A biped robot

Abstract

This application provides a bipedal robot, including a control component, a limiting component, a hip support component, a thigh component, and a lower leg component, wherein the control component, hip support component, thigh component, and lower leg component are arranged sequentially from top to bottom; the limiting component includes left / right limiting units, symmetrically embedded on the left and right sides of the control component, used to restrict the degrees of freedom of movement of the hip support component, thigh component, and lower leg component. The bipedal robot with joint limiting structure provided by this application enables the leg joint motors to have a stable limiting function in power-off movement scenarios, effectively preventing swaying and improving safety.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of robotics, and more particularly to a bipedal robot. Background Technology

[0002] As the most promising intelligent carrier for biomimicry, bipedal robots are considered a core solution for overcoming challenges in complex environments due to their human-like walking characteristics. However, the current limitations of joint motor technology are causing a functional paradox of "disorder upon shutdown"—when the power is turned off, all joint motors of the robot lose their restraint and become uncontrollable. They cannot anchor their dynamic equilibrium posture before shutdown, nor can they retain the preset kinematic initial configuration for program restart. This forces the operator to manually reset and reconstruct the initial state required for startup, a process that not only accelerates the wear and tear on the equipment's mechanical lifespan but also increases operational redundancy costs.

[0003] Furthermore, the safety concerns posed by this technological bottleneck are particularly significant in robotic handling scenarios. When handling a robot after it has been powered off, the lack of joint damping can cause the robot's limbs to swing uncontrollably and erratically. This can not only lead to collision damage between components but also pose potential safety risks in human-robot interaction scenarios. Therefore, technological breakthroughs are urgently needed to build a full-cycle motion safety barrier. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a bipedal robot that at least solves the technical problem in related technologies where robots fall into an uncontrollable state after their joint motors are turned off, thus posing a safety hazard.

[0005] This application provides a bipedal robot, including a control component, a limiting component, a hip support component, a thigh component, and a lower leg component, wherein: the control component, the hip support component, the thigh component, and the lower leg component are arranged in order from top to bottom; the limiting component includes left / right limiting units, symmetrically embedded on the left and right sides of the control component, for limiting the degrees of freedom of movement of the hip support component, the thigh component, and the lower leg component.

[0006] In some embodiments, the control component is designed as a square housing with a hollow cavity inside. The control component includes a vision sensor located outside the square housing and a controller and a power battery located in the hollow cavity. The vision sensor includes a lidar and / or a depth camera, which are used to collect image data and / or point cloud data of the robot's environment and transmit them to the controller. The controller is used to generate corresponding control signals based on the image data and / or point cloud data to control the robot's limbs to perform corresponding actions, and is also used to manage the power supply mode of the power battery to provide power to the robot.

[0007] In some embodiments, a depth camera is tilted and positioned on the lower front side of the control component, acquiring image data of the ground area in the robot's forward direction with a downward tilted field of view; a lidar is positioned on the top surface of the control component, used to scan point cloud data of the low-altitude area of ​​the robot's environment from all directions.

[0008] In some embodiments, the square housing of the control component is provided with symmetrical limiting grooves on the left and right sides. The left and right limiting units in the limiting component are respectively fixedly installed in the limiting grooves. The left and right limiting units include a push rod motor, a sliding rail and a limiting rod, wherein: the push rod motor and the sliding rail are fixedly installed on the limiting groove; the sliding rail is a guide rail with openings at both ends, and the push rod motor is fixedly installed at one end of the sliding rail; the limiting rod is slidably installed inside the sliding rail and can extend to the other end of the sliding rail.

[0009] In some embodiments, the push rod motor is electrically connected to the controller in the control assembly. Under the control of the controller, the push rod motor drives the limit rod to extend along the other end of the sliding track, restricting the degree of freedom of movement of the hip support assembly, thigh assembly, and calf assembly; or, the push rod motor drives the limit rod to retract along the sliding track, thereby restoring the degree of freedom of movement of the hip support assembly, thigh assembly, and calf assembly.

[0010] In some embodiments, the hip support assembly is located at the bottom of the control assembly and is connected to the thigh assembly via the motor assembly; the bipedal robot also includes a connector, and the motor assembly includes a lower leg joint motor, a thigh joint motor, a swing leg joint motor, and a rotation leg joint motor fixed to the connector and electrically connected to the control assembly.

[0011] In some embodiments, the robot further includes a lower leg transmission assembly for connecting the lower leg joint motor and the lower leg assembly, so as to transmit the driving force of the lower leg joint motor to the lower leg assembly, thereby causing the lower leg assembly to move relative to the thigh assembly; the lower leg transmission assembly includes a transmission flange and a transmission link, the transmission flange is fixed to the lower leg joint motor, one end of the transmission link is hinged to the transmission flange, and the other end is hinged to the lower leg assembly; under the drive of the lower leg joint motor, the transmission flange rotates, thereby driving the transmission link to move, and thus driving the lower leg assembly to move relative to the thigh assembly.

[0012] In some embodiments, the thigh assembly includes left / right thighs, and the lower leg assembly includes left / right lower legs. Each of the left / right thighs has a first cavity internally, and the corresponding lower leg transmission assembly is housed within each first cavity. The top of the first cavity in the left / right thigh of the thigh assembly has a through hole that engages with a limiting rod in the limiting assembly. The limiting rod extends along a sliding track under the action of a push rod motor and contacts the lower leg transmission assembly through the through hole, thereby restricting the movement of the lower leg transmission assembly and the lower leg joint motor. When the control assembly detects that the lower leg transmission assembly and the lower leg joint motor are restricted from movement, it simultaneously restricts the movement of the thigh joint motor, the swing joint motor, and the rotation joint motor, thus placing the robot in a fully restricted position.

[0013] The beneficial effects of this application are as follows: Compared with the existing bipedal robots that use brake joint motors, the bipedal robot with joint limiting structure provided by this application can not only automatically avoid the operation process of manually adjusting the initial posture of traditional models, but also provide stable limiting function of the leg joint motors in the power-off movement scenario, effectively eliminating swaying and improving the safety of robot use; at the same time, it also realizes the reduction of motor component size and the reduction of overall weight, making the bipedal robot have better battery life. Attached Figure Description

[0014] To more clearly illustrate the related technologies or the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the related technologies or the embodiments of this application will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0015] Figure 1 This is a structural schematic diagram of a bipedal robot provided in this application;

[0016] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a limiting structure for a bipedal robot according to this application;

[0017] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the leg structure of a bipedal robot according to this application;

[0018] Figure 4 This is a cross-sectional view of a bipedal robot provided in this application;

[0019] Figure 5 This is another structural schematic diagram of a bipedal robot provided in this application. Detailed Implementation

[0020] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application more apparent and understandable, this application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with its embodiments and corresponding drawings. Throughout, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. It should be understood that the various embodiments of this application described below are merely illustrative of this application and are not intended to limit this application. That is, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the various embodiments of this application without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application. Furthermore, the technical features involved in the various embodiments of this application described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0021] Figure 1 This is a structural schematic diagram of a bipedal robot according to this application. Figure 1 As shown, the bipedal robot includes a control component 1, a limiting component 2, a hip support component 3, a thigh component 4, and a lower leg component 5. The thigh component 4 includes symmetrical left and right thighs, and the lower leg component 5 includes symmetrical left and right lower legs. Specifically, the control component 1, hip support component 3, thigh component 4, and lower leg component 5 are arranged sequentially from top to bottom. The limiting component 2 includes left and right limiting units, symmetrically embedded on the left and right sides of the control component 1, used to restrict the degrees of freedom of movement of the hip support component 3, thigh component 4, and lower leg component 5. For example, it can simultaneously restrict multiple degrees of freedom such as lower leg swing, thigh swing, thigh rotation, and hip joint rotation, so that the robot's joints are still constrained after power failure and will not fall into an uncontrolled state, thereby constructing a full-cycle motion safety barrier.

[0022] In some embodiments, the control component 1 has a square housing design with a hollow cavity inside. The control component 1 includes a vision sensor located outside the square housing and a controller and a power battery located in the hollow cavity. The vision sensor includes a lidar and / or a depth camera, which are used to collect image data and / or point cloud data of the robot's environment and transmit them to the controller. The controller is used to generate corresponding control signals based on the image data and / or point cloud data to control the robot's limbs to perform corresponding actions, and also to manage the power supply mode of the power battery to provide power to the robot. Specifically, the depth camera is tilted and located on the lower front side of the control component 1, with its field of view tilted downwards, to collect image data of the ground area in the robot's forward direction. The lidar is located on the top surface of the control component 1 to scan the low-altitude area of ​​the robot's environment from all directions, thereby enabling the controller in the robot to generate corresponding control signals based on the image data and / or point cloud data, and thus control the robot to perform actions such as obstacle avoidance and carrying.

[0023] The controller includes a control and processing unit, a storage unit, and corresponding circuit units. These units are housed within a hollow cavity to protect them from external environmental influences during operation, thus improving operational stability. In one embodiment, the control and processing unit can be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), neural network chips, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0024] In one embodiment, the storage unit can be an internal storage unit of the controller, such as a hard drive or memory, or an external storage device, such as a plug-in hard drive, a smart media card (SMC), a secure digital (SD) card, or a flash card. Furthermore, the storage unit can include both internal and external storage devices for storing the operating system, applications, bootloader, data, and other programs, and can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or will be output.

[0025] In some embodiments, the square housing of the control component 1 is provided with symmetrical limiting grooves on the left and right sides, and the left / right limiting units in the limiting component 2 are respectively fixedly installed in the limiting grooves, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the left / right limiting unit includes a push rod motor 201, a sliding rail 202, and a limiting rod 203. The push rod motor 201 and the sliding rail 202 are fixedly installed on the limiting groove. The sliding rail 202 is a guide rail with openings at both ends. The push rod motor 201 is fixedly installed at one end of the sliding rail 202. The limiting rod 203 is slidably installed inside the sliding rail 202 and can extend to the other end of the sliding rail 202. Specifically, the push rod motor 201 is electrically connected to the controller in the control component 1. Under the control of the controller, the push rod motor 201 drives the limiting rod 203 to extend along the other end of the sliding rail 202, thereby limiting the degree of freedom of movement of the hip support component 3, thigh component 4, and calf component 5; or, under the control of the controller, the push rod motor 201 drives the limiting rod 203 to retract along the sliding rail 202, thereby restoring the degree of freedom of movement of the hip support component 3, thigh component 4, and calf component 5.

[0026] It should be noted that the limiting structure of this application may also include any one of the following methods to replace the transmission method of the drive motor, sliding track and limiting rod: drive motor and gear, drive motor and rack, drive motor and chain, drive motor and synchronous belt. This application does not impose any restrictions on this method.

[0027] Furthermore, the left / right limiting unit also includes a protective housing, which forms a downward-opening cavity structure with the limiting groove, so that the components in the limiting assembly 2 are not affected by the external environment, and the components in the limiting assembly 2 work stably.

[0028] In some embodiments, such as Figure 1 As shown, the hip support assembly 3 is located at the bottom of the control assembly 1 and is connected to the thigh assembly 4 via the motor assembly. Figure 3 As shown, taking the connection between the hip support component 3 and the right thigh of the thigh component 4 via the motor component as an example, the bipedal robot also includes a connector. The motor component includes a lower leg joint motor 301, a thigh joint motor 302, a swing leg joint motor 303, and a rotation leg joint motor 304 fixed on the connector 300. The connector 300 includes an integrally formed first support plate 3001 and a second support plate 3002. The first support plate 3001 and the second support plate 3002 are perpendicular to each other. The rotation leg joint motor 304 is fixed on the first support plate 3001 located in the horizontal direction. The swing leg joint motor 300 is fixed on one side of the second support plate 3002 located in the vertical direction. The lower leg joint motor 301 and the thigh joint motor 302 are fixed on the other side of the second support plate 3002 located in the vertical direction and are both located inside the thigh component 4. The lower leg joint motor 301, thigh joint motor 302, leg swing joint motor 303, and leg rotation joint motor 304 are all electrically connected to the control component 1. Under the control of the controller in the control component 1, the power battery supplies power to each joint motor to drive the right thigh in the thigh component 4 and the right lower leg in the lower leg component 5 to perform leg swing, leg rotation, flexion and extension movements.

[0029] It should be understood that the hip support assembly 3 is connected to the left thigh of the thigh assembly 4 via the motor assembly in the same way as described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0030] Combination Figure 1 and Figure 4As shown, the thigh assembly 4 includes left and right thighs, and the lower leg assembly 5 includes left and right lower legs. The tail ends of the left and right thighs are provided with clearance holes to allow the left and right lower legs to extend into the clearance holes and hinge with the left and right thighs respectively. In one embodiment, the robot provided in this application further includes a lower leg transmission assembly for connecting the lower leg joint motor 301 and the lower leg assembly 5, so as to transmit the driving force of the lower leg joint motor 301 to the lower leg assembly 5, causing the lower leg assembly 5 to move relative to the thigh assembly 4. Specifically, taking the right thigh in the thigh assembly 4 as an example, the right thigh has a first cavity 401 internally constructed, and the lower leg transmission assembly is housed within the first cavity. This allows the lower leg transmission assembly to be concealed inside the thigh, effectively avoiding interference with the outside environment and greatly improving safety. At the same time, this design makes the robot's leg structure more compact, creating favorable conditions for robot miniaturization.

[0031] In some embodiments, such as Figure 4 As shown, the calf transmission assembly includes a transmission flange 402 and a transmission link 403. The transmission flange 402 is fixed to the calf joint motor 301. One end of the transmission link 403 is hinged to the transmission flange 402, and the other end is hinged to the right calf 501 in the calf assembly 5. The calf joint motor 301 drives the transmission flange 402 to rotate, thereby driving the transmission link 403 to move, and thus driving the right calf 501 in the calf assembly 5 to move relative to the right thigh in the thigh assembly 4.

[0032] Furthermore, such as Figure 4 As shown, the top of the first cavity 401 of the right thigh has a through hole that cooperates with the limiting rod 203 in the limiting component 2. Under the action of the push rod motor 201, the limiting rod 203 in the limiting component 2 extends along the sliding track 202 and touches the lower leg transmission component through the through hole in the first cavity 401 of the right thigh, thereby restricting the movement of the right lower leg. When the control component 1 recognizes that the right lower leg is restricted in its movement, that is, after the lower leg joint motor 301 is restricted in its movement, the control component 1 further restricts the movement of the thigh joint motor 302, the swing leg joint motor 303, and the rotation leg joint motor 304, thereby putting the robot in a fully restricted position and improving the robot's safety. It should be understood that this embodiment only uses the right thigh as an example to describe the lower leg transmission component. The internal structure of the left thigh is the same as that of the right thigh, and will not be described again in this application.

[0033] In one embodiment, the end of the limiting rod 203 in the limiting assembly 2 is provided with rubber. When the control assembly 1 issues a shutdown command, the robot moves from... Figure 1 The standing posture transformation shown is as follows: Figure 5The robot assumes a kneeling posture as shown. Then, under the action of the push rod motor 201, the limiting rod 203 in the limiting assembly 2 extends along the sliding track 202, contacts the transmission flange 402 in the calf transmission assembly through the through hole on the first cavity 401 of the thigh assembly 4, and thus deforms the rubber at the end of the limiting rod 203, thereby restricting the movement of the calf assembly 5 and the calf joint motor 301. When the control assembly 1 detects that the calf assembly 5 and the calf joint motor 301 are restricted, it further restricts the thigh joint motor 302, the swing joint motor 303, and the rotation joint motor 304, thereby fixing the hip support assembly 3 and the thigh assembly 4, allowing the robot to achieve the desired posture. Figure 4 The complete limiting effect is shown. Afterwards, the power is turned off to control component 1, lower leg joint motor 301, thigh joint motor 302, swing leg joint motor 303 and rotation leg joint motor 304. Due to the limiting structure, the robot always maintains the kneeling posture after the power is turned off.

[0034] When the robot needs to work normally, power is supplied to the control component 1, the lower leg joint motor 301, the thigh joint motor 302, the swing leg joint motor 303, and the rotation leg joint motor 304. Initial torque is applied to these motors, and the push rod motor 201 of the limiting structure 2 drives the limiting rod 203 to retract along the sliding track 202. All limits on the bipedal robot are released, and the robot, maintaining its initial state, begins to start and ultimately achieves the desired state. Figure 1 The standing posture shown.

[0035] It should be noted that the various embodiments in this application are described in a progressive manner, with each embodiment focusing on the differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other.

[0036] It should also be noted that, in this application, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0037] The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables those skilled in the art to implement or use the content of this application. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined in this application may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this application. Therefore, this application is not to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A bipedal robot, characterized in that, It includes control components, limiting components, hip support components, thigh components, and calf components, among which: The control component, the hip support component, the thigh component, and the calf component are arranged in order from top to bottom; The limiting component includes left / right limiting units, which are symmetrically embedded on the left and right sides of the control component to limit the degree of freedom of movement of the hip support component, thigh component and calf component.

2. The bipedal robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The control component has a square housing design with a hollow cavity inside. The control component includes a vision sensor located outside the square housing, a controller located within the hollow cavity, and a power battery, wherein: The visual sensors, including lidar and / or depth cameras, are used to collect image data and / or point cloud data of the robot's environment and transmit them to the controller. The controller is used to generate corresponding control signals based on the image data and / or point cloud data to control the robot's limbs to perform corresponding actions, and is also used to manage the power supply mode of the power battery to provide power to the robot.

3. The bipedal robot as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The depth camera is tilted and positioned on the lower front side of the control component, with its field of view tilted downwards, for acquiring image data of the ground area in the robot's forward direction. The lidar is mounted on the top surface of the control component and is used to scan point cloud data in the low-altitude area of ​​the robot's environment from all directions.

4. The bipedal robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The control component has symmetrical limiting grooves on its left and right sides of its square housing. The left and right limiting units of the limiting component are respectively fixedly installed within these limiting grooves. Each left and right limiting unit includes a push rod motor, a sliding rail, and a limiting rod. The push rod motor and the sliding rail are fixedly installed on the limiting groove; The sliding track is a guide rail with openings at both ends, and the push rod motor is fixedly installed at one open end of the sliding track; The limiting rod is slidably installed inside the sliding track and can extend to the other end of the sliding track.

5. The bipedal robot as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The push rod motor is electrically connected to the controller in the control assembly, and under the control of the controller: The push rod motor drives the limiting rod to extend along the other end of the sliding track, restricting the degree of freedom of movement of the hip support assembly, the thigh assembly, and the calf assembly; Alternatively, the push rod motor drives the limiting rod to retract along the sliding track, thereby restoring the degrees of freedom of movement of the hip support assembly, the thigh assembly, and the calf assembly.

6. The bipedal robot according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The hip support assembly is located at the bottom of the control assembly and is connected to the thigh assembly through the motor assembly; the bipedal robot also includes a connector, and the motor assembly includes a lower leg joint motor, a thigh joint motor, a swing leg joint motor, and a rotation leg joint motor fixed on the connector and electrically connected to the control assembly.

7. The bipedal robot as described in claim 6, characterized in that, It also includes a calf drive assembly for connecting the calf joint motor and the calf assembly, so as to transmit the driving force of the calf joint motor to the calf assembly and drive the calf assembly to move relative to the thigh assembly.

8. The bipedal robot as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The thigh assembly includes a left / right thigh, the calf assembly includes a left / right calf, the left / right thigh each has a first cavity inside, and the calf transmission assembly corresponding to the left / right calf is disposed inside the first cavity.

9. The bipedal robot as described in claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The calf drive assembly includes a drive flange and a drive linkage, wherein: The transmission flange is fixed to the lower leg joint motor, and one end of the transmission connecting rod is hinged to the transmission flange, while the other end is hinged to the lower leg assembly. Driven by the calf joint motor, the transmission flange rotates, thereby driving the transmission linkage to move, which in turn drives the calf assembly to move relative to the thigh assembly.

10. The bipedal robot as described in claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The top of the first cavity of the left / right thigh in the thigh assembly is provided with a through hole that cooperates with the limiting rod in the limiting assembly; The limiting rod extends along the sliding track under the action of the push rod motor and touches the lower leg transmission assembly through the through hole, thereby restricting the movement of the lower leg transmission assembly and the lower leg joint motor; When the control component detects that the lower leg transmission component and the lower leg joint motor are restricted from moving, it simultaneously restricts the movement of the thigh joint motor, the swing joint motor, and the rotation joint motor, thereby putting the robot in a fully limited position.

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