CN223614928U - Snake bone joint, flexible joint assembly, operation arm and operation robot - Google Patents

Abstract

The application discloses a snake bone joint, a flexible joint assembly, a surgical operation arm and a surgical robot, which can relieve the problem that uncertain dislocation sliding occurs between snake bone members when the snake bone joint is bent. The snake bone joint comprises two snake bone members, a supporting structure and at least two traction ropes, wherein each snake bone member can rotate based on respective pivots, the supporting structure is arranged between the two snake bone members, two pivots in the same snake bone joint are parallel and have constant distance, the traction ropes are connected between the two snake bone members in a pre-tightening state, projections of at least one pair of traction ropes in the extending direction of the pivots are in a crossed symmetrical state, each snake bone member comprises a limiting cambered surface for tensioning the traction ropes, the axes of the limiting cambered surfaces are parallel or coincident with the pivots, the radius of the limiting cambered surface clung to the same pair of traction ropes is equal, and the starting end of the limiting cambered surface is fixed with the end part of the traction rope. Therefore, the application has the advantages of improving the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint.

Description

Snake bone joint, flexible joint assembly, operation arm and operation robot

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of medical instruments, in particular to a snake bone joint, a flexible joint assembly, an operation arm and an operation robot.

Background

The snake bone joint is a part capable of realizing self-bending and is widely applied to the field of medical appliances at present. An operator can control the tool at the distal end of the operation arm to extend into the human body through the bending of at least one snake bone joint and correspondingly adjust the direction so as to finish the observation and operation of the specified position. The snake bone joint generally comprises a plurality of snake bone members, and the snake bone members can realize the self-bending function of the snake bone joint through cooperation rotation.

In the related art, the snake bone joint can realize the bending of a designated angle through the pulling and releasing of the driving cables penetrating between the snake bone members, but the relative rotation state between the snake bone members is uncertain, so that the snake bone joint is difficult to realize consistent winding and unwinding of the driving cables in the bending process, or the balance of the driving cable arms at the two sides of the snake bone joint is difficult to maintain, the driving cables are easy to deform or even damage, the service life of the snake bone joint and the operation arm is further influenced, in addition, the relative rotation state between the snake bone members is uncertain, the snake bone joint cannot be enabled to have a unique shape under the designated bending angle, when any one of the snake bone members in the snake bone joint is interfered by external force, the snake bone joint is extremely easy to be deformed actively, the uncertain risk is brought to the operation, and the reliability of the snake bone joint and the operation arm when the operation arm is applied to the operation is reduced.

Disclosure of utility model

The application aims to provide a snake bone joint, a flexible joint assembly, a surgical operation arm and a surgical robot, which can relieve the problem of uncertain dislocation sliding between snake bone members when the snake bone joint is bent, and improve the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint.

Embodiments of the present application are implemented as follows:

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a snake bone joint, where the snake bone joint includes two snake bone members and at least one supporting structure, each snake bone member can rotate based on a respective pivot, the supporting structure is disposed between the two snake bone members, two pivots in the same snake bone joint are parallel and have a constant distance, the snake bone joint further includes at least two traction ropes connected between the two snake bone members in a pre-tightening state, projections of at least one pair of traction ropes in a pivot extending direction are in a cross symmetrical state, each snake bone member includes a limiting cambered surface for tensioning the traction rope, an axis of the limiting cambered surface is parallel or coincident with the pivot, a radius of the limiting cambered surface to which the same pair of traction ropes are attached is equal, and a starting end of the limiting cambered surface is fixed with an end of the traction rope.

According to the technical scheme, the two snake bone members are rotatably connected through the supporting structure, so that the pivot distance between the two snake bone members in the same snake bone joint is constant, under the condition that the pivot is parallel to each other and the distance is constant, the snake bone joint is connected between the two snake bone members in a cross symmetrical state through projection of at least one pair of traction soft ropes, each traction soft rope is connected between the two snake bone members in a pre-tightening state, each traction soft rope is tensioned by a limiting cambered surface with equal radius and parallel or coincident axes with the pivot, and the end part of each traction soft rope is fixed, when the two snake bone members relatively rotate based on the specified bending angle of the snake bone joint, the snake bone joint can apply bidirectional equal constraint force to the two snake bone members through the traction soft ropes in the pre-tightening state, so that the snake bone joint realizes symmetrical motion configuration in the bending process, has unique shape under the specified bending angle, the probability of dislocation sliding between the snake bone members is reduced, and the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint are improved. In addition, the supporting structure can share the pressure load, and the pressure load is generated by the action of the snake bone members due to the tightening of the driving cables, so that the abrasion of the snake bone members can be reduced, and the service lives of the snake bone members and the snake bone joints can be prolonged.

In some embodiments, in the snake bone joint, the distance between the two pivots is the center distance of the snake bone joint, and the radius of the limiting cambered surface is not more than half of the center distance. In the technical scheme, the radius of the limiting cambered surface is not more than half of the center distance, so that the processing difficulty of the snake bone component and the assembling difficulty of the snake bone joint are reduced, and the fluency of bending of the snake bone joint is improved.

In some embodiments, in the case that the radius of the limiting cambered surface is equal to half of the center distance, a buried groove is arranged on the limiting cambered surface, and the buried groove is used for accommodating the traction rope. In the technical scheme, when the radius of the limiting cambered surface is equal to half of the center distance, the limiting cambered surfaces of the two snake bone members are in butt joint and rolling contact, the traction rope is arranged in the buried wire groove, constraint of the traction rope on the snake bone members and simplification of the whole structure can be considered, meanwhile, the abrasion degree of the traction rope can be reduced, and the service life of the snake bone joint is prolonged.

In some embodiments, on the same snake bone member, the limiting cambered surface comprises a first cambered surface and a second cambered surface, wherein the first cambered surface is used for tensioning one traction rope, the second cambered surface is used for tensioning the other traction rope, and the larger the radius of the first cambered surface and the second cambered surface is, the larger the circumferential extension angle of the first cambered surface and the second cambered surface is. In the technical scheme, the pair of traction soft ropes can be tensioned by different limiting cambered surfaces which are independent of each other, and under the condition that the maximum bendable angle of the snake bone joint is determined, the circumferential minimum extension angle of each limiting cambered surface is related to the radius of the limiting cambered surface, so that the traction soft ropes always apply constraint force for limiting the movement of the two snake bone members through the tensioning of the limiting cambered surfaces, the probability of dislocation deformation is further reduced, and the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint are improved.

In some embodiments, the first arc surface and the second arc surface are joined or partially coincident on the same snake bone member to form a semi-arc surface. In the technical scheme, the two limiting cambered surfaces respectively used for tensioning the first traction rope and the second traction rope are connected or partially overlapped to form a semicircular cambered surface, so that the structure of the snake bone component is simpler and more compact, and the snake bone component is more beneficial to processing and assembling.

In some embodiments, in the snake bone joint, each end of the pivot is provided with a pair of traction cords disposed in a cross-symmetrical arrangement. In the technical scheme, each side of the snake bone joint along the extending direction of the pivot limits dislocation deformation of the snake bone component through at least one pair of traction soft ropes distributed in a pre-tightening state, so that the bending stability and reliability of the snake bone joint can be improved, and external load can be borne more uniformly.

In some embodiments, the traction rope comprises a first traction rope and a second traction rope, the projections of the first traction rope and the second traction rope in the extending direction of the pivot are in a crossed symmetrical state, and in the snake bone joint, the first traction rope is arranged at one end of the pivot, and the second traction rope is arranged at the other end of the pivot. In the technical scheme, the first traction soft ropes and the second traction soft ropes which are distributed in a crossed symmetrical state are respectively arranged on two sides of the snake bone joint, so that the bending stability and reliability of the snake bone joint can be improved, and external loads can be borne more uniformly.

In some embodiments, the traction rope includes at least one flexible traction wire having a circular or rectangular cross-sectional shape. According to the technical scheme, the flexible traction wire with the circular cross section is more uniform in stress and favorable for reducing abrasion, the flexible traction wire with the rectangular cross section has higher strength and torsional property, the directional application of constraint force is favorable, and the combination of the flexible traction wires can increase the structural strength and is favorable for uniformly distributing load.

In some embodiments, the snake bone member includes two first end surfaces opposite to each other, and the pivot corresponding to the limiting cambered surfaces respectively arranged on the two first end surfaces is vertical. In the technical scheme, one snake bone component can be simultaneously applied to the assembly of two snake bone joints with mutually perpendicular bending directions, so that the compactness and the simplicity of the overall structure of the snake bone joint are improved, and the processing materials of the snake bone component can be saved.

In some embodiments, in the snake bone joint, two surfaces of the snake bone members opposite to each other and adjacent to each other are first end surfaces, each supporting structure comprises two circular arc pair top surfaces which are in rolling contact and have equal radius, one circular arc pair top surface is arranged on the first end surface of one snake bone member, the other circular arc pair top surface is arranged on the first end surface of the other snake bone member, and the axes of the circular arc pair top surfaces are coincident with the pivot. In the technical scheme, the arrangement of the circular arcs on the top surface can reduce abrasion of the snake bone members, the circular arcs are in rolling contact with the top surface, so that the bending fluency and structural stability of the snake bone joints can be improved, the bearing capacity of the snake bone members is improved, and the processing difficulty of the snake bone members is reduced.

In some embodiments, the radius of the arc to the top surface is equal to half the center distance of the snake bone joint, and the arc to the top surface coincides with the limit arc with the radius of the limit arc being equal to half the center distance. In the technical scheme, the arc pair top surface is overlapped with the limiting arc surface, so that the simplicity of the snake bone component structure can be improved, and the processing difficulty of the snake bone component can be reduced.

In some embodiments, in the same supporting structure, a rib is disposed on at least one side of the top surface of one circular arc, and the limiting direction corresponding to the rib is the same as the extending direction of the pivot. According to the technical scheme, the ribs are arranged on at least one side of the circular arc to the top surface, so that the probability of movement dislocation between the snake bone members along the pivot in the bending process of the snake bone joints can be reduced, and the bending precision of the snake bone joints can be improved.

In some embodiments, the support structure comprises at least one connecting pin, each connecting pin comprises two connecting pins and a connecting rod, the connecting rod is vertically connected between the two connecting pins which are parallel to each other, the connecting pins are in one-to-one and rotatable connection with the snake bone members in the snake bone joints, and the axes of the connecting pins are coincident with the pivot. According to the technical scheme, the center distance between the two snake bone members is fixed through the connecting pin, so that the two snake bone members are difficult to approach or separate from each other in the matching rotation process, and the bending precision and the bending reliability of the snake bone joint are improved.

In some embodiments, each snake bone member includes a plurality of sets of lacing holes symmetrically disposed on either side of the pivot shaft, the lacing holes for receiving a drive cable or a constraint cable. In the technical scheme, the symmetrical arrangement of the plurality of groups of rope penetrating holes enables the overall structure of the snake bone joint and the flexible joint assembly to be more compact, and the involvement and interference of the snake bone component on the retraction and release of the constraint cable or the driving cable can be reduced. Further, the rope penetrating holes are symmetrically distributed so that the connection positions of the driving cables on two sides of the snake bone joint and each snake bone component are symmetrical and equidistant based on the pivot, and under the condition that the snake bone joint can realize symmetrical movement configuration, the driving cables on two sides of the snake bone joint can realize consistent winding and unwinding and balanced force arm due to the symmetrical distribution of the rope penetrating holes, and further the service life of the driving cables can be prolonged.

In some embodiments, in the snake bone joint, two surfaces of the snake bone members opposite to each other and adjacent to each other are first end surfaces, and on any first end surface, in a direction perpendicular to the pivot, two ends of the first end surface are provided with limiting inclined surfaces inclined relative to the first end surface and having equal inclination angles. In the above technical scheme, the setting of spacing inclined plane can restrict the biggest rotatable angle of snake bone component towards one side, restriction snake bone joint orientation one side's biggest bendable angle promptly, reduces the border collision and the wearing and tearing between the snake bone component, extension snake bone component's life.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a flexible joint assembly comprising at least one snake bone joint provided in any of the embodiments of the first aspect of the application and at least two drive cables, each drive cable extending and penetrating into a respective snake bone joint, one end of each drive cable being secured to a distal-most snake bone member of the flexible joint assembly. In the technical scheme, the flexible joint component drives the snake bone joint to bend through the retraction and extension of the driving cable, so that the self-deflection is realized, and the flexible joint component has the same technical effect as the snake bone joint.

In some embodiments, the flexible joint assembly comprises at least two snake bone joints with the same pivot extending direction, the flexible joint assembly further comprises at least two constraint cables, each constraint cable extends and penetrates through each snake bone joint, the connection positions of the constraint cables on the snake bone members are based on pivot symmetry, the connection positions of each constraint cable and the nearest snake bone joint between the two snake bone joints with the same pivot extending direction and the nearest snake bone joint are first connection positions, the connection positions of each constraint cable and the nearest snake bone joint are second connection positions, and the first connection positions are shifted by 180 degrees based on the central axis of the flexible joint assembly compared with the second connection positions. In the technical scheme, the 180-degree displacement layout of the constraint cable enables two snake bone joints which are nearest to each other and have the same bending direction to have a fixed bending angle when the flexible joint assembly is integrally deflected, namely the flexible joint assembly has a unique form under a specified deflection angle.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a surgical manipulator arm comprising at least one flexible joint assembly provided in any of the embodiments of the second aspect of the present application. In the technical scheme, the operation arm has the same technical effects as the flexible joint assembly.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a surgical robot comprising at least one surgical manipulator arm provided according to any of the embodiments of the third aspect of the present application. In the above technical solution, the surgical robot has the same technical effects as the aforementioned surgical operation arm.

Compared with the prior art, the application has the beneficial effects that:

The application can solve the problem that dislocation sliding occurs between snake bone members when the snake bone joint is bent. When the two snake bone members rotate relatively, the same constraint force can be applied to the two snake bone members through the traction soft ropes which are distributed in a crossed symmetrical state through projection under the pre-tightening state, so that the snake bone joint can realize symmetrical motion configuration in the bending process, the snake bone members have unique forms under the appointed bending angle, the probability of dislocation sliding between the snake bone members is reduced, the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint are finally improved, further, the traction soft ropes comprise at least one flexible traction wire with circular or rectangular cross section, uniform stress and abrasion reduction are facilitated, or higher strength and directional constraint force application are provided, the combination of a plurality of flexible traction wires can increase the structural strength and facilitate uniform load distribution, the traction soft ropes are arranged in the buried wire grooves, the constraint of the traction soft ropes on the snake bone members and the simplification of the whole structure can be reduced, each side of the snake bone joint is provided with the traction soft ropes, the bending stability and the bending reliability of the snake bone joint can be improved, the external load is more uniformly, the groups of holes are symmetrical based on the pivot, the bending of the snake bone joint can lead the snake bone joint to have the same bending stability and the bending reliability of the snake bone joint, the bending resistance of the snake bone joint can be balanced by adopting the pivot joint bending direction, and the bending resistance of the two adjacent flexible joint can be balanced, and the bending joint has the same stress resistance and the bending resistance can be balanced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are needed in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it being understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and other related drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the overall structure of a surgical robot according to some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the overall structure of a surgical manipulator according to some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the overall structure of a flexible joint component according to some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the overall structure of a second flexible joint assembly according to some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a constrained cable layout of a second flexible joint assembly, shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the overall structure of a snake bone joint according to some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the overall structure of a snake bone joint according to another embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 is an exploded view of a snake bone joint according to some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of a snake bone joint according to other embodiments of the application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of a snake bone joint according to some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a traction rope according to some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of the geometry of a snake bone joint symmetrical motion configuration according to some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of the geometry of a snake bone joint symmetrical motion configuration according to other embodiments of the application;

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of the geometry of a snake bone joint according to some embodiments of the application.

The icons comprise a 1-surgical robot, a 2-surgical operation arm, a 3-flexible joint part, a 4-snake bone joint, a 5-snake bone component, a 21-tool head, a 22-instrument box, a 23-instrument straight tube, a 30-flexible joint assembly, a 31-first flexible joint assembly, a 32-second flexible joint assembly, a 33-driving cable, a 34-restraining cable, a 340-connecting position, a 341-first connecting position, a 342-second connecting position, a 35-connecting straight tube, a 40-double snake bone joint, a 401-first snake bone joint, a 402-second snake bone joint, a 403-third snake bone joint, a 404-fourth snake bone joint, a 41-supporting structure, a 42-arc butting unit, a 420-arc butting top surface, a 421-flange, a 43-connecting pin assembly, a 431-connecting pin, a 4311-connecting pin shaft, a 4312-connecting rod, a 432-anti-disengaging piece, a 50-pivot, a 500-standard circle, a 51-rotating base, a 510-first end face, a 511-through hole, a 512-limiting inclined plane, a 52-520-flexible rope, a 520-second arc groove, a 521-first arc line, a first arc groove, a second arc groove, a 53-second arc groove, and a first arc groove.

Detailed Description

The terms "first," "second," "third," and the like are used merely for distinguishing between descriptions and not for indicating a sequence number, nor are they to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

Furthermore, the terms "horizontal," "vertical," "overhang," and the like do not denote a requirement that the component be absolutely horizontal or overhang, but rather may be slightly inclined. As "horizontal" merely means that its direction is more horizontal than "vertical", and does not mean that the structure must be perfectly horizontal, but may be slightly inclined.

In the description of the present application, it should be noted that, directions or positional relationships indicated by terms such as "inner", "outer", "left", "right", "upper", "lower", etc., are based on directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, or directions or positional relationships conventionally put in use of the product of the application, are merely for convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, and are not indicative or implying that the apparatus or element to be referred to must have a specific direction, be configured and operated in a specific direction, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present application.

In the description of the present application, unless explicitly stated and limited otherwise, the terms "disposed," "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, mechanically connected, electrically connected, directly connected, indirectly connected via an intermediate medium, or communicate between the interior of two elements.

The technical scheme of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Surgical robots, an important research technique in the field of medical instruments, are widely used in surgical operations, which assist surgeons in performing various types of minimally invasive, non-invasive operations. The surgical robot with the flexible joint assembly or the snake bone joint is a specially designed robot, can operate in a narrow space, can perform complex bending or rotating motions in a human body, has various advantages compared with a traditional rigid surgical instrument, can perform surgery by adopting the surgical robot, can improve the accuracy of the surgery operation, can reduce damage to tissues around a surgery part, shortens recovery time and reduces complications.

The snake bone joint is a joint structure of bionic design, which can be used for manufacturing instruments capable of bending and twisting to reach places in the human body which are difficult to reach by common tools. For example, in endoscopic surgery, surgical instruments with snake bone joints may help doctors to more accurately locate diseased tissue for finer manipulation. In the related art, although the snake bone joint can be bent by pulling back and releasing a driving cable penetrating between each snake bone member, the relative rotation state between the snake bone members is uncertain, the snake bone joint cannot keep a unique form under a specified bending angle, and once the snake bone joint is interfered by external force, the snake bone joint is easy to deform, so that the reliability and safety of operation are affected.

Based on the foregoing considerations, embodiments of the present application provide a snake bone joint comprising two snake bone members and at least one pair of traction cords maintained in a pre-tensioned state. The projections of at least one pair of traction ropes in the extending direction of the pivot are in a crossed symmetrical state, and each traction rope is tensioned on the limiting cambered surfaces of the two snake bone members. Therefore, the snake bone members are always acted by the bidirectional constraint force exerted by the two traction ropes in the rotating process and in the static state, the snake bone joints can realize symmetrical movement configuration in the bending process, and the snake bone members have unique forms under the appointed bending angles.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic view of an overall structure of a surgical robot 1 according to some embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the surgical robot 1 may include at least one surgical manipulator arm 2. The surgical operation arm 2 is used for performing the required actions for the surgical operation by the tool head 21, and the tool head 21 refers to a direct execution instrument on the surgical robot 1 participating in the surgical operation. Different tool heads 21 can have different functions, and the tool heads 21 can be needle holding forceps, electric hooks, electric shovels, bipolar window forceps, bipolar maryland, cadil forceps, intestinal forceps, grippers, needles, scalpels, scissors, cautery, endoscopes, anastomat and the like. The tool head 21 may be mounted to a distal end of the surgical operation arm 2 by a docking port, a driving cable 33, or the like, and the distal end of the surgical operation arm 2 is one end of the surgical operation arm 2 for penetrating into a human body and performing a surgical operation.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic view of the whole structure of a surgical manipulator 2 according to some embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the surgical manipulation arm 2 may include an instrument box 22, a flexible joint member 3, an instrument straight tube 23, and a tool head 21. Wherein the flexible joint part 3 may comprise at least one flexible joint assembly 30, one end of the flexible joint part 3 may be connected to the instrument box 22 by an instrument straight tube 23, and the other end of the flexible joint part 3 may be connected to the tool head 21.

In the embodiment of the application, the flexible joint part 3 or the flexible joint assembly 30 is a structure formed by at least one snake bone joint 4 and can realize the directional deflection function by tightening or loosening the driving cable 33, and the instrument box 22 is a device capable of driving the tool head 21, the flexible joint assembly 30 or the instrument straight tube 23 to move by a transmission structure and a power source (such as a servo motor and other components).

In some embodiments, the straight instrument tube 23 may be a hollow tubular structure, and the driving cable 33 for driving the flexible joint component 3 to deflect may extend and penetrate through the flexible joint component 3, extend into the instrument box 22 through the inside of the straight instrument tube 23, and are connected with the transmission structure in a winding manner according to a designated winding direction. Thereby, the instrument box 22 can drive the transmission structure to rotate through the activation of the power source, and further retract or pay out the driving cable 33 with a certain distance, so that the flexible joint part 3 is directionally deflected according to a designated deflection angle.

In some embodiments, the straight instrument tube 23 may also be rotatably mounted on the instrument pod 22 to effect self-rotation of the flexible joint component 3 to adjust the orientation of the motion of the tool head 21 or the yaw orientation of the flexible joint component 3. In some embodiments, the tool head 21 may also be coupled to a transmission structure, power source, within the instrument pod 22 via a tool-specific drive cable or other transmission mechanism. Thus, the instrument box 22 can be actuated by the power source to perform the operation of the tool head 21 (e.g., grasping forceps, advancing and retracting a needle, etc.) or the rotation of the instrument straight tube 23.

The straight instrument tube 23 is used to support the flexible joint member 3 and the tool head 21 and to assist in bending. In some embodiments, the straight tube 23 may be made of steel, and may be slit at a middle section. The length of the instrument straight tube 23 is determined by the snagging stroke of the surgical robot 1, which refers to the distance or range that the surgical instrument (the surgical operation arm 2 or the tool head 21) enters the patient through the snagging during the surgery.

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, fig. 3 is a schematic overall structure of a flexible joint component 3 according to some embodiments of the present application, fig. 4 is a schematic overall structure of a second flexible joint component 32 according to some embodiments of the present application, and fig. 5 is a schematic layout of a constraint cable 34 of the second flexible joint component 32 according to some embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 2 to 5, the flexible joint component 3 may include two flexible joint assemblies 30, a first flexible joint assembly 31 and a second flexible joint assembly 32, respectively.

Wherein each flexible joint assembly 30 may comprise at least one snake bone joint 4 and at least two drive cables 33. Further, each of the driving cables 33 extends and penetrates into each of the snake bone joints 4, and the connection positions (or penetration positions) of the driving cables 33 on each of the snake bone members 5 (or the snake bone joints 4) are symmetrical based on the pivot 50 of the current snake bone joint 4. One end of the drive cable 33 may be secured to the distal-most snake bone member 5 of the corresponding flexible joint assembly 30, the distal-most snake bone member 5 being the snake bone member 5 of the same flexible joint assembly 30 that is closest to the tool head 21. Thereby, the surgical instrument case 22 can achieve bending or returning of the snake bone joint 4 toward one side and deflection of the flexible joint assembly 30 toward one side by retracting and paying out the drive cables 33 on both sides of the snake bone joint 4 to achieve a specified posture of the tool head 21.

In some embodiments, the flexible joint assembly 30 may also include a connecting straight tube 35. Wherein, two ends of the connecting straight tube 35 may be respectively provided with at least one snake bone joint 4 (taking the first flexible joint assembly 31 as an example). The connecting straight tube 35 may be used to enlarge the working space of the flexible joint component 3 or the first flexible joint assembly 31. For example, the arrangement of the connecting straight tube 35 may enable the first flexible joint assembly 31 to achieve a 120mm working space when deflected. Further, the connecting straight tube 35 may be a hollow steel tube, so as to reduce the overall weight of the flexible joint component 3.

In some embodiments, each flexible joint assembly 30 may achieve reciprocal deflection in at least two degrees of freedom through multiple snake bone joints 4. Further, each flexible joint assembly 30 may include at least two snake bone joints 4 having flexible directions perpendicular to each other (i.e., two pivots 50 perpendicular to each other). As shown in fig. 3, in the first flexible joint assembly 31, each end of the connecting straight pipe 35 may be provided with two snake bone joints 4 having pivot extending directions a (bendable directions) perpendicular to each other, and a maximum bendable angle of each snake bone joint 4 toward either side may be set to 60 degrees. Further, the snake bone joints 4 arranged at two ends of the connecting straight pipe 35 can be bent in the same direction, and in the second flexible joint assembly 32, a plurality of the snake bone joints 4 can be initially stacked and arranged in sequence in the same linear direction, and the maximum bending angle of each snake bone joint 4 towards any side can be set to be 45 degrees.

In some embodiments, where any flexible joint assembly 30 includes at least two snake joints 4 having the same direction of pivot extension a, the flexible joint assembly 30 may also include at least two constraint cables 34. The constraint cable 34 is used to limit the uncertain deformation of the flexible joint assembly 30, so that the flexible joint assembly 30 has a unique determined posture after being directionally deflected based on a specified deflection angle, and the problem that the flexible joint assembly 30 is subjected to uncertain deformation (such as S deformation) due to external load is solved.

Specifically, in the flexible joint assembly 30, each constraint cable 34 extends and is threaded in the plurality of snake joints 4, and the connection locations 340 (threaded locations) of the constraint cables 34 on the respective snake bone members 5 (or snake joints 4) are generally symmetrical based on the pivot 50. Further, between two snake bone joints 4 having the same pivot extending direction a and being most adjacent to each other, the connection position 340 of each constraint cable 34 to the most proximal snake bone member 5 (snake bone joint 4) is a first connection position 341, the connection position 340 of each constraint cable 34 to the most distal snake bone member 5 (snake bone joint 4) is a second connection position 342, and the first connection position 341 may be shifted 180 degrees based on the central axis of the flexible joint assembly 30 as compared to the second connection position 342, and it may be understood that the first connection position 341 and the second connection position 342 are located on opposite sides of the central axis of the flexible joint assembly 30 when the flexible joint assembly 30 is in the undeflected flat state, respectively.

As shown in fig. 4 and 5, taking the second flexible joint assembly 32 as an example, the second flexible joint assembly 32 may include a first snake bone joint 401, a second snake bone joint 402, a third snake bone joint 403 and a fourth snake bone joint 404 that are sequentially stacked along the same linear direction M. Wherein, the pivot extending directions a of the first snake bone joint 401 and the second snake bone joint 402 are perpendicular to each other, the pivot extending directions a of the third snake bone joint 403 and the fourth snake bone joint 404 are perpendicular to each other, and the pivot extending directions a of the first snake bone joint 401 and the fourth snake bone joint 404 are the same (or parallel to each other).

Further, the second flexible joint assembly 32 may include four driving cables 33 and four constraint cables 34, the four driving cables 33 and the four constraint cables 34 each extend and penetrate into each snake bone joint 4, and the connection positions or penetrating positions of the four driving cables 33 and the four constraint cables 34 on each snake bone member 5 may be symmetrical based on the pivot 50. Further, one drive cable 33 may be adjacent to one constraint cable 34. Wherein the connection position 340 of each constraint cable 34 and the snake bone member 5 in the first snake bone joint 401 is a first connection position 341, the connection position 340 of each constraint cable 34 and the snake bone member 5 in the fourth snake bone joint 404 is a second connection position 342, and the first connection position 341 is shifted by 180 degrees based on the central axis M of the second flexible joint assembly 32 compared to the second connection position 342.

In some embodiments, the first vertical distance between the first connection location 341 and the central axis M may be equal to the second vertical distance between the second connection location 342 and the central axis M, such that the bending angles of the two adjacent and in-line snake-bone joints 4 when the flexible joint assembly 30 is deflected are equal, and in other embodiments, the first vertical distance between the first connection location 341 and the central axis M may be greater or less than the second vertical distance between the second connection location 342 and the central axis M, such that the bending angles of the two adjacent and in-line snake-bone joints 4 when the flexible joint assembly 30 is deflected are not equal.

In the embodiment of the present application, for two snake-bone joints 4 having the same direction of pivot extension a (bendable direction) and the nearest neighboring positions in the same flexible joint assembly 30, each of the two snake-bone joints 4 having the same direction of pivot extension a may have a fixed bending angle when bending at the same side based on a designated bending angle by four constraint cables 34 connected to the snake-bone joints 4 in a 180-degree shift arrangement based on the central axis M. This is because the four constraint cables 34 are fixed in length, each constraint cable 34 is fixed to a constraint position (i.e., a connection position 340 or a penetrating position) of each snake bone joint 4, and when the constraint cable 34 is pulled to shift to one side by one snake bone joint 4 being bent, since the length of each constraint cable 34 is unchanged and the connection position 340 is unchanged, the other snake bone joint 4 is pulled to bend and displace correspondingly by the constraint cable 34, and the constraint connection between the two snake bone joints 4 and the designated position can be realized through 180 DEG displacement arrangement of at least two constraint cables 34.

Referring to fig. 6 to 7, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the overall structure of a snake bone joint 4 according to some embodiments of the application, and fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the overall structure of a snake bone joint 4 according to another embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 6-7, an embodiment of the present application provides a snake bone joint 4, the snake bone joint 4 comprising two snake bone members 5, a support structure 41 and at least two traction ropes 52.

In the embodiment of the application, the snake bone members 5 are bone joint units for forming the snake bone joints 4 and supporting the snake bone joints 4 to realize bending motion, and the supporting structure 41 is arranged between the two snake bone members 5, plays a supporting role and can limit the centers of the two snake bone members 5 to be close to or far from each other. In the embodiment of the present application, the support structure 41 may be a separate member or may be integrally formed with the snake bone member 5. The traction rope 52 is a structure that can be bent to match rotation of the snake bone members 5 and simultaneously can apply a bi-directional restraining force to the two snake bone members 5 to reduce or even avoid occurrence of uncertain dislocation sliding between the snake bone members 5 in the process of relative rotation of the two snake bone members 5 or in the state that the two snake bone members 5 are maintained stationary based on a fixed included angle.

Specifically, each snake bone member 5 can rotate based on the respective pivot 50, and the two pivot 50 in the same snake bone joint 4 are parallel to each other and have a constant distance, and the distance between the two pivot 50 is the center distance of the snake bone joint 4. The support structure 41 is provided between the two snake bone members 5 for maintaining a constant center-to-center distance between the two snake bone members 5. The pivot 50 may refer to the structure actually present in the snake bone joint 4, or to a specific axial position on each snake bone member 5. In the present embodiment, the pivot 50 is a reference axis about which each snake bone member 5 rotates, typically a straight line position on the snake bone member 5. In the above technical solution, the snake bone joint 4 can maintain the constant center distance between the two snake bone members 5 through the supporting structure 41 or the cooperation of the supporting structure 41 and the driving cable 33, so as to effectively improve the bending precision and the bending stability of the snake bone joint 4. In addition, the supporting structure 41 can bear a part of pressure load which acts on the snake bone members 5 when the snake bone members 5 are bundled and tensioned by the driving cable 33, so that abrasion among the snake bone members 5 is reduced, the service life of the snake bone members 5 is prolonged, and the bending precision of the snake bone joints 4 is improved. In the embodiment of the application, the maximum rotation of the two snake bone members 5 in the snake bone joint 4 can reach +/-90 degrees.

Further, the traction ropes 52 are connected between the two snake bone members 5 in a pre-tightening state, the projections of at least one pair of traction ropes 52 in the extending direction A of the pivot are in a crossed symmetrical state, each snake bone member 5 comprises a limiting cambered surface 53 for tensioning the traction ropes 52, each snake bone member 5 comprises a rotating base 51 for penetrating the driving cable 33, the end faces of the two rotating base 51 adjacent to each other in the same snake bone joint 4 are first end faces 510, the limiting cambered surfaces 53 are arranged on the first end faces 510 of the rotating base 51, and the axes of the limiting cambered surfaces 53 are parallel or coincident with the pivot 50. The radius of the limiting cambered surface 53 clung to the same pair of traction ropes 52 is equal, and the starting end 530 of the limiting cambered surface is fixed with the end part of the traction ropes 52.

As shown in fig. 12 to 13, in the same snake bone joint 4, under the condition that two pivots 50 are parallel and the distance is constant, at least one pair of traction ropes 52 are connected between two snake bone members 5 in a pre-tightening state, projections along the extending direction of the pivots are in a crossed symmetrical state, and are tensioned by limiting cambered surfaces 53 with equal radius on the two snake bone members 5, which is a precondition that the two snake bone members 5 realize symmetrical rotation based on the constraint of the traction ropes 52. If the same pair of traction ropes 52 is tensioned by the limiting cambered surfaces 53 with different radiuses on the two snake bone members 5, when the two snake bone members 5 rotate relatively, the bending change of the two traction ropes 52 under the pre-tightening state cannot be symmetrical based on the tangent line B of the reference circle 500, and further the rotation angles of the two snake bone members 5 based on the respective pivots 50 are unequal, so that the two snake bone members 5 cannot maintain symmetrical rotation.

On this basis, the flexible joint assembly 30 and the snake bone joint 4 do not have a uniquely determined posture when bending based on a specified bending angle without employing the pre-tightening fit of the traction rope 52 and the limiting arc surface 53 to limit the dislocating sliding of the snake bone member 5 toward either side. In addition, assuming that the snake bone joint 4 completes the bending action based on the specified bending angle (60 degrees), and that the two snake bone members 5 achieve the bending of the snake bone joint 4 exactly in an ideal state, such as that the two snake bone members 5 are rotated toward each other based on the respective pivots 50 and each rotated 30 degrees, when the subsequent surgical operation arm 2 performs the surgical operation based on the snake bone joint 4 in this posture, the snake bone joint 4 may still be transformed into other postures, i.e., an uncertain deformation, due to the interference of external force. For example, when the tool head 21 contacts an organ or a blood vessel while penetrating into the human body, and the contact pressure is transmitted from the tool head 21 to the snake bone joint 4, the two snake bone members 5 are rotated by 30 degrees from one to the other by 20 degrees, and the snake bone joint 4 is transformed to other postures, which makes the tool head 21 unable to apply force to the operation target position to perform the operation, and even causes an erroneous wound due to the abrupt change of the operation target position by external force. Therefore, at least one pair of traction ropes 52 is needed to apply bidirectional constraint force to the limiting cambered surface 53 and the snake bone members 5 between the snake bone members 5 forming the flexible snake bone joint 4 to realize a symmetrical movement configuration, so as to reduce the probability of uncertain deformation (which can be called S-shaped deformation or parallelogram deformation) of the snake bone joint 4 due to external force, and the two snake bone members 5 rotate oppositely and have equal rotation angles in the symmetrical movement configuration of the snake bone joint 4.

As shown in fig. 12 to 13, the projections of two traction ropes 52 connected between the snake bone members 5 in the extending direction a of the pivot are in a crossed state, the sizes, materials, cross-sectional shapes and other characteristics of the two traction ropes 52 are identical, the end parts of the traction ropes 52 are fixedly connected with the starting ends 530 of the limiting cambered surfaces, and each traction rope 52 is at least partially wound on the limiting cambered surfaces 53 of the two snake bone members 5 and is tensioned by the limiting cambered surfaces 53. When the limiting cambered surfaces 53 of the two snake bone members 5 have equal radii, the projection of the intersecting traction ropes 52 is based on the symmetry of the reference circle tangent line B between the two snake bone members 5, which is generally the perpendicular bisector of the line connecting the center points of the two pivots 50 (the reference circle tangent line B is also the normal to the plane in which the two pivots 50 are located in common), no matter how far the snake bone members 5 are rotated. Thus, when the two snake bone members 5 are rotated to a certain angle, the preloaded traction ropes 52 are applied with a restraining force relatively on both sides of the pivot 50, and no matter which side the snake bone members 5 have a dislocation sliding trend, the snake bone members are restrained and immobilized by the traction ropes 52 in the preloaded state. Therefore, the scheme reduces the probability of uncertain deformation of the snake bone joint 4 due to the external force load, and improves the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint 4.

In the above technical solution, under the condition that two pivots 50 corresponding to the same snake bone joint 4 are parallel to each other and have a constant distance, the snake bone joint 4 can be connected between two snake bone members 5 in a pre-tightening state through at least one pair of traction ropes 52 distributed in a cross symmetrical state by projection, each traction rope 52 is tensioned by a limiting cambered surface 53 with equal radius and axis coincident with the pivots 50 or parallel to each other, and the end part is fixed with the starting end of the limiting cambered surface 53, so that when the two snake bone members 5 rotate relatively based on a designated bending angle of the snake bone joint 4, relative and equal constraint force can be applied to the two snake bone members 5 through the traction ropes 52 in the pre-tightening state, further, the snake bone joint 4 realizes a symmetrical motion configuration in the bending process, has a unique shape under the designated bending angle, reduces the probability of occurrence of uncertain dislocation sliding between the snake bone members 5, and finally improves the bending precision and load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint 4. In addition, the traction rope 52 is connected between the two snake bone members 5 in a pre-tightening manner, so that a part of negative gravity can be borne when the two snake bone members 5 rotate relatively due to the tensile force of the driving cable 33, the output force required for winding and unwinding the driving cable 33 is saved, and the deformation of the driving cable 33 is reduced.

In some embodiments, in the snake bone joint 4, the radius of the limiting camber 53 is no more than half of the center distance H. In the above technical scheme, the radius of the limiting cambered surface 53 is not more than half of the center distance, which is favorable for reducing the processing difficulty of the snake bone member 5 and the assembly difficulty of the snake bone joint 4 and improving the bending fluency of the snake bone joint 4. Further, the radius R of the upper limit cambered surface 53 of each snake bone member 5 may have a value ranging from:

Referring to fig. 8 to 9, fig. 8 is an exploded view of a snake bone joint 4 according to some embodiments of the application, and fig. 9 is an exploded view of a snake bone joint 4 according to other embodiments of the application. As shown in fig. 8 to 9, on the same snake bone member 5, the limiting cambered surface 53 may include a first cambered surface 531 and a second cambered surface 532, the first cambered surface 531 being used for tensioning one traction rope 52, and the second cambered surface 532 being used for tensioning the other traction rope 52. Further, the first cambered surface 531 is connected with the second cambered surface 532 and partially coincides with the second cambered surface so as to form a semicircular cambered surface. Specifically, in the same snake bone joint 4, the semicircular arc surfaces on the two snake bone members 5 maintain a symmetrical state during bending of the snake bone joint 4, and the symmetrical reference plane may be a normal plane of a connecting line of the center points of the two pivots 50 (the projection of the symmetrical reference plane is represented by a reference circle tangent line B in fig. 12 and 13).

In the above technical solution, the two limiting cambered surfaces 53 used for tensioning the first traction rope 521 and the second traction rope 522 respectively can be joined or partially overlapped to form a semi-circular cambered surface, so that the structure of the snake bone member 5 is more compact and simpler, and is more beneficial to processing and assembly. In other embodiments, the pair of traction ropes 52 can be respectively tensioned by the different limiting cambered surfaces 53 which are independent of each other, so that the probability of uncertain dislocation deformation between the snake bone members 5 can be reduced, and the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint 4 can be improved.

As shown in fig. 8, in the snake bone joint 4, each end of the pivot 50 may be provided with a pair of traction cords 52 disposed adjacently in a cross-symmetrical arrangement. In the above technical solution, along the pivot extending direction a, each side of the snake bone joint 4 limits the dislocation deformation between the snake bone members 5 by at least one pair of traction ropes 52 arranged in a pre-tightening state, so that the stability, consistency and reliability of bending of the snake bone joint 4 can be improved, and the external load can be borne more uniformly.

As shown in fig. 8, the support structure 41 may include at least one connecting pin assembly 43. Each of the connection pin assemblies 43 may include at least one connection pin 431, each connection pin 431 may include two connection pins 4311 and one connection rod 4312, and the connection rod 4312 is vertically connected between the two connection pins 4311 parallel to each other, and may be integrally formed with the connection pins 4311. In the same snake bone joint 4, one connecting pin 4311 is rotatably connected to one snake bone member 5, and the axis fixing position of one connecting pin 4311 coincides with the pivot 50 of one snake bone member 5. In the above technical solution, the center distance between the two snake bone members 5 is fixed by the snake bone joint 4 through the connecting pin 431, so that the two snake bone members 5 are difficult to approach or separate from each other in the process of matching rotation, and the bending precision and the bending reliability of the snake bone joint 4 are improved.

Further, each connecting pin assembly 43 may include two connecting pins 431 and an anti-releasing member 432, where the anti-releasing member 432 is disposed between the two connecting pins 431, and through the involution of the limiting groove and the limiting insert plate, the connection between the two connecting pins 431, the synchronous rotation and the limiting and releasing prevention in the extending direction a of the pivot are realized.

As shown in fig. 9, the traction rope 52 may include a first traction rope 521 and a second traction rope 522, and the projections of the first traction rope 521 and the second traction rope 522 in the pivot extending direction a are in a cross symmetrical state. In the snake bone joint 4, the first traction ropes 521 are all arranged at one end of the pivot 50, and the second traction ropes 522 are all arranged at the other end of the pivot 50. In the above-mentioned technical solution, the first traction rope 521 and the second traction rope 522 are respectively provided at both sides of the snake bone joint 4, so that the stability and reliability of bending of the snake bone joint 4 can be improved, and the external load can be borne more uniformly.

In other embodiments, the pair of traction ropes 52 includes a first traction rope 521 and a second traction rope 522. In the snake bone joint 4, the pair of traction ropes 52 may be disposed at only one end of the pivot 50, that is, only one end of the pivot 50 is simultaneously disposed with the first traction rope 521 and the second traction rope 522, or one end of the pivot 50 is simultaneously disposed with the first traction rope 521 and the second traction rope 522, and the other end is only disposed with the first traction rope 521 or the second traction rope 522, or one end of the pivot 50 is simultaneously disposed with the first traction rope 521 and the second traction rope 522 projected in a cross symmetrical state, and the other end of the pivot 50 is disposed with the third traction rope and/or the fourth traction rope, and the radius of the limit arc 53 for tensioning the first traction rope 521 and the second traction rope 522 may be larger or smaller than the radius of the limit arc 53 for tensioning the third traction rope or the fourth traction rope.

In some embodiments, the surfaces of two snake bone members 5 in the same snake bone joint 4 that are opposite and adjacent to each other are the first end surfaces 510. Each supporting structure 41 may include two circular arc centering units 42, and in the same snake bone joint 4, the circular arc centering units 42 may be respectively provided on the first end surfaces 510 of the two snake bone members 5 opposite to each other and adjacent to each other, and may be integrally formed with the snake bone members 5.

Each arc centering unit 42 has an arc centering top surface 420, and the two arc centering top surfaces 420 are disposed opposite to each other, in rolling contact, and have equal radii. One circular arc is arranged on the first end surface 510 of one snake bone member 5 to the top surface 420, the other circular arc is arranged on the first end surface 510 of the other snake bone member 5 to the top surface 420, the axis of the circular arc is coincident with the pivot 50 to the top surface 420, and the radius of the circular arc is equal to half of the center distance of the snake bone joint 4 to the top surface 420. In the above technical scheme, the wearing and tearing of snake bone component 5 can be reduced to the setting of circular arc to top surface 420, and circular arc is rolling contact each other to top surface 420 can improve the crooked smoothness of snake bone joint 4 and the stability of structure, improves the bearing capacity of snake bone component 5, reduces the processing degree of difficulty of snake bone component 5.

Further, in the case where the radius of the limiting cambered surface 53 is equal to half of the center distance H, the arc pair top surface 420 and the limiting cambered surface 53 may be coincident, i.e., embodied as the same semicircular cambered surface. The half arc surface protrudes outwards relative to the first end surface 510, and both ends of the half arc surface extend onto the first end surface 510. In the above technical scheme, the arc pair top surface 420 is overlapped with the limiting cambered surface 53, so that the simplicity of the structure of the snake bone member 5 can be improved, and the processing difficulty of the snake bone member 5 can be reduced.

In some embodiments, in the same supporting structure 41, a rib 421 is disposed on at least one side of the top surface 420 of one circular arc, and the limiting direction corresponding to the rib 421 is the same as the extending direction a of the pivot, and the radius corresponding to the rib 421 is greater than half of the center distance H. In the above technical solution, the ribs 421 are provided on at least one side of the circular arc opposite to the top surface 420, so that the probability of the movement between the snake bone members 5 along the pivot 50 during the bending process of the snake bone joint 4 can be reduced, and the bending precision of the snake bone joint 4 can be improved.

In the above technical solution, the snake bone joint 4 can fix the center distance H between the two snake bone members 5 through various supporting structures 41, so that the pivots 50 of the two snake bone members 5 are difficult to approach each other or separate from each other in the process of matching rotation (the circular arc opposite-top unit 42 and the driving cable 33 are matched with each other in series in tightening the plurality of snake bone members 5, so that the snake bone members 5 are difficult to separate from each other and approach each other, the connecting pin assembly 43 can also play the same role), the center distance is constant, so that the centers of the snake bone members 5 cannot be suddenly approached each other or suddenly separate from each other under the pulling force of the driving cable 33, and the probability of "accidental impact" or "dislocation" of the snake bone joint 4 can be reduced.

In some embodiments, the surfaces of two snake bone members 5 of a snake bone joint 4 that are opposite and adjacent to each other are the first end surfaces 510. On any first end surface 510, along the direction perpendicular to the pivot 50, both ends of the first end surface 510 are provided with limiting inclined surfaces 512 inclined relative to the first end surface 510 and having equal inclination angles. In the above-mentioned technical solution, the setting of the limiting slope 512 can limit the maximum rotatable angle of the snake bone member 5 towards one side, i.e. limit the maximum bendable angle of the snake bone joint 4 towards one side, reduce the edge collision and abrasion between the snake bone members 5, and prolong the service life of the snake bone members 5.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic front view of a snake bone joint 4 according to some embodiments of the application. As shown in fig. 10, in the case where the radius of the limiting cambered surface 53 is equal to half of the center distance H, the limiting cambered surface 53 is provided with a buried groove 533 with a uniform depth, and the buried groove 533 is used for accommodating the traction rope 52. Further, the depth of the buried groove 533 may be greater than the diameter of the pulling cord 52 in the pre-tensioned state. In the above technical solution, when the radius of the limiting cambered surface 53 is equal to half of the center distance H, the limiting cambered surfaces 53 of the two snake bone members 5 are abutted and in rolling contact, and the traction rope 52 is arranged in the buried groove 533, so that the constraint of the traction rope 52 on the snake bone members 5 and the simplification of the integral structure of the snake bone joint 4 can be considered, the abrasion degree of the traction rope 52 can be reduced, and the service life of the snake bone joint 4 can be prolonged.

As shown in fig. 4, in the same snake bone joint 4, the axes of the limiting cambered surfaces 53 are coincident with or parallel to the pivot 50, the snake bone member 5 may include two first end surfaces 510 opposite to each other, the limiting cambered surfaces 53 respectively disposed on the two first end surfaces 510 of the same snake bone member 5, and the axes (the pivot 50) respectively corresponding to the limiting cambered surfaces may be perpendicular to each other. In the above technical solution, one snake bone member 5 can be simultaneously applied to the assembly of two snake bone joints 4 with mutually perpendicular bending directions, so as to form a double-snake bone joint 40 capable of realizing two-way bending, and the embodiment of the application improves the compactness and simplicity of the overall structure of the snake bone joint 4, and can save the processing materials of the snake bone member 5.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a traction rope 52 according to some embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 11, the traction rope 52 may include at least one flexible traction wire 520, and the flexible traction wire 520 has a circular or rectangular cross-sectional shape. In the above technical scheme, the flexible traction wire 520 with the circular cross section is more uniform in stress and favorable for reducing abrasion, the flexible traction wire 520 with the rectangular cross section has higher strength and torsion resistance, and is favorable for directional application of constraint force, and the combination of the flexible traction wires 520 can increase structural strength and is favorable for uniformly distributing load.

Specifically, the flexible traction wire 520 is fabricated from a metallic or non-metallic material having good tensile properties. The terminals at the two ends of the traction rope 52 (i.e. the ends of the traction rope 52) can be fixed in a clamping groove at the starting ends 530 (see four points a, b, c, d in fig. 12-13) of the limiting cambered surfaces on the two snake bone members 5 in a mosaic manner, and are fixedly connected with the two snake bone members 5.

Referring to fig. 12 to 13, fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating the geometric principle of the symmetrical motion configuration of the snake bone joint 4 according to some embodiments of the application, and fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating the geometric principle of the symmetrical motion configuration of the snake bone joint 4 according to other embodiments of the application. As shown in fig. 6 to 13, each of the snake bone members 5 includes a plurality of sets of rope holes 511, the plurality of sets of rope holes 511 are symmetrically disposed on two sides of the pivot 50, each rope hole 511 is disposed on the first end surface 510 and extends along a direction perpendicular to the first end surface 510, and the rope holes 511 are used for accommodating the driving cable 33 or the constraint cable 34.

Further, a plurality of rope holes 511 for threading or connecting the driving cable 33 may be symmetrically disposed at both sides of the pivot shaft 50. For example, each side of the pivot 50 is provided with two rope holes 511 for connecting the driving cables 33, and the snake bone joint 4 can perform a bending motion toward one side by tightening the two driving cables 33 and loosening the two driving cables 33.

In the above technical solution, the arrangement of the plurality of groups of rope penetrating holes 511 makes the overall structure of the snake bone joint 4 and the flexible joint assembly 30 more compact, and can also reduce the involvement and interference of the snake bone member 5 in winding and unwinding the constraint cable 34 or the driving cable 33 during rotation. Further, the rope holes 511 are symmetrically distributed, so that the connection positions of the driving cables 33 at two sides of the snake bone joint 4 and each snake bone member 5 are symmetrical and equidistant based on the pivot 50, and under the condition that the snake bone joint 4 can realize a symmetrical motion configuration, the symmetrical distribution of the rope holes 511 enables the driving cables 33 at two sides of the snake bone joint 4 to realize consistent winding and unwinding and balanced force arm, and further the service life of the driving cables 33 can be prolonged.

As shown in fig. 12 to 13, when the driving cables 33 on both sides of the snake bone joint 4 are symmetrical and equidistant on the basis of the pivot 50, the snake bone joint 4 bent from a flat state to an arbitrary angle can form a movement configuration of an isosceles trapezoid (in the extreme case, an isosceles triangle) with the driving cables 33, and when the driving cables 33 on both sides of the snake bone joint 4 bend to pull the snake bone joint 4, the shortening length of one side cable is equal to the extension length of the other side cable, that is, the driving cables 33 on both sides of the snake bone joint 4 are wound and wound in unison.

Further, the vertical distance between the projection intersection O of the driving cables 33 at the two sides of the pivot 50 and the traction rope 52 can be regarded as the magnitude of the arm corresponding to the tightening of the driving cable 33 when the driving cable 33 at one side drives the snake-bone joint 4 to continue bending or returning (or when the driving cable 33 drives the snake-bone joint 4 to bend towards one side) when the snake-bone joint 4 is in one posture. Taking fig. 12 and 13 as an example, in the illustrated posture of the snake bone joint 4, the magnitude of the moment arm corresponding to the left side driving cable 33 being tightened to drive the snake bone joint 4 to bend further to the left side is equal to the magnitude of the moment arm corresponding to the right side driving cable 33 being tightened to drive the snake bone to return to the right side to a flat state, and the state where the magnitudes of the moment arms are equal can be regarded as moment arm balance. That is, in whichever posture the snake bone joint 4 is in, the force required when the driving cables 33 on both sides of the snake bone joint 4 are tightened is equal regardless of which side is to be bent. Therefore, the deformation probability of the driving cables 33 on two sides of the snake bone joint 4 is reduced, the problem that the stress deformation difference of the driving cables 33 on two sides is overlarge due to long-term accumulation of unbalanced force arms can be effectively relieved, abrasion of the driving cables 33 is reduced, the service lives of the driving cables 33 are prolonged, and the consistency of the service lives of the driving cables 33 is improved.

In some embodiments, the double-snake bone joint 40 may be formed by connecting and staggering two snake bone joints 4 with their pivot extending directions a perpendicular to each other. Further, each snake bone joint 4 can be bent at most 90 ° in any direction. Four driving cables 33 are symmetrically distributed on two sides of the pivot 50 of each snake bone joint 4, the four driving cables 33 can be circumferentially and uniformly distributed on the first end surface 510 of each snake bone member 5, retraction of every two adjacent driving cables 33 can correspond to bending of the snake bone joint 4 towards one side, and bending of the snake bone joint 4 towards four directions around two straight directions is further achieved, and each straight direction corresponds to bending of two sides.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating the geometric principle of the local structure of the snake bone joint 4 according to some embodiments of the application. As shown in fig. 14, taking the first arc 531 of the first traction rope 521 and the two snake bone members 5 for tensioning the first traction rope 521 as an example, since the traction rope 52 tensioned on the limit arc 53 has the largest wrapping angle on the limit arc 53 when the snake bone joint 4 is bent to the limit angle, the circumferential extension angle of the limit arc 53 is related to the maximum wrapping angle α, and the larger the radius of the first arc 531, the larger the circumferential extension angle of the first arc 531 (which can be understood as the minimum angle of circumferential extension of the limit arc 53 around the pivot 50). Therefore, in the snake bone joint 4, the larger the radius of the first arc surface 531 and the second arc surface 532, the larger the circumferential extension angle of the first arc surface 531 and the second arc surface 532.

In the embodiment of the application, under the condition that the maximum bending angle of the snake bone joint 4 is determined, the circumferential extension angle of each limiting cambered surface 53 is related to the radius of the limiting cambered surface 53, so that the traction soft rope 52 always passes through the tensioning of the limiting cambered surface 53, and a restraining force for limiting the misplacement sliding of the two snake bone members 5 is applied, thereby reducing the probability of misplacement deformation and improving the bending precision and the load deformation resistance of the snake bone joint 4.

The above description is only of the preferred embodiments of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application, but various modifications and variations can be made to the present application by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims (19)

1. The snake bone joint comprises two snake bone members and at least one supporting structure, wherein each snake bone member can rotate based on a respective pivot, the supporting structure is arranged between the two snake bone members, and the two pivots in the same snake bone joint are parallel and have constant distance, and the snake bone joint is characterized by further comprising:

The traction soft ropes are connected between the two snake bone members in a pre-tightening state, projections of at least one pair of the traction soft ropes in the extending direction of the pivot are in a crossed symmetrical state, each snake bone member comprises a limiting cambered surface used for tensioning the traction soft ropes, the axes of the limiting cambered surfaces are parallel to or coincide with the pivot, the radius of the limiting cambered surfaces clung to the same pair of traction soft ropes is equal, and the starting ends of the limiting cambered surfaces are fixed with the end parts of the traction soft ropes.

2. The snake bone joint according to claim 1, wherein in the snake bone joint, the distance between the two pivot shafts is the center distance of the snake bone joint, and the radius of the limiting cambered surface is not more than half of the center distance.

3. The snake bone joint according to claim 2, wherein a wire embedding groove is provided on the limiting arc surface for accommodating the traction rope in a case where the radius of the limiting arc surface is equal to half of the center distance.

4. The snake bone joint according to claim 2, wherein the limiting arc surface comprises a first arc surface and a second arc surface on the same snake bone member, the first arc surface is used for tensioning one traction rope, the second arc surface is used for tensioning the other traction rope, and the larger the radius of the first arc surface and the second arc surface is, the larger the circumferential extension angle of the first arc surface and the second arc surface is.

5. The snake bone joint according to claim 4, wherein said first arc surface and said second arc surface are joined or partially overlapped on the same snake bone member to form a semi-arc surface.

6. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein in said snake bone joint, each end of said pivot is provided with a pair of traction cords arranged in a cross-symmetrical arrangement in projection.

7. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein said traction ropes comprise a first traction rope and a second traction rope, said first traction rope and said second traction rope being in a cross-symmetrical state in projection in the direction of extension of said pivot;

In the snake bone joint, the first traction rope is arranged at one end of the pivot, and the second traction rope is arranged at the other end of the pivot.

8. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein said traction cable comprises at least one flexible traction wire, said flexible traction wire having a circular or rectangular cross-sectional shape.

9. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein said snake bone member comprises two first end faces opposite to each other, and said pivot shafts corresponding to said limiting cambered surfaces provided on said two first end faces are perpendicular.

10. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein in said snake bone joint, the surfaces of two of said snake bone members opposite to and adjacent to each other are first end surfaces;

Each supporting structure comprises two circular arc pair top surfaces which are in rolling contact and have equal radiuses, one circular arc pair top surface is arranged on the first end surface of one snake bone member, the other circular arc pair top surface is arranged on the first end surface of the other snake bone member, and the axis of the circular arc pair top surface coincides with the pivot.

11. The snake bone joint according to claim 10, wherein the radius of the arc to the top surface is equal to half the center distance of the snake bone joint, and wherein the arc to the top surface coincides with the limit arc surface when the radius of the limit arc surface is equal to half the center distance.

12. The snake bone joint according to claim 10, wherein in the same support structure, a rib is provided on at least one side of the top surface of one of the circular arcs, and the limiting direction of the rib is the same as the extending direction of the pivot.

13. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein said support structure comprises at least one connecting pin, each of said connecting pins comprising two connecting pins and a connecting rod, said connecting rod being vertically connected between two of said connecting pins parallel to each other;

In the snake bone joint, the connecting pin shafts are in one-to-one correspondence with the snake bone members and are rotatably connected, and the axes of the connecting pin shafts coincide with the pivot shafts.

14. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein each of said snake bone members comprises a plurality of sets of holes symmetrically arranged on opposite sides of said pivot, said holes being adapted to receive a drive cable or a restraint cable.

15. The snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the surfaces of the two snake bone members facing each other and adjacent to each other are first end surfaces, and wherein on any of the first end surfaces, in a direction perpendicular to the pivot shaft, both ends of the first end surface are provided with limiting slopes inclined with respect to the first end surface at equal inclination angles.

16. A flexible joint assembly, the flexible joint assembly comprising:

At least one snake bone joint according to any of claims 1-15;

And the driving cables are respectively extended and penetrated in the snake bone joints, and one end of each driving cable is fixed with the most distal snake bone component in the flexible joint assembly.

17. The flexible joint assembly of claim 16, comprising at least two of said snake bone joints having the same direction of extension of said pivot axis, said flexible joint assembly further comprising at least two constraint cables, each of said constraint cables extending and passing through each of said snake bone joints, the location of attachment of said constraint cables to said snake bone members being symmetrical based on said pivot axis;

Between two snake bone joints with the same pivot extending direction and nearest adjacent positions, the connection position of each constraint cable and the nearest snake bone joint is a first connection position, the connection position of each constraint cable and the farthest snake bone joint is a second connection position, and the first connection position is shifted by 180 degrees based on the central axis of the flexible joint assembly compared with the second connection position.

18. A surgical manipulator arm comprising at least one flexible joint assembly according to claim 16 or 17.

19. A surgical robot is characterized in that, the surgical robot comprising at least one surgical manipulator according to claim 18.