Mobile Manipulator Joint Layout for Tight-Space Precision
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional warehouse robots, whether specialist or generalist, face limitations in efficiency, flexibility, and safety due to loose integration of mobile bases and manipulators, leading to suboptimal performance and compliance with safety regulations.
Innovation Solution
A highly integrated mobile manipulator robot with system-level mechanical design and holistic control strategies, featuring modular proximal joints and integrated distal joints with internal routing of connections, enabling precise control, robustness to impacts, and efficient navigation in tight spaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional warehouse robots use loose integration of mobile bases and manipulators, then device complexity is reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but task efficiency and flexibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the mobile base and manipulator into a highly integrated mobile manipulator system, where the manipulator is directly mounted on the mobile base with shared control architecture and coordinated motion planning, eliminating the loose coupling of conventional systems and enabling seamless collaboration between mobility and manipulation functions
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated mobile manipulator is designed as a universal platform capable of performing multiple tasks including navigation, object manipulation, and adaptive interaction with the environment, allowing a single system to replace multiple specialized robots and significantly improving task efficiency and flexibility
2Ease of repair
If proximal joints use modular design with separate functional units, then ease of repair and manufacturing are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The proximal joints are segmented into modular functional units including separate actuators, encoders, bearings, and clutches that can be independently assembled, disassembled, and replaced, facilitating easy maintenance and repair while managing complexity through standardized interfaces and modular architecture
3Volume of moving object
If distal joints use integrated design with offset actuators, then space utilization in tight environments is improved, but ease of manufacture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The distal joints employ asymmetric integrated design with offset actuators positioned away from the joint axis, creating an asymmetric layout that optimizes space utilization in tight environments while enabling through-bore routing for internal connections, despite increased manufacturing complexity
4Use of energy by moving object
If the robotic arm limits mass to reduce battery load, then energy consumption is reduced, but strength and robustness to impacts deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic arm uses lightweight materials and optimized structural parameters to reduce mass for lower energy consumption, while incorporating compliance elements and impact absorption mechanisms that allow the system to withstand impacts and collisions despite the reduced mass
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are systems and methods directed to an industrial robot that can perform mobile manipulation (e.g., dexterous mobile manipulation). A robotic arm may be capable of precise control when reaching into tight spaces, may be robust to impacts and collisions, and/or may limit the mass of the robotic arm to reduce the load on the battery and increase runtime. A robotic arm may include differently configured proximal joints and/or distal joints. Proximal joints may be designed to promote modularity and may include separate functional units, such as modular actuators, encoder, bearings, and/or clutches. Distal joints may be designed to promote integration and may include offset actuators to enable a through-bore for the internal routing of vacuum, power, and signal connections.