JPH0379158B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a robot hand for transporting articles having a functional surface portion and a non-functional margin portion on the upper surface.

[Prior Art] Various types of article gripping devices for gripping and conveying articles have been known as shown below.

() A place where an article is gripped by suctioning and holding the article using suction power such as vacuum suction, and the gripped article is transported from a given position to another position or assembled into another article. 2. Description of the Related Art An article gripping device using a so-called suction operation is known.
Documents disclosing such an article gripping device include Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 54-6949 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 55-150989.
Publication No. 61-35089, Special Publication No. 62-
Publication No. 18317 etc. exist. These publications include
An article gripping device that directly sucks and holds an article has been disclosed.

() Furthermore, an article gripping device is also known that employs a gripping method in which an article is gripped by a plurality of gripping members and finger members. For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-6315 discloses a device in which three claw bodies are connected to a motor through a screw shaft and a bevel gear coupling means, and the motor opens and closes the claw bodies to grip an article. is disclosed. Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-50835 also discloses a device in which three finger members are driven by a motor via gears.

() One of the functions of the gripping device of the present invention is a function of centering the object to be gripped. As an article gripping device equipped with such a centering function,
Publication No. 256004 is known.

() Furthermore, in the prior art, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 14500/1983 is known as a mounting head equipped with a suction nozzle and a position regulating claw for regulating the position of an article.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Here, as mentioned above, the present invention particularly solves the following problems:
The present invention relates to an article gripping device suitable only for gripping optical lenses used in optical instruments, etc.
The lens surface of such an optical lens is required to have high precision surface finish and cleanliness in order to transmit and refract a light beam. As a result, when such an optical lens is incorporated into a lens barrel or optical device, it is absolutely prohibited to directly touch the optical functional surface and damage or stain it when gripping the optical lens. It is something.

For this reason, when assembling an optical lens into a lens barrel, it becomes impossible to grasp the outer peripheral portion of the optical lens from the outside with finger members and fit it into the lens barrel. That is, the inner peripheral surface of the lens barrel and the outer peripheral surface of the optical lens are set to have substantially the same dimensions. Therefore, there is no allowance for gripping the outer periphery of the optical lens from the outside with the finger members, and as a result, the optical lens is inserted into a predetermined position within the lens barrel while the optical lens is gripped. It becomes impossible.

Further, after the optical lens is fitted into the lens locking portion inside the lens barrel, a metal elastic ring or C ring for fixing the optical lens must be inserted into the lens barrel. here,
The gripping device used to fit these rings into the lens barrel grips the ring from the outside in the radial direction with a plurality of finger members, and the distance between these finger members is set at a distance slightly larger than the outer diameter of the ring in its natural state. The ring is pressed inward in the radial direction so as to be compressed by a certain amount, and while the ring is held in this manner, the ring is inserted into the lens barrel into which the optical lens is fitted.
Here, in this gripping device, since a pressing force is applied to the ring by the finger members, it becomes difficult to remove the ring from the gripping device. As described above, if the ring cannot be removed smoothly from the gripping device, the lens cannot be reliably fixed by the ring, which is a problem.

This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to transfer an article so that it can be freely stored while reliably suctioning the article without directly contacting the functional surface of the article. Our goal is to provide a robot hand that can do the job.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the purpose, the robot hand according to the present invention includes an article having a functional surface portion and a non-functional margin portion on the upper surface. A robot hand for transporting includes: a hand main body provided to be movable vertically and laterally; a plurality of regulating pieces attached to the hand main body and abutting from above a margin portion of an article to be transferred; Attached to the hand body, when the regulating piece is in contact with the margin part of the article from above, the
It is characterized by comprising a suction member that is lowered to an upper position at a predetermined distance, and a pump means that is connected to the suction member and sucks the article with negative pressure.

[Operation] In the robot hand configured as described above, first, the regulating piece approaches the margin portion of the article from above, and in this approaching state,
The suction member, with negative pressure generated at its lower end by the pump means, is lowered to a position above the approximate center of the article at a predetermined distance. In this way, the article is urged by negative pressure toward the suction member. Here, as described above, since the margin portion of the article is brought close to the regulating piece from above, the article is attracted to the regulating piece and lifted by this biasing force. In this way, the article is attracted to the robot hand and is freely transferred as the robot hand moves.

[Embodiment] Below, the configuration of an embodiment of the robot hand according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, this robot hand 10
is suctioned to the lower end of a robot arm (not shown) so that it can be replaced depending on the type of article to be suctioned.In this embodiment, a lens 12 of an optical system is sucked and transferred as an article. It is set in. Here, this optical lens 12
is defined as an optically functional surface whose central part is precisely polished, and the outer periphery other than this optically functional surface is defined as a margin part, which has no function related to the optical system. .

This robot hand 10, as shown in the figure,
A hand body 14 is provided which is detachably attached to the lower end of the robot arm. This hand body 14
is formed into a hollow cylindrical shape with both upper and lower ends open, extending along the vertical direction, and has a spur gear 16 coaxially attached to the upper end thereof, and a spur gear 16 coaxially attached to the lower end thereof. Bevel gears 18 are each rotatably attached to the hand body 14. Further, a long groove 20 is formed in the peripheral wall of the hand main body 14 so as to extend in the vertical direction.

On the other hand, a through hole is formed in the center of the above-mentioned spur gear 16, and a female thread groove (not shown) is threaded on the inner peripheral surface of the through hole. A suction tube 24 serving as a suction member is attached to the hand body 14 so as to protrude vertically within the hand body 14, with a male screw portion 22 that is screwed into the female screw groove integrally provided at the upper portion. The circumferential wall of this suction tube 24 has the long groove 2 described above.
An engagement pin 26 that is inserted through the hole is integrally formed and projects radially outward. With this configuration of the suction tube 24, the spur gear 16 is rotationally driven, and the suction tube 24 is connected to the hand body 14 through the engagement between the engagement pin 26 and the long groove 20.
It will move up and down inside.

Note that the upper end of this suction tube 24 is connected to a suction pump 30 via a tube 28. In this manner, in response to the suction pump 30 being activated, the lower end opening of the suction tube 24 performs a suction operation, thereby suctioning the articles in the vicinity thereof with negative pressure.

On the other hand, three angle members 32, 34, and 36 are integrally attached to the outer circumferential surface of the upper part of the hand main body 14 so as to face outward in the radial direction. These angle members 32, 34, 36 are arranged at equal intervals along the circumferential direction, and have bent pieces 38, 40, 4 bent downward at their tips.
2 are integrally formed. Each bent piece 38, 4
0, 42 and the hand body 14, a pair of guide rods 44a; 44b, 46a; 46 extend along the radial direction and are vertically spaced apart.
b, 48a; 48b are bridged over each other.

In addition, each angle member 32, 34, 36 includes
Corresponding guide rods 44a; 44b, 46a;
46b, 48a; in a state located between 48b,
Threaded rods 50, 52, 5 extend along the radial direction.
4 are arranged. Each threaded rod 50, 52, 54
The outer ends of the corresponding bent pieces 38, 40, 42
Small bevel gears 56, 58, and 60 that mesh with the aforementioned bevel gear 18 are coaxially and integrally attached to the inner end thereof. Note that the small bevel gear 60 is hidden behind the hand main body 14 and is not shown in FIG.

Here, each angle member 32, 34, 36 has a corresponding guide rod 44a; 44b, 46.
Slide blocks 62, 64, and 66 are respectively slidably disposed along the radial direction of the hand body 14 by a;46b, 48a;48b. Each slide block 62, 64, 66 is screwed into the corresponding threaded rod 50, 52, 54, respectively, and in this way, when the bevel gear 18 is rotationally driven, the threaded rod 50, 52, 54 is rotated. Depending on the rotation, these slide blocks 62, 64, 66
will slide simultaneously along the radial direction.

The slide block 62 configured in this way,
Regulating pieces 68, 70, and 72 are fixed to the lower surfaces of 64 and 66, respectively, so as to fall vertically. These regulating pieces 68, 70,
72 is arranged around the hand main body 14 so as to be coaxial therewith. Further, the lower ends of these regulating pieces 68, 70, and 72 are set at the same height, and are adapted to abut from above a margin defined on the outer periphery of the upper surface of the optical lens 12 as an article. .

On the other hand, a first drive motor 74 for vertically moving the suction tube 24 is attached to the upper surface of the first angle member 32 via an attachment stay 76. The first drive motor 74 has a drive shaft 74a projecting downward, and a drive spur gear 78 that meshes with the spur gear 16 described above is coaxially attached to the drive shaft 74a so as to rotate integrally with the drive shaft 74a. Fixed.

Moreover, slide blocks 62, 64, 66 are provided on the outer surface of the bending piece 42 of the third angle member 36.
A second drive motor 80 is mounted for sliding the radially. The drive motor 80 includes a drive shaft extending in the radial direction, and the drive shaft is connected to the threaded rod 54 so as to rotate together with the threaded rod 54 in alignment.

Here, each slide block 62, 6 mentioned above
The lower surface of 4, 66 is provided to accurately position the optical lens 12 with respect to the robot hand 10, prior to the suction operation of the optical lens 12.
a centering member 82 for centering;
84 and 86 are provided, respectively.

Each centering member 82, 84, 86 is attached to the upper end of the corresponding regulating piece 68, 70, 72 and to the attachment portion of the corresponding slide block 62, 64, 66 via a pivot pin 88, respectively. The slide blocks 62, 64, and 66 are rotatably supported in a vertical plane passing through the sliding loci of the slide blocks 62, 64, and 66. That is, each centering member 82, 84, 86 has a corresponding regulating piece 68, as shown by a solid line in FIG.
A standby position spaced outward by a predetermined angle from 70 and 72 and a corresponding regulating piece 6 as shown by the broken line.
8, 70, and 72, and are rotatably supported between the centering position and the centering position in contact with the outer side surfaces of the members 8, 70, and 72.

In addition, each centering member 82, 84, 86 is
They are formed to extend slightly downward from the lower ends of the corresponding regulating pieces 68, 70, 72.

Here, each centering member 82, 84, 86
Air cylinder mechanisms 90, 92, 9 are used to rotate between the standby position and the centering position.
4 are connected to each other. Each air cylinder mechanism 90, 92, 94 is connected to the corresponding centering member 82, 84, 86 via a pivot pin 96 at the rear end of the corresponding slide block 62, 64, 66.
a mounting piece 98 rotatably supported in the same plane as the mounting piece 98;
100, 102 and corresponding mounting pieces 98, 10
Cylinder body 10 attached to 0,102
4, 106, 108 and each cylinder body 104,
Pistons 11 are provided at 106 and 108 so as to be able to protrude and retract according to air pressure, and whose tips are pivoted to corresponding centering members 82, 84 and 86.
0, 112, 114, and each cylinder body 104,
Pipe 11 introducing compressed air into 106 and 108
6,118,120 and these pipes 116,1
Each cylinder body 104,1 via 18,120
06, 108 and a compressed air generation source (not shown). In addition, the mounting piece 100, the cylinder body 106, and the piston 1
12 is not shown for convenience of the drawing.

Although not shown in detail, the suction pump 30 described above includes a pressure detector for detecting a negative pressure state generated at the lower end opening of the suction pipe 24 in order to detect the suction force by the suction pipe 24. 122 is attached.

The operation of suctioning and transporting the optical lens 12 using the robot hand 10 configured as described above will be described below.

First, in a standby state for the transfer operation, the robot arm has brought the robot hand 10 to the position indicated by reference numeral A in FIG. In this standby state, the centering members 82, 8
4 and 86 are in a standby position just outside the corresponding regulating pieces 68, 70, and 72, and the suction tube 24 is in an upwardly lifted state, and
Each of the regulating pieces 68, 70, 72 is biased radially outward.

From this standby state, when the robot is instructed by a control device (not shown) to suck a predetermined optical lens 12 and mount it in a lens barrel (not shown), the robot moves to the mounting stage B on which this optical lens 12 is placed. The robot arm is driven to move so that the robot hand 10 is located at the upper position. On the other hand, the second
The drive motor 80 starts and drives the threaded rod 54 to rotate around its own axis. In response to this rotation of the threaded rod 54, the slide block 66 moves along the radial direction of the hand body 14.

Here, the rotational driving force of the threaded rod 54 is generated by a bevel gear 60 coaxially fixed to the tip thereof and a bevel gear 18 rotatably attached to the hand body 14.
The rotation of the bevel gear 18 causes the bevel gears 56 and 58 that mesh with the bevel gear 18 to rotate together, thereby causing the threaded rods 50 and 52 to rotate. As the slide blocks 62 and 64 rotate, the other slide blocks 62 and 64 also rotate.
Similarly, it will move along the radial direction.

The amount of drive of the second drive motor 80, that is, the amount of movement of each slide block 62, 64, 66 is such that the lower end of each regulating piece 68, 70, 72 is at the outer periphery of the optical lens 12 to be sucked. The suction is applied so that the outer surface of each regulating piece 68 , 70 , 72 is positioned above the margin defined in the section, and more specifically, the outer surface of each regulating piece 68 , 70 , 72 is brought to a position aligned with the outer periphery of this optical lens 12 . Optical lens 12
It is set according to the outer diameter dimension of.

When the robot hand 10 is brought above the optical lens 12 to be sucked, the robot arm is then lowered and the lower ends of the three regulating pieces 68, 70, 72 of the robot hand 10 are placed above the optical lens 12. Immediately before contacting the surface of 12, the downward movement is stopped. Thereafter, each air cylinder mechanism 90, 92, 94 is activated to rotationally drive the corresponding centering member 82, 84, 86 from the standby position to the centering position. As a result, even if the center position of the optical lens 12 at the mounting position is shifted from the center position of the hand body 14, the three centering members 82, 8
4 and 86 to the centering position, the hand body 14 is moved so as to be accurately aligned with the center position of the hand body 14, and a so-called centering operation is performed.

When the optical lens 12 is centered in this way, each regulation piece 68, 70, 72
It is located directly above the margin portion of the optical lens 12.

From this state, the suction pump 30 is activated and the suction operation by the suction tube 24 is started, and the first drive motor 74 is activated to rotationally drive the spur gear 16 to lower the suction tube 24. become.
In this way, the lower end opening of the suction tube 24 gradually approaches the center of the upper surface of the optical lens 12 (the portion including the optical function surface) from above. Meanwhile, the suction pressure (negative pressure) detection operation by the pressure detector 122 described above is started.

Here, as the suction tube 24 descends in this manner, the state of negative pressure generated at the lower end opening of the suction tube 24 gradually increases. and,
When the pressure detected by the pressure detector 122 reaches approximately 80% of the maximum vacuum pressure, the driving of the first drive motor 74 is stopped. Here, this maximum vacuum pressure is defined by the negative pressure generated when a suction operation is performed with the suction tube 24 in close contact with the optical lens 12. Then, at the point when the maximum vacuum pressure reaches about 80%,
The lower end of the suction tube 24 is set to be located slightly above the upper surface of the optical lens 12, as shown in FIG.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the maximum weight of the optical lens 12 is 100 g, and the maximum vacuum pressure is set to about 600 mmHg. Under this condition, the 80% negative suction pressure is 480 mmHg, and the distance between the suction tube 24 and the optical lens 12 when this negative suction pressure is achieved is 0.03 mm, and the suction brought about by this negative suction pressure is 0.03 mm. The force is approximately 250g. In this way, in this embodiment, the optical lens 12 can be suctioned and lifted by the negative pressure without the suction tube 24 contacting the optical lens 12.

In this way, the lower end of the suction tube 24 is connected to the optical lens 1.
The negative pressure generated when the optical lens 12 is located slightly above the top surface of the optical lens 12 is set to a value sufficient to urge the optical lens 12 upward.As a result, based on this negative pressure, the optical lens 12 , is urged from below by the lower ends of the three regulating pieces 68, 70, 72,
As shown in FIG. 4, the optical lens 12 is attracted and held by the robot hand 10.

The robot hand 10, which has attracted and held the optical lens 12 in this way, is transferred to a position above the location C where the lens barrel is placed as the robot arm moves in the vertical and lateral directions. At the time of such transfer, activation of each air cylinder mechanism 90, 92, 94 is stopped.
That is, the introduction of compressed air from a compressed air generation source (not shown) is stopped, and each piston 110, 112,
114 is the corresponding cylinder body 104, 106,
108. Due to this attraction,
Each centering member 82, 84, 86 is rotated from the centering position to an outward standby position.

In this way, the centering members 82, 84, 86
After the centering operation is canceled, the optical lens 12 is moved to a predetermined position within the lens barrel by the downward movement of the robot arm. Then, in a state where the optical lens 12 is moved to this predetermined position, the drive of the suction pump 30 is stopped, so that the optical lens 12 is moved to the robot hand 10.
The suction state of the lens is released, the lens is removed, and the lens is stored and held within the lens barrel.

Thereafter, the robot hand 10 is moved to the above-described standby position and held there, thereby completing a series of operations for transporting the optical lens 12.

As described in detail above, according to the robot hand 10 of this embodiment, the optical lens 12 as an article to be transferred is transferred while being sucked and held without contacting the optical functional surface. That's what I do. In particular, the regulating pieces 68, 70, 72 that contact the optical lens 12 are set so as to contact only the margin portion of the optical lens 12. In this way, the risk of damaging the optical functional surface of the optical lens 12 during this transfer is completely eliminated.

Further, according to the robot hand 10 of this embodiment, there is a member that holds the optical lens 12 inside the outer periphery of the optical lens 12 to be transported.
In this way, when the optical lens 12 is stored and held in the lens barrel,
This can be performed satisfactorily without impairing the holding operation.

It goes without saying that this invention is not limited to the configuration of the one embodiment described above, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the case where the article is applied to the optical lens 12 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to any article. This is effectively applied when the surface of an article has a functional surface that must not come into contact with it, and a margin portion that does not affect the function of the article in any way even if it comes into contact with it.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, three regulating pieces are provided as shown by numerals 68, 70, and 72, but the number is not limited to this, and the number may be two or more. Any number of books is fine.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, the robot hand according to the present invention is capable of vertical movement and side movement in a robot hand for transferring an article having a functional surface portion and a non-functional margin portion on the upper surface. a hand body that is movable in the direction; a plurality of regulating pieces that are attached to the hand body and contact the margin portion of the article to be transferred from above; a suction member that is lowered to a position above the approximate center of the article at a predetermined distance while in contact with the margin portion from above; and a suction member that is connected to the suction member;
The apparatus is characterized by comprising a pump means for suctioning the article by negative pressure.

Therefore, a robot hand is provided which can reliably suck an article and freely transport it for storage without directly contacting the functional surface portion of the article.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the robot hand according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing the operating position of the robot hand shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state in which the suction tube approaches the margin part of the optical lens from above; FIG. FIG. In the figure, 10... Robot hand, 12... Optical lens, 14... Hand body, 16... Spur gear,
18...Bevel gear, 20...Long groove, 22...Male thread portion, 24...Suction pipe, 26...Engagement pin, 28...
...Tube, 30...Suction pump, 32; 34;
36... Angle member, 38; 40; 42... Bending piece, 44a; 44b: 46a; 46b: 48
a; 48b...Guide rod, 50; 52; 54
...Threaded rod, 56, 58; 60...Bevel gear, 6
2;64;66...slide block, 68;7
0; 72...Restriction piece, 74...First drive motor, 74a...Drive shaft, 76...Mounting stay,
78...Spur gear, 80...Second drive motor, 8
2;84;86...centering member, 88...
Pivot pin, 90; 92; 94... Air cylinder mechanism, 96... Pivot pin, 98; 100; 102
... Mounting piece, 104; 106; 108 ... Cylinder body, 110; 112; 114 ... Piston,
116; 118; 120...pipe, 122...
It is a pressure detector.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A robot hand for transferring an article having a functional surface portion and a non-functional margin portion on the upper surface, comprising: a hand body provided to be movable vertically and laterally; a plurality of regulating pieces attached to the hand body and abutting the margin portion of the article from above; and a plurality of regulating pieces attached to the hand body abutting the margin portion of the article from above; The article is characterized by comprising a suction member that is lowered to an upper position at a predetermined distance approximately at the center of the article, and a pump means connected to the suction member for suctioning the article with negative pressure. robot hand. 2. Claims characterized in that the margin portion is defined on the outer circumferential edge of the upper surface of the article, and the regulating piece is arranged so as to abut the outer circumferential edge of the upper surface of the article from above. The robot hand described in Section 1. 3. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein the regulating pieces are arranged at approximately equal intervals. 4. The robot according to claim 1, wherein the hand main body is provided with positioning means for positioning the article to be transferred prior to the contact operation by the regulating piece. hand.