Quadruped Robot Inflatable Sleeve Impact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Quadruped robots are prone to knock damage due to their hard materials, pose a safety hazard due to high movement speeds and inflexible designs, and suffer from inefficient heat dissipation.
Innovation Solution
A quadruped robot protection apparatus featuring an inflatable sleeve that covers the robot's body, providing a buffer layer against impacts, improving safety by reducing damage to surroundings, and enhancing heat dissipation through continuous air flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If hard materials such as metal or hard plastic are used for the quadruped robot body, then the robot has high strength and durability, but the robot is prone to knock damage and poses safety hazards to surrounding people or things
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies beforehand cushioning by introducing an inflatable sleeve that can be inflated before potential impacts occur. The sleeve creates a cushioning layer that absorbs impact energy, protecting both the robot body from knock damage and surrounding people or things from injury. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining the strength of hard materials while adding a protective cushioning mechanism that mitigates harmful impacts.
Solution Approach 2:
The inflatable sleeve acts as an intermediary between the hard robot body and the external environment. When inflated, it creates a buffer zone that mediates interactions between the robot and surrounding objects, reducing the transmission of impact forces. This intermediary layer allows the robot to maintain its structural strength while reducing harmful effects during collisions.
2Productivity
If the quadruped robot moves at high speed, then the robot has high productivity and responsiveness, but the robot is more likely to hit surrounding people or things, causing safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The inflatable sleeve provides beforehand cushioning that activates before potential collisions occur. When the robot moves at high speed and approaches obstacles or people, the inflated sleeve creates a protective cushion that reduces the impact force, thereby maintaining high productivity while mitigating safety hazards.
3Strength
If the outer surface of the quadruped robot is made of metal or hard plastic, then the robot has high strength, but the appearance is hard to change and adapt to diversified consumer demands
Solution Approach 1:
The inflatable sleeve introduces dynamics to the robot's appearance. Instead of a fixed hard exterior, the robot can have its appearance dynamically changed by inflating or deflating the sleeve, or by using sleeves with different designs. This allows the robot to adapt to diversified consumer demands while maintaining the strength of the underlying hard body structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The inflatable sleeve uses a flexible membrane structure that can be inflated to create various appearances. This flexible shell approach allows the robot to change its appearance without changing the hard body structure, thereby maintaining strength while improving appearance adaptability to different consumer preferences.
4Device complexity
If natural heat dissipation is used for the quadruped robot, then the robot has simple structure, but the heat is dissipated slowly with low efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The inflatable sleeve utilizes pneumatic principles to enhance heat dissipation. By continuously inflating the sleeve, air flow is generated that passes over the robot body, creating a cooling effect. This pneumatic approach improves heat dissipation efficiency while adding minimal structural complexity, as it primarily involves an inflation mechanism rather than a complex cooling system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The inflatable sleeve effectively protects the quadruped robot from external impacts and reduces the risk of injury to people or objects, while also improving heat dissipation and allowing for customizable appearances, enriching application scenarios and user experience.
Implementation Method 1
the inflatable sleeve may cover a quadruped robot body and thus may act as a buffer layer of a quadruped robot to effectively protect the quadruped robot body from an excessively large external impact
Implementation Method 2
an air pump may be configured to continuously inflate the inflatable sleeve, so that there is continuous high-speed air flow in the inflatable sleeve, forming continuous low-temperature air flow between the inflatable sleeve and the quadruped robot body, which can take away heat generated by the quadruped robot body
Data Source
AI summary
A quadruped robot includes a quadruped robot body, an inflatable sleeve, and an air pump, where the inflatable sleeve covers the outer surface of the quadruped robot body; the air pump is configure to provide continuous air flow for the inflatable sleeve; the inflatable sleeve includes an air inlet of the inflatable sleeve and an air outlet of the inflatable sleeve, and an air flow rate of the air inlet of the inflatable sleeve is greater than an air flow rate of the air outlet of the inflatable sleeve; and the inflatable sleeve, after being inflated, forms an airbag covering the quadruped robot body. The exterior of the quadruped robot body is covered with the inflatable sleeve that, when being in an inflatable state, acts as a buffer layer of the quadruped robot to effectively protect the quadruped robot body from an excessively large external impact.