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US 2017/0008166 A1Published application
Biomimetic humanoid robotic model, control system, and simulation process
OwnerStephen Favisinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A biomimetics based robot and process for simulation is disclosed. The robot may include filament driven and fluid pumped elastomer based artificial muscles coordinated for slow twitch/fast twitch contraction and movement of the robot by one or more microcontrollers. A process may provide physics based simulation for movement of a robot in a virtual setting. Successfully tested movement data may be stored and embedded into a robot at build and/or before a new movement in programmed into the robot.
Claims18
A biomimetics based robot, comprising:
- an artificial skeletal structure;
- an artificial muscular system attached to the artificial skeletal structure, artificial muscles of the artificial muscular system including,
- flexible casing,
- a fluid channel through the flexible casing configured to contract and relax the flexible casing via controlled fluid inflow/outflow from the flexible casing, and
- a filament coupled to opposing ends of the flexible casing;
- a power source;
- a pump;
- an actuator;
- and
- a processing unit connected to the power source, the pump and the actuator, the processing unit configured to:
- control the pump to pump fluid into and out of the flexible casing of respective muscles and control the actuator to oscillate a length of the filament, to expand and contract the flexible casing of respective muscles in coordinated fashion to mimic human movement.
8 more elements
A biomimetics based robot, comprising:
- an artificial skeletal structure;
- an artificial muscular system attached to the artificial skeletal structure, arrays of artificial muscles of the artificial muscular system, wherein the artificial muscles include,
- a non-electroactive polymer casing,
- a fluid channel through the non-electroactive polymer casing configured to contract and relax the non-electroactive polymer casing via controlled fluid inflow/outflow from the non-electroactive polymer casing,
- a solenoid valve on either an inflow side or outflow side of the fluid channel, and
- a filament coupled to opposing ends of the non-electroactive polymer casing;
- a power source;
- a pump;
- a fluid network configured to circulate fluid, via the pump, from the outflow side of the fluid channel to the inflow side of the fluid channel;
- a heating element connected to the filament;
- a controller connected to the solenoid valve and configured to open and close the solenoid valve;
- and
- a processing unit connected to the power source, the pump, the heating element, and the controller, the processing unit configured to:
- control the pump to pump fluid into and out of the non-electroactive polymer casing of respective artificial muscles,
- control the heating element to lengthen and shorten the filament, and
- control the controller to open and close the solenoid valve,
- to expand and contract the non-electroactive polymer casing of respective muscles in coordinated fashion to mimic human movement.
14 more elements
An artificial muscle, comprising:
- flexible casing,
- a fluid channel through the flexible casing configured to contract and relax the flexible casing via controlled fluid inflow/outflow from the flexible casing, the fluid channel including a connection to a fluid pump for controlling the fluid inflow/outflow;
- and
- a filament coupled to opposing ends of the flexible casing and connected to an actuator controlling the length of the filament to contract and relax the flexible casing.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.