Ship drone recovery system

Abstract

We provide a ship drone recovery system. [Solution] The ship drone recovery system 100 according to the present invention comprises an electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 attached to a ship 10 and having adjustable elevation and azimuth angles, a retractable robotic arm 120 attached to the electronically controlled pan / tilt head and having multiple electronically controlled joints 121 with multi-axis degrees of freedom to extend and retract, and a foldable magnetic platform 130 attached to the end of the retractable robotic arm. When a drone is stationary above the ship, the system adjusts the electronically controlled pan / tilt head and the retractable robotic arm so that the foldable magnetic platform and the drone are brought relatively close together, and the magnetic attraction function of the foldable magnetic platform is activated, thereby coupling the drone and the foldable magnetic platform and completing the drone recovery operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a drone recovery system, and more particularly to a ship drone recovery system.

Background Art

[0002] Conventional drones face problems such as instability in landing due to the swaying of the ship when landing on the ship, narrow landing space, difficulty in precise positioning, and failure of the automatic landing system due to strong winds and rough waves.

[0003] In addition, conventional known drone recovery methods include capture by net, restraint by rope, or landing navigation by GPS.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, many of the above-mentioned drone recovery methods are passive, have a high risk, and lack the ability to actively capture drones.

[0005] Therefore, the inventor of the present invention considered that the above-mentioned drawbacks could be improved, and as a result of repeated intensive studies, the present invention was proposed to effectively improve the above-mentioned problems through a reasonable design.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and its object is to provide a ship drone recovery system.

[0007] The first object of the present invention is to provide a ship drone recovery system capable of stably capturing a stationary drone even in a situation where the ship is swayed by waves by automatically sucking the stationary drone by a smart robot arm module based on a pan-tilt head.

[0008] ​A second objective of this invention is to provide a ship-drone recovery system that can save space occupied on a ship by using a robotic arm having multiple joints with a folding and storage function.

[0009] A third object of the present invention is to provide a ship-drone recovery system in which a magnetic attraction platform for conveniently capturing the stationary drone is installed at the end of the robot arm having the plurality of joints.

[0010] A fourth objective of the present invention is to provide a ship-based drone recovery system that can further save space occupied on a ship by having a foldable magnetic attraction platform. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] To solve the above problems, this invention employs the following means. A ship drone recovery system according to one aspect of the present invention is: An electronically controlled pan / tilt head, mounted on a ship and configured to allow adjustment of its elevation and azimuth angles, A telescopic robotic arm, which is attached to the aforementioned electronically controlled pan / tilt head and has multiple electronically controlled joints with multi-axis degrees of freedom that allow it to extend and retract, The robot arm comprises a foldable magnetic platform attached to the end of the aforementioned extendable robot arm, The electronically controlled pan / tilt head and the telescopic robotic arm are equipped with a structure that allows the magnetic platform to approach the drone in relative proximity. The magnetic platform has a magnetic attraction configuration capable of attracting a drone, and is configured to hold the drone by this magnetic attraction configuration. When the drone remains stationary above the vessel, the system adjusts the electronically controlled pan / tilt head and the telescopic robotic arm so that the foldable magnetic platform and the drone are brought relatively close together, and the magnetic attraction function of the foldable magnetic platform is activated, thereby coupling the drone and the foldable magnetic platform and completing the drone retrieval operation.

[0012] In a preferred example of the present invention, the electronically controlled pan / tilt head is equipped with an image recognition module.

[0013] In a preferred example of the present invention, the electronically controlled pan / tilt head is equipped with a laser distance measuring module.

[0014] In a preferred example of the present invention, the retractable robot arm has a vibration compensation function.

[0015] In a preferred example of the present invention, the foldable magnetic platform includes an electromagnet and is equipped with an electronically controlled magnetic attraction release function.

[0016] In a preferred example of the present invention, the ship-based drone recovery system further comprises a central control unit electrically connected to the electronically controlled pan / tilt head, the telescopic robotic arm, and the foldable magnetic platform for performing the drone recovery operation.

[0017] In a preferred example of the present invention, the ship drone recovery system includes a storage state in which the plurality of electronically controlled joints of the telescopic robot arm are driven such that the telescopic robot arm takes on a folded form.

[0018] In a preferred example of the present invention, the storage state further includes the folding magnetic platform being folded into a small-area module.

[0019] In a preferred example of the present invention, the relatively approaching operation includes adjusting the electronically controlled pan-tilt head and the telescopic robotic arm by the system such that the drone hovers over the ship and the folding magnetic platform approaches the drone.

[0020] In a preferred example of the present invention, the relatively approaching operation includes adjusting the electronically controlled pan-tilt head and the telescopic robotic arm by the system such that the folding magnetic platform is fixed above the ship and the drone lands on the folding magnetic platform.

[0021] In a preferred example of the present invention, the relatively approaching operation includes adjusting the electronically controlled pan-tilt head and the telescopic robotic arm by the system such that the folding magnetic platform approaches the drone from below the drone and at the same time the drone lands on the folding magnetic platform.

[0022] From the descriptions in the following specification and drawings, at least the following matters will become clear.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0023] [Figure 1] It is a schematic diagram showing a ship drone recovery system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] It is a schematic diagram showing the ship drone recovery system shown in FIG. 1 executing a recovery operation. [Figure 3] It is a schematic diagram showing the ship drone recovery system shown in FIG. 1 in a stored state.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0024] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and can take various forms as long as it belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing a ship-based drone recovery system according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the example shown in Figure 1, the ship-based drone recovery system 100 is used to perform drone recovery operations and includes an electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110, a retractable robotic arm 120, and a foldable magnetic platform 130.

[0026] The electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 is mounted on the vessel 10 and is adjustable in elevation and azimuth to compensate for wave motion, and automatically tracks the drone. The electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 may also be equipped with an image recognition module or a laser distance measuring module for automatically tracking the drone.

[0027] The retractable robot arm 120 is attached to an electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 and has multiple electronically controlled joints 121 with multi-axis degrees of freedom that allow multiple arm sections 122 to be extended and retracted. In one embodiment, the retractable robot arm 120 may have six electronically controlled joints 121 with six axes of freedom and may have a vibration compensation function. During operation, the retractable robot arm 120 is automatically extended below the drone by the guide of the electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110.

[0028] The foldable magnetic platform 130 is attached to the end of the retractable robotic arm 120 and has electromagnetic control capabilities. Magnetic attraction is activated when the platform approaches the drone, and the drone's bottom structure (e.g., landing frame) is attracted to it. The foldable magnetic platform is equipped with an electromagnet and includes an electronically controlled magnetic attraction release function.

[0029] The ship-based drone recovery system 100 may further include a central control unit (not shown) which is electrically connected to an electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110, a retractable robotic arm 120, and a foldable magnetic platform 130, and is used to control the drone recovery operation.

[0030] More specifically, the drone recovery operation includes four stages: stagnation, alignment, suction, and landing. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the ship drone recovery system 100 performing the recovery operation. In the example in Figure 2, the drone 20 may be a stagnant VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) drone or a rotary-wing drone. When the drone 20 is stagnant above the ship 10 (stagnation stage), the ship drone recovery system 100 adjusts the electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 and the telescopic robotic arm 120 so that the foldable magnetic platform 130 and the drone 20 are relatively close to each other (alignment stage), and the magnetic suction function of the foldable magnetic platform 130 is activated (suction stage), the drone 20 and the foldable magnetic platform 130 are coupled (landing stage), and the drone recovery operation is completed. Incidentally, during the execution of the drone retrieval operation, the ship 10 tilts and sways relative to the water surface 30, but the present invention automatically adjusts the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 so that the swaying of the waves can be compensated for. Specifically, in one embodiment, the operation of approaching the drone may be performed by the ship drone retrieval system 100 adjusting the electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 and the telescopic robotic arm 120 so that the drone 20 stays above the ship 10 and the foldable magnetic platform 130 approaches the drone 20. In another embodiment, the operation of approaching the drone may be performed by the ship drone retrieval system 100 adjusting the electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 and the telescopic robotic arm 120 so that the foldable magnetic platform 130 is fixed above the ship 10 and the drone 20 lands on the foldable magnetic platform 130. In yet another embodiment, the relative approach operation may also involve the ship drone recovery system 100 adjusting the electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 and the telescopic robotic arm 120 so that the foldable magnetic platform 130 approaches the drone 20 from below, and at the same time the drone 20 lands on the foldable magnetic platform 130.

[0031] Furthermore, the ship-drone recovery system 100 may also have a stowed state. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the ship-drone recovery system 100 in a stowed state. In the example of Figure 3, the stowed state includes the operation of the multiple electronically controlled joints 121 of the telescopic robot arm 120 so that the telescopic robot arm 120 takes on a folded form, and the folding magnetic platform 130 being folded into a small-area module.

[0032] Furthermore, in the verification operation, the ship-based drone recovery system 100 is applied to the drone recovery operation performed on a VTOL drone by a medium-sized naval frigate. The VTOL drone hovers overhead to return to the ship after completing its reconnaissance mission. The ship-based drone recovery system 100 activates the positioning function of the electronically controlled pan / tilt head 110 and guides the telescopic robotic arm 120 to deploy and align. The foldable magnetic platform 130 is automatically attracted as it approaches the bottom of the VTOL drone, and the VTOL drone is safely recovered to the deck anchoring area. The drone recovery operation takes less than 20 seconds.

[0033] As this invention is configured as described above, it produces the following effects. 1. The ship drone recovery system according to the present invention uses a smart robotic arm module based on a pan / tilt head to automatically suck up stationary drones, enabling stable capture of stationary drones even when the ship is rocking in the waves. 2. The ship drone recovery system according to the present invention saves space occupied on a ship by having a robotic arm with multiple joints that can be folded and stored. 3. The ship drone recovery system according to the present invention is equipped with a magnetic attraction platform at the end of the robot arm having multiple joints, for conveniently capturing the stationary drone. IV. The ship-based drone recovery system according to the present invention further saves space occupied on a ship because the magnetic attraction platform is foldable.

[0034] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. Embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means devised for each of the different embodiments are also included within the technical scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 10 ships 20 Drones 30 water surface 100 Ship Drone Recovery System 110 Electronically Controlled Tripod Head 120 Extendable Robot Arm 121 Electronically controlled joint 122 Arm section 130 Foldable Magnetic Platform

Claims

1. A ship drone recovery system, An electronically controlled pan / tilt head, mounted on a ship and configured to allow adjustment of its elevation and azimuth angles, A telescopic robotic arm, which is attached to the aforementioned electronically controlled pan / tilt head and has multiple electronically controlled joints with multi-axis degrees of freedom that allow it to extend and retract, The robot arm comprises a foldable magnetic platform attached to the end of the aforementioned extendable robot arm, The electronically controlled pan / tilt head and the telescopic robotic arm are equipped with a structure that allows the magnetic platform to approach the drone in relative proximity. The aforementioned magnetic platform has a magnetic attraction configuration capable of attracting a drone, and is configured to hold the drone by the magnetic attraction configuration, characterized in that it is a ship-based drone recovery system.

2. The ship drone recovery system according to claim 1, characterized in that the electronically controlled pan / tilt head is equipped with an image recognition module or a laser distance measurement module.

3. The ship drone recovery system according to claim 1, characterized in that the retractable robot arm has a vibration compensation function.

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