JPH06155348A - Master manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a master manipulator which is easy in operation and can make both large and small movements. CONSTITUTION:In a manipulator to operate a slave manipulator of 6-freedom degrees, foot switches 11a and 11b to rotate a rotary table 3 for the slave manipulator installed on a base 2 around a first shaft, an analog master arm 12 to operate second to fourth shafts for large movement of the slave manipulator, and a joystick 19 to operate fifth to sixth shafts for small movement of the slave manipulator are mounted on the rotary table 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a master manipulator and an improved arrangement for operating a slave manipulator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various configurations of a master manipulator for operating a slave manipulator in a master / slave manipulator have been considered.

For example, when the master manipulator has a master arm whose shape is similar to that of a slave arm and the master manipulator operates, the slave manipulator moves in a manner similar to that of the master manipulator. There is a master manipulator that operates an slave manipulator with an arm, a master manipulator that is configured with two or more joysticks with two or more degrees of freedom, and a master manipulator that operates a slave manipulator with several levers like a bulldozer. .

[0004]

However, in a master manipulator having a structure using a master arm similar in shape to a slave arm, the master manipulator is difficult to operate if the master manipulator has a large degree of freedom of 6th degree. Since it is about 1/5 the size of the slave manipulator, it is too small to perform fine operations. on the other hand,
In a master manipulator, which is operated by providing a master arm having a configuration different from that of the slave arm, there is a sense of discomfort because the joint structure and the like are different between the master side and the slave side, and an error occurs during coordinate conversion. As described above, the conventional master manipulator has various problems.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a master manipulator which solves the above problems.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, the structure of the present invention is a master manipulator for operating a slave manipulator having an arm similar in shape to the arm of the slave manipulator. It is characterized in that a joystick is provided which moves the slave manipulator smaller by operating the tip end side rather than the vicinity.

[0007]

[Operation] In order to make the slave manipulator make a large movement, the arm similar to the arm of the slave manipulator in the master manipulator is operated to move most of the slave manipulator, and in order to make a small movement, the joystick is gripped and operated. This moves a small part of the slave manipulator nearer the wrist than the wrist.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

The configuration of the master / slave manipulator which is an embodiment of the master manipulator according to the present invention is as follows.
As shown in FIG. First, the configuration of the slave manipulator, which is a prerequisite, will be described. A turntable 3 is provided on a base 2 fixed to a floor surface 1 so as to be rotatable about a first axis (a) which is a vertical axis, and the lower ends of a pair of links 4 are provided on the turntable 3. It is rotatably provided. One lower end of the link 4 can be rotationally driven about the second shaft (b). The upper ends of the pair of arms 4 are rotatably attached to the lower part of the coupling member 5 to form a parallel link mechanism.
A right end of the pair of links 6 is rotatably provided at the left end of the coupling member 5. One right end of the link 6 can be rotationally driven about the third axis (C). A pair of links 6
The left end of is rotatably attached to the right end of the coupling member 7,
It constitutes a parallel link mechanism. One end of an arm 8 is attached to the coupling member 7 so as to be rotatable about a fourth axis (d), and one end of an arm 9 is attached to the other end of the arm 8 so as to be rotatable about a fifth axis (e). Is attached to the other end of the arm 9, and the hand 10 is attached to the other end of the arm 9 so as to be rotatable about the sixth axis (f). Where the hand 10
Is composed of a pair of fingers 10a that can be opened and closed.

Next, the configuration of the slave manipulator is shown in FIG.
Description will be made with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, since the operator operates the slave manipulator on the turntable 3, the chair 25 is fixed on the turntable 3,
A pair of foot switches 11a is provided diagonally forward of the chair 25,
11b is provided. The foot switch 11a is the turntable 3
To rotate in a counterclockwise direction, and the foot switch 11b drives to rotate in a clockwise direction. As shown in FIG. 3A, the rotation speed of these foot switches increases as the depression angle increases.

A similar-shaped master arm 12 is provided near the chair 25. This similar master arm 12
Is for operating the second axis (b), the third axis (c), and the fourth axis (d) that greatly move the slave manipulator,
One end of an arm 14 is mounted on the fixed base 13 so as to be rotatable about the second axis (b), and one end of an arm 15 is rotatable at the other end of the arm 14 about the third axis (c). It is attached to the other end of the arm 15 and the fourth shaft (d)
The grip 16 is attached so as to be rotatable around. A grip 17 is fixed to the grip 16, and the grip 1
A lever switch 18 is attached to 7. As shown in FIG. 3B, when the lever switch 18 is not pressed and the lever angle is small, the joints of the second axis (b), the third axis (c) and the fourth axis (d) are braked. The brake restraining force becomes smaller as the lever angle increases as the lever angle increases. This similar master arm 12 is 1/5 to 1 / of the slave arm.
6, the length of each arm is similar to the slave arm, and the rotation range of the similar master arm at each joint is equal to the rotation range of the slave arm. The rotation angle of each joint of these similar master arms is constantly monitored by a potentiometer or encoder, and the corresponding joint of the slave arm rotates by the same angle as the joint of the similar master arm rotates. The position of the similar-shaped master arm 12 is arranged in front of the chair 25 in FIG. 2, and it is arranged next to the chair 25 in FIG. 1, but it is sufficient if the grip 16 can be reached.

A joystick 19 is provided in front of the chair 25.
Is provided. The joystick 19 has two degrees of freedom for operating the fifth axis and the sixth axis near the wrist of the slave manipulator, and a grip portion 20 is provided at the upper end of the joystick 19. And joystick 1
The arm 9 can be rotated clockwise by tilting 9 in the P + direction, and can be rotated counterclockwise by tilting in the P-direction. On the other hand, turn the joystick 19 Q +
The hand 10 can be rotated clockwise when viewed from above by tilting in the direction of, and can be rotated counterclockwise when tilted in the direction of Q-. As shown in FIG. 3C, the rotation speed of the fifth and sixth axes increases as the operation angle of the joystick 19 increases.

The gripping portion 20 has different mounting surfaces 21 and 22.
And a push button switch 23 for opening the pair of fingers 10a is provided on the mounting surface 21.
2 is provided with a push button switch 24 for closing the pair of fingers 10a. The reason why the stepped mounting surface is provided is to prevent erroneous operation of the push button switch. The pair of fingers 10a are adapted to perform an opening operation or a closing operation at a constant speed.

In addition, a foot-operated stop switch (not shown) is provided so that the movement of the slave manipulator can be immediately stopped in an emergency. In this embodiment, no sensitivity changeover switch or index switch is provided.

In this embodiment, a foot switch for operating the rotary table is provided to place the operator on the rotary table of the slave manipulator. However, the master manipulator is placed on the rotary table without moving the master manipulator away from the slave manipulator. In the case of independent installation, it is necessary to provide a similar-shaped master arm with a four-axis structure of the first to fourth axes without providing a foot switch.

Next, the operation of the master manipulator will be described. The operator sits on the chair 25 and operates the master manipulator. The operator operates the foot switch 11a
Alternatively, when stepping on 11b, the rotary base 3 of the slave manipulator turns clockwise or counterclockwise around the first axis (a), and the operator is always on the rotary base 3, so the hand 1
You can see the direction of 0. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3A, the larger the stepping angle of the foot switch, the higher the rotation speed of the turntable 3.

Next, the operator holds the grip portion 17 of the grip 16.
When the similar-shaped master arm 12 is operated by gripping, the arm 14 of the similar-shaped master arm 12 rotates about the second axis (b), the arm 15 rotates about the third axis (c), and the grip 16 Rotates about the fourth axis (d), and follows the movement of these similar-shaped master arms 12, and the slave manipulators 2 (b), 3 (c), 4
(D) Since the shaft rotates, the slave arm operates similarly to the similar master arm 12. When operating the similar-shaped master arm 12, if the lever switch 18 of the grip portion 17 is held, the second arm is automatically moved to the second position as shown in FIG. 3B.
The braking force applied to the joints of the (b), 3 (c) and 4 (d) axes is released, and when the lever switch 18 is released, each joint is braked. Therefore, when the operator is not operating the master arm 12 by an unrelated external force.
Is not moved. Next, when the operator holds the grip portion 20 of the joystick 19 and tilts it in the directions of P + and P-, the slave manipulator rotates clockwise or counterclockwise about the fifth axis (e), and Q + and Q-. When it is tilted in the direction of, it rotates clockwise or counterclockwise around the sixth axis (f) when viewed from above. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3C, the rotation speed of the fifth and sixth axes increases as the operation angle of the joystick 19 increases.

Next, when the push button switch 23 is pressed, the finger 10a of the slave manipulator is opened, and when the push button switch 24 is pressed, the finger 10a is closed. Finger 10 at this time
The opening / closing speed of a is constant.

[0019]

As can be seen from the above description, according to the master manipulator of the present invention, the master manipulator for operating the slave manipulator is composed of a portion having similar arms according to the function and a joystick. , When performing a large movement, the similar arm can be used, and when performing a small movement, the joystick can be used. Moreover, since the master manipulator is divided and configured, the structure is simple and the cost can be kept low. Furthermore, since the portion that largely moves the slave manipulator corresponds to a similar-shaped arm, there is no operational discomfort.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a master manipulator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a master / slave manipulator having a master manipulator according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 relates to a master manipulator according to the present invention, FIG. 3 (a) is a graph showing the relationship between the foot switch depression angle and the rotary base rotation speed, and FIG. 3 (b) is the lever switch lever angle and braking force. A graph showing the relationship with
FIG. 3C is a graph showing the relationship between the operation angle of the joystick and the rotation speeds of the fifth and sixth axes.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Base 3 ... Rotating table 11a, 11b ... Foot switch 12 ... Similar master arm 19 ... Joystick 23, 24 ... Push button switch (a) ... 1st axis (b) ... 2nd axis (c) ... 3rd axis (D) ... 4th axis (e) ... 5th axis (f) ... 6th axis

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A master manipulator for operating a slave manipulator, the arm having a shape similar to that of a slave manipulator, wherein a joystick for moving the slave manipulator smaller than a vicinity of a wrist of the slave manipulator is provided. A master manipulator characterized by that.