JPH0155956B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a remote control device that allows a single operator to simultaneously operate a slave arm and a surveillance camera. Generally, when performing various types of work in environments where it is not desirable for workers to enter, for example, high radiation environments such as inside nuclear reactor containment vessels, work equipment that can perform various types of work by remote control on behalf of the workers is used. It will be done. Such work equipment is equipped with a slave arm mechanism for performing various tasks, and a monitoring camera used for monitoring the work or for other inspections and monitoring. When the operator operates a master arm mechanism provided on the remote control device, the slave arm mechanism follows the master arm mechanism and operates to perform various tasks. The remote control device is also equipped with a monitor mechanism that receives images taken by the surveillance camera, and the operator can operate the slave arm mechanism while monitoring the images displayed on the monitor mechanism. Alternatively, the monitor mechanism is configured to inspect and monitor equipment within the reactor containment vessel. By the way, in the conventional remote control device of this kind, the camera control operation device for rotating the surveillance camera is configured to be manually operated. For this reason, the monitoring camera cannot be rotated to change its photographing direction while the slave arm mechanism is being operated. Therefore, if the movement of the slave arm mechanism is large, the movement of the slave arm mechanism cannot be tracked by the surveillance camera, and the slave arm mechanism may move out of the surveillance camera's shooting range, resulting in poor operability. There was an inferior defect. Another problem was that when changing the angle of the surveillance camera, the operation of the slave arm mechanism had to be interrupted in order to operate the controller. In order to eliminate such problems, attempts have been made to have an operator different from the operator of the master arm mechanism operate the operating device of the surveillance camera and operate the slave arm mechanism and the surveillance camera at the same time. If two operators perform the operation in this manner, the two operators will not be able to breathe in unison, resulting in problems such as poor operability. It has also been attempted to use a foot-operated operating device for the surveillance camera, such as a foot switch, so that a single operator can rotate the surveillance camera at the same time as operating the slave arm mechanism. However, in this case, the operator must simultaneously pay attention to the operation of the slave arm mechanism and the direction control of the surveillance camera by operating the foot switch, resulting in problems such as requiring a high degree of skill for operation. The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to enable a single operator to operate the slave arm mechanism and the surveillance camera at the same time, and which requires a high degree of skill to operate. The aim is to obtain a remote control device that will never be used. The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the invention. In this first embodiment, a working device 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is remotely operated. This working device 1 is used to carry articles into or out of a reactor containment vessel of a nuclear power generation facility. That is, 2 is a vehicle body, and this vehicle body 2 is provided with a crawler type traveling mechanism 3, and is configured to freely travel on a floor surface. And this car body 2
It is configured such that articles 4 are placed thereon. Further, an end plate 5 that can be opened and closed is provided on the front surface of the vehicle body 1, and a conveyor mechanism 6 is provided on the top surface of the vehicle body 2. Further, a pair of slave arm mechanisms 7, 7 are provided at the front end of the vehicle body 2, and chucks 8, 8 are provided at the tips of these slave arm mechanisms 7, 7. The slave arm mechanisms 7, 7 and the conveyor mechanism 6 are configured so that the articles 4 can be loaded and unloaded. Further, a surveillance camera 9 is provided on the upper surface of the rear end of the vehicle body 2, and this surveillance camera 9 is configured to be raised and lowered up and down by a camera drive mechanism 10, and rotated within a horizontal plane. ing. This working device 1 is then
It is configured so that it can be remotely controlled wirelessly by a remote control device as shown in FIGS. The configuration of this remote control device will be explained below. 11 in the figure is an operation panel,
This operation panel 11 is provided with a monitor mechanism 12 such as a CRT, and is configured to display images sent from the surveillance camera 9. Further, the operation panel 11 is provided with operation devices 13 for remotely operating the crawler type traveling mechanism 3, the end plate 5, the conveyor mechanism 6, etc. In addition, this operation panel 11
In front of the is a pair of master arm mechanisms 14 , 14.
is provided. This master arm mechanism 1
4 and 14 are configured to be movable in mutually perpendicular directions, such as front and back, left and right, and up and down, and are configured to move in all directions following the movement of the operator's 15 hand. And this master arm mechanism 14 ,
14 is the amount of movement of the operator 1 in three directions perpendicular to each other.
The slave arm mechanisms 7, 7 are operated remotely in response to the hand movements of the operator 1.
It is configured to be operated by following the movement of the hand of No. 5. Moreover, this master arm mechanism 14 , 1
4 is configured to detect the opening and closing of the finger of the operator 15, and the chucks 8 and 8 are configured to detect the opening and closing of the finger of the operator 15.
is configured to open and close. Further, 16 has a camera control mechanism. Reference numeral 17 denotes the chair, and the operator 15 is configured to sit on the chair 17, operate the master arm mechanisms 14 , 14 , and monitor the image displayed on the monitor mechanism 12. The chair 17 is guided so as to be movable back and forth by rails 18, 18, and the chair 17 is configured to be rotatable within a horizontal plane. The chair 17 is urged to move forward by a biasing mechanism 19 containing a spring or the like. And this chair 1
The movement of the chair 7 in the back and forth direction is detected by the movement detector 20, and the drive mechanism 10 of the surveillance camera 9 is remotely controlled in response to the movement of the chair 17 in the back and forth direction. When the chair 17 moves forward, the monitoring camera 9 moves upward, and when the chair 17 moves forward, the monitoring camera 9 moves downward. Further, the rotation of the chair 17 within the horizontal plane is detected by the rotation detector 21, and the drive mechanism 10 of the surveillance camera 9 is remotely activated in response to the rotation of the chair 17 within the horizontal plane. controlled,
When this chair 17 rotates clockwise, the surveillance camera 9 also rotates clockwise, and when this chair 17 rotates counterclockwise, the surveillance camera 9 also rotates counterclockwise. It is configured. Also, operator 1
Foot-operated fixed switches 22 and 23 are provided corresponding to both feet of the child. For example, if you step on the fixed switch 22 on the right side, the surveillance camera 9
The vertical movement of the chair 17 is fixed, and even if the chair 17 moves back and forth, the surveillance camera 9 does not move up or down and is fixed at that position.If you step on the fixing switch 22 again, the surveillance camera 9 is unfixed and the chair 17 The surveillance camera 9 is configured to move up and down in response to the movement in the front-back direction. Further, when the left fixed switch 23 is stepped on, the left and right rotation of the surveillance camera 9 is fixed, and even if the chair 17 is rotated, the surveillance camera 9 is fixed in that position.When the fixed switch 23 is stepped on again, the surveillance camera 9 is fixed at that position. The surveillance camera 9 is configured to rotate left and right in response to the rotation of the chair 17 when the fixation of the chair 17 is released. The first embodiment of the present invention configured as described above is as follows:
The slave arm mechanism 7, 7 is monitored by the surveillance camera 9.
, the article 4, etc. are photographed, and the image is sent to the remote control device and displayed on the monitor mechanism 12. Then, the operator 15 operates the master arm mechanisms 14 , 14 while viewing the image displayed on the monitor mechanism 12, and remotely operates the slave arm mechanisms 7, 7 to load and unload the articles 4, etc. . At this time, if it is necessary to move the photographing range of the surveillance camera 9 in accordance with the movement of the slave arm mechanisms 7, 7, etc., the chair 17 is moved back and forth or rotated left and right to move the surveillance camera 9. Move 9 up and down and rotate it left and right. Therefore, one operator 15 can remotely control the slave arm mechanisms 7, 7 and at the same time move the monitoring camera 9 vertically and rotate it in the horizontal direction. Since the surveillance camera 9 is operated by moving and rotating the chair 17 back and forth, that is, by moving and rotating the waist of the operator 15, the operation is easy and does not require a high degree of skill. . In other words, in daily life, humans move their hips up and down by bending and stretching their legs to change their eye level, and by rotating their hips, they twist their hips to rotate their upper body horizontally and move their line of sight from side to side. Movements are performed frequently and are learned in highly correlated ways. Therefore, if you cannot move your line of sight by moving your eyes or head, for example, when holding a camera and taking a picture, you can bend your legs and move your hips up and down to move your line of sight, or the shooting range, up and down. Move to
Also, the movement of twisting the waist to move the shooting range left and right requires no practice for a normal person.
Moreover, it is so completely familiar that there is no need to consciously move it. In the first embodiment, when the operator bends and stretches his legs and moves his lower back to move the chair 17 back and forth, the surveillance camera 9 moves up and down, and by twisting his lower back, he moves the chair 17 in a horizontal plane. When rotated, the surveillance camera 9 rotates left and right in a horizontal plane, so the operation of the operator 15 to move the photographing range of the surveillance camera 9 is similar to the motion that humans are fully accustomed to as described above. Therefore, the surveillance camera 9 is extremely easy to operate and does not require any skill. In addition, in the first embodiment, the movement of the surveillance camera 9 can be fixed by the fixed switches 22 and 23, so if the movement of the surveillance camera 9 is not necessary, it is possible to fix the movement of the chair 17.
There is no need to stop the machine at a specific position, which reduces the burden on the operator 15. Note that the present invention is not limited to the first embodiment described above. For example, FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. This second embodiment is a backrest 17a of a chair 17.
The operator 15 rotates his or her waist back and forth to rotate the backrest 17a back and forth, thereby rotating the surveillance camera 9 left and right. Note that this second embodiment has the same configuration as the first embodiment except for the above points,
In FIG. 4, parts corresponding to those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted. Although the second embodiment has less commonality between the above-mentioned human habitual motion and the motion of operating the surveillance camera 9 than the first embodiment, there is a commonality in terms of rotation of the waist, which is similar to the first embodiment. It is easy to operate and does not require a high level of skill. Furthermore, in the first and second embodiments, the shooting range is moved up and down by moving the surveillance camera up and down, but the shooting range is moved up and down by rotating the surveillance camera in a vertical plane. It's okay. In addition, when operating the surveillance camera by the movement of the operator's waist, the surveillance camera can be moved up and down by rotating the back of the chair back and forth, and the camera can be moved up and down by rotating the chair in the horizontal plane. The surveillance camera may also be rotated from side to side. As described above, according to the present invention, the back and forth movement or rotation of the chair on which the operator of the master arm mechanism sits, or the rotation of the backrest is detected, and the direction of the surveillance camera is controlled in response to the movement or rotation. As a result, both the slave arm mechanism and the surveillance camera can be remotely controlled at the same time, improving operability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a working device, FIG. 2 is a side view of a remote control device, and FIG. 3 is a plan view thereof. Moreover, FIG. 4 is a side view of the remote control device of the second embodiment. 1 ... Working device, 7... Slave arm mechanism,
9... Surveillance camera, 10... Camera drive mechanism, 1
2...Monitor mechanism, 14 ...Master arm mechanism, 15...Operator, 16...Camera control mechanism,
17...chair, 17a...backrest.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A master arm mechanism that detects the movement of the operator's hand and remotely controls the slave arm mechanism in response to this movement, a chair on which the operator who operates the master arm mechanism sits, and a chair installed in front of the chair. and a camera control mechanism that controls the direction of the surveillance camera in vertical and horizontal directions, and the camera control mechanism is configured to move or rotate the chair back and forth, or control the backrest of the chair. A remote control device, characterized in that it detects the rotation of a part and controls the direction of the surveillance camera in response to the movement or rotation.