Wearable Cable-Driven Robotic Arm Load Trolley
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wearable robotic arms are heavy and consume high energy due to the placement of driving units at joints, leading to discomfort and reduced precision and endurance for users, and existing solutions like the CN 104825258 A patent still burden wearers with large loads from motors and batteries.
Innovation Solution
A wearable cable-driven robotic arm system with lightweight driving devices positioned on a load trolley, using cables to drive the robotic arms, reducing the weight and size of the arms and distributing the load, and incorporating a motor controller and brain-computer interface for control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If driving units are directly mounted at joints of the manipulators, then the robotic arm can achieve precise control and sufficient driving force, but the inertia and size of arm bodies increase significantly, resulting in high energy consumption and dynamic coupling between human bodies and the wearable robotic arms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the driving units (motors) from the robotic arm joints and relocates them to an external power supply unit worn on the user's back. This separation removes the heavy driving components from the moving arm structure, significantly reducing the weight of the robotic arm while maintaining the necessary driving force through cable transmission to the joints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces cables as intermediary elements to transmit driving force from the external power supply unit to the robotic arm joints. The cables act as flexible power transmission media, enabling the driving units to be positioned externally while still providing sufficient torque and control to the arm joints, thus resolving the contradiction between centralized power and distributed weight.
2Power
If heavy driving units and batteries are mounted on the wearer's shoulders, then the robotic arm can function with sufficient power, but the load on the wearer increases significantly, reducing wearing comfort and endurance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent relocates the power supply unit from the horizontal dimension (shoulders) to the vertical dimension (back), distributing the load along the spine rather than concentrating it on the shoulders. This dimensional shift in load placement improves ergonomics and wearing comfort while maintaining sufficient power output for robotic arm operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is segmented into distinct functional modules: the power supply unit with driving motors worn on the back, the cable transmission system, and the lightweight robotic arm. This segmentation allows the heavy components to be positioned optimally for comfort while the operational components remain lightweight and maneuverable.
3Productivity
If motors, batteries and other heavy objects are carried on wearer's shoulders, then the robotic arm can achieve sufficient driving capability, but the large loads on the wearers greatly reduce wearing comfort and increase energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the energy-consuming driving units from the robotic arm structure and positions them externally on the user's back. This extraction reduces the energy required for arm movement by eliminating the energy needed to accelerate and decelerate heavy motor components during arm motion, while maintaining full driving capability for productive work.
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
This design reduces the load on the human body, improves wearing comfort, and enhances precision and endurance by minimizing the weight and size of the robotic arms while allowing for efficient control through electroencephalogram signals.
Implementation Method 1
the driving portion being connected to the driven portion by means of a cable, the driving portion driving the driven portion to move
Implementation Method 2
the load trolley includes a housing and casters
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable cable-driven robotic arm system includes a wearing mechanism, two robotic arms located on two sides of the wearing mechanism, cable driving devices, a load trolley, and a motor controller, where the cable driving devices are divided into driving portions and driven portions, heavy objects, such as electric motors, of the driving portions are arranged in the load trolley, thereby reducing loads born by the wearable robotic arms, the load trolley can travel with a person by means of sleeves or can be controlled by the motor controller to move by means of signals measured by following modules, the driven portions are combined with the robotic arms, and are double-cable driven, thereby reducing weight of the robotic arms, and a brain-computer interface module is used for controlling the driving devices, thereby controlling the robotic arms more accurately.