JPH0573122A - Method and device for preparing teaching data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a teaching data preparing method and its device which can speedily obtain teaching data without fail in the case of preparing the teaching data in an industrial robot. CONSTITUTION:A control circuit 16 is equipped with a CPU 32, setting circuit 42, simulation circuit 44, selective circuit 46 and data preparing circuit 47. In the control of the CPU 32, the simulation circuit 44 executes simulation for respective plural kinds of permiting point information set to the setting circuit 42, and the selective circuit 46 selects the optimum working position data out of the plural simulated results. Since the data preparing circuit 47 prepares the teaching data of the optimum working position data, the optimum teaching data can be speedily obtained without fail.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a teaching data creating method and apparatus capable of efficiently creating teaching data required when operating an industrial robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Robots are often used in the industrial world for the purpose of welding and the like. However, when the teaching data of this robot is created by an actual robot, the robot's tools and workpieces or the robot's There is a risk of damaging the robot tools and various jigs due to interference between the tools and various jigs.

Therefore, a method of creating teaching data of a robot by an offline teaching device is used. That is, a robot, a work, and the like are displayed on a screen of a graphic display as a three-dimensional image, and a tool is simulated on the three-dimensional image.

As a result of the simulation, if the tool is within the reachable range of the work position, the coordinate data of the work position and the attitude data of the tool at this time are stored as teaching data. Even within the range where there is no problem above all, there were cases where unreachable simulation results were obtained depending on the operating performance of the target robot.

In this case, the operator who operates the offline teaching device can change the work point data and the attitude data of the tool within a permissible range, individually or in combination, and repeat the work of performing the simulation to reach the reachable teaching. I was creating the data.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional teaching data creating method, when the tool cannot reach the working position as a result of the simulation,
Optimal teaching data is provided because the operator's experience owes the work to change the work point data and tool posture data performed by the operator individually or in combination within the allowable range to create the teaching data. There is a problem that the operator needs a considerable amount of time and labor to obtain the information.

The present invention solves this kind of problem. By selecting the optimum teaching data, the burden on the operator can be reduced and the optimum teaching data can be quickly obtained. An object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method and apparatus.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention sets a plurality of permissible work position data within a predetermined permissible range as work position data regarding a work position by an industrial robot. Step 1, and work environment data such as the shape of peripheral devices including the industrial robot,
A second step of performing a simulation for moving the industrial robot to each work position corresponding to the work position data and the plurality of permissible work position data based on operation performance data relating to the industrial robot; A third step of selecting the optimum work position data or the optimum allowable work position data from the result of each simulation, and creating teaching data for the data obtained by the third step. To do.

Further, a second aspect of the present invention includes work position data relating to a work position of the industrial robot, work environment data such as a shape of a peripheral device including the industrial robot, and operation performance data relating to the industrial robot. Storage means for storing, setting means for setting a plurality of allowable work position data within an allowable range for the work position data, the work environment data, and the operating performance data, based on the work position data and the plurality of Simulation means for performing a simulation for moving the industrial robot to each work position corresponding to the allowable work position data, and a selection for selecting the optimum work position data or the optimum allowable work position data from the results of each simulation Means and a tee for the data selected by the selecting means. Characterized in that it comprises a data generating means for generating ring data.

[0010]

The teaching data creating method and apparatus according to the present invention stores work position data, work environment data, and work performance data in the storage means, and stores a plurality of work position data within a predetermined allowable range including the work position data. The allowable work position data is set by the setting means. The simulation means performs a simulation for moving the industrial robot to each of the plurality of allowable work position data, and the selecting means selects the optimum allowable work position data from the obtained plurality of simulation results.

Therefore, the optimum teaching data can be created by the data creating means from the selected optimum allowable work position data.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The teaching data creating method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control circuit in an off-line teaching data creating apparatus embodying the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an off-line teaching data creating apparatus.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 indicates an off-line teaching data creating apparatus, and reference numeral 1
2a and 12b show a robot controller. Robot controllers 12a and 12b are welding robots 14a, respectively.
And 14b to control this.

The teaching data creation device 10 is a control circuit 1 for controlling the entire teaching data creation device 10.
6, the control circuit 16 includes a CRT 18 which is a display means for displaying a three-dimensional image of the robot, a keyboard 20 and a mouse 22 which are input means for giving various commands, and a floppy disk 24 as a storage means. The hard disk 26, the magnetic tape reader 28, and the printer 30, which is an output unit, are connected to each other.

In FIG. 1, the control circuit 16 is a CPU 32.
An I / F 36 which is an interface circuit with the keyboard 20 and the mouse 22, and a welding robot 14a,
A ROM 38 for storing work position data and the like of 14b and a control program, and a CPU 32 for the ROM 3
RAM 40 for storing a temporary calculation result generated during execution of the control program stored in 8, a setting circuit 42 for setting a plurality of allowable work position data within an allowable range provided for the work position data, Simulation circuit 44 for performing simulation for each of a plurality of work position data
And a selection circuit 46 for selecting the optimum allowable work position data from the plurality of simulation results.

Further, the control circuit 16 has the selection circuit 46.
A data creating circuit 47 for creating teaching data for the optimum allowable work position data selected by
8 which is an interface circuit between the printer 8 and the printer 30.
48, floppy disk 24, hard disk 26
And an I / F 50 which is an interface circuit with the magnetic tape reader 28.

The data creating apparatus 1 configured as described above
0, the operation and effect of creating teaching data will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

When an operator inputs a data read command from the keyboard 20, the mouse 22, etc.,
Work environment data showing the shape of the robot and the peripheral devices required for teaching, operating performance data such as the number of robot arm axes, the length between arm axes, and the acceleration / deceleration data of the arm axes. The work position coordinate data and the work position data including the attitude data of the tool are read from the hard disk 26 via the I / F 50 by the CPU 32 (step S1).

Next, the information indicating the maximum allowable range of the work position data input from the keyboard 20 and the information indicating a plurality of allowable points within the maximum allowable range are RA.
It is stored in M40 (step S2).

In this case, the case where the X axis is allowed within the range of the solid angle θ as shown in FIG.
If a maximum allowable angle is set, for example, 3 degrees, and allowable point information within the maximum allowable angle is set, for example, 1 degree is set in each of the plus direction and the minus direction around the reference 0 degree, a total of 7 steps are required. The settings have been made (Fig. 4
(See (b)).

Then, information indicating the selection criterion of the optimum teaching data set by the keyboard 20 is further stored in the RAM 40 (step S3). This selection criterion is selection criterion 1: the tool reaches the working position.

Selection criterion 2: No interference with other robots and jigs.

Selection criterion 3: It is the minimum displacement with respect to the reference work position data.

Selection Criterion 4: The displacement direction is prioritized on the plus side.

Selection Criterion 5: The posture change is the minimum with respect to the posture of the reference tool. Etc.

When all the settings are completed by the above steps and the simulation start mode is selected by the keyboard 20, the CPU 32 activates the simulation circuit 44 to start, for example, the simulation of the welding robot 14a (step S4). ).

The simulation is performed for each of the plurality of allowable points set in the step S2, and a stop command is input during the simulation (step S5), or when the set seven step simulations are all finished. (Step S6), the optimum teaching data is selected based on the selection criterion of the optimum teaching data set in the step S3 (step S6).
7).

In this case, when, for example, the teaching data as shown in FIG. 5 is obtained in step S6, the selection circuit 46 cannot reach the allowable point information No. 1 and N.
o.3 and No. 5 are deleted (selection criterion 1), then the allowable point information No. 4 where interference occurs is deleted (selection criterion 2), and the displacement amount of allowable point information No. 7 is allowable. The allowable point information No. 7 is deleted because it is larger than the point information Nos. 2 and 6 (selection criterion 3).

Next, since the allowable point information No. 2 has the displacement direction on the negative side and the allowable point information No. 6 has the displacement direction on the positive side, the allowable point information No. 2 is deleted (selection criterion 4). , The attitude of the reference tool, that is, the attitude change amount with respect to the Z axis is No. 6> No. 6, so N
By deleting o.6 (selection criterion 5), optimum teaching data No. 6 can be obtained.

The optimum teaching data No. 6 thus obtained is displayed on the CRT 18 and is output to the printer 30 to be printed out (step S8) and is stored in the RAM 40 as well as the floppy disk. 24 (step S)
9).

Although the optimum teaching data can be obtained by the steps described above, step S2
An embodiment for setting the maximum permissible range of work position data will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

The first embodiment is given with coordinates of three axes of X, Y, and Z, and works position data as a reference on the surface of the work, for example, P point (see FIG. 6A). This is the case when setting the maximum allowable range that the tool can touch. At this time, by setting the X and Y planes and the diameter R, it is possible to set a circular closed region on the surface of the work as the maximum allowable range (see FIG. 6B).

In the second embodiment, for example, the Z axis is fixed,
By designating the coordinates of four points A, B, C, and D on the X and Y planes, the rectangular closed area surrounded by these four points can be set as the maximum allowable range (see FIG. See c)).

The third embodiment is a case where the maximum allowable range of the posture of the tool is set with respect to the reference work position data P. At this time, a reference axis, for example, the Z axis,
By setting the solid angle θ, the maximum allowable range of the tilt of the solid angle θ can be set for the attitude of the tool (see FIG. 6D).

The fourth embodiment is shown in FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (b).
And, as shown in FIG. 7C, by combining the first to third embodiments, or by using a logical operation or the like, the work position data P on the work W can be stereoscopically displayed. It is possible to set the maximum allowable range of the desired shape.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the setting circuit 42 sets the maximum allowable range and a plurality of allowable point information within the maximum allowable range, and the simulation is performed for each of the set allowable point information. The selection circuit 46 selects work position data from the plurality of simulation results, and the data creation circuit 47 creates teaching data, so that quick and optimum comprehensive teaching data can be obtained.

Furthermore, it is possible to prevent human errors such as oversights that occur when an operator conventionally performs teaching work while monitoring the CRT.
The certainty of the entire teaching data creation work can be increased, and the efficiency of the teaching program creation work can be improved.

[0039]

In the teaching data creating method and apparatus according to the present invention, a plurality of allowable point information is set in the preset work position data, and a plurality of simulation results obtained by performing each of the allowable point information are obtained. , Select the optimum work position data or the optimum allowable work position data. Further, by creating the teaching data for the selected optimum work position data or the optimum allowable work position data, the optimum teaching data can be obtained quickly and reliably.

Therefore, since it is possible to reduce the teaching work that has been repeatedly performed by the experience of the operator until the optimum teaching data is obtained, it is possible to suppress a great amount of time and labor required for this teaching work. It has the effect of being possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit in a teaching data creation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a teaching data creation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation of creating teaching data by the teaching data creation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of setting a maximum allowable range by the teaching data creation device shown in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing an example of teaching data obtained by the teaching data creation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a maximum allowable range is set by the teaching data creation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example in which the maximum allowable range is set by the teaching data creation device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of Codes] 10 ... Teaching data creating device 16 ... Control circuit 18 ... CRT 20 ... Keyboard 24 ... Floppy disk 30 ... Printer 32 ... CPU 38 ... ROM 40 ... RAM 42 ... Setting circuit 44 ... Simulation circuit 46 ... Selection circuit 47 … Data creation circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first step of setting a plurality of allowable work position data within a predetermined allowable range in work position data relating to a work position by an industrial robot, and a work such as a shape of a peripheral device including the industrial robot. A second simulation is performed for moving the industrial robot to each work position corresponding to the work position data and the plurality of allowable work position data based on the environmental data and the operation performance data on the industrial robot. And a third step of selecting the optimum work position data or the optimum allowable work position data from the results of each simulation, and creating teaching data for the data obtained in the third step. A teaching data creation method characterized by the above. 2. Storage means for storing work position data concerning a work position of the industrial robot, work environment data such as a shape of a peripheral device including the industrial robot, and operation performance data concerning the industrial robot. Setting means for setting a plurality of allowable work position data within an allowable range for the work position data, corresponding to the work position data and the plurality of allowable work position data based on the work environment data and the operation performance data Simulation means for performing a simulation for moving the industrial robot to each of the work positions, selection means for selecting the optimum work position data or the optimum allowable work position data from the results of the simulations, and the selection means Create teaching data for the data selected by A teaching data creation device, comprising: