JPH06226683A - Safety device for traveling industrial robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a safety device for securing safety at the time of a worker or the like stepping into a set area including a travel path in a job site using a traveling industrial robot. CONSTITUTION:When a worker P or the like steps on a footboard 18, for instance, in a specified area including a travel path 16 where a robot body 10 and a travel shaft unit 14 travel according to the control of a robot control device 20, a detector 46 detects the displacement and transmits a detection signal to the robot control device 20 through a signal line 48, and the travel shaft unit 14 and the robot body 10 are brought to an emergency stop by the actuation of the safety circuit of the robot control device 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a safety device for an industrial robot, and more particularly to a safety of a traveling industrial robot having a robot body mounted on a traveling axis unit that travels along a straight or curved traveling path at a site where the robot is used. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Industrial robots are used in
For example, in a machine tool factory, when performing machining of a workpiece using a plurality of machining centers or NC machine tools, transfer of an unmachined workpiece from a workpiece storage place to each machine tool and mounting of the workpiece on the machine tool. , Removal, conveyance of the processed work to the processed work storage place, and the like are performed by traveling in accordance with a teaching program by the robot controller.

In the field of use of such an industrial robot, the robot body of the traveling industrial robot is mounted on a traveling axis unit that is movable and movable along a traveling path laid at the site of use. , Raw work storage,
The robot travels between each machine tool and the machined work storage space according to the teaching program, and stops at each target position to perform a required robot operation.

In such a case, conventionally, a certain operation area including a traveling operation area along a traveling path of a robot body mounted on a traveling axis unit and an area around which movable elements of the robot body reach is set. , Safety measures were taken to enclose the whole area with a safety fence. When an operator or the like opens the door provided on the safety fence and steps into the operation area, the detection signal is sent to the robot controller in response to the opening of the door. A safety system has been formed in which a safety circuit of a robot control device is activated and an operation for traveling of a traveling axis unit and a robot body and various robot operations is stopped in an emergency.

However, in order to teach robot work to the robot body, it is necessary for the worker to enter the operation area. In such a case, the function of releasing the emergency stop by the safety circuit of the robot controller is provided. In many cases, it is provided so that an operator can perform a required teaching work or the like while operating the robot body within the operation area.

[0006]

Therefore, there are many cases in which the operator arbitrarily cancels the emergency stop function to enter the operation area to perform some work. However, in the case of the traveling industrial robot as described above, in order to perform a desired robot work by being installed at a fixed position, unlike the case where a single robot body operates,
Although the robot motion area is extremely wide in that it moves along the travel path and the robot body performs robot work at various positions, the worker's consciousness indicates that Forgetting the space, or
When the robot body is performing a predetermined robot work at a point away from the worker on the traveling path, the robot body may make an illusion that the robot body is stationary or installed. as a result,
The worker may step into the traveling road surface of the traveling axis unit and try to perform some work.In such a case, the robot body finishes the robot work according to the predetermined teaching program and the traveling path unit together with the traveling axis unit. In some cases, workers may be approaching and approaching the workers, and safety may not always be ensured.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a safety device capable of improving the safety of an industrial robot, particularly a traveling type industrial robot mounted on a traveling axis unit traveling on a traveling road. To do.

It is another object of the present invention that, even when an operator or the like releases the safety function of the robot control device, when the operator depresses into a predetermined setting area including the traveling road surface, the operator can operate the predetermined displacement means with a predetermined displacement means. It is an object of the present invention to provide a safety device for a traveling work robot capable of detecting movement through displacement and performing emergency stop of traveling of the robot body and robot work operation through a robot controller.

[0009]

In view of the above-mentioned object of the present invention, the present invention provides a safety device for a traveling industrial robot that travels to a desired position on a straight or curved traveling path in accordance with a teaching program of a robot controller. When an operator or the like depresses into a predetermined setting area including the traveling path, a displacement unit that displaces in accordance with the depressing operation, and a detection unit that detects displacement of the displacement unit and generates a depressing detection signal And a transmission line for transmitting a detection signal of the detection means to a safety circuit of the robot controller to issue a safety measure such as deceleration or emergency stop of the traveling industrial robot. The present invention provides a safety device for a traveling industrial robot characterized by the following.

[0010]

According to the above-mentioned structure, when an operator or the like steps on a predetermined setting area, the displacement means is displaced in response to the stepping. Therefore, the displacement is detected by the detection means and the transmission line is detected. Since the detection signal is transmitted via the, the robot control device that has identified and received the detection signal activates the safety circuit, and the robot body of the traveling industrial robot and the traveling axis unit equipped with the same body, Since safety measures such as deceleration or stop can be taken, the safety of workers etc. can be surely ensured. When a worker, etc. leaves the set area and the displacement of the displacement means is resolved, a reset signal is sent to the robot controller to easily stop the traveling industrial robot from running or stop the robot operation. Can be revived from the state.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0012]

1 is a schematic perspective view showing a structural example of an overall mechanism of a traveling industrial robot to which a safety device according to the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a robot in the traveling industrial robot. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the safety device according to the present invention. Sectional drawing which shows one Example of a principal part structure, (b) of the same figure is sectional drawing which shows other Example of a safety device.

Referring to FIG. 1, in a traveling type industrial robot equipped with a safety device according to the present invention, a robot body 10 is mounted on a traveling axis unit 14 which constitutes a traveling element in a traveling path unit 12, and the traveling path is the same. A well-known CNC provided so as to be movable along a predetermined track of the unit 12, for example, a straight track 16 (which may be a curved track).
The robot controller 20 formed by the apparatus travels to various positions as indicated by an arrow A by a control signal such as a teaching program input via the wiring cable 22 and the movement cable 24 and a driving force, and moves to various positions. Perform the required robotic work at the location.

The illustrated embodiment is a robot body 10.
To a position facing the NC machine tools MT1 and MT2 arranged along the traveling path 16 together with the traveling axis unit 12 and the work table 50 on which the unprocessed work W1 is mounted, the machined work table 52 on which the machined work W2 is mounted, and the like. It is an example of a traveling industrial robot used in an automatic machining system for a work, which is positioned and stopped to perform various robot operations such as gripping, conveying, mounting and dismounting of the work.

The robot body 10 of such a traveling industrial robot travels on the straight track 16 of the track unit 12 under the control of the robot controller 20 and is positioned, for example, at the position of the NC machine tool MT1 shown in the figure. When the robot is stopped and the predetermined robot work such as the removal of the machined work W2 and the mounting of the unmachined work W1 is being performed on the machine MT1 according to the teaching program, the robot machine body 10 is sufficiently stopped from the stop position. At a distant point, the worker P steps on the track 16 for some reason, for example, because he / she defensively forgets about the traveling function of the robot machine 10 or illusions that the robot machine 10 is a stand-alone robot body. When the processing W2 on the processed work table 52 is being processed, the robot body 1
0 runs at a high speed of several meters / second, so
A situation may occur in which a predetermined robot work is rushed toward the worker P after finishing the NC machine tool M1.

In such a case, when the worker P steps inside the preset area, in order to ensure safety,
A safety device that prevents the robot body 10 from traveling must be prepared. Therefore, in this embodiment,
At least the straight track 16 in the track unit 12
When the worker P steps into the robot control device 2
A detection signal indicating that the worker is stepping on is sent to 0, and thus the robot controller 20 can instruct the robot body 10 to perform an emergency stop of traveling.

Now, referring to FIG. 2, the traveling axis unit 14 of the traveling path unit 12 equipped with the robot body 10 of the traveling industrial robot travels on the traveling path 16 in both left and right directions, and at a desired position. The configuration of the traveling mechanism that is positioned and stopped by will be briefly described.

The traveling shaft unit 14 of the traveling path unit 12
Has a sliding base structure having a mounting plate surface on which the traveling drive motor M with a speed reducer and the robot body 10 are mounted, and the output shaft (not shown) of the traveling drive motor M is below the plate surface. The pinion 30 protruding to the output shaft is fixed to the stationary rack teeth 32, which extends in the lower portion of the track 16 along the traveling direction and is fixed, and the pinion 30 is rotated in accordance with the rotational output of the traveling drive motor M. When rotationally driven, a traveling force is obtained at the meshing portion with the stationary rack teeth 32, and the traveling shaft unit 14
Is guided by a guide rail, which will be described later, provided on the lower portion of the track 16 so as to travel straight. Then, the traveling direction changes according to the rotation direction of the traveling drive motor M,
When the traveling drive motor M is braked and stopped, the traveling shaft unit 14 also stops.

On the other hand, electric power is supplied to the traveling drive motor M from the side of the robot controller 20 through a wiring cable 22 and a moving cable 24 which is provided along the traveling path 16 and moves in a cable track described later. In addition, the operating power for the motor brake is also supplied. On the other hand, from the position detector such as the encoder of the traveling drive motor M, the position detection signal is fed back via the both cables 22 and 23, so that the traveling axis unit 14 travels at any position on the traveling path 16. It is possible to detect whether the vehicle is stopped or at what point it is stopped. That is, the robot controller 20 is configured to control the traveling and stopping of the traveling axis unit 14 through the control of the traveling drive motor M.

A tread plate 18 is laid over the entire length of the upper surface of the track 16. As is apparent from FIG. 3, the footboard 18 extends to the lower surface side of the traveling shaft unit 14 and is supported by appropriate columns 40 and 42 from below. In addition, the guide rails 34 and 36 described above are provided on the lower surface side of the traveling shaft unit 14 for smooth traveling. When the traveling shaft unit 14 travels by the guides of the guide rails 34 and 36, the moving cable 24 described above has the cable track 38 provided along one side surface on the lower surface side of the traveling shaft unit 14,
It is structured such that it moves in synchronism with the traveling axis unit 14 within 39.

Now, according to one embodiment of the present invention, an operator P (see FIG. 1) steps on the traveling path 16, and particularly the step board 1
When you get on the upper surface of 8, responding to the stepping motion,
A safety device capable of ensuring the safety of the worker P is provided by stopping the traveling of the robot body 10 and further stopping the operation of the robot work by a robot movable element such as an arm as necessary. .

This safety device is configured to detect the operator P stepping on any point on the footboard 18 and stop the traveling of the robot body 10 and the robot work as necessary, as described above. Even if the worker P inadvertently forgets the running performance of the robot machine 10 or the illusion that the robot P is a standalone robot machine, the safety of the worker is surely guaranteed.

Now, according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 4A, the footboard 18 is supported by the pillar 4 from below as described above.
A structure is provided in which the footboard 18 is displaced when it is supported by 0, 42 and the operator P depresses and the weight is loaded as shown by the arrow L. That is, the tread plate 18 is provided with spring chambers 43a, 43a recessed in the upper ends of the columns 40, 42.
It is supported via suitable movable elastic bodies 44, 44, such as coil springs or leaf springs, disposed therein, and thus the struts 40,
Upper ends 40a, 42a of 42 are used as stoppers so that they can be displaced downward from a steady position when there is no load to a position where they are stopped by the stoppers according to the load.

On the other hand, when the footboard 18 is displaced from the normal position to the lower stop position, the displacement of the footboard 18 can be detected, for example, a detector including a microswitch 46 is arranged at one or more appropriate positions in the traveling direction. There is. That is, when any displacement of these micro switches 46 detects displacement, a detection signal is transmitted to the robot controller 20 via the signal line 48. Therefore,
Upon receiving the detection signal, the robot controller 20 activates an existing safety circuit (not shown), issues an emergency stop command, shuts off the power supply system to the traveling drive motor M of the traveling axis unit 14, and Emergency stop the operation of the motor M, and
When the traveling axis unit 14 is traveling on the traveling path 16, the emergency brake is activated.

When the movable element of the robot body 10 is operating for some robot work, for example,
In consideration of the case where the distance between the robot body 10 and the worker P is small, the operation of the movable element is also stopped to prevent the traveling axis unit 14 and the robot body 10 from approaching the worker P without fail. Instead, the robot work is also stopped so that the worker P does not come into contact with the movable element of the robot body 10 to ensure safety.

In the method of detecting the displacement of the tread plate 18 shown in FIG. 4 (a) by the detector composed of the microswitch 46, the protrusion 18a of the tread plate 18 is shown by a solid line as shown in FIG. 4 (b). By displacing from the position to the broken line position,
It is also possible to adopt a system in which the displacement of the footboard 18 is detected by a detector composed of a photoelectric switch having a pair of light emitting and light receiving elements 47a and 47b. Alternatively, the displacement of the footboard 18 may be detected by using a known detector such as a mat switch.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the traveling axis unit 14 and the robot body 10 mounted on the traveling axis unit 14 are stopped in accordance with the detection of the displacement of the tread plate 18 has been described. A plurality of detectors detect the stepping position of the worker P to detect the distance from the robot body 10, and when the distance is remote, the traveling axis unit 14 is used.
It is also possible to give an appropriate alarm to the worker P while decelerating the traveling of No. 1 by a whistle sound or the like so as to promptly withdraw the operator P from the footboard 18 of the track 16.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the area of the tread plate laid on the upper surface area of the track 16 is set as the operation area of the safety device. It is also possible to expand the operating area.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when an operator or the like steps on a predetermined setting area including the traveling path of the traveling industrial robot, the robot is detected by detecting the stepping. A safety device is provided that activates the safety circuit of the control device to cause the traveling axis unit equipped with the robot body to make an emergency stop on the track and also to stop the operation of the movable elements of the robot body as necessary. So
Even if an operator accidentally recognizes that the traveling industrial robot has entered the traveling or operating area, it is possible to ensure reliable safety.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a configuration example of an entire mechanism of a traveling industrial robot to which a safety device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a traveling shaft unit equipped with a robot body and a traveling path in the traveling industrial robot, which is extracted and illustrated.

3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the main configuration of the safety device according to the present invention. (B) is sectional drawing which shows the other Example of a safety device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Robot body 12 ... Running path unit 14 ... Running axis unit 16 ... Running path 18 ... Footboard 20 ... Robot controller 22 ... Wiring cable 24 ... Moving cable 40 ... Post 42 ... Post 44 ... Coil spring 46 ... Micro switch 47a ... Light emission Element 47b ... Light receiving element 48 ... Signal line

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A safety device for a traveling industrial robot that travels to a desired position on a straight or curved traveling path according to a teaching program of a robot control device, in which a worker or the like steps into a predetermined setting area including the traveling path. At this time, the displacement means for displacing in response to the stepping motion, the detection means for detecting the displacement of the displacement means to generate a stepping detection signal, and the detection signal of the detection means for the safety circuit of the robot controller. A safety device for a traveling industrial robot, comprising: a transmission line for transmitting a safety measure such as deceleration or emergency stop of the traveling of the traveling industrial robot to a vehicle.