JP3435447B2 - Traveling robot - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a traveling robot and a control method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a traveling robot capable of performing automatic welding of a large-sized member having a complicated shape and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, shipbuilding industry and bridge industry (hereinafter,
In the shipbuilding industry, etc.), in order to produce large-scale welded structures with high quality and high efficiency in large quantities, it is not possible to weld vertical stiffeners to flat plate members or weld relatively simple members in accordance with it. , A welding-only machine and a 6-axis articulated robot (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a robot) are used for automation.

By the way, when automatic welding is performed by using a single robot, the member to be welded must be of a size that can be accommodated in the arm reach, but the member to be welded in the shipbuilding industry or the like is large in size of several meters square. Is almost always. Therefore, the robot is mounted on a gate type moving device to operate the robot in a wide range.

For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-284932, as shown in FIG. 17, a rotatable support is attached to a member capable of traveling and traversing, and two welding robots are opposed to the support. And the reinforcing material measuring device is arranged so as to be orthogonal to the axis thereof, and the measurement data of the measuring device, C
Based on the position data of the reinforcing material from the AD and the taught main material position, the main controller adjusts the position of the traveling / traversing member and the support body appropriately, and the two welding robots are operated through the robot controllers. There has been proposed a reinforcing material welding device for performing fillet welding of the reinforcing material by appropriately controlling.

However, in the welding device for a reinforcing material according to the above-mentioned proposal, since two welding robots are arranged facing each other with respect to the rotating member mounted on one gate structure traveling device, it is complicated. When welding members having different shapes, there is a problem that the operation programming of each robot becomes complicated. In addition, it is often the case that either one of the robots is stopped and carried out, and there is a problem that the efficiency of the apparatus is reduced by half.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art. When performing welding of a large member having a complicated shape, the operation programming of the robot can be simplified, and the robot can be simplified. It is an object of the present invention to provide a traveling robot and its control method that do not reduce the operating rate of the robot.

[0007]

[0008]

Mobile robot of the present invention SUMMARY OF], specifically, provided with one running device having an upper transverse member, and the other of the traveling device having an upper transverse member in a gate構型shape Then, a traversing device is attached to each of the upper transverse members, each traversing device includes a lifting device and a turning device having a turning angle of 360 degrees or more, and a robot having a turning axis is the lifting device. The traverse device is mounted on each of the traversing devices so as to be capable of ascending and descending and pivoting, and the gate-structure-type traveling device, the traverse device, the elevating device, and the revolving device are controlled by a robot controller that controls the robot. Under the control of the robot controller, the traveling axis as the external axis, the traverse axis, the elevating axis, and the turning axis are driven while the robot is basically maintained in the basic posture. Member having a curved or for members that straight lines and arcs will be combined arbitrarily continuously, are made to be configured to performed the predetermined work to the robot.

The robot is moved by an external axis.
Each axis of the robot when performing predetermined work while
Robot movements due to are limited to predetermined minute movements
It is supposed to be configured as follows.

[0010]

[0011]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the robot can be turned without driving the turning axis of the robot. Therefore, the operation programming of the robot for welding work of a large and complicated member is simplified.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments.

First Embodiment A gate type traveling robot A according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in a schematic view of FIG. 1 and a block diagram of FIG. 2, respectively. The gate type traveling robot A is provided with a predetermined interval. Gate-type traveling device 10 that is capable of traveling on the rails R, R that are laid down, a traverse device 20 that is horizontally movably mounted on a horizontal member 11 of the gate-structure traveling device 10, and a traverse device. One multi-joint welding robot having an elevating device 30 mounted on the device 20, a swivel device 40 mounted on the elevating device 30, and a swivel shaft 51 mounted on the tip of a swivel member 41 of the swivel device 40 ( Hereinafter, it will be referred to as a welding robot) 50 and a robot controller 60 as main constituent elements. That is, in the first embodiment, a traveling axis, a traverse axis, a lifting axis, and a turning axis are added to the welding robot 50 as external axes thereof. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the traverse device 20 is equipped with the elevating device 30, and the elevating device 30 is equipped with the swivel device 40. However, the traverse device 20 is equipped with the swivel device 40 and the swivel device is installed. The lifting device 30 may be attached to the 40. In addition, reference numeral B in the drawing indicates the main material, reference numeral F indicates the welding target standing plate, and reference numeral W indicates the welding torch.

Here, the reason why one welding robot 50 is attached to the tip of the turning member 41 is as follows.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, if there is a high height portion on the vertical plate F to be welded, it is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-284932.
When two welding robots 50, 50 are attached to the tip end of the turning member 41, as proposed in Japanese Patent Publication, the turning member 41 and the welding target standing plate F cannot be avoided by the avoidance operation by so-called arm reach. Interfere with each other (see FIG. 4), which causes a problem that welding cannot be performed. However, such a problem does not occur if only one welding robot 50 is attached to the tip of the turning member 41 as in the first embodiment (see FIG. 5). The shaded portion in FIG. 4 indicates the interference portion.

Further, if only one welding robot 50 is attached to the tip of the swivel member 41 as in the first embodiment, even if the plate F to be welded is an inclined member, welding can be performed, and the upper part interferes. It is possible to weld even the welding target plate F having the member F1 or to weld the welding target plate F even if there is another obstacle F2 (see FIGS. 6 to 8).

As proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-284932, the welding member 50 is equipped with two welding robots 50, 50 at the tip of the turning member 41, that is, a so-called twin type robot is used to weld the inclined member. If you do, there are the following problems. That is, the twin robot basically assumes that the member to be welded is vertically attached to the main member, and the approaching motion to the member to be welded is symmetrical, and the inclination angle of the welding torch W is 45. Limited to degrees. Then, the simplification and efficiency of the robot operation program are achieved. However, when the twin type robot welds the inclined member F as shown in FIG. 9, it is necessary to operate the robots 50 and 50 separately, and it is also necessary to change the inclination angle of the welding torch W. Therefore, the simplification and efficiency of the robot operation program, which is a merit when the twin robot is adopted, is impaired. Therefore, welding of the inclined member F is not generally performed by the twin robot.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, when the welding target member F having the interference member F1 on the upper side of one side is welded by the twin type robot, one robot 50 may interfere with the interference member F1. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures such as limiting the operation of one of the robots 50, and the merit of adopting the twin type robot is impaired as in the above case. Therefore, welding of the welding target member F having the interference member F1 on the upper side of one side by the twin type robot is not generally performed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, if there is an obstacle F2 on one side, naturally the welding is once stopped at that place, the welding is restarted after getting over the obstacle F2. In this case, although the welding line on the side without the obstacle F2 is a single continuous welding line, there are unwelded points that require welding joints during welding or manual repair welding later. As a matter of course, if such a welded joint or an unwelded portion occurs, the welding quality is deteriorated. In addition, the temporary interruption during welding also causes a decrease in the efficiency of automatic welding. Therefore, welding of the welding target member F having the obstacle F2 on one side by the twin type robot is not generally performed.

Furthermore, if only one welding robot is attached to the tip of the turning member 41 as in the first embodiment, vertical welding is also possible (see FIG. 12).

As shown in FIG. 13, when the height of the welding target standing plate F is low and the welding target standing plate F and the obstacle (welding target member) F2 are orthogonal to each other, the twin robot can stand upright. Vertical welding is possible, but vertical welding is not efficient because the welding speed is 1/4 or less compared to horizontal welding. Therefore, vertical welding is not generally performed by the twin type robot.

The robot controller 60 controls the welding robot 50 as shown in FIG. 2, and also controls the gate type traveling device 10, the traverse device 20, the elevating device 30, and the turning device 40.

The gate type traveling device 10 and the traverse device 2
0, the lifting device 30, the turning device 40, and the welding robot 50 are the same as those conventionally known,
Detailed description of the configuration is omitted. However, turning device 4
The turning angle of 0 is 360 degrees or more.

Next, the operation of the gate-structured traveling robot A having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. It should be noted that each of the following operations is performed by an instruction from the robot controller 60. In addition, in the following description, left and right and up and down mean the positional relationship in FIG.

(1) The vertical portion of the vertical plate F to be welded, which is temporarily fastened to the main plate (hull pan plate) B by driving the gate type traveling device 10 to drive the welding robot 50 and the lifting device 30. Set at a predetermined position near the upper end of F _V.

(2) The 6 axes of the welding robot 50 are driven to perform the touch sensing operation, and the welding torch W is set to the initial position. In this case, the gate type traveling device 10, the traverse device 20, the lifting device 30, and the turning device 40 are stopped.

(3) The six axes of the welding robot 50 are driven to perform welding in the vicinity of the upper end of the vertical portion F _V of the vertical plate F to be welded.
The final posture of the welding robot 50 at this time is the basic posture of the following welding work. Even in this case, the gate-type traveling device 10, the traverse device 20, the lifting device 30, and the turning device 4 are also provided.
0 is stopped.

(4) With the welding robot 50 basically maintaining the basic posture, the traverse device 20 is caused to traverse downward to move the welding torch W to the vertical portion F of the vertical plate F to be welded.
It is lowered along the welded portion of _V and the fillet welding of the welded portion is performed by the welding torch W. In this case, 6 of the welding robot 50
The driving of the shaft is limited due to minute movements such as welding profile correction.

(5) The welding robot 50 makes the welding target standing plate F
When it reaches the lower corner portion F _C , the turning device 40 and the gate type traveling device 10 are also driven to move the welding robot 50 along the lower corner portion F _C. Also in this case, the 6-axis drive of the welding robot 50 is limited due to a minute operation such as welding profile correction.

(6) The welding robot 50 makes the welding target standing plate F
When reaching the right end of the horizontal part F _H of the horizontal part F _H , the turning device 40 and the traverse device 20 are stopped, and the welding robot 50 is moved leftward along the horizontal part F _H only by the gate structure type traveling device 10 to move the horizontal part F _H to the horizontal part F _H. Perform _H fillet welding.

(7) The welding robot 50 makes the welding target vertical plate F
When it reaches near the left end of the horizontal part F _{H of the}
Stop the welding robot 5 in the same way as the upper end of the vertical part F _V.
Weld the end of the left end of the horizontal part F _{H with} only 6 axes of 0,
Finish welding on one side.

(8) When the welding on one side is completed, the 6 axes of the welding robot 50 and the lifting device 30 are appropriately operated,
The welding robot 50 is moved to a lift standby position above the end point thereof and waits.

(9) The welding robot 50 is driven by driving the gantry type traveling device 10 and the elevating device 30, and a predetermined position near the upper end of the vertical portion F _V of the vertical plate F _V to be welded, which is temporarily fastened to the main plate B. Set to.

(10) The same procedure as (2) to (7) is repeated to complete the welding on the opposite side. However, the interference member F2
If there is, the traverse device 20 or the gate type traveling device 10 is stopped in front of it, the corner welding process is performed by only the 6 axes of the welding robot 50, and the corner welding is performed in the same manner after crossing the interference member F2. The processing is performed only on 6 axes, and the traverse device 20 or the gate type traveling device 10 is continuously driven,
Weld the dividing points between the interference members in order.

(11) When the welding on the opposite side is completed, the 6 axes of the welding robot 50 and the elevating device 30 are appropriately operated to move the welding robot 50 to the elevating waiting position above the end point and stand by.

(12) Gate type traveling device 10, turning device 40
Further, the traverse device 20 is appropriately driven to move the welding robot 50 to the next welding target ring FR which is a welding target.

(13) When the welding robot 50 reaches a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the ring FR to be welded, the gate structure type traveling device 1
0, while stopping the turning device 40 and the traverse device 20,
The 6 axes of the welding robot 50 and the lifting device 30 are appropriately operated to set the welding robot 50 at a predetermined position on the outer circumference of the ring FR to be welded.

(14) Sensing is performed by the 6 axes of the welding robot 50, and then welding is performed near the welding start point.

(15) When the welding robot 50 reaches the basic posture, the six axes of the welding robot 50 are stopped, while the gate structure type traveling device 10, the turning device 40 and the traverse device 20 are appropriately driven to perform the welding robot 50. Is moved along the outer periphery of the ring FR to be welded to perform fillet welding on the outer periphery of the ring FR to be welded.

(16) When the fillet welding on the outer periphery of the ring FR to be welded is completed, the six axes of the welding robot 50 and the lifting device 30 are appropriately operated to move the welding robot 50 to the lifting standby position above the end point. To wait.

(17) The gate type traveling device 10 and the elevating device 30 are driven to set the welding robot 50 at a predetermined position near the inner circumference of the ring FR to be welded, which is temporarily fastened to the main plate B.

(18) Gate type traveling device 10, turning device 40
While stopping the traverse device 20, the welding robot 50
The six robots are appropriately operated to set the welding robot 50 at a predetermined position on the inner circumference of the ring FR to be welded.

(19) When the welding robot 50 reaches a predetermined position on the inner circumference of the ring FR to be welded, the gate type traveling device 1
0, while stopping the turning device 40 and the traverse device 20,
The six axes of the welding robot 50 are appropriately operated to set the welding robot 50 at a predetermined position on the inner circumference of the ring FR to be welded.

(20) Sensing is performed by the 6 axes of the welding robot 50, and then welding is performed near the welding start point.

(21) When the welding robot 50 reaches the basic posture, the six axes of the welding robot 50 are stopped, while the gate structure type traveling device 10, the turning device 40, and the traverse device 20 are appropriately driven to perform the welding robot 50. Is moved along the inner circumference of the ring FR to be welded to perform fillet welding on the inner circumference of the ring FR to be welded. However, if there is the interference member F2, the traverse device 20 or the gate type traveling device 10 is stopped in front of the interference member F2, and corner welding processing is performed by the welding robot 50 using only the six axes.
After straddling the interference member F2, similarly, the corner welding process is performed only on the six axes, and subsequently the traverse device 20 or the gate type traveling device 10 is driven to sequentially weld the dividing points between the interference members.

(22) When the fillet welding on the inner circumference of the ring FR to be welded is completed, the six axes of the welding robot 50 and the elevating device 30 are appropriately operated to move the welding robot 50 to the elevating standby position above the end point. Let me wait.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the gate type traveling device 10, the turning device 40 and the traverse device 20.
And the 6 axes of the welding robot 50 cooperate with each other,
Efficient welding work of a large welding target member F having an auxiliary member arranged on a large main material B such as a ship steel plate,
Moreover, it can be done without causing deterioration of welding quality. Further, since the turning device 40 having a turning angle of 360 degrees or more is provided in addition to the turning shaft 51 of the welding robot 50, the welding robot 50 can be turned without operating the turning shaft 51 of the welding robot 50. . Therefore, the operation program of the welding robot 50 can be simplified.

In addition, the six rotary axes 5 of the welding robot 50
In No. 1, since the turning range is less than 360 degrees, it was difficult to weld a closed curve such as a circle in one step. Therefore, conventionally, welding of a closed curve such as a circle by the six pivot shafts 51 of the welding robot 50 has been performed in two steps.
As a result, a welding bead splicing point is generated, and repair is required after automatic welding by the welding robot 50.
The work efficiency was lowered. However, in the first embodiment, since there is no additional portion of the weld bead, the work efficiency is remarkably improved.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 16 shows a gate type traveling robot A according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This second embodiment is a modification of the first embodiment. It is divided into a right side portion 10A and a left side portion 10B at the center, and a right side portion 10A and a left side portion 10B.
The traversing device 20 is attached to each horizontal member 11 of each of the welding robots 5, and the welding robot 5 is attached to each traversing device 20 in the same manner as in the first embodiment.
It is equipped with 0. The remaining structure of the second embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment.

As described above, in the second embodiment,
The gate type traveling device 10 is located at the center of the right side portion 10A and the left side portion 10A.
B, and the traverse device 20 is attached to each of the horizontal members 11 of the right side portion 10A and the left side portion 10B.
Since the welding robot 50 is attached to No. 0 as in the first embodiment, the welding target ring FR can be welded on the left side portion 10B while the welding target vertical plate F is welded on the right side portion 10A. Therefore, the working efficiency of the second embodiment is significantly improved as compared with the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, FIG.
As indicated by the dotted line, the traveling device 12 may be attached to the end of each horizontal member 11, and the rail R for receiving the traveling device 12 may be arranged.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments and various modifications can be made. For example, although the robot is a welding robot in the embodiment, the robot is not limited to the welding robot, and various robots can be used. Further, in the first embodiment, the number of gate-structured traveling robots is one, but a plurality of gate-structured traveling robots may be arranged on the same rail.

[0053]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to obtain an excellent effect that the welding work or the like can be efficiently performed on a large-sized reinforcing material arranged on a main material such as a ship steel plate.

Further, since the predetermined work can be performed with the robot maintained in the basic posture, the excellent effect that the operation programming of the robot can be simplified can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a gate type traveling robot according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the same.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a problem in a case where two turning robots are attached to a turning member for work.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an interference state between the turning member and a welding target member when two turning robots are attached to the turning member for work.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing that no problem occurs when one robot is attached to the turning member.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing that the inclined member can be welded according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing that the welding target plate having the interference member on the upper part can be welded according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing that the reinforcing member having an obstacle can also be welded according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where welding of the inclined member is performed by the twin robot.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a welding target member having an interference member on one upper side is being welded by a twin robot.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where a twin robot is welding a welding target member having an obstacle on one side.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing that vertical welding can also be performed according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where vertical twin welding is being performed by a twin robot.

FIG. 14 is an operation explanatory view of the gate type traveling robot of the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of the same operation procedure.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a gate-structured traveling robot according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic perspective view of a gate-structured traveling robot proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-284932.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 gate type traveling device 10A right side 10B left side 11 Horizontal member 20 Traversing device 30 Lifting device 40 swivel device 41 swivel member 50 welding robot 51 swivel axis A gate type traveling robot B main material F Welding target member, welding target vertical plate W welding torch

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-111789 (JP, A) JP-A 2-311286 (JP, A) JP-A 5-169379 (JP, A) JP-A 6- 312385 (JP, A) JP-A-4-217477 (JP, A) JP-A-4-123403 (JP, A) Actual development 4-102793 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B25J 9/02 B23K 9/12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. One traveling device having an upper lateral member,
The other traveling device having the upper transverse member is arranged in a gate structure, a traverse device is attached to each of the upper transverse members, and each traverse device is an elevating device and a turning angle is 360 degrees or more. A robot having a swivel device having a swivel axis is mounted on each of the traversing devices so as to be able to ascend and descend and swivel by the elevating device and the swivel device. The elevating device and the turning device are controlled by a robot controller that controls the robot, and the robot controller controls the robot controller to basically maintain the robot in a basic posture. The same robot is provided for a member having a closed curve such as a circle or a member formed by arbitrarily combining straight lines and arcs by driving the traverse axis, the elevating axis, and the turning axis. Mobile robot characterized by comprising been configured to performed a predetermined work and. 2. When the robot performs a predetermined work while being moved by an external axis, the operation of the robot by each axis of the robot is configured to be limited to a predetermined minute operation. The traveling robot according to claim 1.