Active touch sensor and unmanned vehicle
By designing an active tactile sensor, using a power device to drive the probe head to rotate and scan, and combining the deformation sensor and digital encoder to calculate the orientation and distance of obstacles, the existing sensors are solved to detect blind spots and insensitive to specific materials and shape obstacles, improving the safety of unmanned vehicles.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202421420939.9
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-06-20
- Publication Date
- 2025-02-28
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-06-20
AI Technical Summary
Existing robots and unmanned vehicle sensors have problems of detecting blind spots, noise, and insensitive to slender objects and smooth surface objects. Especially in foggy days or poor vision, the risk of collision is greatly increased.
An active tactile sensor is designed, including a power device, a drive shaft, a middleware, a digital encoder and a deformation sensor. The probe head is driven to rotate and scan through the power device. The deformation sensor is used to detect the deformation signal of the obstacle, and combined with the counting signal of the digital encoder, the orientation and distance of the obstacle are calculated.
Active detection of obstacles within a certain range is achieved, which makes up for the detection blind spots of other sensors and the insensitive detection of obstacles in specific materials and shapes, and improves the safety of unmanned vehicles under low speed driving or poor line of sight.
Smart Images
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Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of sensing equipment, and in particular provides an active tactile sensor and an unmanned vehicle. Background Art
[0002] Robots and unmanned vehicles are generally equipped with a variety of sensors to sense the surrounding environment, such as laser sensors, millimeter wave sensors, ultrasonic sensors, etc., but they all have some shortcomings. For example, laser sensors have a detection blind spot of 20 to 50 centimeters and are insensitive to slender objects; millimeter wave sensors require high-performance algorithms and processors for data processing and analysis, which increases the complexity and cost of the system; ultrasonic sensors can detect objects at a closer distance, but are easily affected by sound-absorbing materials and are insensitive to slender objects and objects with smooth surfaces; in order to compensate for the above shortcomings, anti-collision strips are generally set around the equipment, which can trigger perception signals when encountering obstacles and feedback to the equipment controller, thereby stopping the operation of the equipment in time.
[0003] However, this type of anti-collision strip uses passive collision sensors and cannot actively detect the surrounding environment. When encountering foggy days or poor visibility, many sensors will lose their function or form detection noise, resulting in a significant increase in the risk of collision, affecting work efficiency.
[0004] Therefore, there is an urgent need to design an active tactile sensor for robots or unmanned vehicles. Utility Model Content
[0005] The utility model aims to provide an active tactile sensor and an unmanned vehicle, which can actively detect the distance and direction of obstacles within a certain range, including objects of various materials and shapes.
[0006] In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical solution adopted by the utility model is:
[0007] The present application provides an active tactile sensor, comprising a power device and a driving shaft connected to the power device, and also comprising an intermediate piece fixedly connected to the driving shaft and a digital encoder installed on the intermediate piece, wherein the side of the intermediate piece is connected to a detection head, and a deformation sensor is arranged on the detection head, and the power device, the digital encoder and the deformation sensor are electrically connected to a signal processing board respectively; the detection head reciprocates and scans around the driving shaft under the drive of the power device.
[0008] Furthermore, the detection head includes a detection head flexible body and a detection head hard body connected to the detection head flexible body, the detection head flexible body is connected to the middle piece, and the detection head hard body is arranged on a side of the detection head flexible body away from the middle piece.
[0009] Furthermore, the active tactile sensor also includes a connecting cable, and the power device, the digital encoder and the deformation sensor are respectively connected to the signal processing board through the connecting cable.
[0010] Furthermore, the rigid body of the detection head is a straight rod, an L-shaped rod or a T-shaped rod.
[0011] Furthermore, the digital encoder is a code disc, and the power device is a motor.
[0012] An embodiment of the present application also provides an unmanned vehicle, including a chassis and an active tactile sensor as described above.
[0013] Furthermore, active tactile sensors are symmetrically installed at two corners of the front of the unmanned vehicle, which are respectively a first tactile sensor and a second tactile sensor;
[0014] When the hard body of the detection head of the first tactile sensor or the second tactile sensor contacts the second obstacle, the flexible body of the detection head deforms, and the deformation sensor detects the deformation amount and feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board. At the same time, the digital encoder feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board. The signal processing board determines and calculates the direction of the second obstacle based on the received deformation signal and counting signal, and calculates the distance range from the second obstacle to the edge of the unmanned vehicle in combination with the vehicle speed and the previous scanning result.
[0015] Furthermore, active tactile sensors are symmetrically installed on both sides of the unmanned vehicle, which are a third tactile sensor and a fourth tactile sensor respectively;
[0016] When the hard body of the detection head of the third tactile sensor or the fourth tactile sensor contacts the first obstacle, the flexible body of the detection head deforms, and the deformation sensor detects the deformation amount and feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board. At the same time, the digital encoder feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board. The signal processing board determines and calculates the distance range from the first obstacle to the edge of the unmanned vehicle based on the received deformation signal and counting signal.
[0017] Furthermore, the first obstacle is a wall-type obstacle, and the second obstacle is a three-dimensional obstacle.
[0018] Furthermore, the rotation and scanning angles of the first tactile sensor and the second tactile sensor are 0 to 270 degrees, and the rotation and scanning angles of the third tactile sensor and the fourth tactile sensor are 0 to 180 degrees.
[0019] Beneficial effects of the utility model:
[0020] The active tactile sensor and unmanned vehicle provided by the utility model drive the detection head to rotate and scan through a power device, and then sense obstacles by detecting the deformation of the detection head. They can actively detect the distance and direction of obstacles within a certain range, making up for the detection blind spots, noise points and insensitivity to obstacles of specific materials and shapes of other sensors. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.
[0022] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an active tactile sensor in an embodiment;
[0023] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure from another perspective;
[0024] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the operation of an unmanned vehicle in one embodiment;
[0025] Among them, the reference numerals in the figure are:
[0026] 1. Digital encoder; 2. Middleware; 3. Drive shaft; 4. Power device; 5. Deformation sensor; 6. Detection head flexible body; 7. Detection head rigid body; 8. Signal processing board; 9. Connection cable;
[0027] 10. First tactile sensor; 20. Second tactile sensor; 30. Third tactile sensor; 40. Fourth tactile sensor; 50. Chassis; 60. First obstacle; 70. Second obstacle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0028] The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to be used to explain the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
[0029] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "length", "width", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", etc., indicating the orientation or position relationship, are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present invention.
[0030] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present utility model, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.
[0031] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "install", "connect", "connect", "fix" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.
[0032] Please refer to Figure 1 to Figure 2 The active tactile sensor provided in the embodiment of the present application is suitable for the field of perception and can be installed on unmanned vehicles or robots as a perception supplement for other sensors; it includes a power device 4 for providing power and a drive shaft 3 connected to the power device 4, and also includes an intermediate piece 2 fixedly connected to the drive shaft 3 and a digital encoder 1 installed on the intermediate piece 2, wherein the intermediate piece 2 is a processed piece connecting multiple parts, and the digital encoder 1 is a displacement sensor for measuring the angular position of the shaft. The side of the intermediate piece 2 is connected to a detection head, and a deformation sensor 5 is arranged on the detection head. The power device 4, the digital encoder 1 and the deformation sensor 5 are respectively electrically connected to a signal processing board 8; the detection head reciprocates and scans around the drive shaft 3 under the drive of the power device 4, and then senses obstacles by detecting the deformation of the detection head, which can realize active detection of the distance and direction of obstacles within a certain range, and the cost is very low.
[0033] More specifically, the detection head includes a detection head flexible body 6 and a detection head hard body 7 connected to the detection head flexible body 6. The detection head flexible body 6 is connected to the middle piece 2, and the detection head hard body 7 is arranged on the side of the detection head flexible body 6 away from the middle piece 2. The detection head flexible body 6 is made of a flexible deformable material, such as polyolefin elastomer POE, ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber EPDM, etc. When the detection head hard body 7 connected thereto encounters an obstacle, the detection head flexible body 6 will be deformed to provide a sensing signal source for sensing the obstacle. The detection head flexible body 6 can have different sensitivities; the detection head flexible body 6 and the detection head hard body 7 are both independent components and can be installed separately, which is convenient for combination and replacement.
[0034] In one embodiment, the active tactile sensor also includes a connecting cable 9, and the power device 4, the digital encoder 1 and the deformation sensor 5 are respectively connected to the signal processing board 8 through the connecting cable 9; when laying out, avoid the rotation angle range of the detection head to avoid entanglement.
[0035] Preferably, the detection head rigid body 7 is a straight rod, an L-shaped rod or a T-shaped rod, and the detection head rigid body 7 can be adapted to detect objects of different shapes by changing the shape of the detection head rigid body 7 .
[0036] In one embodiment, the digital encoder 1 is a code disk, and the power device 4 is a motor, both of which are existing products on the market and will not be described in detail here.
[0037] Preferably, a protective shell is provided on the outside of the active tactile sensor to prevent water, dust and pollution.
[0038] like Figure 3 As shown, an embodiment of the present application also provides an unmanned vehicle, including a chassis 50, a power system, a control system, a perception system, etc., and also includes an active tactile sensor as described above, and the active tactile sensor communicates with the control system of the unmanned vehicle.
[0039] In one embodiment, active tactile sensors are symmetrically installed at the two corners of the front of the unmanned vehicle, which are a first tactile sensor 10 and a second tactile sensor 20 respectively; when the hard body 7 of the detection head of the first tactile sensor 10 or the second tactile sensor 20 contacts the second obstacle 70, the flexible body 6 of the detection head is deformed, and the deformation sensor 5 detects the deformation amount and then feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board 8, and at the same time, the digital encoder 1 feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board 8. The signal processing board 8 determines and calculates the position of the second obstacle 70 according to the received deformation signal and counting signal, and calculates the distance range from the second obstacle 70 to the edge of the unmanned vehicle in combination with the speed of the unmanned vehicle and the previous scanning result.
[0040] Preferably, active tactile sensors are symmetrically installed on both sides of the unmanned vehicle, preferably installed in the middle of the vehicle, which are the third tactile sensor 30 and the fourth tactile sensor 40 respectively; when the hard body 7 of the detection head of the third tactile sensor 30 or the fourth tactile sensor 40 contacts the first obstacle 60, the flexible body 6 of the detection head is deformed, and the deformation sensor 5 detects the deformation amount and then feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board 8, and at the same time, the digital encoder 1 feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board 8, and the signal processing board 8 judges and calculates the distance range from the first obstacle 60 to the edge of the unmanned vehicle based on the received deformation signal and counting signal.
[0041] More specifically, the first obstacle 60 is a wall-type obstacle, and the second obstacle 70 is a three-dimensional obstacle. When the first tactile sensor 10, the second tactile sensor 20, the third tactile sensor 30 and the fourth tactile sensor 40 are installed on the unmanned vehicle at the same time, various obstacles around the unmanned vehicle can be sensed at the same time, which is very important for the safety of the unmanned vehicle, especially when driving at low speed and with poor visibility. In other embodiments, tactile sensors can even be installed at the two corners of the rear of the vehicle.
[0042] More specifically, the rotation and scanning angles of the first tactile sensor 10 and the second tactile sensor 20 are 0 to 270 degrees, and the rotation and scanning angles of the third tactile sensor 30 and the fourth tactile sensor 40 are 0 to 180 degrees; the rotation and scanning angles of each tactile sensor can be adjusted to control the range of perception.
[0043] During specific use, the first tactile sensor 10 and the second tactile sensor 20 are installed at the two corners of the front of the unmanned vehicle, and the third tactile sensor 30 and the fourth tactile sensor 40 are installed on both sides of the middle of the unmanned vehicle. The first tactile sensor 10 and the second tactile sensor 20 can respectively rotate and scan an angle range of up to about 270 degrees, and the third tactile sensor 30 and the fourth tactile sensor 40 can respectively rotate and scan an angle range of up to 180 degrees.
[0044] like Figure 3As shown, when encountering a three-dimensional obstacle in front, such as the second obstacle 70, the second tactile sensor 20 should scan the position where the dotted arrow line is located, but due to the obstruction of the second obstacle 70, the flexible body 6 of the detection head of the second tactile sensor 20 is deformed, and the deformation sensor 5 detects the deformation amount and feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board 8. At the same time, the digital encoder 1 feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board 8. The signal processing board 8 determines and calculates the direction of the second obstacle 70 based on the received deformation signal and counting signal, and calculates the distance range from the second obstacle 70 to the edge of the unmanned vehicle in combination with the speed of the unmanned vehicle and the previous scanning result.
[0045] When encountering wall-type obstacles on both sides such as the first obstacle 60, the third tactile sensor 30 should scan the position of the dotted arrow line, but due to the obstruction of the first obstacle 60, the flexible body 6 of the detection head of the third tactile sensor 30 is deformed. After detecting the deformation amount, the deformation sensor 5 feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board 8, and the digital encoder 1 feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board 8. The signal processing board 8 judges and calculates the distance range from the first obstacle 60 to the edge of the unmanned vehicle based on the received deformation signal and counting signal.
[0046] The active tactile sensor and unmanned vehicle provided in the embodiments of the present application drive the detection head to rotate and scan through a power device, and then sense obstacles by detecting the deformation of the detection head. They can actively detect the distance and direction of obstacles within a certain range, thereby making up for the detection blind spots, noise points, and insensitivity to obstacle detection of specific materials and shapes of other sensors.
[0047] The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. An active tactile sensor, comprising a power device (4) and a drive shaft (3) connected to the power device (4), characterized in that: The invention also comprises an intermediate component (2) fixedly connected to the driving shaft (3) and a digital encoder (1) mounted on the intermediate component (2); the side of the intermediate component (2) is connected to a detection head, and a deformation sensor (5) is arranged on the detection head; the power device (4), the digital encoder (1) and the deformation sensor (5) are respectively electrically connected to a signal processing board (8); the detection head reciprocates and scans around the driving shaft (3) under the drive of the power device (4).
2. The active tactile sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The detection head comprises a detection head flexible body (6) and a detection head hard body (7) connected to the detection head flexible body (6); the detection head flexible body (6) is connected to the middle piece (2); and the detection head hard body (7) is arranged on a side of the detection head flexible body (6) away from the middle piece (2).
3. The active tactile sensor according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes a connecting cable (9), through which the power device (4), the digital encoder (1) and the deformation sensor (5) are respectively connected to the signal processing board (8).
4. The active tactile sensor according to claim 2, characterized in that: The detection head rigid body (7) is a straight rod, an L-shaped rod or a T-shaped rod.
5. The active tactile sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The digital encoder (1) is a code disc, and the power device (4) is a motor.
6. An unmanned vehicle, comprising a chassis (50), characterized in that: It also includes the active tactile sensor as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 5.
7. The unmanned vehicle according to claim 6, characterized in that: Active tactile sensors are symmetrically installed at two corners of the front of the unmanned vehicle, namely a first tactile sensor (10) and a second tactile sensor (20); When the hard body (7) of the detection head of the first tactile sensor (10) or the second tactile sensor (20) contacts the second obstacle (70), the flexible body (6) of the detection head is deformed, and the deformation sensor (5) detects the deformation amount and feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board (8), and at the same time, the digital encoder (1) feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board (8). The signal processing board (8) determines and calculates the position of the second obstacle (70) based on the received deformation signal and counting signal, and calculates the distance range from the second obstacle (70) to the edge of the unmanned vehicle in combination with the vehicle speed and the previous scanning result.
8. The unmanned vehicle according to claim 7, characterized in that: Active tactile sensors are symmetrically installed on both sides of the unmanned vehicle, which are respectively a third tactile sensor (30) and a fourth tactile sensor (40); When the hard body (7) of the detection head of the third tactile sensor (30) or the fourth tactile sensor (40) contacts the first obstacle (60), the flexible body (6) of the detection head is deformed, and the deformation sensor (5) detects the deformation amount and feeds back the deformation signal to the signal processing board (8), and at the same time, the digital encoder (1) feeds back the counting signal to the signal processing board (8), and the signal processing board (8) determines and calculates the distance range from the first obstacle (60) to the edge of the unmanned vehicle based on the received deformation signal and counting signal.
9. The unmanned vehicle according to claim 8, characterized in that: The first obstacle (60) is a wall-type obstacle, and the second obstacle (70) is a three-dimensional obstacle.
10. The unmanned vehicle according to claim 9, characterized in that: The rotation and scanning angles of the first tactile sensor (10) and the second tactile sensor (20) are 0 to 270 degrees, and the rotation and scanning angles of the third tactile sensor (30) and the fourth tactile sensor (40) are 0 to 180 degrees.