A coiling bionic tail and bionic animal

Abstract

The utility model provides a kind of bionical tail that can be curled, comprising: joint assembly, driving part and at least three traction members being arranged at intervals around tail central axis;One end of the traction member passes through joint assembly, and the other end is connected with the driving part;The joint assembly includes joint unit sequentially connected along the length direction of tail, and adjacent joint unit has swing degree of freedom in the region corresponding to the traction member;The joint unit has gap between each other along the side of tail central axis in natural state;The driving part narrows the gap of joint unit corresponding to the side of traction member by the traction member, to curl the joint assembly towards the direction of the traction member. The utility model also provides bionic animal, equipped with the bionical tail as described above.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to a biomimetic animal, and more particularly to a biomimetic animal with a tail. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, various toys mimicking animal shapes are emerging in large numbers. Due to advancements in manufacturing processes and consumer demand, these toys are remarkably realistic, bringing much enjoyment to consumers. In real life, animals, such as cats, wag their tails as a way of expressing affection when petted. Therefore, current animal toys also have similar tail-wagging simulation devices. However, existing tail-wagging simulation devices cannot realistically and freely mimic an animal's tail wagging, or the wagging is too stiff and rigid, failing to provide a lifelike imitation. Furthermore, current tail-wagging devices suffer from drawbacks such as high production costs, high energy consumption, and susceptibility to damage.

[0003] For example, Chinese Patent Publication No. CN208244100U discloses a device for simulating the wagging of an animal's tail. It includes a tail body resembling an animal's tail, a driving device for wagging the tail body, and the driving device housed within a control box. The base of the tail body is located within the control box. The driving device includes a first motor and a second motor installed within the control box, a control circuit board controlling the first motor and the second motor respectively, a first swing arm driven by the output shaft of the first motor, a second swing arm driven by the output shaft of the second motor, and a first traction rope and a second traction rope extending from the free ends of the first and second swing arms. The first and second traction ropes extend along opposite sides of the tail body to the end of the tail body and are fixed thereto. However, the achieved tail curling direction is limited to the left-right direction, which differs significantly from the curling of a real animal's tail. Utility Model Content

[0004] The main technical problem to be solved by this invention is to provide a bionic tail that can curl in at least three directions.

[0005] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, this utility model provides a flexible bionic tail, including: a joint assembly, a driving member, and at least three traction members spaced apart around the central axis of the tail; one end of each traction member passes through the joint assembly, and the other end is connected to the driving member;

[0006] The joint assembly includes joint units connected sequentially along the length of the tail, and adjacent joint units have swing freedom in the area corresponding to the traction member.

[0007] The joint units have gaps between them on the sides along the central axis of the tail in their natural state; the drive unit narrows the gaps on the side of the joint units corresponding to the traction member by means of the traction member, so as to curl the joint assembly toward the direction of the traction member.

[0008] In a preferred embodiment: when the joint assembly is curled, the edges of each joint unit are joined together to form at least a portion of a logarithmic spiral;

[0009] When the edges of each joint unit are joined together to form at least a portion of a logarithmic spiral, the extended edges of each joint unit facing the center of the logarithmic spiral segment intersect at the center of the logarithmic spiral segment.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment: the included angles formed by the intersection of the extended edges of each joint unit on the side facing the center of the logarithmic spiral segment at the center of the logarithmic spiral segment are equal.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment: when the joint unit is in its natural state, the width of the gap gradually increases from one side near the central axis of the tail to the other side.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment: the joint unit includes a first portion and a second portion spaced apart along the length of the tail, and a connecting portion connecting the first portion and the second portion.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment, the connecting portion is hollow.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment: the cross-sectional area of ​​the connecting portion perpendicular to the central axis of the bionic tail is smaller than the cross-sectional areas of the first portion and the second portion.

[0015] In a preferred embodiment: the traction member is symmetrically arranged along the central axis of the tail.

[0016] In a preferred embodiment: the traction member is symmetrically arranged on both sides of the central axis of the tail along the width direction of the tail, and the traction member is symmetrically arranged on both sides of the central axis of the tail along the thickness direction of the tail.

[0017] In a preferred embodiment: the traction element is a traction rope.

[0018] In a preferred embodiment, adjacent joint units are connected by a swing connection.

[0019] In a preferred embodiment, adjacent joint units are connected by a ball head and a ball socket.

[0020] In a preferred embodiment: the driving member drives the traction member to narrow the gap on the same side as the traction member in adjacent joint units, and increase the gap on the opposite side of the traction member.

[0021] In a preferred embodiment: the dimensions of adjacent joint units gradually decrease or remain the same along the direction from the tip of the tail to the end.

[0022] This invention also provides a biomimetic animal equipped with the biomimetic tail described above.

[0023] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution of this utility model has the following beneficial effects:

[0024] This invention provides a flexible bionic tail. By setting three or more traction members, and the joint unit having swing freedom at the corresponding traction member positions, the bionic tail can be curled in three or more directions, thereby better simulating the curling effect of a real animal tail. Attached Figure Description

[0025] Figure 1 This is a front view of the bionic tail in the preferred embodiment of this utility model;

[0026] Figure 2 This is an exploded view of the bionic tail in the preferred embodiment of this utility model;

[0027] Figure 3 This is a side view of the bionic tail in the preferred embodiment of this utility model;

[0028] Figure 4 for Figure 3 A sectional view along the A-A' direction;

[0029] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the bionic tail curling to the left in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the bionic tail curling to the right in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the logarithmic spiral segment in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the logarithmic spiral segment after being equally divided in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the edge assembly of the joint unit into a logarithmic spiral segment in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the non-terminal joint unit in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 11This is a cross-sectional view of the non-terminal joint unit in the preferred embodiment of this utility model;

[0036] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the distal joint unit in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 13 This is a cross-sectional view of the distal joint unit in the preferred embodiment of this utility model;

[0038] Figure 14 This is an exploded view of the bionic tail in the preferred embodiment of this utility model. Detailed Implementation

[0039] To make the technical solution and features of this utility model clearer, the following detailed description of this utility model is provided in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific examples. It should be understood that these examples are only for illustrating this utility model and are not intended to limit the scope of this utility model. After reading this utility model, any modifications of this utility model by those skilled in the art in various equivalent forms fall within the scope defined by the appended claims.

[0040] Example 1

[0041] refer to Figures 1-13 This embodiment provides a flexible bionic tail, including: a joint assembly 1, a driving component (not shown in the accompanying drawings), and a traction component 2; one end of the traction component 2 passes through the joint assembly 1, and the other end is connected to the driving component; in this embodiment, the traction component 2 is a traction rope, and the driving component is used to retract the traction rope to achieve the effect of extending and curling the joint assembly 1. For example, a servo motor can be used as the driving component. The servo motor outputs clockwise or counterclockwise rotational power, and the rocker arm connected to the servo motor output shaft rotates synchronously with the servo motor; the end of the rocker arm pushes a rotating wheel to rotate around its own axis. When the rotating wheel rotates in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, the traction rope can be retracted or extended. In this embodiment, the joint assembly 1 is in an extended state in the initial state, and this state is defined as the natural state of the joint assembly 1.

[0042] In this embodiment, the joint component 1 bends in a logarithmic spiral segment in a curled state, which can better mimic the bending of an animal's tail and achieve a better simulation effect.

[0043] Therefore, the joint assembly 1 includes joint units 11 for forming a logarithmic spiral segment. These joint units 11 are sequentially connected along the length of the tail to form a long, narrow tail body. The dimensions of adjacent joint units 11 decrease proportionally from the tip to the tip of the tail. This is because the logarithmic spiral segment uses the line connecting its center point to any point on the spiral as an arm, and the length of this arm increases geometrically with the extension of the spiral. To match the increasing arm length, the dimensions of the joint units 11 must also increase proportionally. In this embodiment, the tip of the tail is the end furthest from the animal's body, and the tip is the end connected to the animal's body. Therefore, the tip of the tail, closer to the center O of the logarithmic spiral segment, needs to be smaller, while the tip of the tail, furthest from the center O, needs to be larger.

[0044] To allow the tail sufficient space to curl in its natural state, the joint units 11 have gaps 12 between them on both sides of the tail's central axis. These gaps 12 allow the joint assembly 1 to curl in both directions, achieving multi-directional curling. It should be noted that the number of traction members 2 is determined by the direction of curling. For example, if the joint assembly 1 curls to the left or right, the traction members 2 are symmetrically positioned on the left and right sides of the tail's central axis. If the joint assembly 1 curls upwards or downwards, the traction members 2 are symmetrically positioned on the upper and lower sides of the tail's central axis. In this embodiment, the joint assembly 1 can curl simultaneously in four directions (up, down, left, and right), therefore four traction members 2 are provided, positioned on the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the tail's central axis. Furthermore, the joint units 11 have gaps 12 between them on the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the tail's central axis in their natural state. When the tail needs to curl in a certain direction, the gap 12 between the corresponding sides of the joint units 11 can be narrowed by tightening the traction member 2 in the corresponding direction through the drive member, so as to curl the joint assembly 1 and make the edges of each joint unit 11 fit together to form at least a portion of a logarithmic spiral. As a simple alternative to this embodiment, the number of traction members 2 can also be three or four or more, depending on how many directions of curling are required.

[0045] Meanwhile, to avoid gaps remaining between joint units 11 even after the gap 12 between them narrows, the width of the gap 12 between adjacent joint units 11 gradually increases from one side near the tail's central axis to the other side when the joint unit 11 is in its natural state. This way, after the joint assembly 1 is curled, the joint unit 11 has more room to move at the edge of the gap 12, so that after the joint assembly 1 is curled, the gap 12 on the same side as the traction member 2 between two adjacent joint units 11 narrows, while the gap 12 on the opposite side of the traction member 2 increases, and the two joint units 11 form a V-shape.

[0046] In this embodiment, since there are four traction members 2, adjacent joint units 11 need to be able to swing in all four directions (up and down). Adjacent joint units 11 are connected by ball joints 111 and ball joints 112, thus achieving greater freedom of movement. In this embodiment, the joint units 11 are divided into distal joint units 113 and other non-distal joint units 114. The distal joint unit 113 is the one closest to the animal's body. Since it only needs to connect to the non-distal joint unit 114 on one side, it only needs to have a ball joint 111 on one side. The non-distal joint units 114 need to have a ball joint 111 on one side in the thickness direction and a ball joint 112 on the other side. Furthermore, each joint unit 11 is provided with a clearance channel 115 for the four traction members 2 to pass through.

[0047] To ensure that joint unit 11 can curl into a logarithmic spiral segment, a logarithmic spiral 3 needs to be drawn first. The polar equation of the logarithmic spiral 3 is expressed as γ = ae. bθ γ is the polar radius, θ is the polar angle, and a and b are constants. a is the initial radius: when θ = 0, the polar radius of the starting point of the logarithmic spiral (i.e., the center O of the logarithmic spiral segment above) is a; b is the exponential factor: when b > 0, the spiral expands outward; when b < 0, the spiral contracts inward. By selecting appropriate parameter factors, a basic logarithmic spiral can be drawn. Then, the spiral is divided into equal parts according to requirements. Equal division means that the extensions of each part intersect at the starting point of the spiral at the same angle α. The more equal parts there are, the shorter the length of each segment becomes, resulting in a higher degree of fit with the original spiral during the curling process; the fewer equal parts there are, the longer the length of each joint becomes, resulting in a lower degree of fit with the original spiral during the curling process. However, considering the cost requirements of assembly and manufacturing, the number of equal parts and the joint length need to be considered comprehensively. In this embodiment, there are 9 joint units 11. The drawn logarithmic spiral is divided into 16 equal parts in the circumferential direction, and 9 of these parts are selected, each of which can be used as a joint unit 11. When the joint assembly 1 is curled, the extended edges of each joint unit 11 on the side facing the center of the logarithmic spiral segment intersect at the center of the logarithmic spiral segment, and the included angle α formed by the intersection is also equal.

[0048] The aforementioned bionic tail can be installed in various bionic animals, such as simulated pet cats and dogs to accompany lonely elderly people, and simulated animal toys for children, etc.

[0049] Example 2

[0050] refer to Figure 14The difference between this embodiment and Embodiment 1 is that the bionic tail in this embodiment no longer strictly fits the logarithmic spiral after curling.

[0051] Specifically, in this embodiment, the joint unit 11 includes a first portion 116 and a second portion 117 spaced apart along the length of the tail, and a connecting portion 118 connecting the first portion 116 and the second portion 117. This arrangement allows each joint unit 11 to have a certain length, and reducing the number of joint units 11 can increase the curling effect while also reducing the weight of the entire bionic tail 2. Furthermore, the first portion 116 and the second portion 117 are connected by the connecting portion 118, the radial width of which is narrower than that of the first portion 116 and the second portion 117; that is, the cross-sectional area of ​​the connecting portion 118 perpendicular to the central axis of the bionic tail is smaller than the cross-sectional areas of the first portion 116 and the second portion 117. This reduces the weight of each joint unit 11. Additionally, the connecting portion 118 can be made hollow to further reduce the weight of each joint unit 11.

[0052] To allow the joint unit 11 to swing to the other side after the traction member on one side is tightened, adjacent joint units 11 are connected by a swing connection. Specifically, the first part 116 and the second part 117 are respectively provided with a ball head 119 and a ball socket 110 on their opposite sides, so that two adjacent joint units 11 can be connected by a swing connection through the ball head 119 and the ball socket 110.

[0053] It should be noted that the joint unit 11 located at the very end of the curling joint assembly 21 (closest to the tail tip) only needs to connect with the preceding joint unit 11, so only a ball head 119 needs to be provided on its first part 116. The second part 117 does not need a ball socket 110, but an additional connecting structure can be provided to connect with the end cap 1101 that forms the tail tip. This connecting structure can be a common connection structure in the prior art, such as a plug-in connection or a threaded connection.

[0054] It should be noted that, since the joint unit 11 in this embodiment no longer strictly fits a logarithmic spiral after curling, the dimensions of adjacent curled joint units 11 gradually decrease or remain the same along the direction from the tip to the end of the tail. In a more preferred embodiment, the dimensions can be proportionally reduced, making the overall size of the bionic tail taper from the side near the tail root to the tail tip. Of course, the joint units 11 can also be set to the same size, or several joint units 11 can be grouped together, with the joint units 11 in the same group being set to the same size, and the dimensions of the joint units 11 in adjacent groups decreasing proportionally.

[0055] The above is only one specific embodiment of the present utility model, but the design concept of the present utility model is not limited thereto. Any non-substantial modifications made to the present utility model using this concept shall be deemed as an infringement of the protection scope of the present utility model.

Claims

1. A flexible bionic tail, characterized in that... include: The device includes a joint assembly, a drive unit, and at least three traction members spaced apart around the central axis of the tail; one end of each traction member passes through the joint assembly, and the other end is connected to the drive unit. The joint assembly includes joint units connected sequentially along the length of the tail, and adjacent joint units have swing degrees of freedom in the region corresponding to the traction member. The joint units have gaps between them on the sides along the central axis of the tail in their natural state; the drive member narrows the gaps between the joint units on the side corresponding to the traction member by means of the traction member, so as to curl the joint assembly toward the direction of the traction member.

2. The flexible bionic tail according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the joint assembly is curled, the edges of each joint unit are joined together to form at least a portion of a logarithmic spiral. When the edges of each joint unit are joined together to form at least a portion of a logarithmic spiral, the extended edges of each joint unit facing the center of the logarithmic spiral segment intersect at the center of the logarithmic spiral segment.

3. The flexible bionic tail according to claim 2, characterized in that: The angles formed by the intersection of the extended edges of each joint unit on the side facing the center of the logarithmic spiral segment at the center of the logarithmic spiral segment are equal.

4. The flexible bionic tail according to claim 2, characterized in that: In its natural state, the width of the gap of the joint unit gradually increases from one side near the central axis of the tail to the other side.

5. A flexible bionic tail according to claim 1, characterized in that: The joint unit includes a first part and a second part spaced apart along the length of the tail, and a connecting part connecting the first part and the second part.

6. A flexible bionic tail according to claim 5, characterized in that: The connecting part is hollow.

7. A flexible bionic tail according to claim 5, characterized in that: The cross-sectional area of ​​the connecting portion perpendicular to the central axis of the bionic tail is smaller than the cross-sectional areas of the first portion and the second portion.

8. A flexible bionic tail according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that: The traction components are symmetrically arranged along the central axis of the tail.

9. A flexible bionic tail according to claim 8, characterized in that: The traction components are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the central axis of the tail along the width direction and symmetrically arranged on both sides of the central axis of the tail along the thickness direction.

10. A flexible bionic tail according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that: The traction component is a traction rope.

11. A flexible bionic tail according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that: The adjacent joint units are connected by a swing connection.

12. A flexible bionic tail according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that: Adjacent joint units are connected by a ball head and a ball socket.

13. A flexible bionic tail according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that: The driving component drives the traction component to narrow the gap on the same side as the traction component in adjacent joint units, and increase the gap on the opposite side of the traction component.

14. A flexible bionic tail according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that: The dimensions of adjacent joint units gradually decrease or remain the same along the direction from the tip of the tail to its end.

15. A biomimetic animal, characterized in that... It is equipped with the bionic tail as described in any one of claims 1-14.

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