Corrosion resistant exoskeleton arm linkage assembly

A method of shielding each link of a multi-link robot arm against being splashed with fluids, each link including upwardly facing surfaces and downwardly facing surfaces and a peripherally extending sidewall having outwardly facing surfaces and extending between the upwardly and downwardly facing surfaces, the shielding method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a protective shell-like cover of thin-walled plastic material impervious to the fluids, the protective cover having a contoured shape congruently conforming to the configuration of a link and including an upper member overlying the upwardly facing surfaces of the link and an integral continuous side member proximally overlying the sidewall of the link and extending to a lower rim projecting beyond a plane of the downwardly facing surfaces of the link, the protective cover being biased by its contoured shape such that with the upper member proximately overlying the upwardly facing surface, the continuous side member is caused to move into congruent engagement with the outwardly facing surfaces of the peripherally extending sidewall;
• (b) providing a substantially protective plate of thin-walled plastic material impervious to the fluids adapted to be removably attached to the downwardly facing surfaces of each link of the robot arm, the protective plate including a peripheral rim generally coextensive with the peripherally extending sidewall of the link and proximate the lower rim of the protective cover when both the protective cover and the protective plate are attached thereto;
• and
• (c) removably attaching the protective shell-like cover to each link of the robot arm such that any splashing of the robot arm issuing from an elevated location and directed toward the robot arm is caused to impinge upon the protective cover thereby protecting the link of the robot arm to which it is attached.

A system for shielding a robot arm against being splashed with fluids, the robot arm including upwardly facing surfaces and downwardly facing surfaces and a peripherally extending sidewall having outwardly facing surfaces and extending between the upwardly and downwardly facing surfaces, the shielding system comprising:

• a protective shell-like cover of thin-walled plastic material impervious to the fluids adapted to be removably attached to the robot arm, the protective cover having a contoured shape congruently conforming to the configuration of the robot arm and including an upper member overlying the upwardly facing surfaces of the robot arm and an integral continuous side member proximally overlying the sidewall of the robot arm and extending to a lower rim projecting beyond a plane of the downwardly facing surfaces of the robot arm, the protective cover being biased by its contoured shape such that with the upper member proximately overlying the upwardly facing surface, the continuous side member is caused to move into congruent engagement with the outwardly facing surfaces of the peripherally extending sidewall;
• and
• a protective plate of thin-walled plastic material impervious to the fluids adapted to be removably attached to the downwardly facing surfaces of the robot arm, the protective plate including a peripheral rim generally coextensive with the peripherally extending sidewall of the robot arm and proximate the lower rim of the protective cover when both the protective cover and the protective plate are attached thereto;
• the protective cover and the protective plate having mutually overlapping regions forming a labyrinth seal whereby any splashing of the robot arm issuing from any direction and directed toward the robot arm is caused to impinge upon the protective cover thereby protecting the robot arm to which it is attached.