CN115231287B

CN115231287B - End effector

Info

Publication number: CN115231287B
Application number: CN202210719261.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 熊鑫
Original assignee: Shenzhen Lan Pangzi Machine Intelligence Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Lan Pangzi Machine Intelligence Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-23
Filing date: 2022-06-23
Publication date: 2023-12-26
Anticipated expiration: 2042-06-23
Also published as: CN115231287A

Abstract

The invention discloses an end effector, comprising: a mounting main body; the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit are arranged on the mounting main body; the positioning mechanism is arranged on the mounting main body and is used for positioning the position of the material box so that the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit can respectively clamp two adjacent side edges of the opening edge of the material box. When the end effector grabs the orderly stacked feed boxes, the positioning mechanism is utilized to position the feed boxes, then the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit respectively clamp two exposed side edges of the opening edge of the feed boxes, and the positioning mechanism, the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit act together to enable the end effector to grab the orderly stacked feed boxes one by one, so that manual carrying is replaced, and the transportation efficiency is improved.

Description

End effector

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to an end effector.

Background

In intelligent logistics, a bin is an important tool for transporting materials. For orderly stacked bins, the side walls of two adjacent bins are propped against each other, and a common clamping device cannot extract the bins and needs to manually transfer the orderly stacked bins one by one. At present, no robot end effector suitable for automatic unstacking or stacking of the feed boxes exists in the market.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art. The object of the invention is to provide an end effector which is suitable for gripping bins which are orderly stacked.

An end effector according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a mounting main body; the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit are arranged on the mounting main body; the positioning mechanism is arranged on the installation main body and used for positioning the position of the material box so that the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit can respectively clamp two adjacent side edges of the opening edge of the material box.

An end effector according to an embodiment of the present invention has at least the following advantageous effects:

when the end effector grabs the orderly stacked feed boxes, the positioning mechanism is utilized to position the feed boxes, then the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit respectively clamp two exposed side edges of the opening edge of the feed boxes, and the positioning mechanism, the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit act together to enable the end effector to grab the orderly stacked feed boxes one by one, so that manual carrying is replaced, and the transportation efficiency is improved.

In some embodiments of the invention, the positioning mechanism comprises positioning inserts, and the arrangement positions of the positioning inserts correspond to the positioning holes of the feed box.

In some embodiments of the invention, the positioning insert has at least one guiding ramp for guiding its insertion into the corresponding positioning hole.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the positioning insert is provided with a first detection device for detecting whether the positioning insert is accurately inserted into the positioning hole.

In some embodiments of the invention, the mounting body is plate-shaped.

In some embodiments of the invention, the positioning mechanism comprises jaw assemblies in one-to-one correspondence with the positioning holes of the feed box, wherein the jaw assemblies are used for being inserted into the positioning holes, and the jaw assemblies can be outwards opened to clamp or inwards converged to be separated from the inner peripheral walls of the positioning holes.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the jaw assembly includes a first jaw and a second jaw movably disposed through the corresponding positioning hole, and the first jaw and the second jaw are connected with a first driver for driving the first jaw and the second jaw to approach or separate from each other.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a third clamping unit is further provided on the mounting body, and the third clamping unit is located between the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit that are close to each other, and is used for clamping a corner of an opening edge of the bin.

In some embodiments of the invention, the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit each comprise a first linear driver and a clamping jaw connected with an output end of the first linear driver, and the first linear driver is used for driving the clamping jaw to be close to or far away from an opening edge of the feed box.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mounting body has a first linear mounting area and a second linear mounting area that intersect, the first clamping unit and the second clamping unit are respectively located in the first linear mounting area and the second linear mounting area, and the first clamping unit and/or the second clamping unit are connected with a displacement adjustment mechanism, and the displacement adjustment mechanism is used for driving the first clamping unit to be fixed after being displaced along the extending direction of the first linear mounting area or driving the second clamping unit to be fixed after being displaced along the extending direction of the second linear mounting area.

In some embodiments of the invention, the displacement adjustment mechanism is a sliding assembly or a translating assembly.

In some embodiments of the invention, the end effector further comprises a second detection device for detecting whether the first clamping unit or the second clamping unit clamps the bin.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and may be better understood from the following description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an end effector of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the end effector of FIG. 1 shown separated from a magazine;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the end effector of FIG. 1 having a first detection device and a second detection device;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an end effector of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to like or similar elements or elements having like or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below by referring to the drawings are illustrative only and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that references to orientation descriptions such as terms "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc., are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, are merely for convenience of describing the present invention and to simplify the description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, a number means one or more, a number means two or more, and greater than, less than, exceeding, etc. are understood to not include the present number, and above, below, within, etc. are understood to include the present number. The description of the first and second is for the purpose of distinguishing between technical features only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated or implicitly indicating the precedence of the technical features indicated.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be either fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, for example; can be mechanically or electrically connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communication between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention will be understood in specific cases by those of ordinary skill in the art.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, an end effector of the present invention includes: a mounting body 100; a positioning mechanism provided in the mounting body 100 for inserting a positioning hole 11 in the opening edge of the bin 10; the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 are both disposed on the mounting body 100, and the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 are respectively used for clamping two adjacent sides of the opening edge of the bin 10.

The mounting body 100 may be directly connected to a manipulator, or the mounting body 100 may be mounted on a flange, and the flange may be connected to the manipulator, so that the manipulator may be used to move the end effector to a position for gripping an article and a position for releasing the article. When a plurality of bins 10 are stacked in a pile, two adjacent sides of the bin 10 at the corners of the outermost periphery are abutted against another bin 10, and the other two adjacent sides of the bin 10 are exposed, and the two exposed sides are edge ribs of the bin 10 which are not in contact with other bins 10. When the end effector grabs the orderly stacked feed boxes 10, the positioning mechanism is utilized to position the feed boxes, then the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 are used for respectively clamping two exposed side edges of the opening edge of the feed boxes 10, and the positioning mechanism, the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 are used together to enable the end effector to grab the orderly stacked feed boxes 10 one by one, so that manual carrying is replaced, and the transportation efficiency is improved.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, in some embodiments of the invention, the positioning mechanism includes positioning inserts 210, and the positioning inserts 210 are arranged at positions corresponding to the positioning holes 11 of the bin 10. In this embodiment, four rectangular positioning holes 11 are provided at the edge of the opening of the bin 10, and the four positioning holes 11 substantially correspond to four corners of the bin 10, and correspondingly, four positioning inserts 210 are provided. Wherein, the shape and size of the cross section of the positioning insert 210 are consistent with those of the positioning holes 11, when the positioning insert 210 is inserted into the corresponding positioning hole 11, the bin 10 cannot move relative to the mounting main body 100 along other directions except the extending direction of the positioning insert 210, thereby achieving good positioning and limiting effects, and the positioning mechanism has a simple structure.

It will be appreciated that the above positioning mechanism acts as an auxiliary force to stabilize the position of the bin 10 on the mounting body 100 when the gripped bin 10 has a tendency to roll.

Referring to fig. 1, in order to enable the positioning insert 210 to be smoothly inserted into the positioning hole 11 in some embodiments of the present invention, the positioning insert 210 has at least one guide slope 211 for guiding its insertion into the corresponding positioning hole 11.

Referring to fig. 3, in some embodiments of the present invention, in order to prompt the positioning insert 210 to be inserted in place and then subsequently drive the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 to act, so as to ensure that the end effector can smoothly grasp the bin 10, a first detecting device 710 for detecting whether the positioning insert 210 is accurately inserted into the positioning hole 11 is provided on the positioning insert 210.

Referring to fig. 1, in some embodiments of the present invention, the mounting body 100 is plate-shaped, and the plate-shaped mounting body 100 may cover the opening of the bin 10 to prevent the material in the bin 10 from falling during handling. Specifically, the mounting body 100 has a rectangular plate shape, and the mounting body 100 is provided with a waist-shaped hole 110 extending in a longitudinal direction or a width direction thereof, and a bolt assembly (not shown) is inserted into the waist-shaped hole 110 to be connected to the corresponding positioning insert 210. It can be appreciated that by adjusting the relative positions of the positioning insert 210 and the corresponding kidney-shaped aperture 110, the positioning mechanism is enabled to match different sized bins 10, widening the application range of the end effector.

Referring to fig. 4, in some embodiments of the present invention, to further prevent the bin 10 from being displaced relative to the mounting body 100, the positioning mechanism includes jaw assemblies 220 in one-to-one correspondence with the positioning holes 11 of the bin 10, the jaw assemblies 220 being configured to be inserted into the positioning holes 11, the jaw assemblies 220 being capable of being outwardly opened to clamp or inwardly converged to be separated from the inner peripheral wall of the positioning holes 11. It will be appreciated that prior to the jaw assembly 220 extending into the pilot hole 11, the jaw assembly 220 is in an inwardly converging condition and, after the jaw assembly 220 extends into the pilot hole 11, the jaw assembly 220 is in an outwardly diverging condition.

Referring to fig. 4, in some embodiments of the present invention, the jaw assembly 220 includes a first jaw 221 and a second jaw 222 movably disposed through the corresponding positioning hole 11, and the first jaw 221 and the second jaw 222 are connected with a first driver 223 driving the two to approach or separate from each other. In this embodiment, the first driver 223 is a cylinder, the telescopic end of the cylinder is connected to the first jaw 221 and the second jaw 222, specifically, the jaw assembly 220 is a pneumatic flat finger, the ends of the first jaw 221 and the second jaw 222 have L-shaped bending parts, when the first jaw and the second jaw are far away from each other, the L-shaped bending parts prevent the first jaw 221 and the second jaw 222 from being separated from the positioning hole 11, and the outer side walls of the first jaw 221 and the second jaw 222 are abutted against the inner wall of the positioning hole 11. The jaw assembly 220 facilitates the opening and closing action within the small alignment hole 11 to effect alignment and securement of the bin 10 relative to the mounting body 100.

Referring to fig. 2 or 4, in some embodiments of the present invention, in order to further improve the stability of the end effector holding the bin 10, a third holding unit 500 is further provided on the mounting body 100, the third holding unit 500 being located between the first holding unit 300 and the second holding unit 400 that are close to each other, the third holding unit 500 being used to hold the corner of the opening edge of the bin 10.

Referring to fig. 2 or 4, in some embodiments of the present invention, each of the first and second clamping units 300, 400 includes a first linear actuator 310 and a clamping jaw 320 connected to an output end of the first linear actuator 310, the first linear actuator 310 being configured to urge the clamping jaw 320 toward or away from an opening edge of the bin 10. Wherein, two clamping fingers of the clamping jaw 320 are distributed along the up-down direction, the first linear driver 310 and the second linear driver 630 are air cylinders, and the air cylinders drive the two clamping fingers to be close to each other to clamp the opening edge of the feed box 10.

Referring to fig. 4, in some embodiments of the present invention, the mounting body 100 has a first linear mounting region 120 and a second linear mounting region 130 intersecting with each other, the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 are respectively located in the first linear mounting region 120 and the second linear mounting region 130, and the first clamping unit 300 and/or the second clamping unit 400 are connected with a displacement adjustment mechanism 600, and the displacement adjustment mechanism 600 is used for driving the first clamping unit 300 to be fixed after being displaced along the extending direction of the first linear mounting region 120 or driving the second clamping unit 400 to be fixed after being displaced along the extending direction of the second linear mounting region 130. With the above structure, the user can adjust the position of the first clamping unit 300 and/or the second clamping unit 400 on the mounting body 100 according to the side length dimension of the bin 10, so that the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 can be matched with the bins 10 of various length and width dimensions, and the application range is enlarged.

In some embodiments of the invention, the displacement adjustment mechanism 600 is a sliding assembly or a translating assembly. Referring to fig. 4, in the present embodiment, the displacement adjustment mechanism 600 includes a sliding rail 610 disposed along the extending direction of the first linear mounting region 120 or the second linear mounting region 130, a sliding block 620 is slidably disposed on the sliding rail 610, the first clamping unit 300 or the second clamping unit 400 is disposed on the sliding block 620, and the sliding block 620 is connected with a second linear driver 630 for driving the sliding block 620 to reciprocate along the sliding rail 610. Specifically, the second linear driver 630 is an air cylinder or an electric push rod, and the second linear driver 630 drives the sliding block 620 to reciprocate on the sliding rail 610 to adjust the position of the first clamping unit 300 in the first linear installation area 120 or adjust the position of the second clamping unit 400 in the second linear installation area 130, so that the adjustment mode is very fast, and the adjustment accuracy is high.

Of course, in other embodiments, the displacement adjustment mechanism 600 may also be a transmission chain or a linear module.

Referring to fig. 3, in some embodiments of the present invention, the end effector further comprises a second detecting device 720, wherein the second detecting device 720 is configured to detect whether the first clamping unit 300 or the second clamping unit 400 clamps the bin 10. It should be noted that, when the first detecting device 710 detects that the positioning insert 210 is inserted in place, the first clamping unit 300 and the second clamping unit 400 act to clamp the opening edge of the bin 10, and when the second detecting device 720 detects that the bin 10 is clamped, the manipulator connected to the end effector may act to realize the movement of the bin 10, so as to stably grasp the bin 10. In some embodiments, the first detection device 710 and the second detection device 720 are proximity switches, where when the positioning insert 210 is accurately inserted into the positioning hole 11, the first detection device 710 is not triggered, that is, a signal that the positioning insert 210 is accurately inserted into the positioning hole 11, and when the second clamping unit 400 clamps the bin 10, the bin 10 contacts with the second detection device 720, so as to trigger the second detection device 720.

The technical features of the above embodiments may be arbitrarily combined, and all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are not described for brevity of description, however, as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features, they should be considered as the scope of the description.

While embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: many changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and principles of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An end effector, comprising:

a mounting body (100);

a first clamping unit (300) and a second clamping unit (400) which are both arranged on the installation main body (100);

the positioning mechanism is arranged on the mounting main body (100) and is used for positioning the position of the feed box (10) so that the first clamping unit (300) and the second clamping unit (400) can respectively clamp two adjacent side edges of the opening edge of the feed box (10); the positioning mechanism comprises positioning inserts (210), the arrangement positions of the positioning inserts (210) correspond to the positioning holes (11) of the material box (10), or the positioning mechanism comprises claw assemblies (220) which correspond to the positioning holes (11) of the material box (10) one by one, the claw assemblies (220) are used for being inserted into the positioning holes (11), and the claw assemblies (220) can be outwards opened to clamp the inner peripheral walls of the positioning holes (11) or inwards converged to be separated from the inner peripheral walls of the positioning holes (11).

2. The end effector as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the positioning insert (210) has at least one guide bevel (211) for guiding its insertion into the corresponding positioning hole (11).

3. The end effector as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the positioning insert (210) is provided with a first detection device (710) for detecting whether the positioning insert (210) is accurately inserted into the positioning hole (11).

4. The end effector as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the mounting body (100) has a plate shape.

5. The end effector as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the mounting main body (100) is further provided with a third clamping unit (500), the third clamping unit (500) is located between the first clamping unit (300) and the second clamping unit (400) which are close to each other, and the third clamping unit (500) is used for clamping the corner of the opening edge of the material box (10).

6. The end effector as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the first clamping unit (300) and the second clamping unit (400) comprise a first linear driver (310) and clamping jaws (320) connected with the output end of the first linear driver (310), and the first linear driver (310) is used for driving the clamping jaws (320) to be close to or far away from the opening edge of the feed box (10).

7. The end effector as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the mounting main body (100) is provided with a first linear mounting area (120) and a second linear mounting area (130) which are intersected, the first clamping unit (300) and the second clamping unit (400) are respectively positioned in the first linear mounting area (120) and the second linear mounting area (130), the first clamping unit (300) and/or the second clamping unit (400) are connected with a displacement adjusting mechanism (600), and the displacement adjusting mechanism (600) is used for driving the first clamping unit (300) to be fixed after being displaced along the extending direction of the first linear mounting area (120) or driving the second clamping unit (400) to be fixed after being displaced along the extending direction of the second linear mounting area (130).

8. The end effector as set forth in claim 7 wherein:

the displacement adjustment mechanism (600) is a sliding assembly or a translating assembly.

9. The end effector as claimed in claim 1, further comprising second detection means (720), the second detection means (720) being adapted to detect whether the first clamping unit (300) or the second clamping unit (400) clamps the magazine (10).