JP2786306B2 - Assembly process design apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an assembling process design apparatus and method for automatically or interactively determining the direction of assembly of parts, the order of assembly, and the arrangement of machines to be used and tools to be used. About.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as a method of automatically performing an assembly process design, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-288683, based on sample product placement information, a component located below is located first, and then located above. In some cases, the assembly order and work order are automatically determined based on the rule of placing parts on the parts.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

When considering general assembly, there are almost no products that can be assembled only by simple building work as in the above technology.
That is, when assembling a general product that is joined by a method such as screwing, press-fitting, bonding, or the like, the product can be assembled vertically or horizontally. Further, even if the product orientation is the same, it is possible to consider many kinds of assembling orders as shown in FIG. In order to automatically determine the actual assembly order and work order of a product, it is necessary to consider such assembling work, but it is impossible to consider these in the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an assembling process designing apparatus and method for at least determining an assembling direction for assembling a product automatically or interactively.

[Means for solving the problem]

The present invention provides a storage unit for storing coordinate data representing the orientation of a feature point of an assembly part by at least a tertiary rotation matrix, and a criterion value representing difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part. Means for determining an assembly direction to the feature point based on the coordinate data stored in the storage means; means for extracting a determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembly direction; The above object is attained by providing a calculating means having a calculating means for calculating as a solution.

Alternatively, coordinate data in which the orientation of a feature point of an assembly part is represented by at least a tertiary rotation matrix, and a determination reference value representing the degree of difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part are stored in advance and are stored. The assembling direction to the feature point is determined based on the coordinate data obtained, a determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembling direction is extracted, and the difficulty of assembling the assembled component is calculated as a solution to achieve the above object. To achieve.

In this case, it is preferable that the coordinate data is a tertiary rotation matrix of a coordinate system common to the assembly components.

It is preferable that coordinate data of the assembled part is extracted from a CAD system for designing the assembled part.

A display unit for displaying a solution that is the operation result of the operation unit; and an input unit that, when there are a plurality of solutions that are the operation results, inputs to select an arbitrary solution from the plurality of solutions. Is preferred.

The present invention also provides coordinate data representing the orientation of a feature point of an assembly part by at least a tertiary rotation matrix, a first determination reference value representing difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part, Storage means for storing a connection method for connecting another assembly part to a point, a second determination criterion value representing difficulty in realizing the connection method in the assembly direction, and coordinates stored in the storage means Means for determining an assembly direction to the feature point based on the data; means for extracting a first determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembly direction; The above object is achieved by providing means for extracting a second determination reference value corresponding to a joining method of joining parts, and calculating means having a calculating means for calculating the degree of difficulty of assembling the assembled part as a solution. To achieve.

The present invention also provides coordinate data comprising shape data of an assembly part, data representing the position of a feature point of the assembly part by a position vector, and data representing the orientation of the feature point by a cubic rotation matrix. First storage means, a second storage means for storing a criterion value representing the degree of difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part, and a shape and a movable range of the assembly part which can be assembled by an assembly apparatus. Third storage means for storing the assembling direction to the feature point based on the coordinate data stored in the first storage means; and the determined assembling direction from the second storage means. Means for extracting a criterion value corresponding to the above, means for calculating the degree of difficulty of assembling the assembled part as a solution, means for extracting an assembly direction satisfying a predetermined criterion from the calculated solution, The coordinate data stored in the first storage means Means for calculating a moving distance for moving the target assembly part in the extracted assembly direction based on the extracted data, and an assembling apparatus which can be assembled from the shape data of the assembly part stored in the first storage means. The above object is achieved by providing arithmetic means having means for performing the calculation and the means for calculating the arrangement of the extracted assembly apparatus from the calculated moving distance.

[Action]

Thus, the tertiary rotation matrix of the coordinate data is
Since the orientation of the feature point of the assembled part is represented, the assembly direction to the feature point can be determined from the coordinate data.

Then, by extracting a determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembly direction, it is possible to calculate the degree of difficulty of assembling the assembled component as a solution.

Therefore, the assembly direction of the difficulty satisfying the predetermined standard is
It can be determined as the assembly direction of the assembly part.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As an example of the assembling work, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the nose 108, the main wing 109, the front fuselage 110, the rear fuselage 111, and the horizontal tail 11
2, consisting of 6 parts, vertical tail 113, and the third when assembled
Consider assembling a model airplane that will be the completed figure.

FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) show a method of assembling the airplane. FIG. 4A shows an example of assembling parts one by one using a single robot, for example.
That is, as shown in the figure numbers, the parts are assembled in the order of (main wing 109) → (front fuselage 110) → (rear fuselage 111) → (horizontal tail 112) → (vertical tail 112) → (nose 108).

In FIG. 4 (b), three robots are used to assemble (main wing 109) → (nose 108-front fuselage 110-rear fuselage 111) → (horizontal tail 112) → (vertical tail 113). An example is shown. That is, (i) the main wing is placed by the robot 114, and (ii) the main body 110 held by the robot 115 is
The robot 116 simultaneously assembles the nose 108 and the rear body 111 held by the robot 117.

(Iii) The robot 115 holding the front fuselage 110 assembles the (nose 108-front fuselage 110-rear fuselage 111) assembled in (ii) to the main wing 109.

(Iv) The robot 116 attaches the horizontal tail 112 to the rear 111 of the fuselage.

(V) Robot 117 attaches vertical tail 113 to horizontal tail 112.

The assembly order is as follows.

Also, if the assembly direction of each of the assembled components is changed, many other methods are conceivable besides those shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). In order to select an assembling direction suitable for actual work from among these various assembling methods, the characteristic data of the parts stored in the parts data 6 described later with reference to FIG. Using the positional relationship data and the assemblability knowledge 10.

Now, to show a method of determining an assembly direction, consider the parts A and B shown in FIG. Part A has three holes 101 to 103, and part B has four holes 104 to 107 and one rod 108.

In order to determine the assembly direction of such components A and B, the following assemblability knowledge is used. As an example of assemblability knowledge, generally assemblability evaluation release (NIKKEI MECHANICAL 1988.
In the method known by the name such as 3.21 pp. 38 to 59), in assembling, the work of assembling parts from top to bottom is the easiest.

In this embodiment, a method for automatically determining the assembly direction of a product based on the knowledge that it is easiest to assemble parts from top to bottom will be described.

2 (a) and 2 (b), in the case of the part A alone,
Assembly direction Table 1 below shows the total number of As is clear from the first table, the assembling method 1 requires more assembling work in the ↓ direction. Therefore, when the component A is used alone, the assembling property is better if the assembling direction 1 is adopted.

However, as shown in FIGS. 2 (c) and (d),
Assembling method when the assembled part is composed of part A and part B Table 2 shows the sum of the numbers.

Therefore, the assembling direction of the part A shown in the assembling method 1 cannot be said to be optimal.

That is, as a method of assembling the parts A and B, for example,
2 (c) and 2 (d) (assembly method 3,
4). The assembling method 3 is to insert the rod 108 of the part B into the part A from the side. Also,
The assembling method 4 is such that the rod of the part B is
Try to insert 108.

When the assembly directions are summed up for each of assembly methods 3 and 4, as shown in Table 2 above, the assemblability criterion that "parts are most easily assembled from top to bottom" Is used, the assembly method 4 is easier to assemble than the assembly method 3 for the whole product.

As described above, in order to determine the optimal assembling direction for the entire product, it is necessary to obtain the total of characteristic points such as holes and rods of each part in the assembling direction in the assembling direction.

In the present invention, coordinate system data indicating the positions and postures of holes and rods of each component as shown in FIG. 5 is used as feature data of the component to automatically perform such an operation.

That is, the position of the component reference coordinate system Base is represented by a position vector of the component reference coordinate system Base with respect to the world, and the orientation of the component reference coordinate system Base is a cubic rotation matrix between the world and the component reference coordinate system Base. Expressed by As the internal representation, a 4 × 4 matrix combining both is used. Also, the position of the coordinate system of the feature point (holes 101, 102, 103, rod 108) of the part is represented by a position vector of the coordinate system of the feature point with respect to the reference coordinate system Base of the part. The orientation of the coordinate system is represented by a cubic rotation matrix between the coordinate system of the feature point of the component and the reference coordinate system Base of the component.

In FIG. 5A, A_Hole1 to A_Hole3 are coordinate systems representing the position and orientation of the hole of the component A with respect to the reference coordinate system A_Base. Similarly, A_Base represents the reference position / posture of the component A with respect to the world coordinate system. These data are, for example, if the origin position vector of A_Hole1 with respect to A_Base is P, the unit vector of A_Hole1 in the X, Y, Z axis directions is L, M, N Becomes here And

Similarly, for the component B, the position of the component in the reference coordinate system is represented by a position vector of the component reference coordinate system B_Base with respect to the world coordinate system, and the orientation of the component in the reference coordinate system is expressed in the world and the component reference coordinate system. It can be represented by a cubic rotation matrix between: The connection relationship of these data can be expressed as shown in FIG.

FIG. 6A shows a product composed of parts A and B. The positional relationship data between parts of this product can be expressed as shown in FIG. 6B using the expression of FIG. 5B.

Here, it is assumed that the Z-axis direction of each feature point coordinate system is set to coincide with the assembly direction. That is, taking the component A of FIG. 5 (a) as an example, other components B on the upper surface of the component A represented by A_Hole1 and A_Hole2 are inserted from top to bottom, so that the Z axis of each coordinate system is It is set downward. Further, regarding the hole on the right side of the component A represented by A_Hole3, the rod 108 of the component B is set from right to left in the drawing.
By doing so, for example, even when a product obtained by combining the component A and the component B shown in FIG. 6A is placed in an arbitrary direction, the feature point coordinate system of the component A and the component B can be used. Looking at the direction of the Z-axis, it is possible to count how many times the assembly in any direction is necessary for the entire product.

That is, (i) the coordinate system of the feature point of each part is expressed as relative coordinates from the reference coordinate system of each part. Therefore, even if each part is moved / rotated (that is, even if the reference coordinate system of each part is moved / rotated), the position / posture of each feature point with respect to the world coordinates is represented by the relative coordinates of each feature point in the reference coordinates. It is obtained by multiplying the transformation matrices.

(Ii) The positional relationship between the parts constituting the product is given by connecting the relative coordinate system of the reference point and the feature point of each part by a tree structure as shown in FIG. 6 (b).
Therefore, in FIG. 6, when the part A is moved / rotated,
Part A with respect to the reference coordinate system A_Base of Part A in a tree structure
Feature point coordinates (A_Hole1 to A_Hole3) and feature point coordinates (B_Rod, B_) of part B of part B connected to the feature point of part A
It can be seen that it is necessary to perform the operation (i) with respect to Hole1 to B_Hole4) and the reference coordinates.

(Iii) In order to consider various assembling directions as a product, for example, the product is moved around the X axis of the reference coordinate system of the part A by 90 degrees.
When rotated by 回 転 (that is, four directions are considered around the X axis), the operation of (ii) is performed, and as a result of the Z axis of each feature point obtained as a result,
The number of the axis whose positive direction is opposite to the Z axis of the world coordinate system is totaled. Also, Y, in the reference coordinate system of part A,
The same operation is performed about the Z axis.

(Iv) Among the assembly directions obtained as a result of the operation of (iii), the case where the number of the feature points whose Z-axis direction is opposite to the Z-axis direction of the world coordinate system is the largest is adopted as the product assembly direction. .

With this procedure, it is possible to determine the assembly direction of the product.

Here, when the Z-axis direction of the feature point is counted in the operation (iii), it is necessary to distinguish whether the coordinate system currently being targeted is that of the reference point or that of the feature point. This problem can be solved by, for example, adding data as shown in FIG. 7 to the component feature data. The data shown in FIG. 7 is composed of a coordinate system name and a flag (0: reference coordinates, 1: feature coordinates) indicating whether the coordinates are reference coordinates or feature coordinates. Then, in the operation (iii), when checking the Z-axis direction of each coordinate by following the tree structure, it is determined from the data in FIG. 7 that the coordinate currently being operated is the reference coordinate. It is determined whether the coordinates are feature coordinates, and only when the coordinates are feature coordinates, the object is checked in the Z-axis direction.

The above procedure is shown in FIG. Hereinafter, each step of FIG. 8 will be described.

Step (1001) Select one product assembly direction. This is because, as described above, when the product is rotated around the X axis of the part A by 90 ° (4 ways), when the product is rotated around the Y axis (4 ways), Z
One is selected from a total of 64 patterns (4 patterns) when rotated about the axis.

Step (1002) ↓ Initialize the counter for the number of assembly directions in the direction.

Step (1003) Follow the tree of coordinate values and select one coordinate value. In the example shown in FIG. 6B, A_Base → A_Hole1 starting from World
~ A_Hole3 → B_Base → B_Rood → B_Hole1 ~ B_Hole4 .

Step (1004): It is determined whether or not the selected coordinates are feature coordinates. For example, if A_Base in FIG. 6B is selected in step (1003), the determination flag of A_Base is 0 (reference coordinate system) in the coordinate system name-determination flag correspondence table shown in FIG. I have. The coordinate system selected in step (1003) is
If the result of determination in step 04 is the reference coordinates, step
Go to 1008. Otherwise go to 1005.

Step (1005) A value in the world coordinate system of the coordinate whose coordinate value is selected in step (1003) is obtained by coordinate transformation.

Step (1006) Select the coordinate value in step (1003), and
If the direction of the Z axis of the coordinates converted in 5) is opposite to the direction of the Z axis of the world coordinate system, in FIG. Otherwise, step 1008
Go to

Step (1007) ↓ Increment the counter for the number of assembly directions in the direction.

Step (1008) It is determined whether or not the processing of steps (1004) to (1007) has been performed for all coordinates to be assembled. (The determination is based on the Olly structure shown in FIG. 6 (b). Check if the coordinates are below or to the right of the coordinates.) If there is an unprocessed coordinate system, go to step (1003), otherwise go to step (1009).

Step (1009) Stores the number of assembly directions in the ↓ direction counted in steps (1003) to (1008) corresponding to the assembly direction of the product selected in step (1001).

Step (1010) It is determined whether or not the determination has been made for all the assembly directions of the component.

Step (1011) From the assembly directions of the product, select the one with the most downward direction.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, the part A and the part B are engaged with each other, but there is no problem even if the feature points A_hole3 and B_Rod are counted twice.

As described above, assembling knowledge, the method of determining an assembling direction using only one criterion of “easy to assemble parts from top to bottom” has been described.
As shown in FIG. 9, it is also possible to determine the difficulty level in advance according to the assembly direction.

The data in FIG. 9 is obtained by assigning difficulty levels to various assembling directions. The smaller the numerical value, the easier the assembling.

As is clear from FIG. 8, in the present embodiment, it is possible to obtain the assembling directions of the characteristic points of each part constituting the product with respect to various assembling directions of the parts. (For example, in the above example, the Z-axis direction of the coordinate system indicating the hole) Therefore, the assembling direction of the feature point thus obtained is
The type of the assembly direction of the data shown in FIG. 9 is determined by the calculating means 1 shown in FIG. 1, and the difficulty is added to obtain the total assembly difficulty in various assembly directions of the product. Can be requested. By selecting the assembly direction with the lowest difficulty level, the assembly direction of the component can be determined.

Next, the interactive processing with the user will be described. That is, when the assembly direction of the product is determined by the above operation, (1) there are a plurality of solutions having the same “number of times of assembly from top to bottom” and different degrees of difficulty.

(2) A second-best solution is adopted because other factors than the assembly direction, for example, there is no machine capable of performing any operation.

It is possible that. In the present invention, in order to correspond to the above (1) and (2), FIG.
An interactive system as shown in (d) is used.

10 (a) to 10 (d) show various display examples of the display device screen. Each of the screens of FIGS. 10 (a) to 10 (c) shows a display area of a candidate for the assembling direction, a candidate number, and an input area. , A candidate switching menu. In particular, in the display of candidates, (i) display of candidates using a three-dimensional three-dimensional shape, (ii) simultaneous display of data that assists a user in making a decision, such as difficulty, and (iii) priority in order of decreasing difficulty. It is possible to display with. In addition, the candidate switching menu has the following meaning: next: display of the next candidate previous: display of the previous candidate First: display of the first candidate All candidates: display of all candidates By performing an operation such as picking these menus with a mouse, the display of the candidates is switched.

That is, when the candidate switching menu on the screen is picked using the mouse, (i) the data input device calculates the menu selection result
Send to

(Ii) The arithmetic unit 1 has the component data 6 in the database 16,
Using the product data 15 and the assemblability knowledge 10, a candidate for an assembling direction is created, and data for displaying it is sent to the display device 2.

(Iii) The display device 2 displays the selected candidate.

The candidate display is switched by the following procedure.

The candidate number input area is an area for selecting one of the candidates checked as described above.
For example, a candidate No. is input by inputting to the keyboard 3 or the like.

By providing the display 2 / input means 3 as described above,
In the above cases (1) and (2), a candidate desired by the user can be selected from a plurality of candidates.

10 (a) to (d) show the display as shown below, respectively.

(A): Initial state display. Only one candidate that the system considers optimal is displayed.

(B): When the "next" menu is selected and the second candidate with the highest priority is displayed.

(C): When all candidates are displayed.

(D): An example in which all candidates are displayed by displaying their priority (No.) and reason (difficulty). When selected on this table, a three-dimensional three-dimensional shape is displayed.

As described above, the method of determining the assembly direction of the product has been described.
The result determined in this way can also be used to determine the optimal arrangement of the assembled parts.

That is, when assembling work is considered, an operation of bringing each part from its arrangement position before assembling the part is included. When the direction in which the component is arranged is the same as the direction in which the component itself is assembled, operations such as changing the posture of the component for assembly and re-grip are minimized, and the number of steps required for assembly is reduced. For this reason, the direction of each component at the time of assembling the product, which is obtained from the direction of assembling each component into the product, is adopted as the component placement direction (posture).

In the above-described embodiment, the method of determining the assembling direction of the product and the part by using the assemblability knowledge has been described.

When determining the assembling order, it is also possible to adopt a method of assembling parts in order from the lower one in accordance with the assembling direction.

However, in consideration of actual assembly, there are parts that need to be rotated or slid after insertion and parts that need to be held during assembly, in addition to products that can be assembled only by one-way insertion or bonding.

For example, when assembling as shown in FIG. 11 is considered (a)
If you want to assemble in the direction as shown in, you can tighten bolt 1200 with Cap 1202 on body 1203,
In the case shown in (b), when performing bolt 1200 tightening, bo
It is necessary to hold dy1203 and Cap1202 integrally.

In order to determine the assembling order including the case described above, the twelfth part including the detailed attributes of the assembling work (such as necessary after insertion and rotation assembling) in addition to the coordinate values as the part data in FIG. Product structure data as shown in the figure is required.

Each part is a set of data represented by a part name, for example, a part class name 1204 shown in a part name 1213 in FIG. 12,
It has a connection method, a connection position 1205, a connection method attribute 1206, a reference point position 1207, a difficulty 1208, and a difficulty calculation method 1209. In addition, the characteristic data of a part is shown in FIG.
It can be obtained by referring to a set of data indicated by the component class name such as the grip point 1210, approach point 1211, and release point 1212.

For example, the part name class 1213 and the feature information of the part in FIG.
Assuming that a group of 1214 is stored in an arbitrary area in the database 16 of FIG.
It suffices that 13 is a value indicating the start address of the area where the component characteristic information 1214 is stored.

The difficulty level in the above data indicates, for example, the difficulty level used when determining the assembly direction, and is automatically updated using the difficulty level calculation method every time the assembly direction changes.

FIG. 5 (b) or FIG.
The product structure can be expressed by connecting them with a tree structure as shown in FIG.

A method for determining the assembly order using the data in FIG. 12 will be described below.

As a method of using the combination method attribute, for example, when it is necessary to rotate or slide after insertion, a high difficulty level is added in the difficulty level calculation. Here, the difficulty calculation means, for example, the calculation of the total number of assembly directions from the top to the bottom (ii) the assembly direction as in the embodiment shown when determining the assembly direction of a product and an assembly part for the product. This is equivalent to the calculation of adding the difficulty level set for each type, but a more detailed determination is possible by considering the combination method attribute.

In the above-described embodiment considering the assembly operation of parts,
The method of determining the assembly order taking into account the detailed attributes of the assembly work has been described. However, when considering the interference of parts and the movable range of the machine, further detailed examination is required to find a feasible assembly order. .

For example, a robot as shown in FIG.
Assume that an assembling operation as shown in FIG.
In this example, as shown in FIG. 13 (c), as the movable range line of the robot itself, the hand reaches the center of the work table, but in actual assembly, it is not sufficient that the hand reaches the hand. .

That is, when the component B is to be inserted into the component A as shown in (b), the hand must linearly move in the range indicated by the arrow, and for this purpose, considering the movable range of the robot, ( The robot must be installed at the position shown in b).

In order to check the possibility of assembling, the machine function data 7 such as whether the robot can perform a linear operation, the tool function data 8, the surrounding environment function data 9 such as the movable range of the robot, the movement of the machine used, etc. Range data 7, tool movable range data 8, peripheral movable range data 9, component data 6, used machine data 7, tool data 8, and peripheral environment shape data 9 for checking interference are required.

FIG. 14 shows a means for checking the feasibility of the assembling order required in the above-described embodiment using these data.

 Hereinafter, each step in FIG. 14 will be described.

<Step 1> Using the database 16 shown in FIG. 1, the arithmetic unit 1 determines the assembling direction and the assembling operation by the method as shown in FIG. 8, and selects one assembling operation.

<Step 2> In order to calculate the moving section of the assembling work, used machine function data 7, such as whether the robot can move linearly, tool function data 8, peripheral environment function data 9, such as the movable range of the robot, and the movable range of the used machine Data 7, tool movable range data 8, peripheral movable range data 9, component data 6, used machine data 7, tool data 8, and peripheral environment shape data 9 for checking interference are used. Here, the moving section refers to a section indicated by an arrow in FIG. 13 (b), and is obtained by, for example, the following method. Details of the component insertion work as shown in FIG. 13 (b) are now described. The 15th
Shown in the figure.

 X, Y, Z, and H represent the shape and dimensions of each part of the part A.

S represents the distance immediately before assembling the parts A and B, A_Base and B_Base represent the reference coordinates of the parts A and B, A_Bottom represents the characteristic coordinates of the hole of the part A, and B_Grasp represents the gripping point of the part B.

In such a case, in order to insert the part B into the part A, it is necessary to insert the part B into the world coordinate system obtained from the product structure data based on the position / posture relationship indicated by A_Bottom and B_Base. Distance in negative direction (S +
It can be seen that it is only necessary to move by H).

<Step 3> For example, the machine data 7 and the tool data 8 shown in FIG.
The selection of a machine and a tool capable of performing the work as determined in <Step 2> is selected based on the data stored in the machine selection knowledge 11 and the tool selection knowledge 12 using the function data of the above.

<Step 4> Using the selected machine movable range data 7 and tool movable range data 8, a machine is installed at a position where the work determined in <Step 2> can be executed based on the machine layout knowledge 14.

<Step 5> At the installation position determined in <Step 4>, the shape data is read from the component data 6, the used machine data 7, and the tool data 8 to determine whether there is interference with other machines, the surrounding environment, and the like.
Check based on machine layout knowledge 14.

By repeating the above operation for each assembling operation, the assembling order, the machine / tool to be used, and the layout are determined.

Machine / tool selection of <Step3> and <Step4>
In determining the layout, there may be a plurality of solutions.

As a method of selecting one solution from among the plurality of solutions, as shown in FIG. 10, candidate solutions and information supporting the user's decision making are displayed on a display device and determined by an interactive process. There is a method that can be considered. For example, in selecting a machine / tool, it is conceivable to display the frequency of use, the operating rate, and the like simultaneously with the candidate solution to assist the user in making a decision.

In determining the layout, as shown in FIG. 16, it is also possible to perform the interactive processing while looking at the display device screen.

FIG. 16 shows an assembly operation using a robot,
In addition to three-dimensional display of robots, tables, parts, etc., three-dimensional display of a movable range and a moving section of the robot is performed. The user can change the installation position of the robot using an input device such as a mouse while viewing this screen.

When the installation position of the robot is changed, the movable range moves accordingly.

Now, the inclusion relationship between the movable range and the moving section is calculated, and by changing the display method of the portion within the movable range and the portion outside the movable range in the moving section (for example, as indicated by a change in color or a change in luminance). It is possible to check whether any assembly work can be performed at any robot installation position.

The above method can be performed for each individual assembling operation, or it is possible to simultaneously display and check the assembling sections relating to the assembling operation of the entire product.

The menu at the lower right of FIG. 16 is for instructing viewpoint change and rotation / parallel movement of a display figure, and can be used by a pick operation with a mouse or the like.

A method using machine / tool selection knowledge and machine arrangement knowledge to automatically perform the above-described machine / tool selection and layout determination will be described below.

First, as a system configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, machine selection knowledge 11, tool selection knowledge 12, and machine arrangement knowledge 14 are stored in a database.

In addition, an inference mechanism 4 for performing inference using these knowledges is provided.

The processing procedure is the same as the procedure shown in FIG. 14, but the above-mentioned respective knowledge and inference mechanisms 4 are used in <Step 3> and <Step 4> as viewed above.

In <Step 3>, the travel section and the function data obtained in <Step 2> are input, and the knowledge of the number of times the machine is used, the operating rate, the number of setup changes, etc.
Automatically determine the tool.

In <Step 4>, the movement section obtained in <Step 2> and the movable range data of the used machine / tool determined in <Step 3> are input, and the knowledge about the distribution of the movable range, the moving distance / time, etc. is used. Automatically determine layout.

The part feature data used in the above description is the coordinate system of the feature points of the part with respect to the reference coordinate system of each part and the data required for assembly when the shape of the part is determined by the CAD system, which is a higher-level system of this system. It is created by inputting an assembling operation and the like.

FIG. 17 shows the display of the component data sent from the CAD shown in FIG. 1, and each menu has the following meaning.

Coordinate system setting: After selecting the displayed hole or rod portion of the component using a mouse or the like and selecting this menu, a coordinate system is set and displayed for the picked portion.

Coordinate system change: Parallel / rotational movement of the set coordinate system is performed using the <X movement +> to <Z rotation−> menus.

Coupling method: After picking the displayed hole or rod portion of the component using a mouse or the like, a menu such as <glue> or <press-fit> is selected to input a coupling method of the hole or rod.

By the feature data creation method of these parts, it is possible to assemble the most efficiently by interactively determining from among a plurality of assembling orders in consideration of a machine to be used, a surrounding environment, and the like.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically select a component having the best assemblability from a plurality of possible parts and product assembling directions and assembling orders.
The time required for the assembly process design can be reduced.

Further, since the arrangement of the assembling machine can be determined so that the assembling property is improved, it is possible to quickly respond to a change in use of the product.

Further, when determining the assembling direction, the assembling order, and the arrangement of the assembling machine, the solution calculated by the calculating means of the present apparatus is displayed and can be selected by the input means. The order and arrangement of the assembly machines can be selected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 shows an example of an assembly direction of an assembly part.
Parts of a model airplane consisting of six parts: main wing, front fuselage, rear fuselage, horizontal tail, vertical tail, and a completed drawing of these parts assembled. FIG. 4 shows an example of an assembly order of a model airplane consisting of six parts. Fig. 5 shows the coordinates of the feature points of parts A and B,
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a positional relationship with respect to the world coordinate system, FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relative positional relationship between two assembly components using feature point coordinates, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for determining the assembly direction, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the difficulty of each assembly direction, and FIG. 10 is a display by the display means. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an assembling direction of a product composed of four parts of bolt, hole, cap, body, FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a classification of component attributes, FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a robot used for assembling, FIG. 14 is a flowchart for determining an arrangement of an assembling machine, and FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a required movable distance of the robot for assembling parts. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a movable range of the robot, and FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a sub-form for creating component shape data used in the present invention. It is a figure showing a display screen of a system. 1 ... A computing device. 2 Display device 3 Data input device 4 Inference device 5 Product usage data 6 Part data 7 Machine data 8 Tool data 9 Environmental data 10 Assemblability knowledge 11 …… Machine selection knowledge 12 …… Tool selection knowledge 16 …… Database 17 …… CAD system

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hidetoshi Inaba 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Manufacturing Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Masahiro Watanabe 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Stock (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B23P 21/00 307 B25J 13/00

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage means for storing coordinate data representing the orientation of a feature point of an assembly part by at least a tertiary rotation matrix, and a criterion value representing difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part. Means for determining an assembling direction to the feature point based on the coordinate data stored in the storage means, means for extracting a determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembling direction, and difficulty of assembling the assembled part And a calculating means having a calculating means for calculating a value as a solution. 2. The coordinate data representing the orientation of a feature point of an assembly part by at least a tertiary rotation matrix, a first criterion value representing the degree of difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part, and the feature point. Storage means for storing a connection method for connecting another assembly part to the first storage means, and a second determination reference value representing the degree of difficulty in realizing the connection method in the assembly direction; and coordinate data stored in the storage means. Means for judging the assembly direction to the feature point based on the above, means for extracting a first determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembly direction, and another assembly part for the determined assembly direction and the feature point. And a calculating means having a calculating means for calculating a difficulty level of assembling the solution as a solution. Assembly process design equipment. 3. The assembly process designing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said coordinate data is a cubic rotation matrix of a coordinate system common to said assembly parts. 4. The assembly process design apparatus according to claim 1, wherein coordinate data of said assembly part is extracted from a CAD system for designing said assembly part. 5. Coordinate data comprising shape data of an assembly part, data representing a position of a feature point of the assembly part by a position vector, and data representing an orientation of the feature point by a cubic rotation matrix. A second storage means for storing a criterion value indicating the degree of difficulty of the assembly part according to the assembly direction; and a shape and a movable range of the assembly part which can be assembled by an assembly apparatus. Third storage means for storing; means for determining an assembling direction to the feature point based on coordinate data stored in the first storage means; and means for determining the assembling direction from the second storage means. A means for extracting a corresponding criterion value, a means for calculating the degree of difficulty of assembling the assembly as a solution, a means for extracting an assembly direction satisfying a predetermined criterion from the calculated solution, Coordinate data stored in one storage means Means for calculating a moving distance for moving the assembly to be in the assembly direction the extracted based on,
A computing means having means for extracting an assembling apparatus that can be assembled from the shape data of the assembled parts stored in the first storage means, and means for calculating the arrangement of the extracted assembling apparatus from the calculated moving distance An assembly process design apparatus comprising: 6. An assembling process designing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said coordinate data is a cubic rotation matrix of a coordinate system common to each of said assembly parts and said assembling apparatus. 7. The assembly process designing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein coordinate data and shape data of the assembly part are extracted from a CAD system for designing the assembly part. 8. A display means for displaying a solution as a result of the calculation by the calculation means, and an input means for selecting an arbitrary solution from the plurality of solutions when there are a plurality of solutions as the result of the calculation. The assembly process designing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising: 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein coordinate data representing the orientation of the feature point of the assembly part by at least a tertiary rotation matrix and a criterion value representing the degree of difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part are stored in advance. Determining an assembling direction to the feature point based on the stored coordinate data, extracting a determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembling direction, and calculating the difficulty of assembling the assembled component as a solution. Characteristic assembly process design method. 10. A coordinate data representing an attitude of a feature point of an assembly part by at least a tertiary rotation matrix, a first determination reference value representing a degree of difficulty in an assembly direction of the assembly part,
A coupling method for coupling another assembly part to the feature point, and a second determination reference value representing a difficulty level for realizing the coupling method in the assembly direction are stored in advance, and the stored coordinate data is stored. Determining an assembly direction to the feature point based on the above, extracting a first determination criterion value corresponding to the determined assembly direction, and combining another determined component with the determined assembly direction and the feature point. And extracting a second determination reference value corresponding to the method and calculating the degree of difficulty of assembling the assembled component as a solution. 11. Coordinate data comprising shape data of an assembly part, data representing the position of a feature point of the assembly part by a position vector, and data representing the orientation of the feature point by a cubic rotation matrix. A determination reference value representing the degree of difficulty in the assembly direction of the assembly part, and a shape and a movable range of the assembly part that can be assembled by the assembly apparatus, and assembling into the feature point based on the coordinate data. The direction is determined, a determination reference value corresponding to the determined assembly direction is extracted, the difficulty level of assembling the assembled component is calculated as a solution from the extracted determination reference value, and a predetermined value is determined from the calculated solutions. An assembly direction that satisfies the criterion is extracted. Based on the coordinate data, a travel distance for moving the target assembly component in the extracted assembly direction is calculated, and an assembling apparatus that can be assembled is extracted from the shape data of the assembly component. And the calculation And calculating the extracted arrangement of the assembling apparatus from the determined moving distance.