust anti-tipping counterweight safety reserves. It eliminates the significant drawbacks of traditional large load-bearing jigs, such as being bulky, immobile, unusable after a single use, and difficult to move. Meanwhile, the high-precision speed encoder allows the chassis to achieve precise closed-loop speed control, monitoring in real time whether the drive casters slip or lag on sand or gravel surfaces, ensuring that the machine's backward speed perfectly follows the algorithm commands for smooth speed control.

[0059] Optionally, in some embodiments, a central control system electrically connected to the sensor network and the drive mechanism is also included. The central control system dynamically divides the plurality of bionic finger assemblies into a high-strength support zone facing the overturning center and a flexible follow-up zone located outside the high-strength support zone, based on the data collected by the tilt sensor and according to the projection distance from the overturning center of the gantry crane outrigger.

[0060] This design achieves global high stiffness and nonlinear intelligent active adjustment of the heavy-duty bionic robotic gripper under dynamic and uneven stress conditions. It overcomes the limitations of traditional mechanical grippers with their fixed force and rigidity, avoiding the risk of localized brittle fracture failure due to uneven stress under large inertial impacts. Through this partitioning, the robotic arm can concentrate its power to accomplish major tasks, intelligently identifying which fingers bear the primary supporting torque, thus guiding the hardware to perform stepped and precise distribution, greatly improving the mechanical stability of the mechanism when subjected to sudden changes in center of gravity and large-tonnage nonlinear inertial impacts. Specifically, in the high-strength support zone, the central control system controls the corresponding bionic finger components to enter a locked load-bearing mode, improving the overall stiffness of the joint area; in the flexible follow-up zone, the joints remain adjustable to adapt to spatial posture changes during the tilting process of the outriggers.

[0061] Optionally, in some embodiments, the central control system assesses the severity of the gantry crane outrigger tilting based on the gripping force data collected by the force sensor, and adjusts the global dynamic stiffness coefficient accordingly. This allows the bionic finger assembly located in the high-strength support zone to obtain a high-stiffness gripping force to counteract the main overturning moment, while the bionic finger assembly located in the flexible follow-up zone is set to a low-stiffness force to provide follow-up deformation compensation.

[0062] By combining the rigid support in the high-strength zone with the low-stiffness soft transition in the flexible follow-up zone, sufficient rigidity is ensured to prevent the outriggers from slipping, while the local soft transition provides an elastic buffer channel, which greatly dissipates the huge gravitational kinetic energy at the moment of tipping and prevents mechanical stress collapse accidents inside the equipment.

[0063] Optionally, in some embodiments, the central control system has a built-in position and speed dual closed-loop feedback network. When the gantry crane outriggers tilt downwards, the central control system dynamically adjusts the hydraulic retraction rate of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder and the overall backward speed of the heavy-duty motorized base based on the data fed back in real time by the sensor network. This causes the palm shell 16, carried by the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder, to drive each of the bionic finger components to conform to the falling arc of the gantry crane outriggers in a compound motion of retraction and backward movement, so as to dissipate the gravitational potential energy and impact kinetic energy of the gantry crane outriggers.

[0064] In the retracting and retreating guideway, the enormous instantaneous gravitational kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy generated by the gantry crane's outriggers falling do not act on the internal mechanical structure to cause damage. Instead, they are efficiently converted into harmless hydraulic heat energy by the active contraction damping valve group of the ladder hydraulic system and released safely. At the same time, in conjunction with the controllable backward displacement of the chassis, the originally violent collision kinetic energy is completely dissipated, ultimately achieving a smooth and safe soft landing of the tens of tons of outrigger steel without hard impact, greatly ensuring the safety of on-site equipment and personnel.

[0065] It should be noted that the bionic robotic arm in this embodiment does not rely on a single phalanx or a single bearing to bear the weight of the gantry crane's outriggers. Instead, it uses multiple bionic finger components to form a spatial envelope constraint, and the load is jointly borne by the internal load-bearing skeleton of each phalanx and the locked rigid load-bearing chain. Even if a single bionic finger is subjected to a large static load or transient impact load, the load can be distributed and transferred along multiple load-bearing paths to the robotic arm base and the follow-up support frame, thereby meeting the heavy-load support requirements during the dismantling of the large gantry crane's outriggers.

[0066] At the control algorithm level, addressing the nonlinear, strongly coupled, and highly dynamic characteristics inherent in the dismantling process of gantry crane outriggers, this patent innovatively designs a bionic robotic arm compliant follow-up control algorithm based on multi-dimensional sensor fusion. This algorithm utilizes a multi-dimensional sensor network integrated at the chassis drive wheel axle (speed encoder), the ladder telescopic joint (displacement sensor), the root of the bionic robotic finger joint (force sensor), and the root of the bionic robotic arm (tilt sensor), distributed as follows: Figure 5 As shown, a comprehensive perception system was constructed, realizing the transformation from passive acceptance to active follow-up.

[0067] The system utilizes sensors deployed at key nodes to calculate the outrigger's motion state in real time. Based on this, it predicts the total impact energy in real time, providing a basis for subsequent decision-making. Let the outrigger's mass be... The height of the center of mass is The tilting angle is Then its real-time kinetic energy With gravitational potential energy It can be represented as: (1) (2) in, For the tilting angular velocity, This is the acceleration due to gravity.

[0068] By calculating the kinetic and potential energy of the outriggers in real time, the system can obtain the total mechanical energy during the outrigger tipping process. This energy value serves as the basis for the control system's decision-making: on the one hand, the system will... As a control benchmark for the dynamically adjustable hydraulic system, it ensures that the gravitational potential energy and impact kinetic energy of the outriggers can be efficiently converted into heat energy by the damping effect of the hydraulic system; on the other hand... The rate of change of is used to assess the severity of the overturning and serves as an important weighting factor in the gradient support force distribution in subsequent formula (4), ensuring that the knuckles directly opposite the overturning center can provide the matching maximum clamping stiffness at the peak energy moment.

[0069] This algorithm innovatively establishes a dynamic matching model of "outrigger tilting trajectory - ladder retraction rate - chassis retraction speed". Unlike traditional single-speed following, this model introduces a dual closed-loop feedback mechanism of position and velocity, ensuring that the bionic robotic arm's end effector always smoothly conforms to the outrigger's motion trajectory through multi-finger collaborative envelope, eliminating the harsh impact caused by speed differences. Let the desired motion trajectory of the outrigger contact point be... The actual end effector position is The algorithm adjusts the ladder retraction rate in real time through a hydraulic servo system. With chassis reverse speed As shown in the dynamic matching function, it is obtained through real-time feedback from the sensor. Taking the instant the bolt at the bottom of the outrigger is cut as the initial state, the theoretical trajectory of the contact point between the outrigger's surface and the manipulator during the free tilting process is calculated over time. The specific calculations are as follows: In the servo control of gantry crane outrigger dismantling, the desired motion trajectory is... The calculation begins with the initial state at the moment the bolts at the bottom of the outrigger are cut, and the initial tilt angle of the outrigger is obtained in real time by a tilt sensor installed at the base of the bionic robotic arm. relative to the initial height of the center of mass Based on the known outrigger mass With length The outrigger is simplified as a rigid body rotating about a fixed axis around a bottom fixed point, and its rotational angular acceleration is... Satisfy the equation ,in Let the moment of inertia of the outriggers be about the base. Let gravitational acceleration be the acceleration due to gravity. Integrate this equation and consider the initial conditions. The tilt angle at any time t can be obtained. With angular velocity Furthermore, based on the distance from the contact point of the robotic arm on the outrigger to the bottom... The desired trajectory in the global coordinate system is obtained through coordinate transformation: (3) Dynamic matching function: (4) (5) in, and For adaptive parameters, This represents the current extension of the ladder. This represents the maximum extension of the ladder. This is the speed matching coefficient (calibrated experimentally, typical value 0.8~1.2). This is the energy gain coefficient (calibrated experimentally, typical value 0.5~2.0). The values ​​should be small positive numbers to avoid a denominator of zero. The total energy can be calculated in real time using formulas (1) and (2). For reference only. When the system detects a large amount of energy, the adaptive parameters will automatically increase, allowing the ladder to retract and the chassis to retreat more quickly, thus dissipating the energy; when the energy decreases, the parameters will automatically decrease, resulting in smoother movements. The threshold for the system to detect energy is determined by... The decision, including energy tracking error The system has dissipated energy as When the ratio is greater than 0.5, it is determined to be high energy; otherwise, it is determined to be low energy.

[0070] The energy dissipated by the system is calculated as follows: (6) in, The real-time total gripping force of the bionic robotic arm on the outrigger is directly measured by a force sensor at the base of the knuckles, reflecting the force with which the robotic arm prevents the outrigger from slipping off. The relative sliding velocity between the outrigger and the contact surface of the robotic arm is given by the position of the robotic arm's end effector. With the expected trajectory Speed ​​difference calculation: ; The real-time retraction resistance of the ladder hydraulic system is measured by the pressure sensor built into the hydraulic valve, reflecting the force of the ladder's active retraction to counteract the falling of the outriggers; The real-time retraction speed of the ladder is obtained by differentiation from the displacement sensor of the ladder's telescopic joint.

[0071] To address the nonlinear characteristics of sudden changes in center of gravity and inertial impact during outrigger tipping, this patent does not employ a fixed force distribution pattern. Instead, it assesses the severity of the tipping in real time, adjusts the global dynamic stiffness coefficient, and determines the clamping force of each finger joint based on the tipping direction. The system first dynamically divides the multi-joint region of the bionic manipulator into a high-strength support zone directly facing the tipping center and a surrounding flexible follower zone. To achieve adaptive adjustment of support stiffness, the algorithm defines a global dynamic stiffness coefficient. .

[0072] The system adjusts the global dynamic stiffness coefficient in real time using the following nonlinear mapping function. This allows for a response where the more forcefully the outriggers tilt, the stiffer the bionic robotic hand and frame become; and the more gently the outriggers tilt, the softer the bionic robotic hand and frame become.

[0073] (7) in, Based on the basic stiffness coefficient, This is the stiffness scaling factor. To adjust the gain coefficient for sensitivity, The total energy at the initial moment is used for normalization. Taking a general-purpose gantry crane with a rated lifting capacity of 50-100t as an example, the mass of a single rigid leg is approximately 10 tons, and the static balance force shared by a single-sided manipulator is... The basic stiffness coefficient is , The static allowable displacement (generally taken as in engineering) ), The range is , , This mechanism ensures that when the system detects a severe tilting of the outriggers, Automatically increasing stiffness enhances system response; conversely, decreasing stiffness reduces it for compliant movement. The more violently the outriggers tilt, the higher the real-time total mechanical energy... The energy dissipation increases due to rapid changes in tipping speed and center of mass height, but the energy dissipation cannot keep up with the increase in total energy, leading to energy tracking error. As can be seen from the formula for calculating the global dynamic stiffness coefficient, the increase... It will also increase.

[0074] For the multi-segment structure of the bionic robotic hand, the algorithm is based on the projection distance of each segment towards the overturning center. Calculate the spatial contribution weight of each phalanx to determine its force priority in the current tilting direction: (8) in, This is the minimum distance from the overturning center among all phalanges. is the standard deviation of the Gaussian function, used to control the rate of weight decay. This formula ensures that the phalanx closest to the overturning center receives the highest weight approaching 1, while the weights of the outer phalanxes decay exponentially.

[0075] Based on the above dynamic stiffness Spatial weights The algorithm outputs the target hydraulic clamping force for each finger joint. Intelligent allocation is performed. The decision function is as follows: (9) in, Basic preload, The attenuation coefficient is... The critical distance for dividing the high-intensity zone and the follower zone.

[0076] Under this algorithm, the knuckle area directly opposite the core center of gravity of the outrigger will receive the maximum clamping force setting, forming a high-rigidity hard support to resist the main overturning moment; while the knuckles in the outer edge area will receive a smaller force setting, forming a low-rigidity soft transition. Combined with the active contraction of the hydraulic system and the controllable retreat of the frame body, the impact kinetic energy is efficiently dissipated and the gravitational potential energy is gradually resolved.

[0077] During the extreme process of outrigger dismantling, the workflow of the follow-up support frame is as follows: (See attached document) Figure 6 , Step 1: After the system starts, the rotating platform and telescopic ladder move to precisely deliver the bionic robotic arm's end effector to the key parts of the outrigger. The algorithm controls the output preload of each finger joint of the robotic arm, and through multi-finger adaptive envelope gripping, it firmly adheres to the outrigger, ensuring that the robotic arm and the outrigger form a unified motion unit.

[0078] Step 2: The sensor network continuously monitors the status of the outriggers. Once a sudden change in the force exerted by the outriggers on the robot arm is detected, it is determined that the bottom bolts have been removed, and the system immediately switches from standby mode to follow-up mode.

[0079] Step 3: Based on the real-time calculated tipping data, the algorithm synchronously outputs commands to the ladder hydraulic valve and the chassis drive motor, causing the ladder to retract and the chassis to retreat simultaneously. At this time, the manipulator maintains a high-rigidity grip on the joints at the tipping center, while the outer joints cooperate with the active contraction of the hydraulic system to make slight, compliant yielding, ensuring that the manipulator neither loosens nor overloads during the follow-up process.

[0080] Step 4: As the outriggers gradually level out, the algorithm dynamically adjusts the backward speed and the gripping force of the knuckles to ensure a smooth landing. At this point, the enormous gravitational potential energy of the outriggers is converted into heat energy and dissipated. The force feedback adjustment of each knuckle of the robotic arm limits the impact force to a safe range, preventing the outrigger steel from being subjected to hard impacts.

[0081] Step 5: After the outriggers land, the system maintains the gripping state of the robotic arm and locks the chassis until manual confirmation of safety. Subsequently, the jig is released from its locking position, all mechanisms are reset, and preparations are made for the next round of dismantling operations.

[0082] The above description discloses only preferred embodiments of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. Therefore, equivalent variations made in accordance with the claims of the present invention are still within the scope of the present invention.

[0083] While the invention has been described with reference to several specific embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed specific embodiments. The invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane, characterized in that: The device includes a robotic arm base; a palm housing mounted on the robotic arm base; multiple bionic finger assemblies cooperatingly disposed on the palm housing, the multiple bionic finger assemblies including an independently driven thumb assembly and multiple other cooperating finger assemblies, each of the bionic finger assemblies having a flexible contact element on its contact surface with the gantry crane outrigger; a drive mechanism connected to each of the bionic finger assemblies for driving the knuckles of each bionic finger assembly to perform independent or cooperative grasping movements; and a sensor network including force sensors disposed at the base of the knuckles of each bionic finger assembly for real-time acquisition of the real-time grasping force of each bionic finger assembly on the gantry crane outrigger.

2. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 1, characterized in that, The other finger components that work together include a little finger component, a ring finger component, a middle finger component, and an index finger component arranged in parallel. The little finger component, the ring finger component, the middle finger component, and the index finger component are all arranged opposite to the thumb component, thereby forming a distributed surface contact constraint on the gantry crane outrigger through a multi-finger adaptive envelope.

3. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 1, characterized in that, The sensor network also includes a tilt sensor located at the base of the manipulator, which is used to collect the real-time tilting angle and real-time tilting speed of the gantry crane's outriggers during the tilting process.

4. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 3, characterized in that, The robotic arm base is connected to a follower support frame body via a transmission linkage arm. The follower support frame body includes a multi-dimensional adjustable ladder and a heavy-duty motorized base that carries the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder. The end of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder is fixedly connected to the transmission linkage arm.

5. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 4, characterized in that, The multi-dimensional adjustable ladder includes a slewing drive mechanism installed on the heavy-duty motorized base, a slewing bearing driven by the slewing drive mechanism to perform full slewing motion, and a multi-section telescopic boom mounted on the slewing bearing. The multi-section telescopic boom achieves step-by-step extension and retraction under the pushing and pulling action of the hydraulic drive cylinder.

6. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 5, characterized in that, The sensor network also includes displacement sensors disposed between the multiple telescopic boom sections, which are used to collect the current elongation of the multidimensional adjustable ladder in real time.

7. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 6, characterized in that, The heavy-duty motorized base is provided with a bottom box-shaped bottom beam and a counterweight thick steel plate. The bottom periphery of the counterweight thick steel plate is provided with multiple heavy-duty omnidirectional casters with locking mechanisms. The drive wheel axle of the heavy-duty motorized base is provided with a speed encoder for collecting the displacement speed of the entire machine of the follow-up support frame.

8. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 7, characterized in that, It also includes a central control system electrically connected to the sensor network and the drive mechanism. Based on the data collected by the tilt sensor, the central control system dynamically divides the multiple bionic finger assemblies into a high-strength support zone facing the overturning center and a flexible follow-up zone located outside the high-strength support zone, according to the projection distance from the overturning center of the gantry crane outrigger.

9. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 8, characterized in that, The central control system assesses the severity of the gantry crane's outrigger tilting based on the gripping force data collected by the force sensor, and adjusts the global dynamic stiffness coefficient accordingly. This allows the bionic finger assembly located in the high-strength support zone to obtain a high-stiffness gripping force to counteract the main overturning moment, while the bionic finger assembly located in the flexible follow-up zone is set to a low-stiffness force to provide follow-up deformation compensation.

10. The bionic robotic arm for dismantling the outriggers of a gantry crane according to claim 9, characterized in that, The central control system has a built-in position and speed dual closed-loop feedback network. When the gantry crane outriggers tilt downwards, the central control system dynamically adjusts the hydraulic retraction rate of the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder and the overall backward speed of the heavy-duty motorized base based on the real-time feedback data from the sensor network. This causes the palm shell, carried by the multi-dimensional adjustable ladder, to drive each of the bionic finger components to conform to the falling arc of the gantry crane outriggers in a compound motion of retraction and backward movement, thereby dissipating the gravitational potential energy and impact kinetic energy of the gantry crane outriggers.

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