JP3931277B2 - Articulated robot - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an articulated robot provided with an auxiliary manipulator.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, it has been widely used to use an articulated robot in an assembling process, particularly in an automobile outfitting process. The articulated robot used in this outfitting process has a gripping device at the tip, grips the outfitting with the gripping device, and carries and positions it to the vehicle body. When positioning was completed, another articulated robot equipped with a screw tightening device fastened the fitting to the vehicle body. In other words, the outfitting work has been performed using two robots, that is, a transfer positioning robot and a screw tightening robot.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, this conventional technique has the following problems.
(1) In some cases, two robots cannot be placed due to restrictions on the size of the vehicle body or the layout of equipment. In addition, when two robots are arranged, it takes a place, so other equipment is restricted in arrangement.
(2) For example, when mounting a component such as an instrument panel in the passenger compartment, the robot arm is inserted into the passenger compartment through a limited-size opening such as a door or window. The arm may not be able to enter the passenger compartment at the same time. Even if the arm is put in the passenger compartment, the desired posture may not be achieved. In such a case, since the carry-in positioning of the parts and the screw tightening must be divided into two processes, the configuration of the production line becomes complicated.
(3) Since it is necessary to operate the two robots so as not to interfere with each other, teaching is complicated and time-consuming. In addition, since an operation trajectory that avoids interference is selected, the operation path of the robot becomes redundant and the work time of the robot becomes longer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a robot that can perform a task that has conventionally been performed by two robots.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention comprises an auxiliary manipulator having a plurality of degrees of freedom on an arm of an articulated robot, and the auxiliary manipulator is configured to be folded in parallel with the arm. .
[0005]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side view of an articulated robot showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the vicinity of the upper arm of the same robot.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a fixed base of an articulated robot R, which is fixed at an installation location. Reference numeral 2 denotes a turning head, which is attached to the fixed base 1 so as to be turnable around a first axis 1 a perpendicular to the fixed base 1. A lower arm 3 is attached to the swivel head 2 so as to be pivotable back and forth around a horizontal second shaft 2a. Reference numeral 4 denotes an upper arm base, which is attached to the tip of the lower arm 3 so as to be rotatable up and down around a horizontal third shaft 3a. An upper arm rotating portion 5 is supported by the upper arm base portion 4 so as to be rotatable around a fourth axis 4a extending in the length direction. The upper arm rotating unit 5 is provided with a recess 51. Reference numeral 6 denotes a wrist, which is attached to the tip of the upper arm rotating unit 5 and is free to rotate around two axes: a fifth axis 5a perpendicular to the axis 4a and a sixth axis 6a perpendicular to the fifth axis 5a. Have a degree. A gripping device 7 is attached to the tip of the wrist 6. The gripping device 7 grips the workpiece 8 in a detachable manner. Each axis of the robot R is driven by a motor (not shown). Therefore, the robot R has six degrees of freedom at the tip of the wrist 6 and can freely transport and position the workpiece 8. Here, the manipulator having 6 degrees of freedom from the fixed base 1 to the wrist 6 of the robot R is called a main manipulator.
Reference numeral 9 denotes an auxiliary manipulator. A rotation base 91 of the auxiliary manipulator 9 is attached to the upper arm rotation unit 5 and is driven to rotate about the shaft 4a independently of the upper arm rotation unit 5. A first arm 92 is attached to the rotary base 91 so as to be rotatable about a shaft 91a. Reference numeral 93 denotes a second arm, which is rotatably attached to the first arm 92 around a shaft 92a. Reference numeral 94 denotes a tool attachment portion, which is attached to the second arm 93 so as to be rotatable around a shaft 93a. A screw tightening machine 10 is fixed to the tool mounting portion 94.
Since the auxiliary manipulator 9 is configured in this way, the screw tightener 10 attached to the tip of the auxiliary manipulator 9 is used for the gripping device 7 and the workpiece 8 attached to the tip of the main manipulator, that is, the wrist 6. Arbitrary positions and postures can be taken in the vicinity. Therefore, the screw tightening operation can be performed by applying the screw tightening machine 10 to an arbitrary place of the work 8. Therefore, the robot R can transport and position the workpiece 8 to a connection target (not shown) with the main manipulator, and can fasten the workpiece 8 to the target with the screw tightening machine 10 attached to the auxiliary manipulator 9. That is, the robot R can perform the functions of the two robots, that is, the transfer positioning robot and the screw tightening robot.
As shown in FIG. 2, the auxiliary manipulator 9 folds the first arm 92 and the second arm 93 in parallel with the upper arm rotating unit 5. Accordingly, even when the workpiece 8 is carried through a narrow opening such as an opening of a car window, the auxiliary manipulator 9 does not interfere with the opening. This is because the auxiliary manipulator 9 may be folded, go through the opening, pass through the opening, and then expand the auxiliary manipulator 9 to take a desired posture. Further, if the recess 51 is provided in the upper arm rotating part 5 and the folded auxiliary manipulator 9 is accommodated in the recess 51, it becomes easier to avoid interference. Further, since the auxiliary manipulator 9 is attached to the upper arm rotating unit 5 and approaches the work object together with the main manipulator, a redundant operation path is taken in order to avoid mutual interference with the main manipulator. There is no need to wait for the operation of the main manipulator to end. Therefore, compared with the case where the same work is performed by two robots, the work time by the robot of the present invention can be shortened.
The above is only one embodiment of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment. The axis configuration of the main manipulator and the auxiliary manipulator of the articulated robot can be freely selected, and the tool attached to the tip of the auxiliary manipulator is not limited to the screw tightening machine. The tool may be, for example, a welding torch or a gluing nozzle, or may be another tool.
In addition, a position detection sensor such as a television camera may be provided at the tip of the auxiliary manipulator 9 to detect a positional deviation of the workpiece 8 and correct the positioning of the workpiece 8. In this case, there is an advantage that the blind spot of the TV camera is reduced as compared with the method of fixing the TV camera or holding the TV camera to another robot.
Furthermore, it goes without saying that the use of the articulated robot of the present invention is not limited to the assembly field.
[0006]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention has the following effects.
(1) Since the folding type auxiliary manipulator is mounted on the arm of the articulated robot, one unit functions as two conventional robots, so that the installation place is small.
(2) Since the auxiliary manipulator is folded in parallel with the upper arm, the upper arm can be inserted from a narrow opening.
(3) Compared to a system composed of two robots, the teaching effort is reduced. Further, since it is not necessary to consider the interference between robots, the redundancy of the robot operation path is reduced, and the work speed is increased.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of an articulated robot showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view showing details of an upper arm of the robot of FIG. 1;
[Explanation of symbols]
R: Robot 1: Fixed base 2: Turning head 3: Lower arm 4: Upper arm base 5: Upper arm rotating part 51: Recess 6: Wrist part 7: Grasping device 8: Work piece 9: Auxiliary manipulator 91: Rotating base 92 : First arm 93: second arm 94: tool mounting portion 10: screw tightening machine 1a: vertical axis (first axis)
2a: horizontal axis (second axis)
3a: horizontal axis (third axis)
4a: axis (fourth axis)
5a: 5th axis 6a: 6th axis 91a, 92a, 93a: axis

Claims (7)

A main manipulator and an auxiliary manipulator 9;
The main manipulator is
An articulated manipulator,
A fixed base 1;
A swivel head 2 pivotably attached to the fixed base 1;
A lower arm 3 attached to the swivel head 2 so as to be pivotable back and forth;
An upper arm base 4 attached to the tip of the lower arm 3 so as to be pivotable up and down;
An upper arm rotating portion 5 supported on the upper arm base portion 4 so as to be rotatable around a shaft 4a extending in the length direction;
Around the axis 6a which is attached to the tip of the upper arm rotating part 5 and is rotatable around an axis 5a which is perpendicular to the axis 4a extending in the longitudinal direction of the upper arm rotating part 5 and which is perpendicular to the axis 5a A wrist 6 that is rotatable to
Configured with
The auxiliary manipulator 9 is
An articulated manipulator,
A rotating base 91 that is attached to the upper arm rotating part 5 and that rotates independently of the upper arm rotating part 15 around an axis 4a extending in the length direction of the upper arm rotating part 5;
A first arm 92 rotatably attached to the rotation base 91;
A second arm 93 pivotably attached to the tip of the first arm 92;
The first arm 92 and the second arm 93 of the auxiliary manipulator 9 are rotated by the upper arm while the wrist portion 6 of the main manipulator is held in the length direction of the upper arm rotating portion 5. An articulated robot characterized by being rotatable to a position substantially parallel to the section 5 . The articulated robot according to claim 1, wherein the first arm (92) and the second arm (93) of the auxiliary manipulator (9) can be folded in parallel to the upper arm rotating unit (5 ). The articulated robot according to claim 2 , wherein a recess 51 is provided in the upper arm rotating unit 5, and the auxiliary manipulator 9 that is folded is placed in the recess 51 . The coupling tool is provided at the tip of the auxiliary manipulator 9 , and the coupling tool is a coupling tool that couples the workpiece 8 transported and positioned by the main manipulator to the object to be coupled. The articulated robot according to any one of items 3. Articulated robot according to claim 4, wherein the coupling tool is a screw tightening machine 10. A position detection sensor is provided at the tip of the auxiliary manipulator 9 , and the position detection sensor is a position detection sensor that detects the position of the workpiece conveyed and positioned by the main manipulator and corrects the position of the workpiece. The articulated robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the robot is a multi-joint type robot.   The articulated robot according to claim 6, wherein the position detection sensor is a television camera.

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