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EP-4588778-B1 - BIOMIMETIC TURTLE

EP4588778B1EP 4588778 B1EP4588778 B1EP 4588778B1EP-4588778-B1

Inventors

  • CHEN, CHIH-SHENG
  • LIU, CHING-HUNG
  • HUANG, WEI-YU
  • YEH, LI-YUAN
  • ZHANG, Chang-qi
  • SHEN, CHIH-WEI
  • PAN, GUAN-HAO
  • LAI, CHING-SHU

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240417

Claims (9)

  1. A biomimetic turtle (100) comprising: a waterproof housing unit (1) that includes a waterproof casing (11) defining a waterproof space (111) therein, and having two front limb connecting holes (112) that are in fluid communication with said waterproof space (111), and two hind limb connecting holes (113) that are in fluid communication with said waterproof space (111), two front limb connectors (12) connected respectively to said front limb connecting holes (112), and two hind limb connectors (13) connected respectively to said hind limb connecting holes (113); two front limb driving motors (4) that are disposed in said waterproof space (111), each of said front limb driving motors (4) including a front limb driving shaft (42) that is connected to a respective one of said front limb connectors (12); two hind limb driving motors (5) that are disposed in said waterproof space (111), each of said hind limb driving motors (5) including a hind limb driving shaft (52) that is connected to a respective one of said hind limb connectors (13); two front limb modules (6) that are connected respectively and detachably to said front limb connectors (12), and that are driven respectively by said front limb driving motors (4) via said front limb connectors (12); two hind limb modules (7) that are connected respectively and detachably to said hind limb connectors (13), and that are driven respectively by said hind limb driving motors (5) via said hind limb connectors (13); and a control unit (3) that is mounted in said waterproof space (111) of said waterproof casing (11), and that is configured to control said front limb driving motors (4) and said hind limb driving motors (5); characterized in that : said biomimetic turtle (100) further comprise a weight module (8) disposed in said waterproof space (111) and including a weight member (81) that is slidable relative to said waterproof casing (11) along a longitudinal axis extending in a front-rear direction, a weight member driving motor (82) that is mounted to said waterproof casing (11), and a crank connecting mechanism (83) that is connected between said weight member (81) and said weight member driving motor (82); said control unit (3) is configured to control said weight member driving motor (82) to drive movement of said weight member (81) via said crank connecting mechanism (83); and said weight member (81) is a battery unit.
  2. The biomimetic turtle (100) of claim 1, wherein: each of said front limb driving motors (4) further includes a front motor body (41); each of said hind limb driving motors (5) further includes a rear motor body (51); said waterproof space (111) has two front motor accommodating chambers (111b) accommodating respectively said front motor bodies (41) of said front limb driving motors (4), and two rear motor accommodating chambers (111c) accommodating respectively said rear motor bodies (51) of said hind limb driving motors (5); and said waterproof casing (11) includes a main casing portion (115), two front limb motor casing portions (116) formed respectively with said front limb connecting holes (112), and cooperating with said main casing portion (115) to define said front motor accommodating chambers (111b), and two hind limb motor casing portions (117) formed respectively with said hind limb connecting holes (113), and cooperating with said main casing portion (115) to define said rear motor accommodating chambers (111c).
  3. The biomimetic turtle (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein said weight member driving motor (82) includes a weight driving shaft (821) rotatable about an upright axis perpendicular to the front-rear direction, and connected co-movably to said crank connecting mechanism (83) for driving the movement of said weight member (81).
  4. The biomimetic turtle (100) of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: said waterproof casing (11) further has a head connecting hole (114) in fluid communication with said waterproof space (111); said biomimetic turtle (100) further comprises a head module (9) extending through said head connecting hole (114) and connected to said weight member (8); and said waterproof housing unit (1) further includes a waterproof cover (14) mounted between said head module (9) and said waterproof casing (11).
  5. The biomimetic turtle (100) of claim 4, wherein: said head module (9) includes a connecting rod (91) extending through said head connecting hole (114) and connected to said weight member (8), a head casing (92) opening rearwardly in the front-rear direction, and a dual shaft motor (93) connected between said connecting rod (91) and said head casing (92), and driving said head casing (92) to rotate relative to said connecting rod (91); and said waterproof cover (14) cooperates with said head casing (92) to define a head space (94) for accommodating said dual shaft motor (93) therein.
  6. The biomimetic turtle (100) of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: each of said front limb connectors (12) is rotatable about a first front rotating axis (AF1) extending in a front-rear direction; and each of said front limb modules (6) includes an L-shaped link rod (61) having a first segment (611) that is mounted to a front portion of the respective one of said front limb connectors (12) and that extends away from said first segment (611) of said L-shaped link rod (61) of another one of said front limb modules (6), and a second segment (612) that extends forwardly from a distal end of said first segment (611) in the front-rear direction, and a front limb (62) mounted to and covering a front portion of said second segment (612), extending away from said front limb (62) of said another one of said front limb modules (6), and rotatable about a second front rotating axis (AF2) that is perpendicular to the first front rotating axis (AF1).
  7. The biomimetic turtle (100) of claim 6, wherein: each of said front limb modules (6) further includes an angle limiting mechanism (63) mounted between said L-shaped link rod (61) and said front limb (62) for limiting a rotation angle of said front limb (62) relative to said second segment (612) of said L-shaped link rod (61); and said angle limiting mechanism (63) has an arcuate sliding groove (631) formed in one of said L-shaped link rod (61) and said front limb (62), and a sliding protrusion (632) slidably engaging said arcuate sliding groove (631) and formed on another one of said L-shaped link rod (61) and said front limb (62).
  8. The biomimetic turtle (100) of claim 6 or 7, wherein said front limb (62) of each of said front limb modules (6) includes a front limb frame (621) mounted to the front portion of said second segment (612) of said L-shaped link rod (61), and a deformable front flipper portion (622) surrounding and covering said front limb frame (621), and extending rearwardly away from said deformable front flipper portion (622) of another one of said front limb modules (6).
  9. The biomimetic turtle (100) of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: each of said hind limb connectors (13) is rotatable about a rear rotating axis (AR) extending in a transverse direction; and each of said hind limb modules (7) includes a hind limb link rod (71) extending in a direction parallel to the transverse direction, and mounted to a rear portion of the respective one of said hind limb connectors (13), and a deformable hind flipper (72) mounted to and covering a rear portion of said hind limb link rod (71) and extending rearwardly in the front-rear direction.

Description

The disclosure relates to a biomimetic robot, and more particularly to a biomimetic turtle. A biomimetic robot according to the preamble of claim 1 is disclosed in CN 100 584 695 C. Generally, a conventional biomimetic turtle includes front limbs and hind limbs that have a relatively complicated transmission mechanism for emulating movement and swimming motion of a turtle in the water. Each of the front limbs and the hind limbs includes a plurality of joints connected to a plurality of output shafts that are driven by a plurality of motors to control movement of the conventional biomimetic turtle, which is quite troublesome. In addition, in a case where the conventional biomimetic turtle employs motors, gears, pulleys, belts, link rods, etc. as the transmission mechanism, it is necessary to provide a waterproof function for the abovementioned components. For example, a waterproof motor that is way more expensive than an ordinary motor without a waterproof function is employed in the conventional biomimetic turtle, so the conventional biomimetic turtle is costly to manufacture. Furthermore, since the front limbs and the hind limbs are controlled by a plurality of motors and have a relatively complicated structure, it is usually troublesome for maintenance of the conventional biomimetic turtle. Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a biomimetic turtle that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art. According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a biomimetic turtle according to claim 1. Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that various features may not be drawn to scale. FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a biomimetic turtle according to the present disclosure.FIG. 2 is a partly exploded perspective view of the embodiment, illustrating a decorative casing, a waterproof casing, two front limb modules and two hind limb modules of the biomimetic turtle.FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, partly exploded perspective view of the embodiment, without the decorative casing.FIG. 4 is another fragmentary, partly exploded perspective view of the embodiment, illustrating a structure of the biomimetic turtle without the decorative casing, the front limb modules and the hind limb modules.FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cutaway perspective view of the embodiment, illustrating a weight module and a head module of the biomimetic turtle.FIG. 6 is a fragmentary schematic sectional view illustrating the weight module and the head module of the embodiment. Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics. It should be noted herein that for clarity of description, spatially relative terms such as "top," "bottom," "upper," "lower," "on," "above," "over," "downwardly," "upwardly" and the like may be used throughout the disclosure while making reference to the features as illustrated in the drawings. The features may be oriented differently (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative terms used herein may be interpreted accordingly. Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, an embodiment of a biomimetic turtle 100 according to the disclosure is adapted to be movable in the water. The biomimetic turtle 100 includes a waterproof housing unit 1, a decorative cover 2, a control unit 3, two front limb driving motors 4, two hind limb driving motors 5, two front limb modules 6, two hind limb modules 7, a weight module 8, and a head module 9. The waterproof housing unit 1 includes a waterproof casing 11, two front limb connectors 12, two hind limb connectors 13 (only one is visible), and a waterproof cover 14. The waterproof casing 11 defines a waterproof space 111 therein, and has two front limb connecting holes 112 that are in fluid communication with the waterproof space 111, two hind limb connecting holes 113 (only one is visible) that are in fluid communication with the waterproof space 111, and a head connecting hole 114 (see FIG. 6) that is in fluid communication with the waterproof space 111. The two front limb connectors 12 are connected respectively to the front limb connecting holes 112, and the two hind limb connectors 13 are connected respectively to the hind limb connecting holes 113. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of waterproof sealing rings (R) are sleeved on the front limb connectors 12 and the hind limb connectors 13 so that the front limb connectors 12 are connected sealingly to the front limb connecting holes 112, and so that the hind limb connectors 13 are connected sealingly to the hind limb connecting holes 113. In this embodiment, th