Soft robot driver
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of intelligent bionic instruments and soft robots, in particular to a soft robot driver.
Background
The traditional rigid robot is widely applied to various fields such as industry, agriculture, medical treatment, construction, education and the like, and partially replaces human work, so that the operation accuracy and the work efficiency are greatly improved. However, when the rigid robot interacts with the natural environment, the rigid element can only move in a translation or rotation manner, and the problems of large motor-driven inertia, heavy body size, danger of man-machine interaction and the like exist, so that the rigid robot has very limited adaptability to the environment, is difficult to meet the flexible operation requirement required by a complex environment, and greatly limits the application range of the rigid robot.
With the continuous expansion of the application requirements and fields of the robot, the emerging fields of rehabilitation medical treatment, complex terrain rescue and exploration, intelligent manufacturing and the like provide higher requirements for the flexibility of the robot. Thanks to the rapid development of intelligent materials and bionic technology, some scholars develop a series of soft robots by adopting flexible materials (such as shape memory alloy, polymer and the like) and simulating biological structures and movement behaviors, and typical achievements include bionic machines such as worms, caterpillars, bat ray and the like. Unlike the conventional rigid robot, the soft robot has an infinite number of degrees of freedom theoretically, and can realize continuous bending, twisting, stretching and other motions at any angle, and thus, the soft robot is a popular research direction in recent years. The soft robot is soft in material, flexible in action and high in man-machine interaction safety, and the essential defect of the traditional rigid robot in the aspect of flexibility is overcome, so that the soft robot has great research value and wide application prospect in a plurality of emerging fields.
Pneumatic driving is the most common driving method for soft robots. In order to realize the motion of the soft robot, some scholars adopt a rigid valve to drive and control the soft robot, for example, various direction control valves widely used in industry are utilized, the rigid valve is started through air pressure or electric signals, and an air pressure loop is adjusted to realize the motion control of the soft robot. However, even if a rigid valve can be integrated with a soft robot, the rigid nature of the valve can significantly reduce the flexibility of the soft robot. Therefore, a rigid valve is not a good choice from the viewpoint of ensuring the compliance of a soft robot. To solve the above problems, some researchers developed some software valves, software logic circuits, software signal processors, etc. based on microfluidic technology. The representative research is that Whitesids subject group of Harvard university develops a micro-fluidic driver chip, which is integrated into a soft bionic octopus body and utilizes chemical substances to react in the chip to generate a large amount of pressure gas to drive the octopus, thus becoming the first soft robot in the world which can move automatically without external energy control. Although the microfluidic technology has the obvious advantages of high integration level, small volume and the like in the aspect of application of the soft robot, the complicated manufacturing process of the microfluidic chip greatly reduces the performance stability of the microfluidic soft driver, and is not beneficial to the long-time continuous use of the soft robot. In view of the above, there is a need to develop a soft driver capable of controlling the motion of a soft robot, and the soft driver is easy to be integrated with the soft robot.
Disclosure of Invention
The purpose of the invention is as follows: in order to overcome the defects in the prior art, the invention provides a soft robot driver. The driver is made of soft materials, has small volume and high sensitivity, and can meet the integrated application requirements of a soft robot and an intelligent bionic instrument.
In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the technical scheme that: a soft robot driver is composed of soft materials and comprises a valve body, a main channel, an upper partition plate, a balance cavity, a side channel, a diaphragm, a control cavity, a lower partition plate and an auxiliary channel;
the main channel is provided with an inlet and an expansion flow channel I, the balance cavity is provided with an air hole I, the diaphragm is provided with an upper convex column and a lower convex column, the side channel is provided with an air hole II, the lower partition plate is provided with an air hole III, and the auxiliary channel is provided with an air hole IV and an expansion flow channel II;
the main channel is communicated with the auxiliary channel through a bypass channel, the main channel is separated from the balance cavity through an upper partition plate, the balance cavity is separated from the control cavity through a diaphragm, and the auxiliary channel is separated from the control cavity through a lower partition plate;
the diaphragm is a bistable flexible film and is provided with two stable positions, the diaphragm is kept in a concave state in a normal state, and quickly bounces upwards when being excited by stress and is kept in a convex state.
Preferably, the upper partition plate and the lower partition plate have good elasticity and can elastically deform under the action of external force.
Preferably, the balance cavity is communicated to the atmosphere through a first air hole.
Preferably, the upper convex column and the lower convex column are both conical columns, and the tips of the columns are spherical surfaces.
Preferably, the control cavity and the secondary channel are communicated through a third air hole.
Preferably, the diaphragm is extruded by the lower convex column to deform downwards and block the expansion flow channel II in a normal state, so that the auxiliary channel is normally closed, and the main channel is normally open; when the diaphragm is excited, the upper partition plate is extruded by the upper convex column to deform upwards and block the first expansion flow channel, so that the main channel is closed, and the lower partition plate rebounds to a flat state to conduct the auxiliary channel.
Preferably, the extension flow channel is wider than the main channel, and the extension flow channel two is wider than the auxiliary channel.
Preferably, the excitation source of the diaphragm is one of compressed gas, an electric field, a magnetic field, and a thermal external physical field.
Preferably, the soft material is one of silica gel, rubber, polydimethylsiloxane and polyurethane, and the diaphragm is one of silica gel, rubber, polydimethylsiloxane, polyurethane and a shape memory material.
Compared with the prior art, the soft robot driver provided by the invention has the following beneficial effects:
the soft robot driver provided by the invention is provided with a bistable flexible diaphragm which has two stable positions due to a special mechanical structure of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is only subjected to upward reaction force applied to the diaphragm by the lower partition plate at normal state, the reaction force is small, and the diaphragm keeps a concave state. When the lower surface of the diaphragm is excited by an external force exceeding a certain threshold value, the diaphragm can be instantly bounced upwards and keeps a convex state. Based on the mechanical properties of the bistable flexible membrane, the action characteristic of the membrane can be regarded as a signal-actuated response switch. The diaphragm is arranged in the soft driver, and the elastic fluid channel is extruded by utilizing the response action of the diaphragm when the diaphragm is excited by the outside, so that the on-off control of the fluid in the channel can be realized, and further, the internal pressure of the valve generates a periodic pulse effect, thereby being used for the continuous driving of the soft robot. Compared with the gas driving mode of the rigid valve used in the industry at present, the driver provided by the invention is made of flexible materials, can be flexibly integrated and applied with a soft robot, and solves the problem of flexibility of rigid valve driving. In addition, compared with a micro-fluidic valve, the soft actuator is simpler in manufacturing process, can be quickly manufactured by soft material reverse die or 3D printing, and is better in reliability.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a soft actuator in a normal state;
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a soft driver excited by an external signal;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the flow path configuration when the main channel is closed by the diaphragm;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the integration of the soft body driver and the soft body earthworm;
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a soft body driver driving a soft body earthworm to extend and advance;
fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the soft earthworm contraction driven by the soft driver.
The valve comprises a valve body 1, a main channel 2, an inlet 21, an expansion flow channel I22, an upper partition plate 3, a balance cavity 4, a first air hole 41, a first bypass channel 5, a second air hole 51, a diaphragm 6, an upper convex column 61, a lower convex column 62, a control cavity 7, a lower partition plate 8, a third air hole 81, an auxiliary channel 9, a fourth air hole 91, an expansion flow channel II 92, an air tank 10, an earthworm soft body 11, a rear foot 111, a front foot 112 and an energy accumulator 113.
Detailed Description
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and it will be understood that they are described herein for the purpose of illustration and explanation and not limitation.
Example 1
As shown in fig. 1-3, a soft robot driver comprises a valve body 1, a main channel 2, an upper partition plate 3, a balance cavity 4, a bypass channel 5, a diaphragm 6, a control cavity 7, a lower partition plate 8 and an auxiliary channel 9. Except that the diaphragm 6 of the driver in this embodiment is made of silica gel, the rest of the components are made of polydimethylsiloxane.
The main channel 2 is provided with an inlet 21 and an expansion flow passage I22, the balance cavity 4 is provided with an air hole I41, the bypass channel 5 is provided with an air hole II 51, the diaphragm 6 is provided with an upper convex column 61 and a lower convex column 62, the lower partition plate 8 is provided with an air hole III 81, and the auxiliary channel 9 is provided with an air hole IV 91 and an expansion flow passage II 92;
the main channel 2 and the auxiliary channel 9 are communicated through the side channel 5, the main channel 2 and the balance cavity 4 are separated through the upper partition plate 3, the balance cavity 4 and the control cavity 7 are separated through the diaphragm 6, the auxiliary channel 9 and the control cavity 7 are separated through the lower partition plate 8, the control cavity 7 and the auxiliary channel 9 are communicated through the air hole III 81, the balance cavity 4 is communicated to the atmosphere through the air hole I41, and the air hole IV 91 is communicated with the atmosphere.
The width of the first expansion flow channel 22 is 1.5 times that of the main channel 2, and the width of the second expansion flow channel 92 is 1.5 times that of the auxiliary channel 9.
The diaphragm 6 is a bistable flexible film and has two equilibrium positions, a concave state is kept in a normal state, an convex state is kept when the diaphragm is excited by an external force, and the excitation pressure is 30 kPa.
The diaphragm 6 is concave downwards in a normal state, the lower partition plate 8 is extruded by the lower convex column 62 to deform downwards and block the second expansion flow channel 92, the auxiliary channel 9 is normally closed, and the main channel 2 is normally open. The inlet 21 is connected with a working air source, the pressure of the working air source is 50kPa, and the second air hole 51 is connected with the air tank 10. And starting a working air source, and respectively inflating the control cavity 7 and the air tank 10 by compressed air through the inlet 21, the main channel 2, the bypass channel 5, the third air hole 81 and the second air hole 51. When the air pressure in the control cavity 7 reaches 30kPa, the diaphragm 6 is excited by the air pressure to be raised instantly, the upper partition plate 3 is extruded by the upper convex column 61 to deform upwards and block the expansion flow passage I22, so that the main channel 2 is closed, and meanwhile, the lower partition plate 8 is rebounded to a flat state, so that the auxiliary channel 9 is communicated. At this time, the gas tank 10, the control chamber 7 and the sub-passage 9 are communicated, and the gas stored in the gas tank 10 and the control chamber 7 is exhausted to the atmosphere through the gas hole four 91. Since the working air supply is interrupted by the main channel 2, the air pressure of the air tank 10 and the control chamber 7 drops rapidly. When the air pressure in the control cavity 7 is lower than 30kPa, the diaphragm 6 automatically sinks due to the inherent elastic action of the diaphragm, so that the main channel 2 is communicated with a working air source, and the air tank 10 is inflated again. Therefore, only a constant working air source is applied to the driver in this embodiment, so that the air pressure in the air tank 10 can exhibit a significant pulse oscillation phenomenon, and such an air pressure oscillation mechanism can be used for driving the soft robot to move continuously.
Example 2
As shown in fig. 4-6, the soft body driver is integrated with the soft body earthworm 11, and the soft body earthworm 11 has a rear foot 111, a front foot 112 and an energy storage 113. Connecting the drive inlet 21 to a constant working gas source PsThe pressure of the working air source was 50 kPa. The first air hole 41 and the fourth air hole 91 are communicated with the atmosphere. When the diaphragm 6 is in a normal state, the lower partition plate 8 is downwards concave and extruded to enable the auxiliary channel 9 to be normally closed, and the main channel 2 is normally open. Starting a working gas source, compressed gas passes through the inlet 21, the main channel 2, the bypass channel 5,The third air hole 81 and the second air hole 51 respectively inflate the control cavity 7 and the soft earthworms 11, and the energy storage device 113 begins to arch upwards and expand horizontally after being inflated (fig. 5). At this time, the rear foot 111 is in plane contact with the ground, and the front foot 112 slides on the ground, so that the soft earthworms 11 start to extend in the forward direction. When the air pressure in the control cavity 7 reaches the excitation pressure of the diaphragm 6 (30 kPa), the diaphragm 6 extrudes the upper partition plate 3 upwards to seal the main channel 2, and the auxiliary channel 9 is communicated with the control cavity 7 and the soft earthworms 11, so that the gas in the soft earthworms 11 is rapidly exhausted to the atmosphere. At this time, the energy storage 113 begins to sink and contract due to the exhaust (fig. 6), the front foot 112 is in plane contact with the ground, and the rear foot 111 is in a slip state with the ground, so that the soft earthworms 11 crawl in the forward direction. At this point, the soft earthworms 11 complete a crawling cycle under the action of the driver. According to the working mechanism of the driver in the embodiment, a stable working air source is applied to the driver, and the soft earthworms 11 can continuously crawl under the action of the driver.
The above description is only of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and it should be noted that: it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and adaptations can be made without departing from the principles of the invention and these are intended to be within the scope of the invention.