JP2001125623A - Method for generating robot instruction data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a generating method for instruction data which make it easy to confirm instruction data on an actual machine after they are generated by computer simulation. SOLUTION: This method generates robot instruction data by computer simulation and characterized by that a virtual contact point provided where a work is not contacted is set (S5) instead of an instruction contact point where the work and a robot comes into contact with each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for creating robot teaching data by computer simulation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, robot teaching data (hereinafter, simply referred to as teaching data) for causing a robot to perform a predetermined operation has been created by computer simulation. Creation of teaching data by computer simulation is performed by operating a robot graphically displayed on a display in the same manner as in actual work. Therefore, it is safe to perform any operation on the robot displayed as a graphic, and the teaching data can be created much faster than the teaching by the actual machine. The creation of the teaching data by this simulation is particularly possible in a factory or the like where many dozens of robots are operated, since the teaching data can be created much faster than the teaching data one by one by the actual machine. , Are often used. The creation of teaching data by computer simulation is referred to as offline teaching.

FIG. 5 is a drawing showing an example of the movement trajectory of the end effector tip provided in a conventional robot using off-line teaching.

In the conventional off-line teaching, the operation of the robot is directly taught. Therefore, as shown, the tip of the end effector provided in the robot is located at (1) approach point, (2) working point A, (3) niche point, and (4) approach point from the origin (not shown). , (5) working point B, (6) relief point (escape point),
Are taught to move in this order. Here, when the work points A and B need to contact the work W, they become teaching contact points. For example, in the case of a welding robot having a welding gun as an end effector, a welding point at which the workpiece and the welding gun come into contact is a teaching contact point.

[0005]

In the offline teaching, it is necessary to input completed teaching data to an actual machine and confirm the operation of the actual machine. Although this depends on the accuracy of the simulation, usually, slight bending or misalignment occurring in the actual machine cannot be completely reproduced only by the simulation calculation.

When the robot is operated for the first time at the time of confirming the operation with the actual machine, in the hitting direction (the direction of moving from the approach point to the working point in the drawing (direction of arrow III)) due to fear of interference between the robot and the work. There is a problem that the operation of the program is slower than necessary and takes a lot of time. In particular, as shown in the figure, in the case of the work W having the vertical surface Wt with respect to the hitting direction, there is little fear of interference with the vertical surface Wt. The current situation is that the work is done while checking whether there are any.

[0007] Such an operation imposes a heavy burden on the operator, and it is said that it is better from the beginning to perform teaching by the actual machine by manual operation by the operator. However, this is only one robot, and if there are dozens of robots, teaching using one real machine does not meet the work efficiency of offline teaching at all.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of creating teaching data which makes it easy to perform a confirmation operation on an actual machine after off-line teaching.

[0009]

The present invention is achieved by the following means.

(1) A method for creating robot teaching data by computer simulation, wherein the teaching data is provided at a position not in contact with the work instead of a teaching contact point at which the work and the robot taught by the simulation contact. A method for creating robot teaching data, wherein a virtual contact point is set.

(2) The virtual contact point is set at a position apart from the work by a predetermined amount from the teaching contact point.

(3) The position which is away from the teaching contact point by a predetermined amount with respect to the work is a teaching point before and after the teaching contact point, and is an approach point or a relief point set at a position which does not interfere with the work. There is a feature.

(4) The virtual contact point is set in place of the teaching contact point in the robot teaching data created when the robot operation is reproduced by the computer simulation and the teaching contact point is taught. It is characterized by being performed.

(5) The virtual contact point can be arbitrarily released.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, virtual contact points are provided in place of the teaching contact points that come into contact with the work. Therefore, when the teaching data is reproduced by the actual machine, the virtual contact points are set. Since the robot operates, it does not come into contact with the actual work, and the operation check operation using the actual machine can be performed with ease.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the virtual contact point is located at a position away from the teaching contact point by a predetermined amount, it is easy to create teaching data up to the actual contact point after confirming operation by the actual machine. Become.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the position away from the teaching contact point by a predetermined amount is the teaching point before and after the teaching contact point and is set at an approach point or a nibble set at a position that does not interfere with the work. Since it is a point, it is not necessary to newly set a virtual contact point outside the work, and the virtual contact point can be easily set.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the virtual contact point is set at the teaching contact point in the robot teaching data created when the robot operation is reproduced by computer simulation and the teaching contact point is taught. Since it is set to be replaced, it is not necessary to teach each virtual contact point when reproducing the operation of the robot by simulation.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the virtual contact point can be arbitrarily released, the real machine can be directly operated to the teaching contact point originally taught by releasing the virtual contact point. It is also possible to do.

[0020]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining the robot teaching data creating apparatus.

The apparatus includes a simulation unit 11 for creating teaching data by a predetermined simulation program, and CAD data for storing CAD data (for example, robot data, work data, work site layout data, etc.) necessary for the simulation. Storage unit 1
2. A teaching data storage unit 13 for storing teaching data.

In FIG. 1, for the purpose of understanding the present invention,
Although the apparatus configuration is shown as being blocked by its function, such an apparatus is actually implemented by a computer called an engineering workstation (EWS) or the like. Therefore, the simulation unit 11
Is executed by the EWS executing a simulation program necessary for creating teaching data. The storage units 12 and 13 are, for example, hard disks or other storage media built in or connected to the EWS.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating teaching data by off-line teaching to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 3 is a chart showing an example of teaching data created by this procedure, and FIG. 6 is a drawing showing a motion trajectory of the end effector tip of the robot based on the teaching data created by FIG. Here, the teaching data of the 6-axis robot is created. Although FIG. 3 shows only the angle value of each axis of the robot and the work instruction for each teaching point, the actual teaching data also includes, for example, speed information. The offline teaching procedure is as shown in Fig. 2.
First, data of the robot taught by the simulation unit 11, data of a work to be performed, layout data of a work site, and the like are captured (S1), and subsequently, touch-up data by an actual machine is captured (S2). The touch-up data sets the pin at the same position as the working point and performs the operation of contacting the end effector tip of the actual robot with this pin from several directions with respect to the pin. This is to acquire the position data of each axis of the robot.

Subsequently, the robot is calibrated by simulation based on the acquired data (S3). In this calibration, the position of the simulation robot is corrected by comparing the position data of each axis on the actual machine with the position data of each axis of the simulation robot by setting the simulation robot to the same posture as when the touch-up data was acquired. It is what you do.

The calibration of the touch-up data generation and simulation in the actual machine is performed when the actual robot deflects due to its own weight or the weight of the end effector and the position is slightly shifted due to the deflection. This is a process for reproducing with a robot by simulation.

After the calibration, teaching data for actually performing the work is created by simulation (S4). This involves moving a robot that is graphically displayed on the display to simulate the work, the motion paths at that time (approach point, work point (teaching contact point), relief point, etc.), work instructions at the work point, and The operating speed of the axis and the like are stored as teaching data. Here, the teaching contact point is only the working point.

The teaching data created at this stage is shown in FIG.
As shown in A, data of all the teaching points including the work point that comes into contact with the work is created.

Subsequently, the work point, which is the taught contact point taught, is replaced with a virtual work point as a virtual contact point instead of the taught work point (S5). Here, the position of the approach point is used as it is as the position of the virtual work point (virtual contact point). In addition, the virtual work point is associated with a work instruction at an actual work point corresponding to the virtual work point. That is, the virtual contact point is different from the taught contact point only in the coordinate position at which the robot operates, and the other conditions and settings are the same.

The teaching data created at this stage is shown in FIG.
As shown in B, as the virtual teaching points (2 ') and (5'), they are replaced with the data of the approach points (1) and (4), which are the teaching points immediately before the working point, respectively. The work instructions remain.

The teaching data in which the teaching contact points have been replaced with virtual contact points are stored in the teaching data storage unit 13 as completed teaching data. Then, the stored teaching data is downloaded (output) from the teaching data storage unit 13 to the actual machine (S6).

When the robot is operated based on the teaching data created by the above procedure, as shown in FIG. 4, the operation trajectory of the end effector attached to the robot moves from the work origin (not shown) as shown in the figure. (1) After proceeding to the approach point, (2 ′) move to the virtual working point (virtual contact point). Here, since the virtual working point is at the same position as the approach point, the robot stops at this position. State. Then, work is performed at the virtual work point according to the work instruction. After the work is completed, the process moves to the (3) relief point (here, the same position as the approach point), and then sequentially proceeds to the next (4) approach point, (5 ′) virtual work point (virtual contact point), and (6) relief point. Operate.

The operation check on the actual machine is performed at this stage. Therefore, there is no contact between the workpiece and the robot during this checking operation. For this reason, unlike the related art, the operation does not need to be extremely slowed down while worrying about interference with the work W.

After the operation has been confirmed in this way,
To change the position of the virtual working point to the actual working point,
The teaching data needs to be modified. In this correction, the robot is moved to the approach point by the teaching data obtained by the offline teaching, and then the robot is moved to the work point, which is the contact point, in the same manner as in a normal teaching operation using an actual machine. At this time, since the work instruction or the like has already been instructed as a virtual work point, there is no need to change the work instruction, but only the position correction.

As shown in FIG. 3C, in the teaching data after the correction work, the work point data is corrected to the actual work point position.

Thus, complete teaching data is completed.
Normally, operation confirmation work is not required thereafter. Because
This is because the overall operation of the robot is performed before teaching to the contact point, and the teaching to the contact point is a teaching operation by an actual machine, and thus is an optimal operation during teaching. .

As described above, in the present embodiment, the teaching data created by off-line teaching replaces the teaching contact point with the virtual contact point located outside the work, and therefore requires a corrective operation by the actual machine. . However, compared to the conventional method, in which the robot moves automatically without knowing whether or not it will interfere with the work, the worker himself is manually operating the robot, as compared with the conventional method. Very easy to do, less anxious and burdensome. For this reason, the working speed is faster than the conventional checking work. In addition, since other motion trajectories are performed by offline teaching, even when the number of robots to be taught is large, teaching data can be created much faster than when all motions are taught by the actual machine. is there.

Although the embodiment to which the present invention is applied has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment.

For example, in the above-described procedure, at the time of off-line teaching, a teaching contact point, which is an actual working point, is input and replaced with a virtual contact point. Or a virtual contact point may be selected. As a result, for example, if there is no fear of interference with the workpiece, the data of the offline teaching can be reproduced as it is on the actual machine without using the virtual contact points, so that the data need not be corrected later.

In the above-described procedure, the approach point is used as the virtual contact point. However, the virtual contact point may be set anywhere as long as it does not contact the work. Therefore, it is sufficient to set not only the approach point and the relief point, but also a position away from the work by a predetermined amount. However, in consideration of the correction operation on the actual machine, it is preferable that the correction operation be performed in only one direction. That is, in FIG. 3, it is preferable to provide at a position where it can be moved to the actual work point only by movement in the III direction. In that sense, if you have an approach point or a missing point,
Usually, these points are most preferable because they are located at positions where they are translated in one direction with respect to a work point that is a contact point with the work.

Further, in the above-described procedure, after the offline teaching, a process of moving the teaching contact point in the teaching data to the approach point (step S5) is included as a series of processes, but the process of step S5 is separately performed. May be performed. For example, the teaching data is created by offline teaching using a conventional method, or the teaching contact point in these teaching data is set to the approach point before the operation on the actual machine using the teaching data by offline teaching already created. Execute the process of moving. Thus, as in the above-described embodiment, interference with the work can be avoided in the operation check operation using the actual machine.

In this embodiment, an example in which a welding gun is used as an end effector has been described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to such an example.
For example, the present invention can be suitably applied to a hand holding a work, a robot equipped with a probe used for various measurements, and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a robot teaching data creation device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating robot teaching data according to the embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a table showing an example of robot teaching data (an angle value of each axis of the robot and a work instruction) created by the procedure for creating the robot teaching data.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an operation path of the robot based on the teaching data created by the procedure for creating the robot teaching data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a motion path of a robot based on robot teaching data created by a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Simulation unit 12 CAD data storage unit 13 Teaching data storage unit W Work Wt Vertical plane of work

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for creating robot teaching data by computer simulation, wherein a virtual machine is provided at a position not in contact with a work, instead of a teaching contact point at which the work and the robot taught by simulation contact. A method for creating robot teaching data, characterized by setting a contact point. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual contact point is set at a position apart from the work by a predetermined amount from the teaching contact point. 3. A position which is away from the teaching contact point by a predetermined amount with respect to the work is a teaching point before and after the teaching contact point, and is an approach point or a relief point set at a position which does not interfere with the work. 3. The method for creating robot teaching data according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The virtual contact point is set in place of the teaching contact point in robot teaching data to be created when a robot operation is reproduced by the computer simulation and the teaching contact point is taught. The method for creating robot teaching data according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual contact point can be arbitrarily released.