JP2018180988A - Attachment type expansion/contraction detection device and operation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an attachment type expansion/contraction detection device and an operation device, capable of being easily attached and easily performing a teaching operation to a robot or the like without requiring a complex signal processing.SOLUTION: An attachment type expansion/contraction detection device 100 comprises: an annular seat member 11 having flexibility so as to be adhered to a body surface when covering the body surface of a wearer and wearing it; a line-shaped sensor 13 that is provided to the seat member 11, and detects a flexibility amount to a peripheral direction of the seat member 11; and a signal generation unit 15 that generates a signal indicating the flexibility amount of the seat member 11 in response to detection from the sensor 13. An operation device controls a driving of controlled equipment according to a signal generated in the signal generation unit 15.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a wearable extension and contraction detection device and an operation device.

  Attempts have been made to acquire the muscle strength state of muscles by using myoelectric potentials, which are action potentials of muscles. For example, the myoelectric pattern identification device of Patent Document 1 identifies differences in myoelectric patterns by quantizing values measured using a plurality of myoelectric sensors into discrete values, and controls based on the identification result. Determines the behavior of the subject. The muscle force supporter of Patent Document 2 includes a sheet member covering the muscle, a muscle force state acquiring unit arranged in the sheet member to acquire the muscle state, and contraction of the muscle according to the contraction timing acquired by being arranged in the sheet member. And a muscle assisting operation unit for assisting muscle strength support. The measuring device of the myoelectricity using the capacitance type electrode of Patent Document 3 uses the capacitance type electrode so that the myoelectric signal can be measured without being affected by the body movement even during the bending movement. .

  Generally, electrodes of these myoelectric sensors are provided with a carbon electrode at the center, and a conductive gel is provided to cover it. The conductive gel has the role of enhancing the adhesion between the skin and the electrode and increasing the sensitivity. The electrode adheres the gel portion to the skin and is fixed by the adhesive seal portion around the periphery. The myoelectric sensor is used by being attached to a predetermined position as a set of three electrodes of a positive electrode (+) and a negative electrode (-) of a power source and a detection unit.

JP 2005-389 A JP, 2015-164510, A JP, 2009-261735, A

However, in the myoelectric sensor described above, since the electrode is disposable, it takes time and labor to attach the electrode each time it is used. In addition, the myoelectric sensor adheres the adhesive seal portion relatively firmly to the skin, so the wearing feeling is bad. And when the adhesive seal part for electrode fixation of a myoelectric sensor peels from the skin to which it was stuck, it is easy to produce a pain, and a mark may remain in skin. Furthermore, in the myoelectric pattern identification device of Patent Document 1, complicated signal processing is required.
From these points, for example, when using a myoelectric sensor for the purpose of controlling a robot etc. and detecting body movement, the shape or size of the object, or the work procedure or the work content is not constant, and periodically In the case of changing to, the teaching operation to the robot etc. is very complicated and time-consuming.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is a wearable type that can be easily mounted, and can easily perform teaching operations to a robot or the like without requiring complicated signal processing. Providing a detection device and an operation device.

The present invention has the following constitution.
(1) A ring-shaped sheet member having stretchability to be brought into close contact with the body surface when the body surface of the user is worn.
A linear sensor provided on the sheet member for detecting the amount of expansion and contraction of the sheet member in the circumferential direction;
A signal generation unit that receives a detection from the sensor and generates a signal representing an amount of expansion and contraction of the sheet member;
Wearable extension and contraction detector.
(2) The above-mentioned wearing type extension and contraction detection device,
A storage unit storing, in advance, a correspondence table in which a drive amount of a controlled device corresponding to the signal generated by the signal generation unit is determined;
A control unit that controls driving of the controlled device according to the generated signal based on the correspondence table;
An operating device comprising:

  According to the present invention, the robot can be easily mounted, and the teaching operation to the robot or the like can be easily performed without the need for complicated signal processing.

It is a figure for describing embodiment of this invention, and is a conceptual diagram showing the state which mounted | worn the wearable expansion-contraction detection apparatus by 1st structural example to the forearm. It is a circuit diagram of a signal generation part. It is a graph showing the correlation with the rate of expansion of a sensor, and sensor output. It is explanatory drawing in the case of utilizing the sensor output obtained by the mounting | wearing type expansion-contraction detection apparatus for operation control of a hand. It is a flowchart showing the specific procedure in the case of utilizing the sensor output obtained by the mounting | wearing type expansion-contraction detection apparatus to the operation control of a hand. It is explanatory drawing in the case of applying the sensor output obtained by the mounting | wearing type expansion-contraction detection apparatus to the operation control in a multi-axis robot hand.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, and is a conceptual view showing a state in which a wearing type extension and contraction detecting device of a first configuration example is attached to a forearm.
The wearable extension and contraction detection device 100 includes a sheet member 11, a sensor 13, and a signal generation unit 15. The sheet member 11 and the sensor 13 are integrally configured.

  The sheet member 11 is formed in an annular shape in a state of being attached to the user. As the seat member 11, a general elbow support formed in a cylindrical shape can be used. Further, the belt-like sheet may be formed into a cylindrical shape by a surface fastener or the like. In any case, the sheet member 11 is mounted so as to cover the body surface of the user and has elasticity to be in close contact with the body surface.

  The sheet member 11 can be formed of a cloth body in which elastic fibers capable of stretching are knitted. As an elastic fiber, polyester, a polyamide-type synthetic fiber, etc. are mentioned, for example.

  The cloth body is not particularly limited. For example, the warp and the weft may be inclined in the reverse direction and woven in a rhombus lattice shape. In the case of such a cloth body, for example, the short diagonal side of the rhombic lattice is used so as to be the stretch direction. The fabric body can use elastic fibers for either or both of the warp and the weft, or weave the elastic fibers along diagonal lines in the shape of a rhombus grid.

  The sensor 13 is attached and fixed to the sheet member 11 with an adhesive. The sensor 13 fixed to the sheet member 11 detects expansion and contraction of the sheet member 11 in the circumferential direction. As the adhesive, for example, Bond Ultra Versatile SU Premium Software (manufactured by Konishi Co., Ltd.) can be used.

  When the sensor 13 is attached to the sheet member 11, it is preferable that the sensor 13 be fixed to the sheet member 11 in a state of being stretched in the longitudinal direction. This is because the characteristics of the sensor 13 are not stable in the region where the elongation percentage of the sheet member 11 is small, and thus the tension of the bias is applied to the sheet member 11 in advance.

  As the sensor 13, it is possible to use a resistance change type sensor whose resistance value changes due to expansion and contraction. The specifications of this sensor 13 are shown in Table 1.

  As a commercially available product of the sensor 13, for example, a stretchable displacement sensor (lead sensor single type: product number YSSW-xxx-60H) manufactured by Yamaha Corporation can be used.

  The sensor shown in Table 1 detects the expansion and contraction (strain) of the material by the change in resistance due to the change in the nanostructure of carbon nanotubes (CNT). This sensor changes its resistance in response to repeated expansion and contraction. That is, this sensor can be used repeatedly.

  The wearing type expansion / contraction detection apparatus 100 is mounted on the body surface of the user with the sheet member 11, and the sheet member 11 detects a muscle protuberance of the mounted part.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the signal generation unit 15.
The signal generation unit 15 generates a signal according to the amount of expansion and contraction of the sheet member 11 from the linear sensor 13 having a gauge length L (natural length of elongation rate 0). When the sensor 13 is a resistance change sensor, the signal generation unit 15 generates a voltage signal of the sensor 13. The signal generation unit 15 is configured by connecting a resistor R and a power supply E in series between the lead terminal 17 on one end side of the sensor 13 and the lead terminal 19 on the other end side. A filter, an amplifier circuit, etc. may be added to the signal generation part 15 of a figure example. In the signal generation unit 15, the sensor 13 functions as a variable resistor. A resistor of 750 kΩ can be used as the resistor R, and a voltage of about 5 V can be used as the power supply E. The signal generation unit 15 can obtain the voltage between the lead terminal 17 and the lead terminal 19 as a voltage signal V _out according to the expansion and contraction of the sensor 13.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the correlation between the sensor elongation rate and the sensor output.
The relationship between the elongation rate of the sensor 13 and the sensor output was measured using the sensor 13 of the specifications shown in Table 1 in the signal generation unit 15 shown in FIG. This measurement was repeated twice. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, when the power supply voltage is 5 V, the amount of change in the inter-electrode voltage between the lead terminal 17 and the lead terminal 19 with respect to the elongation rate maintains substantially linearity in both cases. Was found.

Next, the use of the controlled device for operating the control device, which converts the sensor output (voltage signal V _out ) obtained by the wearable extension and contraction detection device 100 into an operation command signal for the controlled device, will be described.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a case in which a sensor output obtained by the wearing type extension and contraction detection device is used for drive control of a hand as a controlled device.
In this operation control, the servo chuck 21 is used as a hand. The servo chuck 21 is provided on the hand base 23 and has a pair of claws 25A, 25B which can be moved close to and away from each other, a shaft 26 and a motor 27 for driving the shaft 26. The shaft portion 26 is engaged with a not-shown nut portion of the pair of claws 25A, 25B. In the shaft portion 26, the screw direction is reversed between the region where the claws 25A mesh and the region where the claws 25B mesh. Therefore, when the shaft portion 26 is rotationally driven in one direction by the motor 27, the moving directions of the claws 25A and 25B become opposite and move so as to approach or separate from each other.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the wearable extension and contraction detection device 100 is attached to the forearm 29, the signal generation unit 15 of the wearable extension and contraction detection device 100 outputs a voltage signal V _out according to how the force of the forearm 29 is applied. Is output. The voltage signal V _out is sent to the AD converter 31 and converted into a digital voltage signal quantized by the AD converter 31. This digital voltage signal is sent to the computer 33 (PC).

  The computer 33 calculates the open / close amount of the servo chuck 21 based on the input digital voltage signal. Then, an open / close drive signal corresponding to the calculated open / close amount is sent to the controller 35. Here, the computer 33 has a storage unit (not shown), and the recording unit stores in advance a correspondence table in which the drive amount of the servo chuck corresponding to the signal generated by the signal generation unit 15 is determined. There is. The storage unit is configured of a storage medium such as a memory or a hard disk, and can be read and written by the CPU of the computer 33. That is, the computer 33 takes in the information of the input digital voltage signal and the correspondence table, and generates a servo chuck opening / closing drive signal according to the digital voltage signal based on the correspondence table.

The controller 35 sends a switching control current to the motor 27 based on the input switching drive signal. That is, the voltage signal V _out obtained by the mounting type extension and contraction detection apparatus 100 is input as an open / close command of the servo chuck 21. As a result, the servo chuck 21 can be opened and closed according to the force applied by the user such as the opening operation of the palm and the holding operation. That is, the computer 33 and the controller 35 described above function as a control unit that controls the drive of the servo chuck.

Next, a more detailed procedure will be described in which the sensor output obtained by the wearable extension and contraction detection device 100 is used for operation control of a robot or the like.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific procedure in the case of using the sensor output obtained by the wearing type extension and contraction detecting device for operation control of the hand.
In order to use the sensor output obtained by the wearable expansion / contraction detection apparatus 100 for operation control, first, the start of calibration (calibration) of the mounting condition of the signal generation unit 15 and the sheet member 11 is determined (St1).

When calibration is started, the user wears, for example, the forearm 29 by holding the finger firmly, and the wearable extension detection device 100 measures the maximum voltage V_max that is the maximum of the voltage signal V _OUT ( St 2). Subsequently, the power of the forearm 29 is released, and the minimum voltage V_min is measured by the wearing type stretch detection apparatus 100 (St3).

Next, from the sensor value which is a voltage signal from the wearing type expansion / contraction detection apparatus 100, a conversion gain A to a control value which is an open / close drive signal is calculated by the computer 33 (St4). The calculation of the conversion gain A can be obtained by (Expression 1).
A = I_max / (V_max-V_min) (Equation 1)

After the conversion gain A is calculated and calibration is completed, the start of hand control is determined (St5). If the hand control is not started, the process ends as it is. On the other hand, when the hand control is started, it is determined whether or not to continue the process (St6). When the process is continued, measurement of the sensor signal V _OUT is performed (St7).

Next, the control value I (switching drive signal) is calculated by the computer 33 (St8). The calculation of the control value I is performed by (Equation 2).
I = A × V _OUT (Equation 2)

  Next, an open / close drive signal according to the calculated control value I is transmitted to the controller 35 (St9). After the transmission of the open / close drive signal, it is determined again at St6 whether or not the process is to be continued. In the case of continuation, the processing of St7 to St9 is repeated again, and in the case of not continuing, the processing ends.

  According to the above-described procedure, the control of the opening / closing amount of the servo chuck 21 or the control of the opening / closing force can be performed according to the grip strength of the finger of the user, ie, the opening / closing amount of the palm (the degree of force).

  In addition, although the case where the sensor 13 is a resistance change type sensor was demonstrated to the example in the above, the sensor 13 is not limited to this. As sensor 13 used for wearing type expansion-contraction detection device 100, an electrostatic capacitance type sensor from which an electric capacity changes by expansion and contraction may be sufficient, for example. In that case, the signal generation unit 15 generates a charge signal of the sensor 13.

Next, the operation of the wearing type stretch detection device 100 having the above-described configuration will be described.
According to the wearing type expansion / contraction detection apparatus 100 of this configuration, the wearing can be easily performed only by passing a part of the human body inside the annular sheet member 11.

  Movement by movement of the human body (also referred to as "body movement") almost always involves stretching of muscles. The annular sheet member 11 is attached so as to cover these muscles from the body surface. The degree of swelling changes depending on how much pressure is applied to the muscles, and the annular sheet member 11 is stretched or contracted. This deformation causes the linear sensor 13 provided on the sheet member 11 along the circumferential direction to expand and contract. The expansion and contraction of the sensor 13 causes the signal generation unit 15 to generate a signal representing the amount of expansion and contraction, and this signal is output to the outside. That is, the displacement of the muscle causing the movement can be detected directly by the linear sensor. The generation of this signal does not require complicated signal processing.

  Then, the voltage signal of the output change according to the degree of application of force, which is output from the wearable expansion / contraction detection apparatus 100, can be regarded as, for example, an angle command value of the finger in the robot hand. That is, by inputting (teaching) this angle command value to the computer 33 and registering the correspondence relationship between the finger angle and the voltage signal in the storage unit or the like as a correspondence table, the robot hand opening / closing operation can be It becomes possible to control by reference.

  Further, in the wearable extension and contraction detection device 100, elastic fibers are woven into the cloth forming the sheet member 11. As a result, the sheet member 11 can be flexibly mounted, and the mounting position alignment can be simplified. In addition, it is easy to leave and can be detected with a good feeling of wearing.

  Further, in the attachment type extension and contraction detecting device 100, the sensor 13 is attached to the sheet member 11 in a state of being extended by about several percent. That is, the sensor 13 is in a state in which tension is previously applied, and the linearity of the sensor output can be maintained even when the elongation percentage of the sheet member 11 is small. As a result, the output characteristics of the sensor 13 become stable, and it becomes possible to detect the amount of expansion and contraction with high accuracy.

  In the forearm 29 shown as an example of the attachment site, the degree of elevation of the skin surface is changed by the action of the flexors flexors flexi and flexors of the superficial fingers, depending on how the force is applied. This causes the portion of the forearm 29 near the elbow to expand. Although the amount of expansion is very small, it is an amount sufficient to expand and contract the linear sensor 13 provided in an annular shape along the circumferential direction of the sheet member 11. The wearable extension and contraction detection device 100 directly detects the above-described muscle bumps associated with body movement as changes in circumference. Therefore, it becomes possible to detect body movement with high accuracy as compared with the case of locally detecting a mutation of skin other than muscle.

  Here, Table 2 shows the results of comparison between the conventional myoelectric sensor and the wearing type stretch detection apparatus 100 of the above configuration example.

  As shown in Table 2, the wearable extension and contraction detection device 100 is superior to the conventional myoelectric sensor in all of the identification rate, responsiveness, releasability, fit feeling, and cost. In Table 2, the circle marks indicate "excellent", the triangle marks indicate "poor inferior to goodness", and the x marks indicate "poor".

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view in the case of applying the sensor output obtained by the attachment type expansion / contraction detection device to operation control of a multi-axis robot hand.
In the above configuration example, the sensor output obtained by the attachment type extension and contraction detection apparatus 100 is used for the operation command of the servo chuck 21. However, the attachment type extension and contraction detection apparatus 100 is not limited to other robots, for example, FIG. It becomes applicable also to the robot hand 37 as shown. In the robot hand 37, joints and human joints are associated.

  The robot hand 37 has a shoulder joint 39, an elbow joint 41, and a wrist joint 43. The above-described servo chuck 21 may be provided at the tip of the wrist joint 43. The shoulder joint 39 can operate in three degrees of freedom freely rotatable about the first axis 45, the second axis 47, and the third axis 49. The elbow joint 41 is capable of an operation with one degree of freedom that is rotatable about the fourth axis 51. The wrist joint 43 can operate in three degrees of freedom freely rotatable about the fifth axis 53, the sixth axis 55, and the seventh axis 57.

  That is, the robot hand 37 can operate in a total of seven degrees of freedom except for the servo chuck 21. Therefore, the wearable extension and contraction detecting device 100 is attached to a plurality of places so as to detect the movement of each joint of a human, and from the voltage signal output from the wearable extension and contraction detecting device 100, the correspondence between the actual operation and the voltage signal Create a table By using this correspondence table, the robot hand 37 can easily be taught the operation of the user.

  Therefore, according to the attachment type expansion / contraction detection apparatus 100 of the present configuration, it is possible to easily attach the robot, and it is possible to easily perform the teaching operation of the robot from the opening / closing operation of the palm and the like without requiring complicated signal processing.

  Thus, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and those skilled in the art can change or apply the components of the embodiment in combination with one another, based on the description of the specification, and based on known techniques. It is also the intention of the present invention to be included in the scope for which protection is sought.

  The above-mentioned attachment type expansion / contraction detection device is not limited to application to the opening / closing operation control of the servo chuck or the robot hand, but can also be used as an input device in the operation control of the artificial hand or remote control by the master slave. For example, the present invention is applicable to an operation device used in a scene which can not be touched directly by a user, such as screen operation at a medical site or process input operation at a food factory.

As described above, the following matters are disclosed in the present specification.
(1) A ring-shaped sheet member having stretchability to be brought into close contact with the body surface when the body surface of the user is worn.
A linear sensor provided on the sheet member for detecting the amount of expansion and contraction of the sheet member in the circumferential direction;
A signal generation unit that receives a detection from the sensor and generates a signal representing an amount of expansion and contraction of the sheet member;
Wearable extension and contraction detector.
According to this wearing type expansion / contraction detection device, the annular sheet member can be easily attached to the body surface. Since the annular sheet member is mounted covering the body surface, expansion and contraction of the body surface can be detected with high accuracy by the linear sensor. The amount of expansion and contraction detected by the sensor does not require complicated signal processing, and is generated as a signal representing the amount of expansion and contraction by the signal generation unit. Also, the generated signal can be used, for example, as a drive command for a robot or the like.

(2) The attached type stretch detection apparatus according to (1), wherein the sensor is fixed to the sheet member in a stretched state.
According to this mounting type extension and contraction detecting device, the sensor is attached to the sheet member in a state of being extended by about several percent. That is, the sensor is in a pre-tensioned state. As a result, even when the elongation rate is low, the linearity of the sensor output can be maintained, and highly accurate detection of the amount of expansion and contraction becomes possible.

(3) The wearable extension / contraction detection device according to (1) or (2), wherein the sensor is a resistance change type sensor whose resistance value changes due to expansion and contraction, and the signal generation unit generates a voltage signal of the sensor.
According to this wearing type extension and contraction detecting device, the resistance change occurs in the sensor due to the extension and contraction of the sheet member. This change in variable resistance is obtained as an output change in accordance with the degree of force applied. By relating this output change to an operation command such as the angle of the hand, for example, it becomes possible to teach body movements to the hand.

(4) The sensor is a capacitive sensor in which the capacitance changes by expansion and contraction, and the signal generation unit generates the charge signal of the sensor. .
According to this mounting type extension and contraction detecting device, the capacitance change occurs in the sensor due to the extension and contraction of the sheet member. This change in capacitance is obtained as a change in output according to the degree of force applied. By relating this output change to an operation command such as the angle of the hand, for example, it becomes possible to teach body movements to the hand.

(5) The wearable extension and contraction detection device according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the sensor detects a muscle protuberance of a portion of the user to which the sheet member is attached.
According to this wearing type extension and contraction detecting device, for example, when performing an operation for teaching the opening and closing operation control of the hand, for example, the forearm of the user is passed through the annular sheet member. The wearer wearing the annular seat member on the forearm performs an operation for teaching the hand, for example, an operation for holding a fist. The forearm changes in the degree of elevation of the skin surface by the action of the flexors flexor and flexor muscles, depending on how much pressure is applied. As a result, the portion of the forearm near the elbow expands. The magnitude of the expansion causes the linear sensor provided in the circumferential direction on the sheet member to expand and contract. That is, the wearable extension and contraction detection device directly detects a muscle bulge associated with body movement as a change in circumference. Therefore, it becomes possible to detect body movement with high accuracy as compared with the case of detecting a mutation of skin other than muscle.

(6) The wearable extension and contraction detection device according to any one of (1) to (5),
A storage unit storing, in advance, a correspondence table in which a drive amount of a controlled device corresponding to the signal generated by the signal generation unit is determined;
A control unit that controls driving of the controlled device according to the generated signal based on the correspondence table;
An operating device comprising:
According to this operation device, the controlled device can be driven according to the signal of the amount of expansion and contraction detected by the sensor. As a result, the drive of the controlled device can be controlled by the amount of drive corresponding to the degree of force applied by the user.

11 sheet member 13 sensor 15 signal generation unit 100 mounted type expansion / contraction detection device

Claims (6)

An annular sheet member having stretchability to be brought into intimate contact with the body surface when the body surface of the user is worn.
A linear sensor provided on the sheet member for detecting the amount of expansion and contraction of the sheet member in the circumferential direction;
A signal generation unit that receives a detection from the sensor and generates a signal representing an amount of expansion and contraction of the sheet member;
Wearable extension and contraction detector.   The wearable stretch detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is fixed to the sheet member in a stretched state. The sensor is a resistance change type sensor whose resistance value changes by expansion and contraction,
The wearable stretch detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal generation unit generates a voltage signal of the sensor. The sensor is a capacitance type sensor whose capacitance is changed by expansion and contraction,
The wearable stretch detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal generation unit generates a charge signal of the sensor.   The wearable extension and contraction detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sensor detects a muscle protuberance of a portion of the user to which the sheet member is attached. The wearing type extension and contraction detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5;
A storage unit storing, in advance, a correspondence table in which a drive amount of a controlled device corresponding to the signal generated by the signal generation unit is determined;
A control unit that controls driving of the controlled device according to the generated signal based on the correspondence table;
An operating device comprising:

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