JPH11123687A - Gripping device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suck/grip a front face of a work by slidingly supporting a work support in the lengthwise direction of a swinging arm, and vertically movably arranging a sucking hand having a sucking pad to suck/hold the work front face in a tip part above the work support. SOLUTION: A base end part of a swinging arm 5 is rotatably attached on the tip of a main body frame 3, and the tip of a rod 7A of a cylinder device 7 is rotatably connected to the lower end of a cylinder attaching piece 5A. A work support 11 is slidingly supported in the lengthwise direction of the swinging arm 5 at an under surface of the swinging arm 5 through a linear guide mechanism 10A, and the base end of the work support 11 is rotatably connected to the tip of a rod of a cylinder device 15. An arc-shaped guide support frame 17 is fixed to a top part of the swinging arm 5, and is vertically movably supported so that a base end part of an sucking hand 20 draws an arc-shaped locus having the curvature center in front of a tip part of the swinging arm 5 through an arc-shaped guide and a guide receiver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gripping device for a robot used for transferring a work or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a robot which has been widely used for transferring a box-shaped work, for example, has an arm A3 attached to an attachment member A2 of a traveling portion A1 of the robot as shown in FIG. A plurality of suction pads A5 of a suction hand A4 attached to the tip of A3 suck and hold and lift the upper surface of the work W placed on the floor G.

[0003]

However, in the robot using the conventional gripping device as described above, when the work is stored in a shelf or when the work is piled high from the floor surface and the work at the uppermost position is reached. When the gap between the ceiling is narrow,
The suction hand cannot be moved above the workpiece,
There was a problem that the work could not be gripped.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve such a problem in the prior art and to provide a gripping device capable of gripping a front surface of a work by suctioning a suction pad.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a gripping device according to the present invention has a base end rotatably supported on a main body frame in a vertical plane and a first end provided on the main body frame. An oscillating arm whose tip is oscillated up and down by an actuator, and slidably supported in a longitudinal direction of the oscillating arm, and a second actuator provided on the oscillating arm for moving forward from the tip of the oscillating arm. A work support that is slid between a position protruding to the bottom of the swing arm and a position retracted below the swing arm, and a base end having a center of curvature in front of the tip end of the swing arm above the work support. A suction pad, which is supported so as to move up and down in an arc-shaped trajectory and suctions and holds the front surface of the work, is attached to a tip end thereof, and is vertically moved by a third actuator provided on the swing arm. And a suction hand.

[0006]

When a workpiece placed on a floor or a shelf is gripped by the gripping device of the present invention, the work support is first retracted below the swing arm and the base end of the suction hand is swung. The suction pad is made to face the front surface of the workpiece by swinging the tip of the swing arm downward while moving the swing arm downward with respect to the tip of the arm.

Next, the entire gripping device is moved, the suction pad is sucked to the front surface of the work, and the base end of the suction hand is moved upward along an arc-shaped locus as it is, the work is inclined and the front side of the work bottom surface rises. . In this state, the work support is made to protrude from the swing arm to enter between the bottom surface of the work and the floor surface, and further, the tip of the swing arm is swung upward to lift the work from the floor surface.

At this time, if the weight of the work acts on the suction pad sucked to the front surface of the work and the work is displaced downward, the upper surface of the work support is in contact with and supported by the bottom surface of the work. Large workpieces can be reliably gripped.

When lowering the work held by the holding device to the floor, the tip of the swing arm is first swung downward to land the rear end of the work bottom. In this state, while holding the front surface of the work with the suction pad, retract the work support from the work bottom surface, and move the base end of the suction hand downward along an arc-shaped locus to land the entire work bottom surface on the floor surface. Release the suction pad.

[0010]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a gripping device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view. The gripping device 1 is a mounting member 2 of a traveling portion of a robot that can travel in a horizontal plane (not shown) and vertically. Has an arm-shaped main body frame 3 attached to the main body.

A base end of a swing arm 5 is rotatably attached to a front end of the main body frame 3 by a horizontal support shaft 4. The oscillating arm 5 has a cylinder mounting piece 5A extending downward from a position supported by the support shaft 4, and a rod 7A of a cylinder device 7 as a first actuator at a lower end thereof by a connecting shaft 6. The tip is rotatably connected.

On the other hand, the head-side end of the cylinder device 7 is rotatably supported by a bracket 9 vertically provided at the lower end of the main body frame 3 by a connecting shaft 8. A work support 11 is slidably supported in the longitudinal direction of the swing arm 5 on the lower surface of the swing arm 5 via a linear guide mechanism 10A provided on the support frame 10. The support frame 10 is attached by a horizontal support shaft 10 </ b> B so that the distal end side can be turned only upward from a posture parallel to the swing arm 5.

On the upper surface of the work support 11, a plurality of support rollers 12 for supporting the bottom surface of the work to be gripped are arranged rotatably about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the sliding direction from the front end portion to the middle portion. In the vicinity of the lower end of the work support 11, a guide roller 13 having a rotation axis parallel to the support rollers 12 is provided so as to protrude downward.

A base end of the work support 11 is rotatably supported by the connecting frame 16 and a distal end of a rod 15A of a cylinder device 15 serving as a second actuator, which is rotatably supported on the supporting frame 10 by a connecting shaft 14. The work support 1 is connected freely by the cylinder device 15.
A position where 1 projects forward from the tip of the swing arm 5;
It is structured to be slid between a position retracted below the swing arm 5.

An arcuate guide support frame 17 is fixed to the tip of the swing arm 5.
Guide 18 attached to the arm and said arc guide 18
The base end of the suction hand 20 is vertically movably supported via a guide receiver 19 guided by the guide arm 19 so as to draw an arc-shaped locus having a center of curvature in front of the tip of the swing arm 5.

At the tip of the swing arm 5, a cylinder support frame 21 is provided adjacent to the arcuate guide support frame 17, and a cylinder device 22 as a third actuator is supported horizontally. It is rotatably supported by a shaft 23.

The distal end of the rod 22A of the cylinder device 22 is rotatably connected to the upper end of the base end of the suction hand 10 by a connection shaft 24, and the cylinder device 22 causes the base end of the suction hand 20 to draw an arc-shaped locus. It is designed to move up and down.

At the distal end of the suction hand 20, a suction pad support plate 26 to which 16 suction pads 25 arranged in a matrix are attached is fixed by a mounting shaft 27 so as to be vertically adjustable in angle. Each suction pad 25 is connected to a suction device (not shown) via a suction hose 28.

Next, the operation of gripping a workpiece by the gripping device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1A, a box-like shape is placed on the floor G with the swinging arm 5 being horizontal with the running unit (not shown) running to grip the work W. To the vicinity of the work W.

At this time, the work support 11 has been retracted below the swing arm 5, and the base end of the suction hand 20 is located at a position moved downward with respect to the tip of the swing arm 5. At a position where the swing arm 5 is horizontal, the suction surface of each suction pad 25 faces obliquely upward in front of the swing arm 5. Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, the rod 7A of the cylinder device 7 is contracted to
Is pivoted downward so that each suction surface of each suction pad 25 faces the front surface of the work W.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, the entire gripping device 1 is moved forward to bring the suction pad 25 into contact with the front surface of the work W, and the air in the suction pad 25 is sucked through the suction hose 28. When suction is performed, the inside of the suction pad 25 becomes a negative pressure to suction-hold the front surface of the work W.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2D, the rod 22A of the cylinder device 22 is extended to
When the base end of 0 is moved upward along the arc-shaped locus, the work W is inclined and the front side of the bottom surface rises. In this state, the rod 15A of the cylinder device 15 is further extended, and the work support 11 is projected from the lower end of the swing arm 5 so as to enter between the bottom surface of the work W and the floor surface G.

At this time, in the gripping device 1 of this embodiment, after the support roller 12 provided on the lower surface side of the tip end of the work support 11 comes into contact with the floor surface G, the support roller 12 is moved to the floor surface G. Rolling upward, the support frame 10 slightly rotates about the support shaft 10B, and the work support 11 can be easily penetrated deeply between the floor surface G and the bottom surface of the work W.

Also, in FIG.
1 There is a slight gap between the upper surface and the bottom surface of the work W. However, when the weight of the work W is large, the position of the front end of the bottom surface of the work W whose front surface is sucked and held by the suction pad 25 is lowered. However, in the present embodiment, since the plurality of support rollers 12 are arranged on the upper surface of the work support 11, these rollers 12 are in rolling contact with the bottom surface of the work W, and the work support 11 is smoothly brought into contact with the floor surface G. It can penetrate between the work W and the bottom surface. Then, as shown in FIG. 9E, the tip of the swing arm 5 is further swung upward by extending the rod 7A of the cylinder device 7, and the work W is lifted from the floor surface.

At this time, even if the work W sucked and held by the suction pad 25 falls by its own weight, the work support 11
Since the workpiece W is supported from below, the workpiece W is securely held, and the entire gripping device 1 can be moved in this posture to move the workpiece W to a desired location.

When the work W is to be lowered onto the floor G again, the tip of the swing arm 5 is first swung downward at the position where the work W is lowered, and the rear end of the bottom of the work W is moved. Land on the floor.

In this state, the work support 11 is retracted from the bottom surface of the work W while the front surface of the work W is being sucked and held by the suction pad 25, and the base end of the suction hand 25 is moved downward along an arc-shaped locus. Move to work W
Is landed on the floor G, and then the suction pad is opened.

In the embodiment described above, the swing arm 5
An arcuate guide support frame 17 is fixed to the tip of the arcuate guide 1 and is attached to the arcuate guide support frame 17.
8 and a guide receiver 19 guided by the arc-shaped guide 18, the base end of the suction hand 20 is supported so as to be movable up and down so as to draw an arc-shaped locus having a center of curvature in front of the tip end of the swing arm 5. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a four-node link mechanism formed by connecting two pairs of vertically spaced links between the base end of the suction hand and the tip end of the swing arm. May be used.

In this case, the distance between the two sets of links pivotally attached to the base end of the suction hand is made shorter than the distance between the two sets of links pivotally attached to the tip of the swing arm. A mechanism that moves the base end of the suction hand up and down along an arc-shaped trajectory can be configured.

In the above-described embodiment, the cylinder devices 7, 15, and 22 are used as the first and second actuators. However, the rotation of the motor is converted into a linear motion by using a screw mechanism to extend and retract the rod. May be used.

In the present embodiment, the work support 11
Are supported by the swing arm 5 via the support frame 10, but may be directly supported by the swing arm 5 without the support frame 10. Direct work support 11
May be supported on the upper surface of the device.

If the lower end of the support frame 10 does not reach the floor G when the support frame 10 is extended, the support roller 1
There is no need to provide 3. Further, in this embodiment,
Although the gripping device 1 is mounted on the mounting member 2 of the traveling section of the robot, it may be mounted on the tip of a multi-joint robot arm or the like.

[0033]

As described above, according to the gripping device of the present invention, the suction pad is sucked on the front surface of the work, so that the work can be put in and taken out of the multi-stage shelves, Even when the gap between the ceiling and the uppermost work is high and the works are arranged side by side without a gap, the work can be easily gripped.

In addition, since the suction pad is sucked to the front surface of the work and the work support is used to support the bottom surface of the work, it is difficult to support the weight of the work by simply holding the front surface of the work with the suction pad. The work support can reliably support the work, prevent the work from dropping, and prevent the gripping position of the work from shifting during the movement of the work.

Further, since most of the weight of the work can be supported by the work support, the suction force of the suction pad can be small, and the strength of the member such as the suction hand supporting the suction pad can be reduced. Is smaller than that of a conventional gripping device that sucks and holds the gripper from above only with the suction pad, so that the weight of the entire gripping device can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing one embodiment of a gripping device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the gripping device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process of gripping a workpiece by the gripping device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing an example of a conventional gripping device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 gripping device 2
Mounting part 3 Body frame 4
Support shaft 5 Swing arm 6
Connection shaft 7 Cylinder device (first actuator) 8 Connection shaft 9 Bracket 10
Support frame 10A Linear guide 10B
Support shaft 11 Work support 12
Support roller 13 Guide roller 14
Connection shaft 15 Cylinder device (second actuator) 15A Rod 16 Connection shaft 17
Arc guide support frame 18 Arc guide 19
Guide receiver 20 Suction hand 21
Cylinder support frame 22 Cylinder device (third actuator) 22A Rod 23 Support shaft 24
Connecting shaft 25 Suction pad 26
Suction pad support plate 27 Mounting shaft 28
Intake hose

Claims (1)

[Claims] A swing arm having a base end rotatably supported by a main body frame in a vertical plane so as to be rotatable, and a front end vertically swinging by a first actuator provided on the main body frame; Slidably supported in the longitudinal direction of the swing arm,
A work support that is slid between a position protruding forward from the tip of the swing arm by a second actuator provided on the swing arm and a position retracted below the swing arm; Above, the base end is supported so as to move up and down in an arc-shaped trajectory having a center of curvature in front of the tip of the swing arm, and a suction pad for sucking and holding the front surface of the work is attached to the tip, A gripping device comprising: a suction hand that is moved up and down by a third actuator provided on a moving arm.