JP3179681B2 - Automatic transfer robot - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic transport robot for automatically transporting articles according to a preset program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic transfer robot is used, for example, in a semiconductor factory or the like to take out and transfer a processed semiconductor wafer from a certain semiconductor processing apparatus in accordance with a preset program, and transfer the semiconductor wafer to a semiconductor processing apparatus for performing the next processing. That is, a wafer is arranged. Conventional automatic transfer robots have a battery unit that does not require wiring as a power source, for example, in order to prevent dust generated due to wear of the drive power supply wiring coming into contact with its support part. Unit as the drive source. Also, each automatic transport robot has a RAM (random access memory) for storing control information such as the rotation angle of the motor.
Power was supplied from the battery unit to the RAM.

Further, an automatic transfer robot provided with a solar cell in the automatic transfer robot and operated by a voltage supplied from the solar cell has been devised.
155366). An automatic transfer robot of this type is arranged, for example, in an intermediate chamber provided between a load lock chamber and a processing chamber inside a semiconductor processing apparatus, and transfers semiconductor wafers one by one from the load lock chamber to the processing chamber. Alternatively, the wafer is transferred from the processing chamber to the load lock chamber.

[0004]

By the way, in the conventional automatic transfer robot having a battery unit, when the voltage of the battery unit is reduced, an administrator replaces the battery unit with a fully charged battery unit. Need to be replaced. In this case, the control information stored in the RAM in the automatic transfer robot is lost, and a reference point for controlling the arm unit must be obtained at the time of restart, which results in a loss time of several minutes and an increase in efficiency. There was a problem of bad. In addition, the automatic transfer robot equipped with the above-mentioned solar cell has a problem in that it has a limited use, and cannot be used in an application requiring a large power consumption, such as transferring a plurality of semiconductor wafers at a high speed. there were. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic transfer robot that can be used for applications requiring large power consumption and does not cause a loss time even when a battery unit is replaced.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
Gripping means for gripping an article, moving means for moving the gripping means, and control means for storing control information and controlling the moving means based on the control information to move the gripping means to a predetermined position And an exchangeable first power supply unit that supplies power to the moving unit and the control unit, wherein a second power supply that outputs at least power that can drive the control unit is provided. Means, detection means for detecting an output voltage value of the first power supply means, and the output voltage value detected by the detection means is equal to or less than a predetermined voltage value for replacement of the first power supply means. In the case of (1), there is provided switching means for using output power of the second power supply means as drive power of the control means. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the automatic transfer robot according to the first aspect, the second power supply unit is a photoelectric conversion unit that converts light energy into electric energy.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a side view of the automatic transfer robot according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic transfer robot main body. The lower portion of the automatic transport robot main body 1 is composed of a traveling section 2 for performing movement.
The traveling unit 2 includes, for example, four traveling wheels 2a, 2a (the other two traveling wheels are not shown), and a storage unit 2b, and the traveling wheels 2a, 2a rotate. It is attached to the storage part 2b so as to be free.
The storage section 2b houses a traveling section servomotor (not shown) for rotating the traveling wheels 2a, 2a, the robot control section 7, and the like. On the upper surface of the traveling unit 2, a loading table 4 for temporarily mounting a product 3 such as a semiconductor wafer, an arm unit 5 having an arm function of transferring the product 3, and a solar cell panel 8. 8 are provided. A grip 6 having a hand function is provided at the tip of the arm 5.
Is attached.

The arm 5 has a substantially cylindrical mounting portion 5b.
The mounting portion 5b is mounted so that its axis is perpendicular to the upper surface of the traveling portion 2. The arm portion 5 has a plurality of rotatable, substantially columnar shaft portions 5a ₁ , 5a ₂ , 5a _3.
When the a ₂ and 5a ₃ rotate, the arm is turned up and down. The shaft portion 5a ₁ is the operation of the swing of the hand is performed by rotating. Further, when the substantially columnar mounting portion 5b of the arm portion 5 rotates about its axis, the arm performs a left-right turning operation. The fingers 6a of the grip portion 6 are attached in parallel with each other, and the grip portion 6 can grip the product 3 by narrowing the interval between the fingers 6a. The robot controller 7
Is a robot control unit that controls the arm unit 5 and the traveling unit 2 to transfer the product 3 or move the automatic transfer robot main body 1. Reference numerals 8 and 8 denote solar cell panels that receive light from indoor lighting 9 and generate electromotive force.

FIG. 3 shows details of the robot control unit 7.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the robot control unit 7. In FIG. 3, the robot controller 7
Is composed of a battery unit 20, an arm control unit 21, and a travel control unit 22. The battery unit 20 includes:
It supplies a voltage to the arm control unit 21 and the traveling control unit 22 and is detachable. Further, the arm control unit 21 is provided with the shaft portions 5a ₁ ,
5a _2, the arm portion servomotor 23a ₁ to 5a ₃ a respectively operated, 23a _2, 23a ₃ controls the.
Power is supplied to the arm control unit 21 from a solar cell panel 24 in addition to the battery unit 20 described above.
The traveling control unit 22 controls the traveling servomotors 25 for operating the traveling wheels 2a in FIG. 2, and moves based on the position information and the like of the automatic transport robot main body 1 in FIG. RAM for storing information (not shown)
Having.

The details of the above-described arm control unit 21 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the arm control unit 21. The arm control unit 21 includes a voltage detection unit 30, a voltage switching unit 31, and an arm servomotor control unit 32. The voltage detection unit 30 detects an output voltage value of the battery unit 20, and outputs a switching signal 30a when the output voltage of the battery unit 20 becomes lower than a preset threshold. The switching signal 30a is input to the voltage switching unit 31. The voltage switching unit 31 is supplied with electric power from the battery unit 20 and the solar cell panel 24, and supplies electric power from the battery unit 20 to the arm servomotor 32 in response to the switching signal 30a. Or whether to supply power from the solar cell 24.

The arm servomotor controller 32 controls the arm servomotors 23a ₁ , 23a ₂ , 23a ₃ , and the arm servo motors 23a ₁ , 23a ₃
RAM for storing control information such as rotation angles of a ₂ and 23a ₃
(Not shown). The arm control unit 21 has an alarm device (not shown), and the voltage detection unit 3
It is possible to emit an alarm sound from the alarm device based on the switching signal 30a output from 0.

In the above configuration, the operation of the automatic transport robot main body 1 when transporting the product 3 is as follows. First, the traveling control unit 22 in FIG.
By operating the wheels 5, 25, the traveling wheels 2a, 2a in FIG. 2 are rotated, and the transport robot main body 1 is moved to a position near the place where the product 3 to be transported is placed. Next, the arm control unit 21 in FIG. 3 arm servomotor 23a _1, 23
a ₂ and 23a ₃ are rotated by a predetermined amount, and the grip 6 shown in FIG.
Control so that the product 3 is located between the fingers 6a, 6a of the
The product 3 is gripped by the fingers 6a. Then, the arm servomotors 23a ₁ , 23a ₂ , and 23a ₃ are rotated by a predetermined amount so that the grip portion 6 is positioned near the upper portion of the loading tray 4 and the grip portion 6 is moved until the product 3 contacts the loading tray 4. When the product 3 is lowered vertically, the loading of the product 3 is completed. When a plurality of products 3 to be conveyed are stacked, the above operation is repeated.

Next, the traveling control unit 22 in FIG. 3 operates the traveling servomotors 25, 25, and
Is moved to the vicinity of the predetermined destination of the product 3. Next, the arm control unit 21 in FIG. 3 rotates the arm servomotors 23a ₁ , 23a ₂ , 23a ₃ by a predetermined amount, and is placed on the load receiving table 4 on the fingers 6a, 6a of the grip unit 6. The product 3 is gripped. Then, the arm portion servomotor 23a _1, 23a _2, 23a ₃ rotated by a predetermined amount, down loading the product 3 as the transport destination.

Not only during transport, loading, and unloading, but also when the voltage supplied from the battery unit 20 becomes lower than a preset threshold, the voltage detecting unit 30 in FIG. Upon detection, the switching signal 30a is output. Then, an alarm sound is issued based on the switching signal 30a, and the power supply source to the arm servomotor control unit 32 in the voltage switching unit 31 is switched to the solar cell panel 24. By the alarm sound, the manager senses that the battery unit 20 is to be replaced, and replaces the battery unit 20 with a charged one. When the battery unit 20 is replaced, the power supply source to the arm servomotor control unit 32 is switched to the solar cell panel 24, and is stored in the RAM of the arm servomotor control unit 32. The control information will be retained.

[0014] battery unit 20 is replaced, the voltage detection unit 30 in FIG. 1 detects the ignition voltage supplied from the battery unit 20 is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the switching signal 3
0a is stopped, and the voltage switching unit 31 switches the voltage supply source to the arm servomotor control unit 32 to the battery unit 20. Then, the automatic transport robot main body 1 in FIG. 1 transports the above-described product 3 again.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the voltage of the battery unit 20 decreases, power is supplied from the solar cell panel 24 to the arm servomotor control unit 32. R in part 32
The control information stored in the AM can be held. Therefore, it is not necessary to initialize the control information when the battery unit 20 is replaced, and it is possible to prevent a loss time when the automatic transport robot main body 1 is restarted .

[0016]

As described above, in the automatic transport robot according to the present invention, the second power supply means is provided, and the detection means detects the voltage of the first power supply unit and outputs a detection signal. In response to this detection signal, the switching means
And the second power supply means. Thus, there is an effect that the control information stored in the control means can be held.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an arm control unit 21.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the automatic transfer robot according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a robot control unit 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 20 battery section 24 solar cell panel 30 voltage detection section 31 voltage switching section 32 arm section servo motor control section 23a ₁ , 23a ₂ , 23a ₃ arm section servo motor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B25J 5/00 B25J 19/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A gripping means for gripping an article, a moving means for moving the gripping means, storing control information, and controlling the moving means based on the control information to move the gripping means to a predetermined position. An automatic transport robot having a control means for moving the control means, and an exchangeable first power supply means for supplying power to the moving means and the control means, wherein at least an electric power capable of driving the control means is output. A second power supply unit, a detection unit for detecting an output voltage value of the first power supply unit, and an output voltage value detected by the detection unit .
Switching means for setting the output power of the second power supply means to the drive power of the control means when the voltage is equal to or less than a predetermined voltage value for replacing the power supply means. Transfer robot. 2. The automatic transfer robot according to claim 1, wherein said second power supply means is a photoelectric conversion means for converting light energy into electric energy.