Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the defects of the prior art, the application provides a coupling joint module based on a pulley block mechanism and a continuum robot, which solve the problem that a common continuum robot is difficult to meet the use requirements of scenes with higher requirements on load, rigidity, curvature and the like.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the application is realized by the following technical scheme:
The embodiment of the application provides a coupling joint module based on a pulley block mechanism, which comprises a joint module, a connecting framework, the pulley block mechanism and a rope module, wherein the joint module comprises 2N+1 joint pieces, a first side joint and a second side joint which are sequentially arranged, the first side joint and the second side joint are respectively positioned at two sides of the 2N+1 joint pieces, any two adjacent two of the first side joint, the 2N+1 joint pieces and the second side joint enclose a meshing part for providing a bending space, two meshing surfaces of the meshing part are elliptical cambered surfaces, the opening directions of the two adjacent meshing parts are staggered, and the space sizes of a plurality of meshing parts arranged along the first direction are gradually reduced, wherein N is a positive integer.
Specifically, the connecting skeleton is embedded in two adjacent joints of the first side joint, the 2N+1 joint pieces and the second side joint, so as to support the meshing part and restrict the offset direction in the bending of the joint module. The pulley block mechanism comprises a plurality of pulley blocks assembled on the joint module, the pulley blocks are arranged at intervals around the circumference of the joint module, and the pulleys in each pulley block are positioned on the joint piece, the first side joint and the second side joint. The rope module is connected with the pulley blocks to exert acting force through the pulleys to lead the joint module to bend.
According to the first aspect of the embodiment of the application, 2N+1 joint pieces adjacent to the second side joint are connected with the second side joint and form a meshing part, the number of pulley blocks is four groups, and four pulleys are uniformly distributed on the side part of any one of the first side joint, the joint pieces and the second side joint at intervals.
According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present application, the rope module includes four ropes, the joint module is provided with a channel extending along a first direction for the rope module to pass through, and each rope corresponds to one pulley block and is wound on the outer surfaces of a plurality of pulleys arranged along the first direction.
According to the first aspect of the embodiment of the application, the pulley block mechanism further comprises concave parts formed on the side parts of the joint piece, the first side joint and the second side joint, the concave parts are in one-to-one correspondence with the pulleys, and the concave parts provide a central shaft for sleeving the pulleys.
According to a first aspect of the embodiment of the present application, the engagement portion includes two pairs of arc-shaped grooves spaced apart along the second direction, the two arc-shaped grooves in the same pair being located in adjacent two of the 2n+1 joint pieces, the first side joint and the second side joint, the arc-shaped grooves on both sides of the joint pieces extending along the second direction and the third direction, respectively.
According to the first aspect of the embodiment of the application, the connecting framework comprises a plurality of connecting rods and a plurality of pins, the connecting rods are in sliding engagement with the arc-shaped grooves arranged in pairs through the pins, and the joint piece, the first side joint and the second side joint are provided with pin holes for accommodating the pins.
In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a continuum robot, where the continuum robot includes a coupling joint module and a driving module, the coupling joint module is a pulley-block mechanism-based coupling joint module in any one of the first aspects, the driving module includes a rope subassembly, a spring tension member, a rope end tension member, and a driving motor, a first end of each rope in the coupling joint module is fixed to a side of the rope subassembly adjacent to the coupling joint module, and a second end of each rope extends away from a distal end of the coupling joint module and is connected to the spring tension member.
According to the second aspect of the embodiment of the application, the continuum robot further comprises an operation table, wherein a plurality of concave holes extending along the second direction are formed in the operation table, the rope sub-assembly comprises a transverse plate, a vertical plate, a plurality of first rod pieces extending along the third direction and a plurality of second rod pieces extending along the second direction, a plurality of first bobbins are slidably connected to the outer peripheral surfaces of the first rod pieces and the second rod pieces, the transverse plate and the first rod pieces are fixedly connected to the vertical plate, and through holes corresponding to the concave holes are formed in the transverse plate so as to penetrate through the second rod pieces.
According to the second aspect of the embodiment of the application, the spring tension piece comprises a screw rod, a sliding block, a round rod, a linear bearing and a sleeve, wherein the sliding block is slidably arranged on the screw rod, the linear bearing is fixed with the sliding block and is fixed with the first end of the sleeve, and the round rod penetrates through the linear bearing and extends into the sleeve.
According to the second aspect of the embodiment of the application, the inner side and the outer side of the second end of the sleeve are respectively connected with a first hook and a second hook, a spring connected with the first hook is arranged in the sleeve, the two ends of the round bar are respectively connected with a third hook and a fourth hook, the third hook is connected with the spring, and the fourth hook is connected with the second end of the rope.
According to a second aspect of the embodiment of the application, the number of the spring tension members is four, the rope terminal tension members correspond to the four spring tension members and comprise two second bobbins, two winding shafts and four rope support sections, the rope support sections are connected with the second hooks and wound on the second bobbins and the winding shafts, and the winding shafts are connected with the output shaft of the driving motor.
The application provides a coupling joint module based on a pulley block mechanism and a continuum robot. Compared with the prior art, the method has the following beneficial effects:
The application provides a coupling joint module based on a pulley block mechanism, which provides a plurality of bendable meshing parts through a first side joint, 2N+1 joint pieces and a second side joint, wherein the opening directions of two adjacent meshing parts are arranged in a staggered manner, the plurality of meshing parts can be bent along different directions, and the bending offset direction is restrained by connecting a framework in the bending process of the meshing parts. The application is provided with a rope module for connecting a pulley block, and the pulley block is used for exerting acting force to draw the joint module to bend, under the action of the pulley block, the traction force exerted on the rope module can draw double load to move, the effect of variable curvature can be realized by adjusting the long and short axis parameters of the elliptic cambered surface corresponding to the meshing surface, the variable rigidity of the coupling joint module can be realized by the rope module with different rigidities, and different bending angles can be realized by adjusting the number of joint pieces and the reducing amplitude of the sizes of a plurality of meshing parts.
Detailed Description
For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more clear, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the invention.
It is noted that relational terms such as first and second, and the like are used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises an element.
The embodiment of the application solves the problem that the common continuum robot is difficult to meet the use requirements of scenes with high requirements on load, rigidity, curvature and the like by providing the coupling joint module based on the pulley block mechanism and the continuum robot.
The technical scheme in the embodiment of the application aims to solve the technical problems, and the overall thought is as follows:
In single-hole or natural cavity surgery, the degree of freedom, flexibility, rigidity and stability of the surgical instrument are all of vital importance, the rigidity and load of a common single-hole surgical instrument in a bending state can be weakened, and in a minimally invasive surgery scene, under the premise that the size, the operation space and the bending radius of the instrument are all constrained, the problem that the instrument has high flexibility and high rigidity is challenging.
Because the rigidity and the load of the common continuum robot can be weakened in a bending state, the larger the bending amplitude is, the more obvious the rigidity loss is, and most robots do not have the characteristic of variable curvature, specific requirements such as the requirement on the flexibility and the rigidity of instruments in a minimally invasive surgery scene, the requirement on the bending curvature of a manipulator in an object grabbing scene and the like are difficult to meet in some application scenes.
In the related art, the rigidity-variable instrument can solve the trade-off between flexibility and rigidity of the instrument to a certain extent, a part of the rigidity-variable instrument realizes rigidity adjustment of the instrument by arranging a spring slide block driving system on a motor driving part, and the slide block spring system is used for realizing rigidity adjustment of the instrument.
The rigidity of the other part of the rigidity-variable instruments is changed by controlling magnetorheological fluid around the driver, however, the series of rigidity-variable robots are large in general structural size, and the joint diameter can reach more than 60mm, so that the rigidity-variable robots are difficult to be widely applied to various channels, have no structural characteristics of variable curvature, and limit the use scenes of the instruments. Based on this, there is a need to propose a coupling joint module based on pulley block mechanism and a continuum robot for application in various scenes with high requirements on load, rigidity, curvature and the like.
In order to better understand the above technical solutions, the following detailed description will refer to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
The following first describes a coupling joint module based on a pulley block mechanism according to an embodiment of the present application.
The embodiment of the application provides a coupling joint module based on a pulley block mechanism, which comprises a joint module, a connecting framework, the pulley block mechanism and a rope module, as shown in fig. 2, wherein the joint module comprises 2N+1 joint pieces 1, a first side joint 2 and a second side joint 3 which are sequentially arranged, and the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3 are respectively positioned at two sides of the 2N+1 joint pieces 1.
Any two adjacent joints (2, 2N+1) of the first side joint and the second side joint (3) enclose one meshing part A for providing bending space, two meshing surfaces (B) of the meshing part A are elliptical cambered surfaces, the opening directions of the two adjacent meshing parts A are arranged in a staggered manner, and the space sizes of the meshing parts A arranged along the first direction X1 are tapered in a gradient manner, wherein N is a positive integer.
Specifically, the connecting skeleton is embedded in two adjacent first side joints 2, 2n+1 joint pieces 1 and second side joints 3 to support the engaging portion a and restrict the offset direction in bending of the joint module. The pulley block mechanism comprises a plurality of pulley blocks assembled on the joint module, the pulley blocks are arranged at intervals around the circumference of the joint module, and a plurality of pulleys 4 in each pulley block are positioned on the joint piece 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3. The rope modules are connected to a plurality of pulley blocks to exert force through pulleys 4 to tie the joint modules to bend.
In the embodiment of the application, it can be understood that the coupling joint module provides a plurality of bendable meshing parts A through the first side joint 2, the 2N+1 joint pieces 1 and the second side joint 3, the opening directions of two adjacent meshing parts A are arranged in a staggered manner, the plurality of meshing parts A can be bent along different directions, and the bending offset direction can be restrained through the connecting framework in the bending process of the meshing parts A.
Furthermore, the application is provided with a rope module for connecting the pulley block, and the acting force is exerted by the pulley 4 to lead the joint module to bend, and under the action of the pulley block, the traction force exerted on the rope module can lead the double load to move. The curvature-changing effect can be realized by adjusting the length axis parameters of the elliptical cambered surface corresponding to the meshing surface B. The variable rigidity of the coupling joint module can be realized through the rope modules with different rigidities. By adjusting the number of the joint members 1 and the magnitude of the taper in the size of the plurality of engagement portions a, different bending angles can be achieved. Therefore, the coupling joint module has the characteristics of high load, variable curvature, variable rigidity and large bending angle, and can meet the use requirements of the continuum robot in various scenes.
It should be emphasized that the hollow design of the joint member 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3 can be used as a rope channel, so that various structures can be integrated on the side of the coupling joint module, which faces the first side joint 2, to meet the use requirements in different scenes.
In some embodiments, 2n+1 joint pieces 1 adjacent to the second side joint 3 are connected to the second side joint 3 and define an engagement portion a.
In the embodiment of the present application, it is understood that the joint members 1 are arranged in an odd number, the number of joints in the coupling joint module including the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3 is an odd number, the joints in the coupling joint module are specifically one of the joint members 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3, and an engagement portion a is defined between two adjacent joints in the coupling joint module.
It should be noted that, the first side of the first side joint 2 is used for connecting with the adjacent joint member 1, and the second side of the first side joint 2 is used for connecting with the load member, i.e. the first side of the first side joint 2 is only required to provide the engagement surface B for coupling with the adjacent joint member 1. Accordingly, the second side joint 3 is used for providing the medium for coupling the joint module and the driving module, the second side joint 3 only needs to provide one engagement surface B for coupling with the adjacent joint member 1, and the 2n+1 th joint member 1 is the joint member 1 adjacent to the second side joint 3.
In some embodiments, the number of pulley blocks is four, and four pulleys 4 are uniformly distributed at intervals on the side of any one of the first side joint 2, the joint member 1 and the second side joint 3. The rope module comprises four ropes 5, the joint module is provided with a channel extending along the first direction X1 for the rope module to pass through, and each rope 5 corresponds to one pulley block and is wound on the outer surfaces of a plurality of pulleys 4 arranged along the first direction X1.
In the embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 4, the joint member 1 is provided with a through rope hole J along the axial direction, the rope holes J of the plurality of joint members 1 form a passage through which a rope passes, each rope 5 passes through the plurality of rope holes J and is wound around a plurality of pulleys 4 in a pulley block, and two ends of the rope 5 are on the same side, it can be understood that under the condition that one end of the rope 5 is fixed, by applying traction force to the other end of the rope 5, under the action of the pulley block, the coupling joint module can drive a load twice as much as the traction force, and the pulleys 4 play the role of a movable pulley.
In other alternative embodiments, referring to fig. 4, the joint member 1 is provided with through preformed holes I along the axial direction, and the preformed holes I of the multiple joint members 1 can form a preformed channel, so that the rigidity of the coupling joint module can be improved by penetrating titanium alloy wires in the preformed channel.
In an example, referring to fig. 2, 3 and 4, the pulley block mechanism further includes a recess C formed on the sides of the joint member 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3, the recess C corresponds to the pulley 4 one by one, and the recess C provides a central shaft 41 for sleeving the pulley 4.
In the present embodiment, it is understood that each of the joint member 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3 of the present application is formed with four recesses C and provided with four corresponding pulleys, in other words, in any one of the joint members 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3, there are two pulleys 4 opposing in the third direction X3 and two pulleys 4 opposing in the second direction X2, and the corresponding engagement portions a can be driven to bend and deviate during the selective application of traction force by the ropes 5.
The two meshing surfaces B of the meshing part A are elliptical cambered surfaces, the maximum meshing angle of the single meshing part A is adjusted by adjusting the length of the long and short axes of the elliptical cambered surfaces, the effect of variable curvature is realized, the rigidity of the coupling joint module can be realized by controlling the rigidity of the rope 4 in different sections, and different bending angles can be realized by adjusting the number of the joint pieces 1. Therefore, the coupling joint module provided by the application has the characteristics of high load, variable curvature, variable rigidity and large bending angle.
It should be further noted that, referring to fig. 2, since the space dimensions of the plurality of engaging portions a arranged along the first direction X1 taper in a ladder manner, the bendable amplitude of each engaging portion a of the whole coupling joint module gradually changes, and the maximum bending angle can be flexibly adjusted according to the number of the joint members 1 connected in series.
It should be emphasized that the elliptical parameters of the engagement surfaces B on both sides of each joint element 1 are different, because of the stepwise tapering of the spatial dimensions of the plurality of engagement portions a. The meshing angles of all meshing parts A can be flexibly adjusted according to practical application scenes, so that the coupling joint modules with multiple bending angles, multiple sections of variable curvatures and multiple postures can be combined to be used for assembling the continuum robot.
In some embodiments, referring to fig. 3 and 4 together, the engaging portion a includes two pairs of arc-shaped grooves D spaced along the second direction X2, two arc-shaped grooves D in the same pair are located in adjacent two of 2n+1 joint pieces 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3, and the arc-shaped grooves D on both sides of the joint pieces 1 extend along the second direction X2 and the third direction X3, respectively.
In the embodiment of the present application, it can be understood that the extending directions of the arc-shaped grooves D formed on both sides of each joint member 1 are different, so that the bendable offset directions of the two adjacent engaging portions a are different.
In some embodiments, referring to fig. 3 and 4, the connecting frame includes a plurality of connecting rods 6 and a plurality of pins, the connecting rods 6 are slidably engaged with the arc-shaped grooves D arranged in pairs by the pins, and the joint member 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3 are provided with pin holes E to accommodate the pins.
In the embodiment of the present application, it is understood that the link 6 plays a role of restraining the pose, preventing longitudinal distancing and lateral shifting of the joints when the joint member 1, the first side joint 2 and the second side joint 3 are subjected to a large tensile force, and the link 6 is hinged in the pin hole E by a pin.
Note that, referring to fig. 3 and 4 together, the position selection of the pin hole E is critical, and the pin hole E is located at two focal positions of the elliptical surface corresponding to the engagement surface B, where the length of the connecting rod 6 remains unchanged regardless of how the elliptical surface is engaged when the coupling joint module rotates. The application determines the end point rotation position of the connecting rod 6 through the focal point of the elliptical surface, ensures the stability and reliability of the coupling joint module when being pulled, and can be applied to various scenes with high requirements on stability and safety. Meanwhile, the parameters of the elliptical cambered surface are adjustable, and the robot is endowed with larger bending angle and changeable curvature adjusting capability through parameter adjustment and multi-joint serial connection, so that the application scene is greatly expanded.
In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 1, the continuum robot further includes a coupling joint module and a driving module, the coupling joint module is a coupling joint module based on the pulley block mechanism in any one of the first aspect, the driving module includes a rope subassembly 7, a spring tension member 8, a rope end tension member 9 and a driving motor 10, wherein a first end of each rope 5 in the coupling joint module is fixed to a side of the rope subassembly 7 adjacent to the coupling joint module, and a second end of each rope 5 extends away from a distal end of the coupling joint module and is connected to the spring tension member 8.
In an embodiment of the application, it will be appreciated that the second end of the cable 5 continues away from the coupling joint module and is adjusted in height, position and attitude by the cable subassembly 7 and is further connected to the spring tension member 8. In the process of pulling the ropes 5 to bend the coupling joint module, traction force is selectively applied to one of the ropes 5 in the pair, the two ropes 5 in the same pair are in different stress states, and the two ropes 5 in the same pair are restrained and regulated by the spring stretching piece 8, so that the two ropes 5 in the same pair are in a tightening state.
In some embodiments, referring to fig. 1, 5 and 6, the continuum robot further includes an operation table F, where a plurality of concave holes G extending along the second direction X2 are formed on the operation table F, the rope subassembly 7 includes a transverse plate 71, a vertical plate 72, a plurality of first bars 73 extending along the third direction X3, and a plurality of second bars 74 extending along the second direction X2, the outer peripheral surfaces of the first bars 73 and the second bars 74 are slidably connected with a plurality of first bobbins 75, the transverse plate 71 and the first bars 73 are fixedly connected to the vertical plate 72, and through holes H corresponding to the concave holes G are formed on the transverse plate 71 to pass through the second bars 74.
In the embodiment of the present application, it is understood that the first bobbins 75, where the sections adjacent to the second ends of the 4 ropes 5 are wound around the first rod 73 and the second rod 74, make a sort adjustment of height, position, and posture, ensuring that each rope 5 corresponds to the position of the spring tension member 8, respectively, to reduce the additional stress of the ropes 5.
In addition, the concave hole G and the through hole H correspond to each other along the second direction X2, the second rod 74 is inserted into the concave hole G and the through hole H to be positioned, and different concave holes G and through holes H can be selected to mount the second rod 74 according to the needs, so as to adjust the position of the second rod 74.
In some embodiments, the spring tension member 8 comprises a screw rod 81, a sliding block 82, a round rod 83, a linear bearing 84 and a sleeve 85, wherein the sliding block 82 is slidably mounted on the screw rod 81, the linear bearing 84 is fixed with the sliding block 82 and fixed with the first end of the sleeve 85, and the round rod 83 penetrates through the linear bearing 84 and extends into the sleeve 85. The first hook 851 and the second hook 852 are respectively connected to the inner side and the outer side of the second end of the sleeve 85, a spring 86 connected with the first hook 851 is arranged in the sleeve 85, the third hook 831 and the fourth hook 832 are respectively connected to the two ends of the round bar 83, the third hook 831 is connected with the spring 86, and the fourth hook 832 is connected with the second end of the rope 5.
In the embodiment of the present application, it is understood that the screw rod 81 is a micro precision screw rod, and the linear bearing 84 is connected to the screw rod 81 through the slider 82, so that the linear bearing 84 can move within the lead of the screw rod 81.
Further, the second ends of the ropes 5 extend and are connected to a fourth hook 832, the fourth hook 832 is indirectly connected to the spring 86 through a round bar 83 and a third hook 831, and each rope 5 is on the same axis as the spring 86 of the spring tension member 8 after the posture of the rope sub-assembly 7 is adjusted, thereby reducing the extra stress of the ropes 5.
It should be further noted that, the third hook 831 hooks one end of the spring 86, the other end of the spring 86 is connected with the first hook 851, the second hook 852 is connected with the rope terminal tensioning member 9, the structure design of this portion realizes the effect of rigidity change through the stretching action of the spring 86, when the coupling joint module is bent, the spring 86 is deformed by the tensile force of the rope 5, so as to generate the constraint force on the coupling joint module, and the larger the bending angle of the coupling joint module is, the larger the constraint force of the spring 5 is, so as to increase the rigidity of the robot under a large bending angle. In addition, the specification of the spring 5 can be changed, and the coupling joint module can also have different spring constraint forces when being bent at the same angle, so that the effect of changing stiffness is further realized, and the requirement on the rigidity of the robot in different scenes is met.
In some embodiments, referring to fig. 1, 5 and 7, the number of the spring tension members 8 is four, the rope end tensioning member 9 corresponds to four spring tension members 8 and includes two second bobbins 91, two winding shafts 92 and four rope support sections, the rope support sections are connected with the second hooks 852 and wound around the second bobbins 91 and the winding shafts 92, and the winding shafts 92 are connected with the output shaft of the driving motor 10.
In the embodiment of the present application, it is understood that the four spring tension members 8 are connected to the second ends of the four ropes 5, respectively, and since the second ends of the ropes 5 extend only to the spring tension members 8, in order to apply traction force to the ropes 5 by the driving motor 10, the present application provides a rope end tension member 9 between the driving motor 10 and the spring tension members 8, and each second bobbin 91 winds two rope branch sections (not shown) connected to the spring tension members 8, which are controlled by the driving motor 10 at the bottom of the winding shaft 92, respectively, to achieve the winding and unwinding effects.
In summary, compared with the prior art, the application has the following beneficial effects:
1. The coupling joint module provided by the application provides a plurality of bendable meshing parts A through the first side joint 2, the 2N+1 joint pieces 1 and the second side joint 3, the opening directions of two adjacent meshing parts A are arranged in a staggered manner, the plurality of meshing parts A can be bent along different directions, and the bending offset direction can be restrained through a connecting framework in the bending process of the meshing parts A.
2. The coupling joint module has the characteristic of high load, can realize the variable rigidity of the robot through the rope modules with different rigidities and the springs 86 with different rigidities, and can realize different bending angles by adjusting the quantity of the joint pieces 1 and the reducing amplitude of the sizes of the meshing parts A.
3. According to the application, the pulley block mechanism, the spring stretching piece and the continuum robot are combined, so that the robot has excellent performance, high load and variable rigidity are ensured, meanwhile, the end point rotation position of the connecting rod 6 is determined through the focus of the elliptical cambered surface, and the stability and reliability of the coupling joint module in tension are ensured, so that the coupling joint module can be applied to various scenes with higher requirements on stability and safety. Meanwhile, the parameters of the elliptical cambered surface are adjustable, and the robot is endowed with larger bending angle and changeable curvature adjusting capability through parameter adjustment and multi-joint serial connection, so that the application scene is greatly expanded.
The foregoing embodiments are merely for illustrating the technical solution of the present invention, but not for limiting the same, and although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the technical solution described in the foregoing embodiments or equivalents may be substituted for parts of the technical features thereof, and that such modifications or substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention in essence.