JP2010253614A - Robot hand for use of fixture, and method of mounting/removing the fixture using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot hand for use of a fixture which correctly mounts/removes the fixture on/from a workpiece without interfering with the workpiece even if a position or a posture of the workpiece varies, and also to provide a method of mounting/removing the fixture using the robot hand. <P>SOLUTION: The robot hand 10 for use of the fixture is for mounting/removing the fixture 8 on/from the workpiece 1. It is equipped with: a cylindrical guide rod 12 having a fitting part 12b fitting into a fitting hole 7 provided on the workpiece 1 or a fixing member 5 fixed to it and having its axis line positioned in the direction of mounting/removing the fixture by the fitting of the fitting part 12b and the fitting hole 7; a follower mechanism 14 attached to a hand attaching part 9a of a conveyance robot 9 for holding a terminal end 12e of the guide rod so as to follow movement and swing of the guide rod; a gripper 16 capable of gripping/releasing the fixture 8; and an elevation device 18 for moving the gripper up and down along the axis line of the guide rod. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a jig robot hand for attaching / detaching a jig to / from a workpiece and a jig attaching / detaching method using the same.

  In production sites for automobile parts, electrical parts, machine parts, etc., it is frequently performed to attach or remove another part from one part. Further, for example, Patent Document 1 has already been disclosed as a method of performing such attachment / detachment using a robot.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a robot apparatus for implementing the method of Patent Document 1. In FIG. In this figure, a work 52 is conveyed in an arbitrary position and posture by a conveyor 50 in a horizontal conveyance direction 51. The workpiece 52 has a pair of holes. The workpiece 52 is gripped by a robot 55 that can move three-dimensionally and is fitted to a pair of pins 57 of an assembly stage 56 provided at a fixed position, so that the workpiece 52 is positioned with high accuracy. It is supposed to be.
In the method of Patent Document 1, the workpiece 52 having a pair of holes conveyed by the conveyor 50 is imaged by the two-dimensional sensor 59, and the gripping position of the workpiece to be gripped is detected based on the imaging result. The gripping position is gripped by the robot 55, the work is brought into the field of view 51 of the three-dimensional sensor 50 capable of three-dimensional detection, and the position of the pair of holes is determined by the three-dimensional sensor 50 in a state where the work is gripped by the robot. Thus, the workpiece is moved so that the pair of holes fits with the pair of pins.

Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-26770, “Work Fit Method”

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a workpiece and a jig targeted by the present invention. In this figure, a workpiece 1 is a housing of, for example, an electric motor or a hydraulic device, and has a flange 3 inside a hollow cylindrical hollow portion 2, and the surface thereof is a component mounting surface 3a for attaching another component. .
The component mounting surface 3a is usually finished with high accuracy by machining or the like. Therefore, in the painting process for painting the workpiece 1, the jig 4 (masking jig) needs to be attached to the component attachment surface 3a before painting and removed after painting to prevent adhesion of the paint.

  However, when the jig 4 is attached to the recessed part of the work 1, the jig 4 has a small gap (for example, 1 mm or less) between the inner surface 2a of the cavity 2 (the edge of the work) and the outer surface 4a of the jig 4. When attaching / detaching, the outer surface 4a of the jig 4 may come into contact with the inner surface 2a of the hollow portion 2, and the inner surface 2a may be damaged or the coating of the inner surface 2a may be peeled off.

  Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, a fixing member 5 (for example, a conveying jig) fixed to a portion of the workpiece 1 that is not painted (the back surface of the flange 3) with a bolt or the like, and a lower end portion 6 a A guide rod 6 to be fitted with the center hole 5a is prepared, and the lower end portion 6a of the guide rod 6 is fitted into the center hole 5a of the fixing member 5 by a manual operation by an operator so that the guide rod 6 is fixed to the fixing member 5. The center hole 4b of the jig 4 is inserted into the outer peripheral surface 6b of the guide rod 6, guided by the outer peripheral surface 6b, and guided to the inner surface 2a of the cavity 2 by the center hole 4b. The jig 4 was mounted / removed so that the outer surface 4a was not in contact.

However, since the guide rod 6 described above becomes an obstacle to painting, it is necessary to remove it after attaching the jig 4 and attach it again after painting.
Therefore, it has been conventionally demanded to automate the mounting / removal of the guide rod 6 and the jig 4 by the manual work which takes time and labor, using a robot.

  However, when there is some variation in the position and posture of the workpiece 1, it is possible to fit the lower end portion 6a of the guide rod 6 into the center hole 5a of the fixing member 5 by manual operation. It was difficult to automate using.

  Further, as in Patent Document 1, it is possible in principle to precisely detect the position and posture of a workpiece using a three-dimensional sensor capable of three-dimensional detection, but the control becomes complicated, and therefore There is a problem that the tact time becomes long.

  The present invention has been developed to solve the above-described problems. That is, an object of the present invention is to use a jig robot hand capable of accurately attaching / detaching a jig to / from a workpiece without interfering with the workpiece even when the position and posture of the workpiece vary. It is to provide a method for attaching / detaching a jig.

According to the present invention, a jig robot hand for attaching / detaching a jig to / from a workpiece,
A fitting portion that fits into a fitting hole provided in a workpiece or a fixing member fixed to the workpiece is provided at the tip, and the fitting / attachment of the jig is performed by fitting the fitting portion with the fitting hole. A cylindrical guide rod whose axis is positioned in the removal direction;
A follow-up mechanism that is attached to the hand attachment portion of the transfer robot and holds the end portion of the guide rod so as to follow the movement and swinging of the guide rod;
A gripping device capable of gripping / releasing the jig;
There is provided a jig robot hand comprising a lifting device that lifts and lowers the gripping device along an axis of a guide rod.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, the guide rod has a tapered portion that is provided continuously to the fitting portion and guides the fitting portion to the fitting hole.

Further, according to the present invention, the tracking mechanism attached to the hand mounting portion of the transfer robot holds the end portion of the cylindrical guide rod so as to follow the movement and swinging of the guide rod,
Move the hand mounting part three-dimensionally,
The fitting portion of the tip of the guide rod is fitted into the fitting hole provided in the workpiece or a fixing member fixed thereto, and the axis of the guide rod is set in the jig mounting / removing direction by the fitting. Positioning,
There is provided a method of attaching / detaching a jig using a jig robot hand, wherein the jig is held / released by raising / lowering a holding device along an axis of a guide rod.

  According to the above-described apparatus and method of the present invention, the guide rod, the tracking mechanism, the gripping device, and the lifting device are provided, and the distal end portion of the cylindrical guide rod is guided by the tracking mechanism attached to the hand mounting portion of the transport robot. Hold the rod so that it can follow the movement and swinging of the rod, and fit the fitting part of the tip of the guide rod into the fitting hole provided in the workpiece or the fixed member fixed to it. When the axis of the guide rod is positioned in the jig mounting / removal direction, and then the jig is gripped / released by moving the gripping device up and down along the axis of the guide rod. However, the jig can be accurately attached / detached to / from the workpiece without interfering with the workpiece.

That is, in the present invention, for example, a workpiece (or a fixed member fixed thereto) that has been painted with a jig (masking jig) attached thereto is fitted into a fitting hole provided in the workpiece. As described above, the guide rod is moved by the robot. At this time, since the position / posture of the workpiece varies, the guide rod is guided by the tapered portion, and the displacement is absorbed by the follow-up mechanism.
Next, the robot hand lowers the gripping device to grip the jig, and then lifts it along the guide rod. Thereby, a jig | tool can be removed, without making it contact a workpiece | work edge part.

Further, in the present invention, when gripping the jig, it is not necessary to perform measurement for position correction and it is not necessary to attach a guide jig, so that the tact time can be shortened.

It is a block diagram of the robot apparatus for implementing the method of patent document 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the workpiece | work and jig | tool which this invention makes object. It is explanatory drawing of the workpiece conveyance jig | tool and guide rod for manual operations. It is a block diagram of the robot hand for jigs by this invention. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the attachment / detachment method of the jig | tool by this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the common part in each figure, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a jig robot hand according to the present invention.
In this figure, a workpiece 1 has a flange 3 inside a hollow cylindrical hollow portion 2, and the surface thereof is a component mounting surface 3a for mounting another component. The fixing member 5 is fixed to the back surface of the flange 3 with a bolt or the like. This fixing member 5 has a fitting hole 7 at its center position, and its axis coincides with the mounting / removal direction of the jig 8 described later.
In the present invention, the fixing member 5 is not essential, and may be omitted and the fitting hole 7 may be provided directly in the workpiece 1.

Further, in this figure, a jig 8 is a masking jig and is attached to the component attachment surface 3a of the work 1 so as to prevent adhesion of paint. The jig 8 includes an outer surface 8a, an inner surface 8b, and an intermediate portion 8c.
The outer surface 8a is circular in this example, and the gap between the inner surface 2a (workpiece edge) of the cavity portion 2 is small (for example, 1 mm or less), thereby preventing the paint from adhering to the component mounting surface 3a. It has become.
In addition, the inner surface 8b is circular in this example, and is set larger than the outer diameter of the guide rod 12 so as to pass through the guide rod 12 described later and not interfere with it.
Further, the intermediate portion 8c is formed as a rectangular flat plate extending in the diametrical direction from the component mounting surface 3a, and can be gripped by a gripping device 16 described later.
In the present invention, the inner surface 8b is not essential and may be omitted.

  In FIG. 4, the jig robot hand 10 of the present invention is an apparatus for attaching / detaching the jig 8 to / from the workpiece 1, and includes a guide rod 12, a follow-up mechanism 14, a gripping device 16, and an elevating device 18.

  In this example, the guide rod 12 includes a guide portion 12a, a fitting portion 12b, and a tapered portion 12c that are coaxially arranged in series. The guide portion 12a and the fitting portion 12b are cylindrical, and the diameter of the fitting portion 12b is smaller than the diameter of the guide portion 12a and has a step 12d therebetween.

The fitting portion 12b is fitted into the fitting hole 7 provided in the workpiece 1 or the fixing member 5 fixed thereto, and the guide rod 12 is fitted by fitting the fitting portion 12b and the fitting hole 7 together. The length of the fitting portion with respect to the fitting hole 7 and the gap are set so that the axis of the fitting portion 7 is positioned in the attaching / detaching direction of the jig 8.
Further, the tapered portion 12c is provided on the distal end side continuously to the fitting portion 12b and guides the fitting portion 12b to the fitting hole 7. The taper angle and length of the taper portion 12c are set to be sufficiently large as long as variations in the position and posture of the workpiece 1 can be allowed.
Further, the step 12d is in contact with the upper surface of the fixing member 5 so that the height of the guide rod 12 relative to the fixing member 5 is constant.

In this example, the follow-up mechanism 14 includes a swing plate 14a fixed to the distal end portion 12e of the guide rod 12, a fixed plate 14b attached to the hand attachment portion 9a of the transport robot 9, and a flexible member 14c that connects between them. Become.
The bending member 14c is, for example, an elastic rubber or a coil spring, and holds the shaft center of the guide rod 12 at the shaft center of the hand mounting portion 9a when no external force acts on the guide rod 12.
Further, when an external force is applied to the fitting portion 12b or the tapered portion 12c of the guide rod 12, the bending member 14c moves or swings with respect to the fixed plate 14b, so that the end portion 12e of the guide rod 12 is moved. Is held so as to be able to follow the movement and swinging of the guide rod 12.
Note that the maximum movement amount and the maximum swing angle of the swing plate 14a with respect to the fixed plate 14b are set to be sufficiently large as long as variations in the position and posture of the workpiece 1 can be allowed.

In this example, the gripping device 16 includes an opening / closing claw 16a that grips the intermediate portion 8c of the jig 8 and an opening / closing actuator 16b that opens and closes the opening / closing claw 16a, and can grip / release the intermediate portion 8c of the jig 8. It is like that.
The gripping device 16 is not limited to this example, and may be another gripping mechanism, such as a suction pad or an electromagnet, as long as the intermediate portion 8c of the jig 8 can be gripped / released.

The lifting device 18 includes a linear guide 18 a that guides the gripping device 16 along the outer surface of the guide rod 12, and a lifting actuator 18 b that lifts and lowers the gripping device 16 along the axis of the guide rod, and guides the gripping device 16. It moves up and down along the axis of the rod 12.
The lift actuator 18b is two pneumatic cylinders in this example, but may be one as long as the gripping device 16 can be lifted and lowered along the axis of the guide rod 12. The drive source for raising and lowering the gripping device 16 may be any type such as pneumatic or electric.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of a method of attaching / detaching a jig according to the present invention. In this figure, the jig is removed in the order of (A), (B) and (C), and the jig is attached in the order of (C), (B) and (A).
Hereinafter, the removal of the jig in the order of (A), (B), and (C) will be described.

In FIG. 5A, a jig 8 is a masking jig and is attached to the component attachment surface 3a of the workpiece 1 so as to prevent adhesion of paint. Further, in this example, the posture of the work 1 is in a state where the axis of the workpiece 1 is slightly inclined (about 3 degrees in this example) from the vertical axis.
The jig robot hand 10 of the present invention is located above the workpiece 1 and is in a state in which no external force acts on the guide rod 12. The axis of the guide rod 12 is the axis of the hand mounting portion 9a ( (Vertical axis in the figure).
In this state, the hand attachment portion 9 a is moved three-dimensionally, and the tip (lower end) of the tapered portion 12 c of the guide rod 12 is positioned in the fitting hole 7 of the fixing member 5. For this positioning, a two-dimensional image or three-dimensional data may be used.

When the hand attachment portion 9a is lowered from the state of FIG. 5A until the step 12d of the guide rod 12 contacts the upper surface of the fixing member 5, as shown in FIG. The fitting portion 12b at the distal end is fitted into the fitting hole 7 of the fixing member 5, and this fitting positions the axis of the guide rod 12 in the mounting / removing direction of the jig 8 (inclined axis in this example). The
Next, the gripping device 16 is lowered by the lifting device 18 along the axis of the guide rod 12 to grip the jig 8.

When the gripping device 16 is raised by the lifting device 18 along the axis of the guide rod 12 from the state shown in FIG. 5B, the state shown in FIG. 5C is obtained. Move to another position.
As described above, since the jig 8 is held / released by moving the holding device 16 up and down along the axis of the guide rod 12, even if the position and posture of the work 1 vary, without interfering with the work, The jig 8 can be accurately attached / detached to / from the workpiece.

  The jig is attached in the order of (C), (B), and (A) in reverse to the above-described steps.

  According to the apparatus and method of the present invention described above, the guide rod 12, the tracking mechanism 14, the gripping device 16, and the lifting / lowering device 18 are provided, and the cylindrical mechanism is formed by the tracking mechanism 14 attached to the hand mounting portion 9 a of the transport robot 9. The distal end portion 12e of the guide rod 12 is held in the fitting hole 7 provided in the workpiece 1 or the fixing member 5 fixed to the workpiece 1 so that the end portion 12e of the guide rod 12 can follow the movement and swinging of the guide rod. The fitting portion 12b) is fitted, the axis of the guide rod 12 is positioned in the mounting / removal direction of the jig 8 by the fitting, and then the gripping device 16 is moved up and down along the axis of the guide rod 12. Since the jig is held / released, the jig can be accurately attached / detached to / from the workpiece without interfering with the workpiece even when the position and posture of the workpiece vary.

That is, in the present invention, for example, a fitting hole provided in a workpiece 1 (or a fixing member 5 fixed thereto) that has been painted with a jig 8 (masking jig) attached thereto. The guide rod 12 is moved by the robot so as to be fitted with 7. At this time, since the position / posture of the workpiece 1 varies, the guide rod 12 is guided by the tapered portion 12 c and the positional deviation is absorbed by the follower mechanism 14.
Next, the robot hand 9 lowers the gripping device 16 to grip the jig 8 and then lifts it along the guide rod 12. Thereby, the jig | tool 8 can be removed, without contacting a workpiece | work edge part.

  Further, in the present invention, when gripping the jig 8, it is not necessary to perform measurement for position correction and it is not necessary to attach a guide jig, so that the tact time can be shortened.

  The subject of the present invention is not limited to the jig described above, but may be any object that enters the recessed portion of the workpiece.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, Of course, a various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

1 work, 2 hollow part, 2a inner surface,
3 Flange, 3a Component mounting surface,
5 fixing member, 7 fitting hole,
8 jig, 8a outer surface, 8b inner surface, 8c middle part,
9 Transfer robot, 9a Hand mounting part,
10 Robot hand for jigs,
12 guide rod, 12a guide part,
12b fitting part, 12c taper part,
12d step, 12e end,
14 following mechanism, 14a swinging plate,
14b fixing plate, 14c bending member,
16 gripping device, 16a opening and closing claw,
16b actuator for opening and closing,
18 Lifting device, 18a Linear guide,
18b Lifting actuator

Claims (3)

A jig robot hand for attaching / detaching a jig to / from a workpiece,
A fitting portion that fits into a fitting hole provided in a workpiece or a fixing member fixed to the workpiece is provided at the tip, and the fitting / attachment of the jig is performed by fitting the fitting portion with the fitting hole. A cylindrical guide rod whose axis is positioned in the removal direction;
A follow-up mechanism that is attached to the hand attachment portion of the transfer robot and holds the end portion of the guide rod so as to follow the movement and swinging of the guide rod;
A gripping device capable of gripping / releasing the jig;
A jig robot hand comprising: a lifting device that lifts and lowers the gripping device along an axis of a guide rod.   2. The jig robot hand according to claim 1, wherein the guide rod has a tapered portion that is provided continuously with the fitting portion and guides the fitting portion to the fitting hole. The tracking mechanism attached to the hand mounting part of the transfer robot holds the end of the cylindrical guide rod so that it can follow the movement and swinging of the guide rod,
Move the hand mounting part three-dimensionally,
Fit the fitting part of the tip of the guide rod into the fitting hole provided in the workpiece or the fixed member fixed to it, and the axis of the guide rod in the mounting / removal direction of the jig by this fitting Positioning,
A jig attachment / detachment method using a jig robot hand, wherein the jig is grasped / released by raising / lowering a grasping device along an axis of a guide rod.

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