JP2008126219A - Application system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive application system having quick response performance to movement of an object and minute roughness which cannot be detected beforehand without requiring the pre-measurement of a shape of the object using an expensive system with high accuracy when materializing a special application mechanism for applying a chemical to an object having roughness on its surface, for example, skin of a human 60 or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The application system 1 comprises application mechanisms 10a or the like and a driving part 20. The application mechanisms 10a or the like have an application part 12 having a contact portion (top) contacting with the outside, such as the back or the like of the human 60 or the like an expansion part 14 of which one side is connected to the opposite side (inside) of the contact part (top) and which can expand and contract according to the contact of the contact part (top) with the outside, and a measurement part 16 connected to the other side of the expansion part 14 and measuring the quantity of the expansion and contraction of the expansion part 14. The driving part 20 can change the movement of the application mechanisms 10a or the like according to the quantity of the expansion and contraction of the expansion part 14 measured by the measurement part 16. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a coating system including a coating mechanism that performs coating by contact with the outside and a drive unit that supports and drives the coating mechanism.

  At present, a dedicated application mechanism for applying a drug for skin care or the like on an object having an uneven surface, such as a human skin, has not been found. When such an application mechanism is to be realized using conventional robot technology, it is necessary to measure and acquire the shape of an object with high accuracy in advance. For this reason, a system such as a laser range sensor (see Non-Patent Document 1) that measures the distance to the object with a laser or a stereo camera for stereo vision is required.

  On the other hand, in order to cope with the movement of the object and the minute unevenness that cannot be detected in advance, a force / torque sensor for detecting the force applied to the portion to be applied by contact is required.

Supervised by Hirofumi Miura, “Handy Book Mechatronics”, revised 2nd edition, Ohm Co., Ltd., published on November 25, 2005.

  As described above, when a special application mechanism for applying a drug to an object having an uneven surface, such as a human skin, is to be realized using conventional robot technology, the shape of the object is increased in advance. In order to measure with accuracy, a system such as a laser range sensor or a stereo camera is required. However, these systems have a problem that they become extremely expensive systems depending on the measurement accuracy. As described above, a force / torque sensor is required in order to cope with the movement of the object and fine irregularities that cannot be detected in advance. However, the force / torque sensor is expensive, and the force control using the force / torque sensor has a poor response characteristic and it is difficult to cope with a quick change of the object.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is made to solve the above-described problem, and is expensive when realizing a dedicated application mechanism for applying a drug to an object having an uneven surface, such as a human skin. To provide a coating system having an inexpensive and quick response characteristic with respect to movement of an object and fine irregularities that cannot be detected in advance without the need to measure the shape of the object with high accuracy in advance using the system. It is in.

  The coating system of the present invention is a coating system that includes a coating mechanism that performs coating by contact with the outside and a drive unit that supports and drives the coating mechanism, and the coating mechanism has a contact portion with the outside. One side is connected to the application portion and the opposite side of the contact portion, and the stretchable portion can be expanded and contracted according to contact with the outside of the contact portion, and the other stretched portion is connected to the other side of the stretchable portion. A measuring unit that measures the amount, wherein the driving unit changes the motion of the coating mechanism according to the amount of expansion / contraction of the expansion / contraction unit measured by the measurement unit.

  Here, in the coating system of the present invention, three coating mechanisms are provided, and the driving unit is tangential to the outside formed by each contact portion based on the amount of expansion / contraction of each expansion / contraction part measured by each measurement unit. And the motion of the coating mechanism can be changed according to the inclination of the tangent plane.

  Here, in the coating system of the present invention, by using the expansion / contraction part as a spring, the force is measured based on the amount of expansion / contraction measured by the measurement unit, and the drive unit is subjected to compliance control or based on the measured force. Can be force controlled.

  Here, in the coating system of the present invention, the measuring unit can be a potentiometer.

  Here, in the coating system of the present invention, the driving unit can be a spatial translation parallel mechanism having three degrees of freedom.

  Here, the coating system according to the present invention may further include a multi-degree-of-freedom mechanism having a work area of a predetermined width connected to the driving unit.

  The coating system of the present invention includes a coating mechanism and a drive unit, and the coating mechanism has a coating part having a contact part with the outside such as a human back, and one side connected to the opposite side (inside) of the contact part. And an expansion / contraction part that can be expanded and contracted according to contact with the outside of the contact part, and a measuring unit that is connected to the other side of the expansion / contraction part and measures the expansion / contraction amount of the expansion / contraction part. The drive unit can change the motion of the coating mechanism according to the amount of expansion / contraction of the expansion / contraction part measured by the measurement unit. A spring can be used as the expansion / contraction part, and a potentiometer can be used as the measurement part. Since the mass of the application portion is reduced by holding the application portion having the contact portion with a spring, quick response characteristics can be provided. By introducing a potentiometer that can measure the length of the spring, the position and force of the contact portion can be measured, so it is also possible to measure the shape and rigidity of objects such as humans from the time history of the amount of expansion and contraction of the spring It is. Based on the amount of expansion / contraction of each expansion / contraction part measured by each measurement unit of the application mechanism, the drive unit obtains a tangential plane with the outside formed by each contact portion, and drives the application mechanism according to the inclination of the tangential plane. The position and posture of the foundation can be controlled to the optimum ones. By performing compliance control or force control on the drive unit in accordance with the force measured by the measurement unit, it is possible to reduce the accuracy of the prior shape measurement and realize cost reduction. Furthermore, since the compliance which exceeds the mechanical stroke which the spring of an application part has can be given, wide adaptability can be added. Further, by using a multi-degree-of-freedom mechanism having a wide work area connected to the application mechanism, a wide range of application can be realized. It is also possible to perform an adaptive operation based on the data obtained from the measurement unit. For this reason, when realizing a dedicated application mechanism for applying a drug to an object having an uneven surface, such as a human skin, the shape of the object is measured with high accuracy in advance using an expensive system. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a coating system that is inexpensive and has quick response characteristics with respect to the movement of the object and fine irregularities that cannot be detected in advance.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a coating system 1 in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an application mechanism that performs application by contact with the outside, 20 denotes a drive unit that supports and drives the application mechanism 10, and 40 denotes a multi-degree-of-freedom mechanism having a wide work area connected to the drive unit 20. A robot arm unit, 50 is a binocular digital stereo vision system, 60 is an object having an uneven surface, such as a human, and 62 is the skin of 60 (back) of a human or the like. The components of the coating system 1 (in the narrow sense) of the present invention are a coating mechanism 10 and a drive unit 20, and compliance control or force control is performed according to the measured force. By adding the robot arm unit 40 which is a multi-degree-of-freedom mechanism connected to the configuration (narrow sense), the coating system 1 (wide sense) that realizes a wide range of coating by the coating mechanism 10 can be obtained. By adding the two-lens digital stereo vision system 50 to the coating system 1 (in a broad sense), it is also possible to detect the movement of a person 60 or the like.

  FIG. 2 shows the details of the coating system 1 (in a narrow sense). In FIG. 2, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, three coating mechanisms 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) can be provided, and the driving unit 20 includes three coating mechanisms 10a, 10b, and 10c (hereinafter referred to as “coating mechanism 10a etc.”). Can be supported and driven. FIG. 2 shows a three-degree-of-freedom spatial translation parallel mechanism controlled by a computer (not shown) as an example of the drive unit 20. This utilizes the characteristics of the parallel mechanism that can respond more quickly than the serial mechanism, but this is only an example, and any other device can be used as long as it can support and drive the coating mechanism 10 (or 10a, etc.). Of course, it may be. The tip of the application mechanism 10a and the like is a contact portion with the outside, and a medicine is applied to the tip. The base 18 such as the application mechanism 10a is moved in accordance with the shape of the back of the human etc. 60 by the space translation parallel mechanism 20 and the robot arm unit 40 having three degrees of freedom, so that the medicine is applied to the back of the human etc. 60. .

  FIG. 3 shows details of the spatial translational parallel mechanism 20 with three degrees of freedom. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 21a, 21b, and 21c are portions for supporting the coating mechanism 10a and the like provided thereon, 27 is a base portion, 26 is a motor fixed to the base portion 27, and 29 is a motor shaft of the motor 26. A link connected to 26 '(not shown), 24a is a joint provided on the link 25a for connecting the link 29 to the link 25a (not shown), and 28a is a link attached to one end of the link 25a by a joint 24c. , 28b is a link attached to the other end of the link 25a by a joint 24d, 25b is a link in which the link 28a is attached to one end by a joint 24e, and a link 28b is attached to the other end by a joint 24f, and 24b is provided in the link 25b. Joint, 22 is the tip (triangular plate indicated by dotted line), 2 Is a fixed part that connects the hand unit 22 and the joint 24b.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a parallel link mechanism A is configured by the link 25a, the link 28a, the link 28b, and the link 25b. The other two parallel link mechanisms B (left side in FIG. 3) and C (right rear side in FIG. 3) are similarly configured. When the motor 26 rotates and the link 29 is driven via the motor shaft 26 ', the parallel link mechanism A operates, and the other two parallel link mechanisms B and C also operate by this operation. That is, when one motor 26 rotates, all the parallel link mechanisms A, B, and C operate. In this case, since the portion corresponding to the link 29 of the parallel link mechanisms B and C is not driven, the hand portion 22 performs a translational motion with one degree of freedom while keeping parallel to the base portion 27. Accordingly, by rotating the three motors of the parallel link mechanisms A, B, and C, the hand portion 22 can perform a translational motion with three degrees of freedom while keeping parallel to the base portion 27.

  FIG. 4 shows an assembly drawing of the coating system 1 (in a narrow sense). In FIG. 4, the portions denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 2 and 3 indicate the same elements, and the description thereof is omitted. As shown in FIG. 4, the coating mechanism 10 a and the like have a coating part 12 (12 (out) is the outside of the coating part 12, and 12 (in) is a coating part) having a contact part top with the outside such as the back of a person 60. And the other side (inside) of the contact part top, and one side is connected to the other part of the contact part top, and can be expanded and contracted according to contact with the outside of the contact part top, A measuring unit 16 that is connected to one side and measures the amount of expansion and contraction of the expansion and contraction unit 14 is provided. When the contact portion top comes into contact with the back or the like of a human 60 or the like, the entire application unit 12 is pushed downward in FIG. The drive unit 20 can change the motion of the application mechanism 10 a and the like according to the amount of expansion / contraction of the expansion / contraction unit 14 measured by the measurement unit 16. It is preferable to use a spring as the expansion / contraction part 14. By selecting a spring constant of the spring 14 that does not damage the human or the like 60, the medicine applied to the contact portion top can be applied to the human or the like 60 with an appropriate force. As the measuring unit 16, a linear potentiometer can be used. As shown in FIG. 4, the coating mechanism 10 a having a hollow structure has a spring 14 installed therein, and the potentiometer 16 can measure the expansion / contraction amount (length) of the spring 14. As a result, the position of the application unit 12 is measured from the measured amount of expansion and contraction, and at the same time, the force generated at that time can be measured from a known spring coefficient. The application system 1 (in a narrow sense) can determine the movement of the base 18 based on the amount of expansion and contraction of the spring 14 measured by the potentiometer 16 so as not to generate an excessive force on the back of a person 60 or the like. As described above, since the mass of the application part 12 is reduced by holding the application part 12 having the contact portion top with the spring 14, quick response characteristics can be provided. By introducing a potentiometer 16 that can measure the length of the spring 14, the force applied to the contact portion top can be measured, so the shape and rigidity of an object such as a human 60 can be measured from the time history of the amount of expansion and contraction of the spring 14. It is also possible to do. In the above description, a linear potentiometer is used as a method of measuring the amount of expansion / contraction at the tip of the application unit 12, but other methods may be used as long as the amount of expansion / contraction can be measured. For example, a method in which a combination of a light emitting diode and a light sensor (PSD: Position Sensitive Detector) is placed inside, and the length (expansion / contraction amount) is inferred from the intensity of light that varies depending on the expansion / contraction amount can be used.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4, the length of the link 29 is 60 mm, the length of the links 28 a and 28 b is 60 mm, the length between the center O1 of the hand portion 22 and the joint 24 b is 24 mm, and the center of the base portion 27. The length between O2 and the joint j was 24 mm. These lengths are exemplary, and it is needless to say that the lengths can be appropriately changed according to the object or the like. In FIG. 4, a finger suck-like hollow structure is shown as the application part 12, but the structure is not limited to the finger suck-like structure as long as the spring 14 is connected to the opposite side of the contact portion top.

  FIG. 5 shows a tangential plane formed by the application part 12a and the like. In FIG. 5, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. In FIG. 5, reference numerals 12 a, 12 b, and 12 c are application portions of the application mechanisms 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c, topa, topb, and topc are contact portions of the application portions 12 a, 12 b, and 12 c, respectively, and S is each contact portion topa, topb, A tangent plane to the outside formed by topc, Sv is a normal vector of the tangent plane S, and L is a distance between the topa, topb, topc and the base 18. Based on the amount of expansion / contraction of each expansion / contraction unit 14 measured by each measurement unit 16 such as the coating mechanism 10a, the driving unit 20 obtains a contact plane S with the outside formed by each contact portion topa, topb, topc, The application mechanism 10a and the like can be driven in accordance with the inclination of the plane S (the inclination of the normal vector Sv with respect to the horizontal plane), and the position and orientation of the base 18 can be controlled to be optimal.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the coating system 1 includes the coating mechanism 10 a and the like and the driving unit 20, and the coating mechanism 10 a and the like are in contact with the outside such as the back of a human 60 or the like. One side is connected to the opposite side (inner side) of the contact part top with the coating part 12 having the contact part top, and the extension part 14 can be expanded and contracted according to contact with the outside of the contact part top, and connected to the other side of the extension part 14 And a measuring unit 16 for measuring the amount of expansion / contraction of the expansion / contraction unit 14. The drive unit 20 can change the motion of the application mechanism 10 a and the like according to the amount of expansion / contraction of the expansion / contraction unit 14 measured by the measurement unit 16. A spring can be used as the expansion / contraction part 14 and a potentiometer can be used as the measurement part 16. Since the mass of the application part 12 is reduced by holding the application part 12 having the contact part top with the spring 14, it is possible to provide quick response characteristics. By introducing a potentiometer 16 capable of measuring the length of the spring 14, the position of the contact portion top and the force applied thereto can be measured. Therefore, the shape of the object such as a person 60 can be determined from the time history of the expansion / contraction amount of the spring 14. It is also possible to measure the stiffness. Based on the amount of expansion / contraction of each expansion / contraction unit 14 measured by each measurement unit 16 such as the coating mechanism 10a, the driving unit 20 obtains a contact plane S with the outside formed by each contact portion topa, topb, topc, The application mechanism 10a and the like are driven according to the inclination of the plane S, and the position and posture of the base 18 can be controlled to be optimal. Application over a wide range is realized by using the robot arm unit 40 having a wide work area connected to the application mechanism (a work area of a predetermined area; a wider work area that cannot be handled by the spatial translation parallel mechanism 20 alone). can do. Further, since compliance control or force control can be performed in the drive unit 20 and the robot arm unit 40 based on the force data measured by the measurement unit, it is possible to reduce the accuracy of the prior shape measurement and reduce the cost. Can be realized. Furthermore, since the compliance which exceeds the mechanical stroke which the spring of an application part has can be given, wide adaptability can be added. For this reason, when realizing a dedicated application mechanism for applying a drug to an object having an uneven surface, for example, the skin of 60 such as a human, it is necessary to measure the shape of the object with high accuracy in advance using an expensive system. Therefore, it is possible to provide an application system that has an inexpensive and quick response characteristic with respect to the movement of an object and fine irregularities that cannot be detected in advance.

  As an application example of the present invention, it can be applied as a dedicated application system for applying a medicine for human skin care or the like.

It is a figure which shows the coating system 1 in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detail of the coating system 1 (narrow sense). It is a figure which shows the detail of the spatial translation parallel mechanism 20 of 3 degrees of freedom. It is an assembly drawing of the coating system 1 (narrow sense). It is a figure which shows the tangent plane formed by the application part 12a.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Application | coating system, 10, 10a, 10b, 10c Application | coating mechanism, 12, 12a, 12b, 12c Application | coating part, 14 Expansion / contraction part, 16 Measurement part, 18 Foundation, 20 3 degree-of-freedom space translation parallel mechanism, 21a, 21b, 21c A part for supporting the coating mechanism 10, 22 hand part, 23 fixing part, 24 a, 24 b, 24 c, 24 d, 24 e, 24 f joint, 25 a, 25 b, 28 a, 28 b, 29 link, 26 motor, 26 ′ motor shaft (or Joint), 27 base part, 40 robot arm part, 50 binocular digital stereo vision system.

Claims (6)

An application system including an application mechanism that performs application by contact with the outside, and a drive unit that supports and drives the application mechanism,
The coating mechanism is
An application part having a contact part with the outside;
One side is connected to the opposite side of the contact part, and an elastic part that can be expanded and contracted according to contact with the outside of the contact part;
A measuring unit connected to the other side of the stretchable part and measuring the amount of stretch of the stretchable part,
The said drive part changes the motion of the said application | coating mechanism according to the expansion-contraction amount of the said expansion-contraction part measured by the said measurement part, The coating system characterized by the above-mentioned.   2. The coating system according to claim 1, comprising three coating mechanisms, wherein the driving unit has a tangent plane with the outside formed by each contact portion based on an amount of expansion / contraction of each expansion / contraction part measured by each measurement unit. A coating system characterized in that the motion of the coating mechanism is changed according to the inclination of the tangential plane.   3. The coating system according to claim 1, wherein a force is measured based on an amount of expansion / contraction measured by the measurement unit by using the expansion / contraction unit as a spring, and the drive unit is compliance-controlled based on the measured force. Or the application | coating system characterized by carrying out force control.   The coating system according to claim 1, wherein the measurement unit is a potentiometer.   5. The coating system according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit is a spatial translational parallel mechanism having three degrees of freedom.   6. The coating system according to claim 1, further comprising a multi-degree-of-freedom mechanism having a work area of a predetermined width connected to the driving unit.