基于热缩材料的气动柔性机器人转向机构设计

Design of Pneumatic Flexible Robot Steering Mechanism Based on Heat Shrinkable Materials

气动柔性机器人具有质量轻、环境适应性强、无需元件驱动、在恶劣条件下拥有较好的可靠性等优点。然而,转向运动控制一直是气动柔性机器人开发的最大难题并制约其大规模应用。针对此问题,设计一种通过电控加热使得热收缩膜实现主动转向的充气臂式柔性机器人,对其端部执行机构进行建模设计,对充气壁材料和热缩膜材料进行了实验选择;在此基础上,构建热致收缩的转向控制数学模型,搭建实验样机,并对转向效果进行验证。得到结论如下:充气壁带膜选择0.08 mm厚的PE筒膜,热缩膜选取厚度0.075 mm、宽度20 mm的PVC热缩膜,最佳的热缩温度为80℃。通过脉冲控制,实现了直角转向。该柔性机器人在管道检测方面具有良好的应用潜力。

Pneumatic flexible robots have the advantages of light weight,strong environmental adaptability,no need for component drive,and good reliability under harsh conditions.However,steering motion control has always been the biggest challenge in the development of pneumatic flexible robots and restricts their large-scale application.In response to this issue,an inflatable arm type flexible robot was designed which achieved active steering function by electrically heating the heat shrink film.The end effector was modeled and designed,and the inflatable wall material and heat shrink film material were experimentally selected.On this basis,a mathematical model for thermal induced shrinkage steering control was constructed,and an experimental prototype was built to verify the steering effect.The conclusions are as follows:a PE cylinder film with a thickness of 0.08 mm is selected as the inflatable wall strip film,and a PVC heat shrink film with a thickness of 0.075 mm and a width of 20 mm is selected as the heat shrink film.The optimal heat shrink temperature is 80℃.Through pulse control,right angle steering is achieved.This flexible robot has good application potential in pipeline inspection.