Remote Center Compliance Device

Abstract

This product is a remote center compliance device used in robots and other devices. As shown in the "Reference Oblique View Showing the Names of Each Part," this product has a first deformation section consisting of five flexible thin plates arranged radially, and a second deformation section consisting of two flexible flat plates arranged parallel to one another; the remaining parts are shape-retaining. As shown in "Reference Figure 1 Showing the State of Use," when at least one thin plate of the first deformation section bends, it rotates around its base end as indicated by arrow A1, and the actuating section moves in a direction along an arc with the left-right direction (X direction) as a tangent, as indicated by arrow A2. Furthermore, as shown in "Reference Figure 2 Showing the State of Use," when the actuating section is subjected to an external force in the vertical direction (Y direction), the second deformation section deforms, moving the actuating section from its position before the external force to a position corresponding to the magnitude of the deformation in the vertical direction. In this way, in this product, the position of the actuating section moves in the horizontal and vertical directions in response to external forces in the horizontal and vertical directions. On the other hand, although the first and second deformation portions are flexible, the plate-like portions extend in the front-rear direction while being supported by left-right edges, and therefore the actuating unit is less likely to deform in the front-rear direction (Z direction) when subjected to an external force in the front-rear direction. Thus, in this article, the degree of freedom of movement of the actuating unit in both the left-right direction (X direction) and the up-down direction (Y direction) is sufficiently high, while the degree of freedom of movement of the actuating unit in the front-rear direction (Z direction) is sufficiently low. Therefore, this article is used in applications that require it to be rigid and not deform in the Z direction, but to flexibly deform in the X and Y directions in response to external forces. This article is applicable, for example, to a flower spike shaping blade in a flower spike shaping robot that shapes flower spikes to obtain high-quality grape crops. As shown in "Reference Figure 3 showing the state of use," when the spike shaping blade is attached to the operating part of the device and the spike shaping blade is clamped around the rachis of a grapevine stem having a main spike and moved up and down along the spike from the top of the spike to the main spike, the spike shaping blade moves left and right and front and back appropriately according to the shape of the spike, while moving downward while still clamping the spike. In this way, it is possible to select and remove the secondary spikes that branch off from the stem between the top of the spike and the main spike at the tip.

Images