JPH0413726B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a teaching method and teaching apparatus for automatically operating a work robot.
That is, the present invention relates to a method and a device for creating control data for a work robot.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in order to create the control data necessary for the operation of a work robot, a sensor for detecting the operation is attached to the work robot body that is to perform the actual work, and the robot body is artificially guided to perform the work. is performed, and the output signal of the above sensor is memorized during this work. When a work robot is made to perform a work, it is made to faithfully reproduce the initially induced motion based on the above-mentioned stored data.

In the robot teaching method according to the above-mentioned prior art, (a) the teaching function and the working function must be provided in one robot, which makes the mechanism complicated.

(b) As a practical technical problem, if priority is given to work functions when configuring a robot, the ease of teaching will be impaired and efficient teaching will become difficult. Furthermore, if ease of teaching is prioritized, work function will deteriorate.

(c) If an attempt is made to teach a new operation to a work robot, the actual production work will be interrupted while the teaching is being performed, resulting in a decrease in production efficiency.

The above-mentioned problems in the conventional technology can be solved, the work robot can be constructed with priority given to its work performance, the structure of the work robot can be simplified, and the operation can be easily taught. Furthermore, in order to be able to teach without interrupting the work of a working robot, it has been proposed to provide a dedicated teaching robot separate from the working robot and to perform teaching operations using this dedicated teaching robot. (For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 51-83354).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The teaching robot according to the above-mentioned known technology has a mechanism that is the same shape and size as the working robot, or has a similar mechanism, and stores detection data when teaching the teaching robot. Therefore, the work robot is operated in a playback manner.

Therefore, one type of teaching robot is required for one type of work robot, and in order to teach N types of work robots, N types of teaching robots must be constructed.

Furthermore, if the working robot is of the swivel arm type, the teaching robot will also be constructed of the swivel arm type. However, there are two types of robots in which the arm extends, contracts, bends and turns, and the hand position is expressed in rotational coordinates, and another type in which the arm moves vertically, horizontally, and up and down in parallel and the hand position is expressed in orthogonal coordinates. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

When viewed as a teaching-only robot, it is desirable to use a robot with an orthogonal coordinate system (having arms guided in three orthogonal axes directions) when teaching vertical lifting, vertical lowering, horizontal linear movement, etc.
In addition, an orthogonal coordinate system is advantageous for calculating the absolute value of a coordinate position at the hand.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and
One type of robot dedicated to teaching can teach multiple types of work robots, and moreover, it is possible to perform work in a rotating arm type (rotating coordinate system in which the arm rotates and bends) using a robot dedicated to teaching in an orthogonal coordinate system. It is an object of the present invention to provide a robot teaching method and a teaching device that can teach a robot.

[Means to solve the problem]

The basic principle of the present invention, created to achieve the above object, is briefly described as follows.

It is assumed that the work robot to be taught is equipped with a rotating arm.

The teaching robot has a structure of an orthogonal coordinate system in which the arm is guided by a guide in the direction of the orthogonal coordinate axes.

Detection data consisting of orthogonal coordinate values obtained when the robot dedicated to teaching in the orthogonal coordinate system performs a desired operation is converted into rotational coordinate data for controlling the swivel arm type robot.

The work robot is controlled using the converted data, and the hand movements given to the teaching robot are reproduced.

As a concrete configuration for adapting the above-mentioned principle to a practical aspect, the teaching method of the present invention involves attaching a sensor to a teaching robot with an orthogonal coordinate system, which is separate from a working robot having a rotating arm, and manually controlling the teaching robot. The robot is guided to perform the work, the movement of each part during this work is detected by the sensor, and the operation information consisting of orthogonal coordinate data is analyzed by a computing unit and stored in a storage device.
The present invention is characterized in that the accumulated data is read out, converted and distributed into rotational coordinate data suitable for the rotating arm mechanism of the work robot, and the work robot is controlled.

Furthermore, in order to easily and effectively carry out the above method, the apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a work robot equipped with a rotating arm and a teaching-only robot in an orthogonal coordinate system of the work robot. is not equipped with an automatic drive means and is equipped with a sensor that detects displacement for each degree of freedom, and the output signal of the above sensor is input to determine the absolute coordinate position of the robot hand expressed in orthogonal coordinate values. and a calculation circuit that calculates the posture of the hand, a storage device that stores the above calculation results, and data that reads data from the storage device, converts it into rotational coordinate data of the rotating arm drive system of the work robot, and distributes it. The present invention is characterized by comprising a conversion distribution circuit and a servo circuit that controls a work robot based on the above-mentioned converted and distributed data.

[Operation] According to the above method, since the detection data from the teaching robot is converted and given to the working robot, teaching can be performed even if both robots have different coordinate system configurations.

Also, since data conversion is performed as described above, 1
It is possible to teach multiple types of work robots using different types of teaching robots.

Since the method described above uses a robot dedicated to teaching in an orthogonal coordinate system, by locking the movement in two of the three orthogonal axes, it is very easy to perform linear movement in the other one axis.

According to the above-mentioned apparatus of the present invention, it has a rotating arm type working robot and a teaching robot with a Cartesian coordinate system, and converts Cartesian coordinate data detected from the teaching robot into rotational coordinate data for the turning arm. Since there is a means for doing so, the method of the invention described above can be carried out easily and reliably.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a robot teaching device according to the present invention.

1a, 1b, and 1c, each of which is equipped with a rotating arm, is controlled by a servo circuit 2, and has the function of executing work according to the instructions when data is given to the servo circuit 2. ing.

3, 3, and 3 are workpieces conveyed by the conveyor 4, and 5, 6, and 7 are work robots 1a and 7, respectively.
These are parts to be assembled to the workpiece by 1b and 1c.

Reference numeral 8 is a teaching-only robot whose hand 8a is not equipped with a separate automatic drive or control means, and is manually moved to open and close the hand, move in the X-X' axis direction, move in the Y-Y' axis direction, and move in the Z-X' axis direction. - movement in the direction of the Z' axis, rotation around an axis parallel to the X-X' axis, rotation around the Y-Y' axis,
Also, it is possible to rotate around an axis parallel to the Z-Z' axis. When carrying out the present invention, the arm of the teaching robot
Although the structure is such that the guide is guided in the three axis directions of Y and Z, it is not limited to having the hand attached to the tip of the arm rotate. The arm of the teaching robot of this embodiment moves in parallel in the X, Y, and Z3 axes, and the hand at the tip of the arm rotates in the X, Y, and Z3 axes, and has a total of 6 degrees of freedom. . Sensors (not shown) are provided to detect the displacements of the six degrees of freedom, respectively, and an arithmetic circuit 9 is provided to input the outputs of the respective sensors. This calculation circuit 9 is configured to have a function of calculating the absolute coordinate value of the hand 8a, the posture of the hand 8a, and the opening degree based on input signals from each sensor. A storage device 10 is provided for storing data representing the position, posture, and degree of opening of the hand of the teaching robot calculated by the above-mentioned arithmetic circuit. This storage device 10 stores orthogonal coordinate data representing the movement of the arm and angle data representing the rotation of the hand.

A data conversion/distribution circuit 11 is provided which reads out the data stored in the storage device 10, converts and distributes the data into rotational coordinate data for the work robot, and supplies the data to the servo circuit 2. This data conversion distribution circuit 11 performs calculations based on data on the position, posture, and opening degree of the hand 8a of the teaching robot 7, converts this into rotational coordinate data for each drive system of the work robot, and converts the data into rotational coordinate data for each drive system of the work robot. It is configured to have the function of distributing to

The teaching robot 8 in this embodiment is configured with a mechanism of an orthogonal coordinate system so that linear motion can be easily taught and absolute coordinate values can be easily detected. It is constructed by a rotating coordinate system mechanism having a rotating arm. In this way, in the apparatus of the present invention, the teaching robot and the working robot can have mechanisms suitable for their respective functions. Further, since the teaching robot is not provided with a drive system equipped with automatic control means, the structure is simple, and since no actual work is performed, it can be constructed of lightweight materials such as plastic. Further, since the work robot is not provided with a sensor for collecting teaching data, the structure is simple and it is technically easy to improve the work performance.

In order to use the device of the above embodiment, a sample of the workpiece 3 and a sample of each part 5, 6, and 7 are placed within the movement area of the hand 8a of the teaching robot 8, and the hand 8a is manually guided. As the work is performed, the displacement of each degree of freedom during the work is detected by a sensor, and the signal output is input to the arithmetic circuit 9.

The absolute coordinate position of the hand 8a is determined by the arithmetic circuit 6,
The posture and opening angle are calculated, and the orthogonal coordinate data of the calculation results is input to the storage device 10 and stored.

In order to make the work robots 1a, 1b, 1c perform a work, the data of the sample work by the robot dedicated to teaching stored in the storage device 10 is read out, and this data is adjusted to the mechanism of the drive system of the work robots 1a, 1b, 1c. Converting to work robot 1a,
It is distributed to each drive system of 1b and 1c and given to the servo circuit 2.

The servo circuit 2 is provided with work information converted for work robots and controls the work robots 1a, 1b, 1.
c and have each do their work.

As explained above, in the method of the present invention, the operation of manually guiding the robot to perform sample work is performed separately from the work robot using a teaching robot, so that the production work of the work robot is not interrupted. It can be done without Furthermore, the above-mentioned teaching operation can be carried out without time constraints using a simple and lightweight teaching robot, so that the operation is easy.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the method of the present invention involves attaching a sensor for detecting the position and movement of the hand to a teaching-only robot with a Cartesian coordinate system, which is separate from the robot having a rotating arm, and manually controlling the teaching-only robot. input the orthogonal coordinate signal output of the above sensor into a computing unit, and the computing unit calculates the absolute coordinate position and posture of the hand, which is the reference part of the tip of the teaching robot, as well as the open/closed state of the hand, etc. death,
The calculated data is stored in a storage device, and the accumulated data is converted and corrected into rotational coordinate data according to the specifications of the work robot mechanism, and then distributed to control the work robot. It can be configured with priority given to work performance, the structure of the work robot can be simplified, and it is easy to teach movements, especially vertical ascent and horizontal movement with high accuracy. obtain.

Furthermore, since the absolute position data of orthogonal coordinates created by the teaching robot is converted and given to the work robot, one type of teaching robot can teach a plurality of types of work robots.

Furthermore, the device of the present invention is provided with a working robot having a rotating arm and a teaching-only robot with an orthogonal coordinate system separate from the above-mentioned working robot, and the teaching-only robot is not provided with an automatic drive control means, and It is equipped with a sensor that detects displacement at each degree, and includes an arithmetic circuit that receives the orthogonal coordinate value output signal of the sensor and calculates the absolute coordinate position and posture of the hand of the teaching robot hand, and the result of the above calculation. a conversion/distribution circuit that reads data from the storage device, converts it into data in the rotating arm rotational coordinate system of the work robot, and distributes the data; Since the robot is equipped with a servo circuit for controlling the robot, the method of the present invention described above can be easily carried out and its effects can be fully exhibited.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a robot teaching device according to the present invention. 1a, 1b, 1c... working robot, 2... servo circuit, 4... conveyor, 5, 6, 7... parts, 8... teaching robot, 8a... same hand.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a method of teaching a movement to a work robot having a rotating arm, a teaching-only robot having an arm guided in three orthogonal axes, which is separate from the work robot, is taught the position and position of its hand. A sensor for detecting movement is attached, the teaching robot is manually operated, the signal output from the sensor is input to a calculator, and the calculator calculates the absolute coordinate value of the hand of the teaching robot. The hand posture, the open/closed state of the hand, etc. are calculated, the calculated data is stored in a storage device, and the above stored data is converted into data expressed in rotational coordinates according to the specifications regarding the mechanism of a work robot with a rotating arm. Convert and correct it to
A robot teaching method characterized by controlling a working robot through distribution. 2. A work robot having a rotating arm, and an arm guided in three orthogonal axes directions, which is configured separately from the above-mentioned work robot, has no automatic drive means, and is equipped with a sensor that detects displacement for each degree of freedom. an arithmetic circuit that receives the output signal of the sensor and calculates the absolute coordinate value and wrist posture of the hand of the teaching robot;
a storage device that stores the above calculation results; a data conversion distribution circuit that reads data from the storage device, converts it into rotational coordinate data for controlling the drive system of a work robot having a rotating arm, and distributes the data; A robot teaching device comprising a servo circuit that controls a working robot based on the converted and distributed data.