JP2006068865A - Programming pendant of industrial robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a programming pendant of an industrial robot capable of improving operability of a menu operation and properly providing a desired display of an operator. <P>SOLUTION: This programming pendant is attached to a robot control unit of an industrial robot, and teaches the robot. The pendant comprises a voice input part 6 inputting voices of operators, a voice input validation switch validating inputs of the voice input part, a voice recognition processing part 8 for recognizing the voices inputted from the voice input part, and a display selecting part 9 selecting the operation display of the programming pendant and displaying it on the programming pendant based on recognition results of the voice recognition processing part 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an industrial robot programming pendant.

A conventional industrial robot programming pendant is an operation box held by an operator, a key operation unit for performing key input necessary for the operator to operate the robot, and operation information obtained by the key input. A display screen for displaying (an operation menu or an operation result of the operation menu) is provided.
FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a conventional programming pendant.
In FIG. 4, the programming pendant 21 is formed in a thin, substantially rectangular box shape that is compact enough to be held and operated by an operator. A panel 22 on the surface of the programming pendant 21 is provided with a display 22 made of, for example, a color liquid crystal display at the center, and a touch panel 23 is provided on the surface of the display 22. As is well known, the touch panel 23 functions as a selection key when touched by an operator while an icon or the like is displayed on the screen of the display unit 22. A power supply key 24 for turning on / off the power supply and a plurality of robot bodies (not shown) for instructing operation (automatic operation start, return to origin, cycle stop, etc.) are provided around the display unit 22. A number of membrane-type key switches including an operation key 25, a plurality of manual operation keys 26 for manually operating each axis of the robot body, a plurality of function keys 27, and the like are provided. Along with this, a mode changeover switch 28 is provided which is located at the upper left of the panel portion and is a rotary switch for changing the mode of the programming pendant 21.
In such a configuration, in order to perform input (setting) of various teaching data such as selection of the operation method of the robot body, teaching of the moving point, teaching of the palletizing method, speed setting, etc., the operator must switch the mode. The “operation setting” mode is selected by the switch 28, and the “setting” menu on the touch panel 23 is subsequently selected. Then, an item selection screen in which a plurality of teaching items are represented by icons I1 to I8 is displayed on the display unit 22. At this time, each icon I1 to I8 displays a moving image expressing the contents of the teaching items. Is displayed. By selecting the icons I1 to I8, teaching data input setting work for the item can be performed. (For example, see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-88068

As described above, the conventional programming pendant aims to display the contents of each teaching item visually and intelligibly when displaying the item selection screen. On the other hand, since the display screen of the programming pendant is a portable type held by hand, the display screen is narrower than that of a desktop PC. In recent years, the number of display items has become enormous with the development of multifunctional robots. Therefore, in order to obtain a desired display screen, the operator must select the operation menu multiple times step by step according to a certain procedure while looking into the small display screen. In addition, there is a problem that the operability is deteriorated.
Furthermore, as a role of the programming pendant, there is a role as a monitoring function for monitoring the internal state of the robot when the system is regularly inspected or when a failure occurs. The internal information of the robot includes not only control information for each joint such as position information, speed information, and torque information, but also various information such as alarm information and various control parameters. Since it is increasing, the amount of information that needs to be monitored in the event of a failure has become enormous. Therefore, efficiently obtaining a desired display screen in the programming pendant is an urgent problem from the viewpoint of system maintenance.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and provides an industrial robot programming pendant that improves the operability of menu operations and enables accurate display of a display screen desired by an operator. With the goal.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is configured as follows.
The invention of claim 1 includes a key operation unit for performing key input necessary for an operator to operate the robot, and a display screen for displaying operation information obtained by the key input. In an industrial robot programming pendant attached to the control unit for teaching the robot, a voice input unit for inputting an operator's voice and a voice input input from the voice input unit are made effective. A voice input enable switch, a voice recognition processing unit for recognizing voice input from the voice input unit, and an operation screen of the programming pendant is selected on the programming pendant based on a recognition result of the voice recognition processing unit. And a screen selector to display. It is characterized by having.
The invention of claim 2 is the programming pendant of the industrial robot according to claim 1, wherein the screen selection unit includes registration changing means capable of registering and changing a keyword of an operation menu on the programming pendant. It is characterized by that.
The invention of claim 3 is the programming pendant of the industrial robot according to claim 1, wherein the voice input valid switch has a holding mechanism capable of continuously holding the ON state once the switch is turned ON. It is characterized by that.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the programming pendant of the industrial robot according to the first aspect, the voice input unit is detachable from the programming pendant.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to directly display a desired operation screen with a voice uttered once, so that the operability of the programming pendant is remarkably improved. Furthermore, since the voice input effective switch is provided, the operation reliability is improved because there is no response to unnecessary sounds from the surrounding environment.
Further, according to the invention described in claim 2, since the operation screen that can be displayed can be changed according to the situation, the display screen can be limited according to the skill of the operator and unnecessary screen transition can be limited. It is possible to improve the operability for beginners. Further, since the keywords are limited, the erroneous recognition of the voice is reduced and the reliability is improved.
According to the invention described in claim 3, when it is necessary to perform manual work while continuously monitoring the internal information of the robot as in maintenance work, the display screen is continuously switched only by voice operation. Therefore, work efficiency is improved.
Further, according to the invention described in claim 4, since it is possible to input a constant voice signal regardless of the positional relationship between the operator and the programming pendant, the reliability of voice recognition is improved, and the operation of the programming pendant is improved. Improves.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an entire robot system including an industrial robot programming pendant according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, 1 is a robot mechanism unit, 2 is an inner world information acquisition unit composed of an encoder, a resolver, etc. for detecting the angles and angular velocities of the joints of the robot mechanism unit 1, and 3 is an object to be processed by the robot. It is an external information acquisition part comprised by the CCD camera which detects the position of this, the force sensor which detects the external force which acts on the robot mechanism part 1, etc. Reference numeral 4 denotes a robot control unit that controls the operation of the robot mechanism unit 1 according to an operation program taught in advance while referring to the information acquired by the inner world information acquisition unit 2 and the outer world information acquisition unit 3. Is a programming pendant that gives commands to the robot controller 4 and displays information of the robot controller 4. Reference numeral 41 denotes an operation command unit that gives commands to the robot control unit 4, and is attached to the programming pendant 5. 5a is a key operation unit, 5c is an operation menu 5b described later, or a display screen for displaying necessary information such as an operation menu operation result (not shown), 6 is a voice input unit, and 7 is a voice input enable switch. , 8 are voice recognition processing units, and 9 is a screen selection unit.
The features of the present invention are as follows.
That is, a key operation unit 5a for performing key input necessary for the operator to operate the robot and operation information (for example, an operation menu or an operation result of the operation menu) obtained by the key input are displayed. A display screen 5c, attached to the control unit 4 of the robot, in a programming pendant 5 for teaching the robot, a voice input unit 6 for inputting an operator's voice, and from the voice input unit 6 A voice input valid switch 7 for judging whether voice input is valid / invalid and switching it to valid, a voice recognition processing unit 8 for recognizing voice inputted from the voice input unit 6, and a voice recognition processing unit 8 is provided with a screen selection unit 9 that selects and displays the operation screen of the corresponding programming pendant 5 based on the recognition result 8.
However, in the case of a robot operation command by voice, it is input to the robot control unit 4 via the operation command unit 41 as in the conventional example.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, 5b is an operation menu, 10 is a registration change means, 10a is a selection switch, 10b is a registration switch, 10c is a confirmation screen, and 10d is a storage means.
The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the screen selection unit 9 is provided with a registration changing means 10 capable of registering and changing the keyword of the operation menu 5b in the programming pendant 5. Specifically, the registration changing means 10 includes a selection switch 10a for selecting the operation menu 5b whose registration is changed, a registration switch 10b, a confirmation screen 10c, and a storage means 10d.

Next, a specific operation procedure of the registration changing unit 10 will be described. Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the hierarchy of the operation menu screen.
Each time the operator presses the selection switch 10a once, the operation menu is selected in the direction of the arrow (→) in the operation menu 5b of FIG. 2, and when the desired menu is selected, the registration switch 10b is stamped. As a result, it is displayed on the confirmation screen 10c and stored in the storage means 10d. In FIG. 2, “Maintenance” is selected by the selection switch 10a and displayed on the confirmation screen 10c. Further, an operation menu 5b having a hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display screen 5c. Here, for simplicity of explanation, up to three levels are displayed, but in actuality, both the number of items and the level are complicated.
Conventionally, when the operator wants to display a desired operation menu on the display screen 5c, the desired operation menu is displayed by pressing the key operation unit 5a a plurality of times according to a hierarchical structure. In the case of the present invention, when the operator presses the voice input enable switch 7 and speaks to the voice input unit 6 for a desired operation menu, the voice recognition processing unit 8 inputs the desired operation menu at the voice input unit 6. The voice signal is converted into the corresponding text, and the registered operation menu screen is selected by comparison with the registration menu of the storage means 10d and displayed on the display screen 5c.
For example, in FIG. 3, when the operation menu of “Robot” M1 and “Maintenance” M6 of the first hierarchy is displayed on the display screen 5c, the “Laser” M9 of the third hierarchy is selected. In this case, at least three operations of the key operation unit 5a are required: “maintenance” M6 → “sensor” M8 → “laser” M9. In the present invention, the “laser” M9 is spoken once. The operation menu is displayed on the display screen 5c.

Therefore, since the programming pendant according to the embodiment of the present invention has the above-described configuration, the action performed by the operator is very simple and efficient simply by pressing the voice input valid switch 7 and speaking.
In addition, from the viewpoint of safety, since the target of speech recognition is limited to the registered operation menu, it is possible to operate the system parameters of the robot with a simple operation by a beginner. Can be improved.
Further, when the operator selects the operation menu while performing manual work continuously as in the maintenance work, the voice input valid switch 7 is locked, so that the voice input is continuously performed. It becomes possible to make it effective. Therefore, it is only necessary to speak when selecting an operation menu desired by the operator, and the voice input unit 6 is detachable, so that it can be installed at a position where the operator's voice can be effectively input, This will prevent voice recognition.

Note that the voice input unit 6 described in the present embodiment may be configured with a microphone that is detachable from the programming pendant 5. The voice input valid switch 7 may have a holding mechanism (not shown) that can hold the switch ON state once the switch is turned ON.
The specific arrangement of the voice input unit 6 and the voice input enable switch 7 is, for example, provided in an empty space in the vertical direction of the power key 24 in the programming pendant 21 shown in FIG. The recognition processing unit 8 and the screen selection unit 9 are provided inside the programming pendant 21.

  As described above, it is possible to provide a programming pendant for an industrial robot that improves the operability of menu operation and enables accurate presentation of an operator's desired display screen.

The block diagram of the whole robot system containing the programming pendant of the industrial robot which shows 1st Example of this invention. The figure explaining 2nd Example of this invention Diagram explaining the hierarchy of the operation menu screen Configuration diagram of conventional programming pendant

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Robot mechanism part 2 Inner world information acquisition part 3 Outside world information acquisition part 4 Robot control part 41 Operation command part 5 Programming pendant 5a Key operation part 5b Operation menu 5c Display screen 6 Voice input part 7 Voice input effective switch 8 Voice recognition process part 9 Screen selection unit 10 Registration change means 10a Selection switch 10b Registration switch 10c Confirmation screen 10d Storage means

Claims (4)

A key operation unit for performing key input necessary for an operator to operate the robot, and a display screen for displaying operation information obtained by the key input,
In an industrial robot programming pendant attached to the control unit of the robot and teaching the robot,
A voice input unit for inputting the voice of the operator;
A voice input enable switch for enabling voice input from the voice input unit;
A speech recognition processing unit for recognizing speech input from the speech input unit;
A screen selection unit that selects an operation screen of the programming pendant based on a recognition result of the voice recognition processing unit and displays the operation screen on the programming pendant;
An industrial robot programming pendant characterized by comprising   2. The programming pendant for an industrial robot according to claim 1, wherein the screen selection unit includes registration changing means capable of registering and changing a keyword of an operation menu on the programming pendant.   2. The industrial robot programming pendant according to claim 1, wherein the voice input valid switch includes a holding mechanism capable of continuously holding the ON state once the switch is turned ON.   The industrial robot programming pendant according to claim 1, wherein the voice input unit is detachable from the programming pendant.

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