Flexible arm, particularly a robot arm
AssigneeRobotgruppen HB
InventorsOve Larson, Charles Davidson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flexible arm particularly a robot arm comprising a plurality of elements arranged in a series with adjacent elements in abutting relationship, said elements being interconnected via cables and if desired a power transferring actuating device. The arm has very good rigidity in the bending plane of each element and high torsional resistance together with low manufacturing costs. Each element is designed with opposed single or double-curved segments, or flat surfaces, or combinations thereof with the curved surfaces of each segment engaging the curved or flat surfaces of the adjacent segments, whereby the elements when actuated by the power transferring device have a rolling motion relative to each other.
Claims6
A flexible arm, particularly a robot arm, for supporting and/or manipulating tools or the like comprising a plurality of elements arranged in series with adjacent elements contacting each other, at least one contact surface on each element contacting a contact surface of an adjacent element, at least one of said contact surfaces being convexly curved for rolling motion on the other contact surface of the adjacent element, the radius of curvature of said curved surface being relatively larger than half the height of the curved part of said element, the radius of curvature of the other contact surface on the adjacent element varying from a value which is relatively substantially larger compared with the contact surface of the first mentioned element to infinity, and actuating means operably connected to said elements to move them with respect to each other so that said adjacent elements have a rolling motion on said contact surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.