Qin Guodong, Ji Aihong, Cheng Yong, Zhao Wenlong, Pan Hongtao, Shi Shanshuang, Song Yuntao
Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Nanjing, China.
Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Hefei, China.
Soft Robot. 2022 Aug;9(4):788-797. doi: 10.1089/soro.2020.0165. Epub 2021 Sep 21.
Continuum robots with redundant degrees of freedom and postactuated devices are suitable for application in aerospace, nuclear facilities, and other narrow and multiobstacle special environments. The development of a snake-inspired continuum robot is presented in this study. The morphological skeleton structure of the snake body is simulated using underactuated continuum joints, which include several rigid-body joints in series. Each rigid-body joint is driven by the traction of a wire rope. Based on the layered-drive principle, angular synchronous motion can be realized in space with multiple rigid-body joints in a single continuous joint, which can considerably reduce the complexity of the inverse kinematics solution, terminal drive box, and control system. The static and dynamic characteristics of the snake-inspired robot are obtained through torque balance and an equivalent transformation. Finally, we demonstrate trajectory planning and load capacity testing in two robot prototypes with arm lengths of 1500 and 2300 mm (including two and four continuous joints, respectively). The rationality of the structure and the correctness of the control of the layered-drive snake-inspired robot are verified.
具有冗余自由度的连续体机器人和后驱动装置适用于航空航天、核设施及其他狭窄且多障碍物的特殊环境。本研究介绍了一种仿蛇连续体机器人的研制情况。蛇身的形态骨架结构采用欠驱动连续体关节进行模拟，这些关节包括多个串联的刚体关节。每个刚体关节由钢丝绳牵引驱动。基于分层驱动原理，单个连续关节中的多个刚体关节可在空间中实现角同步运动，这可大幅降低逆运动学求解、终端驱动箱及控制系统的复杂性。通过扭矩平衡和等效变换获得了仿蛇机器人的静态和动态特性。最后，我们在两个臂长分别为1500毫米和2300毫米的机器人原型（分别包括两个和四个连续关节）上进行了轨迹规划和负载能力测试。验证了分层驱动仿蛇机器人结构的合理性和控制的正确性。
