JPH0631670A - Method and device of exchanging tool for manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method and device of tool exchange for a manipulator whereby a manipulator system of high extendability can be constructed by suppressing a device from its complication and size largeness. CONSTITUTION:A double arm type manipulator is provided with the first manipulator driven to follow up to the first master arm and the second manipulator driven to follow up to the second master arm. In a method and a device of tool exchange for the manipulator, an additional manipulator 6 capable of holding and releasing a tool 8 is mounted to the first manipulator, integrally actuated by operating the first manipulator arm and moved between a tool box 3 and the second manipulator, to select respective shafts of these first manipulator and additional manipulator 6 combined and controlled, and the additional manipulator 6 is actuated by a power source to hold or release the tool 8 mounted/removed on/from the second manipulator.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for exchanging a tool attached to the hand of a manipulator, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for exchanging a tool for a manipulator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, manipulators are widely used, for example, when operating on behalf of humans in an environment where humans cannot enter, such as in nuclear facilities.
This manipulator includes a master-slave system in which a master arm is arranged on the operating side, a slave arm is arranged on the working side, and a joystick is used on the operating side. In addition, since it works on behalf of a human being, a dual-arm type manipulator that performs both hands work is often used.

By the way, it is desirable to use a tool suitable for the work content for such a manipulator work, and it is necessary to replace the tool for each work content. This replacement is mostly done manually by the operator. However, in the case of manual replacement, it is good if the operator can approach the manipulator and can immediately replace it, but if the operator is far away, for example, if the manipulator is attached to the tip of the telescopic boom. Every time the tool is replaced, the boom must be contracted to lower the manipulator to the ground, and it takes a long time to replace the manipulator and the operator needs to be separated from the operating side. As a result, a slave manipulator and an indicator for instructing the attachment / detachment of tools are required on the working side, which complicates the control device.

Therefore, recently, in order to solve such a problem, a tool changing device for automatically changing the tool attached to the hand of the manipulator has been considered as follows.

(A) The operator operates the manipulator or teaches the exchange position in advance, so that the tool can be attached and detached when the hand of the manipulator is accurately positioned in a predetermined relationship with respect to the tool changing device. Configured to be viewed.

(B) In the case of a manipulator having a force feedback function, a tool box accommodating a simple tool is installed near the manipulator, and the manipulator is driven by operating the operation side with respect to the tool of this tool box, It is configured so that the worker can attach and detach the tool while feeling the force by feedbacking the force to the operating side.

(C) Using the control for automatically moving the manipulator to the replacement position by increasing the position accuracy and the device for moving the tool box to the tool replacement position, the tool box or both are removed after the tool attachment / detachment surfaces are aligned. It is moved in the direction and automatically attached and detached.

[0008]

However, in the tool exchanging device as described in (a) above, when the tool exchanging device cannot be fully supported due to the shape of the tool side, expandability in the production of the tool is impaired, The tool changer becomes large and the entire device including the manipulator becomes large and heavy. For example, when it is arranged at the tip of the boom as described above, there is a problem that it is difficult to arrange it on the working side due to the limitation of the weight of the boom to be mounted.

Further, the tool changer of (b) requires a tool box adapted to the shape of the tool, which makes the tool box less versatile. Further, when exchanging a tool with the manipulator, the operator on the operating side sees the work target part from the vicinity of the shoulder portion of the manipulator with the camera, which makes it difficult to confirm the tool connection part of the manipulator. For example,
When operating the manipulator with the master arm, if the joint structure of the manipulator is a multi-joint type, an operator can move the manipulator in the field of view of the camera to see the tool connection part. However, since it becomes necessary to move the manipulator to an operating range that is not normally used, the load on the manipulator design increases. As described above, if the shape and the operating range of the manipulator are restricted, the expandability of the system construction for performing the work may be lost.

Furthermore, in the tool changer of (C),
Since it is necessary to improve the positional accuracy of the manipulator and the tool box and a technique for preventing the positional deviation of the tool is required, the size of the entire apparatus may be increased.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and a manipulator tool exchanging method capable of constructing a manipulator system having high expandability while suppressing the complexity of a control device and the enlargement of the entire device. And to provide a device.

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the invention, a first manipulator is driven and driven by the operation of a first master arm, and a second manipulator is driven and driven by the operation of a second master arm. A double-arm manipulator including a second manipulator, which operates the tools attached to the respective hands by the power transmitted from the power source, when replacing the tools attached to the hands of the manipulator, the first manipulator An additional manipulator having a grasping portion capable of grasping and releasing an appropriate tool is attached to the tool connecting portion, and the additional manipulator is operated integrally with the first manipulator by the operation of the first master arm. It moves between a tool box provided at an appropriate position and the second manipulator, and these first manipulators are moved. By combining the control by selecting the respective axes of the motor and additional manipulators,
It is a manipulator tool exchanging method in which the gripping portion of the additional manipulator is operated by the power transmitted from the power source to grip or release the tool, and the tool is attached to and detached from the tool connecting portion of the second manipulator.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first manipulator which is driven and driven by the operation of the first master arm, and a second manipulator which is driven and driven by the operation of the second master arm. A dual-arm manipulator, comprising: a tool mounted on each hand and operated by power transmitted from a power source, wherein the first and second
Attached to a tool box provided at an appropriate position in the operation range of the manipulator and a tool connection portion of the first manipulator, and operated by the first master arm to operate the first master arm.
An additional manipulator that moves integrally between the tool box and the second manipulator by operating integrally with the manipulator of, and has a grip portion that grips and releases the tool by the power transmitted from the power source, The respective axes of the first manipulator and the additional manipulator attached to the manipulator are selected based on an axis selection signal input from the outside to be combined and controlled, whereby an appropriate tool of the second manipulator is selected. A tool changing device for a manipulator, comprising: a combination control means that is attached to and detached from a tool connecting portion.

[0014]

Therefore, according to the present invention, the additional manipulator mounted on the hand of the first manipulator is integrated with the first manipulator by the operation of the first master arm from the outside by taking the above means. Is operated to move between the tool box and the second manipulator, and grips and releases the tool by the power transmitted from the power source. Therefore, it is possible to replace the tool attached to the hand of the second manipulator. In this case, the tools can be replaced without using a large tool changing device or a special tool box.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a manipulator tool changing device according to the present embodiment. In this tool changing device, first, a manipulator main body shoulder portion 1 is mounted on a distal end portion (not shown) of a telescopic boom, and the main body shoulder portion 1
1 is provided with a first manipulator, a second manipulator, a shoulder camera 2, and a tool box 3, respectively. Here, for convenience of description, the first manipulator is the left manipulator 4 and the second manipulator is the right manipulator 5. Next, this left manipulator 4
Has a tool connecting portion 4a at its tip, and this tool connecting portion 4a
The additional manipulator 6 is attached to the arm via the arm connecting portion 6a at one end. Furthermore, this additional manipulator 6
The other end is provided with a gripping part 6b for gripping a tool, and a visual camera 7 for obtaining visual information in the vicinity of the tool connecting part 5a of the right manipulator 5.

The shoulder camera 2 is provided on the main body shoulder 1 which is a shoulder for the left and right manipulators 4 and 5, and works visual information indicating the working environment of the both manipulators 4 and 5 within the range of view. And sends it to the vicinity of the first and second master arms where there is a person. Here, since the visual information is obtained from the camera line of sight 2a as shown in FIG. 2,
By selecting the camera lens, the environment of the tool box 3 can be properly captured.

The tool box 3 is supported by the support bar 3a from the body shoulder 1 and is provided at an appropriate position within the operating range of the left manipulator 4 and the right manipulator 5, and is added inside as shown in FIG. It holds a manipulator 6 and a tool 8 for the manipulator. That is, the tool box 3 includes the additional manipulator 6 and the tool box 3
The tool 8 is held by being held by the holding unit table 3b lowered from the ceiling, and the tool 8 is held at an appropriate position inside. Here, the additional manipulator 6 is not particularly housed in the tool box 3, but may be installed or temporarily placed by gripping an arbitrary part of the target work or a part that can be gripped by the manipulator side.

The left manipulator 4 has a tool connecting portion 4a at its hand and is driven to follow by operating a first master arm (not shown). Similarly, the right manipulator 5 has a tool connecting portion 5a at its hand and is driven to follow by operating a second master arm (not shown).

Here, the tool connecting portions 4a and 5a are provided with a power supply source for tools on the connecting surfaces as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, for example, and the additional manipulator 6 and an appropriate tool 8 are provided on the left and right manipulators 4, 4. Connect to 5. Here, the tool connecting portions 4a and 5a will be described as the tool connecting portion 4a of the left manipulator 4 and the connecting portion on the tool side to be connected will be described as the arm connecting portion 6a of the additional manipulator 6 for the sake of description. In the figure, the tool connecting portion 4 of the left manipulator 4
a is a center pin 11 in the connecting surface, an air supply hole 12 in the outer periphery thereof, and additional pins 13a to 1a in the outer periphery.
3d and has a structure in which these pins are fitted to the arm connecting portion 5a of the additional manipulator facing each other. Here, the center pin 11 has an engaging portion on the outer periphery and is provided with a mechanism for driving in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG.

The arm connecting portion 6 on the side of the additional manipulator
a is a tool attachment / detachment instruction section 14 which is a push button facing the center pin 11, a holding rod 15 having a structure that fits with the center pin 11, and a drive for driving the holding rod 15 in accordance with an instruction from the tool attachment / detachment section 14. And a section 16.

Therefore, in the arm connecting portion 6a, the pressing rod 15 is pushed by pushing the tool attaching / detaching instruction portion 14 with the center pin 11.
5 is moved in the vertical direction in FIG. 5 by the drive unit 16 to engage with the center pin. That is, the center pin 11
Moves to the right in FIG. 5 after pressing the tool attachment / detachment instruction portion 14, and the small diameter portion 11a of the center pin 11 is engaged with the pressing rod 15 to engage with each other. The attachment / detachment of the tool or the like is repeated each time the tool attachment / detachment instruction section 14 is pressed.

The additional manipulator 6 is, for example, a multi-joint type manipulator, and is connected to the left manipulator 4 via the tool connecting portion 4a by the arm connecting portion 6a at the end portion, and grips the tool at the other end portion. Further, the tool gripping portion 6b for releasing and the visual camera 7 at an appropriate joint portion are provided, and the tool box 3 and the right manipulator are operated integrally with the left manipulator by operating the first master arm. And the tool is gripped and released by the power transmitted from the power source.

Here, the power is specifically air.
As shown in FIG. 6, the left manipulator 1 is supplied to the tool connecting portion 1a from the front of the hand portion through the air hose 17. Therefore, power can be easily supplied to the additional manipulator and the like connected to the tool connecting portion 1a, and the additional manipulator 6 and the tool gripping portion 6b of the hand can be moved. For example, FIG. 7 shows a state where the tool grip 6b is closed, and FIG. 8 shows a state where the tool grip 6b is open. The tool gripping portion 6b has fingers 20a to 20a around the finger driving portion 18 driven by air.
It has an opening and closing mechanism of 20d, and these four fingers 20a to 20
Each d has a pad 19 that is elastically deformed inward. Here, there is a finger 20d on the opposite side of the finger 20b,
In the figure, they overlap. The tool gripping portion 6b grips and releases the tool 8 and the like, and attaches and detaches to and from the right manipulator 5.

The visual camera 7 is provided in the additional manipulator 6 and sends the visual information in the vicinity of the tool connecting portion 5a of the right manipulator 5 to the vicinity of the first and second master arms where the worker is present. This visual information is obtained from the line of sight 7a of the camera as shown in FIG. 9, and is used when the operator operates the first master arm.

Next, a specific shaft configuration of the manipulator tool changing device will be described. Figure 10
It is a motor functional diagram which shows each axial degree of freedom structure in a left manipulator, a right manipulator, and an additional manipulator. The left manipulator 4 has a rotating shaft 22 on the shoulder.
A shoulder bending axis 23, a shoulder and wrist translation axis 24, a wrist rotation axis 25, and a wrist bending axis 26.
And a rotary shaft 27 of the wrist, and the rotary coordinate 25, the bending shaft 26, and the rotary shaft 27 of the wrist represent a posture in three orthogonal axes of the wrist.

The right manipulator 5 as well as the left manipulator 4
The same shaft configuration as that of the rotating shaft 32 of the shoulder portion, the bending shaft 33 of the shoulder portion, the translation shaft 34 between the shoulder portion and the wrist portion, the rotating shaft 35 of the wrist portion, and the bending shaft 36 of the wrist portion. And the rotary shaft 37 of the wrist, and the rotary shaft 3 of the wrist.
5, the bending axis 36 and the rotation axis 37 make the wrist orthogonal 3
It is a polar coordinate type manipulator with an axial configuration that can express the posture on the axis.

The additional manipulator 6 is connected to the tool connecting portion 4a of the left manipulator 4 with the arm connecting portion 6a as a shoulder portion, and the rotating shaft 42 of the shoulder portion and the bending shaft 43 of the shoulder portion.
An elbow bending shaft 44, an elbow rotating shaft 45, a wrist bending shaft 46, a wrist rotating shaft 47, and a tool grip 6
It is an articulated manipulator configured by b and.

The left manipulator 4 is operated by a first master arm (not shown), and the right manipulator 5 is
Similarly, it is operated by the second master arm. The operator operates the master arm to move the manipulator to perform various operations.

Here, with respect to the left manipulator 4 to which the additional manipulator 6 is connected, the operator selects an appropriate axis of the left manipulator 4 and the additional manipulator 6 and then operates the first manipulator arm. For example,
When the left manipulator 4 has an appropriate posture for attaching and detaching the tool 5, only the additional manipulator 6 is operated by the first master arm.

Further, for example, in the exchange apparatus of the present embodiment, the operator sets appropriate axes of the left manipulator 4 and the additional manipulator 6 or selects a combination of axes preset in the memory to integrally perform the operation. It can be operated as a left hand manipulator. For example, the rotary shaft 22 of the left manipulator, the bending shaft 23, the rotary shaft 42 of the additional manipulator 6, the bending shaft 43, and the bending shaft 46.
And the rotary shaft 47 are combined to integrate the left manipulator 4 and the additional manipulator 6 into a multi-joint type left manipulator. This left manipulator can be made to follow the operation of the first master arm.

Further, the configuration of control for realizing the above manipulator will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a control block for a single axis of the manipulator. This figure shows a master-slave system of the same structure for simplification, and shows a servo mechanism for any one axis. This servo mechanism includes a master arm position sensor 51 which detects the position of the master arm and sends a master arm position signal, and a slave arm position which detects the position of the slave arm from a motor 56. A slave arm position sensor 52 that sends a signal, a deviation point 53 that finds the deviation of the slave arm position signal from the master arm position signal and sends it as a deviation signal, and a command value from the deviation signal. The regulator 54 to generate, the driver 55 to generate a drive value from this command value, and the motor 5 to drive based on this drive value.
6 is provided.

The control by such a configuration is performed when the additional manipulator 6 is mounted on the left manipulator 4 and the axis of the additional manipulator 6 is not selected, that is, the first manipulator.
This is performed when all the axes of the left manipulator 4 having the same structure as that of the master arm of FIG. Further, when the right manipulator 5 is controlled by the second master arm, the same control is performed.

On the other hand, when the additional manipulator 6 is attached to the left manipulator 4 to form a left manipulator, and an appropriate shaft in the left manipulator is selected and integrally operated, a master-slave system with a different structure is used. The apparatus of this embodiment is provided with combination control means for controlling the master-slave having the different structure.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the combination control means. This combination control means 60 receives a position signal indicating the position of the first master arm all axes from the operation side all-axis sensor 61 and converts it into reference coordinates, and a following side all-axis position sensor 63. From the additional manipulator 6 and the left manipulator 4 to receive the position signals indicating the positions of the axes, and convert the axes to the reference coordinates after selecting the axis, and the operation-side converter 62 and the tracking-side converter 64.
All-axis deviation point 65 for calculating and transmitting the all-axis deviation signal between the two position signals at the reference coordinates using the position signal from
And an all-axis speed adjuster 66 that generates a speed command at reference coordinates based on the all-axis deviation signal, and a drive conversion unit 67 that converts the speed command to the speed of each axis and sends the speed command. The driver 55 drives the motor 56 according to the speed of each axis.

Therefore, by using this combination control means 60, the axes of the additional manipulator 6 and the left manipulator 4 are combined and set as an integral left manipulator, and the left manipulator is operated by the operation of the first master arm. Can be made.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a specific system of the combination control means. This combination control means 60 controls the additional manipulator 6 and the left manipulator 4 as the computer 71. On the input side of the computer 71, an additional manipulator position sensor 72, a right manipulator position sensor 73, a left manipulator position sensor 74, a right master arm position sensor 75 and a left master arm position sensor 76 are respectively provided as analog / digital converters ( Less than,
Called A / D. ) A / D77a, A / D77b,
They are connected via A / D77c, A / D77d and A / D77e. Here, an axis selection unit 78 for inputting an axis selection signal for selecting an axis is also connected to the input side of the calculator 71.

On the output side of the computer 71, an additional manipulator driver 80 and a right manipulator driver 81 are provided via D / A 79a-c which are digital / analog converters (hereinafter referred to as D / A).
And the left manipulator driver 82 are connected to each other.

Each of the position sensors 72, 73, 74, 75
And 76 are manipulator position signals indicating the positions of the manipulators, corresponding to A of the A / Ds 77a to 77e.
/ D, and the digitized signal of the manipulator position is input to the computer 71.

As described above, the position signals of all the axes of all the arms and the manipulators are input to the calculator 71, and the axial position of the first master arm and the axial position after the selection of the left manipulator are calculated by the reference coordinates. Compare to find the deviation,
Generate command values to move each axis.

This command value is converted into a drive value by each of the D / A 79a to e, and each manipulator driver 8
It is input to each of 0, 81, and 82. Each manipulator driver 80, 81, 82 drives each manipulator based on this drive value. Here, only one block is shown in each driver notation, but all axes are shown.

Further, the method of selecting a predetermined axis from the axes of the additional manipulator 6 and the left manipulator 1 by the axis selection unit 78 is, for example, a method of designating the axis by a switch or a combination of several axes. There is a method of selecting a seed pattern with a switch. By these methods, the information related to the axis selection unit 78 is appropriately calculated by the computer 7.
1 is input as an axis selection signal and software in the computer 71 controls axis selection.

Next, the operation of the manipulator tool changing device as described above will be explained based on the method of the present invention. Figure 1
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the mounting of the additional manipulator.
First, an arbitrary coordinate origin 91 is set for the shoulder portion where the left manipulator 1 is arranged, and a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system is defined. The orthogonal coordinates 92 are indicated by arbitrary coordinates, and the attachment / detachment point 9 indicates the position at which the additional manipulator 6 is attached / detached.
3 and a guide point 94 that is close to the attachment / detachment point 93 and indicates a position for guiding the left manipulator 4 before the attachment in advance.

Here, since the positional relationship between the installation location of the left manipulator 4 and the tool box 3 is determined in advance, the attachment / detachment posture is clear on the orthogonal coordinates 92 by the position sensor of the left manipulator 4 and the position sensor of the additional manipulator 6. Depends on. The attachment / detachment point 93 on the tool box 3 is roughly determined by repeating the attachment / detachment operation several times. The attachment / detachment point 93 obtained by saving the attachment / detachment point data at this time and taking an average value is set as the target. When the attachment / detachment point 93 is determined, the left manipulator 4 moves from the structure of the left manipulator 4 and the arm connecting portion 6a toward the attachment / detachment point 93, and a guide point 94 that is a position easy enough to attach the additional manipulator 6 is determined. It
Therefore, the target position of each axis for the position sensor in the left manipulator 4 for moving the tool connecting portion 4a to the guide point 94 is determined by calculation. Here, when the left manipulator 4 is equipped with the playback function and the additional manipulator 6 is mounted, the tool connecting portion 4a promptly moves the guide point 9a.
Playback control is performed so as to come to 4.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the procedure for using the apparatus of this embodiment. First, when exchanging a tool, the operator operates as described above to attach one manipulator to the arm connecting portion 6a of the additional manipulator 6 (ST.
1). Here, one manipulator will be described as the left manipulator 4. Next, the operator arbitrarily selects, from all the axes of the additional manipulator 6 and the left manipulator 4, an operation axis to be driven to follow by the first master arm (ST2). After this selection, the operator operates the first master arm to integrally operate the left manipulator 4 with the additional manipulator 6 as the left manipulator (ST3). The left manipulator grips the appropriate tool 8 by the tool gripping portion 6b of the hand based on the operation of the first master arm (ST4).
Thereafter, the worker attaches the tool 8 to the tool connecting portion 5a while observing the tool connecting portion 5a of the other right manipulator 5 with the visual camera 7 and the shoulder camera 2 (ST5).

Since the tool 8 is gripped by the additional manipulator 6 and mounted on the right manipulator 4 as described above, the shape of the tool 8 can be appropriately set in the tool box 3 without any problem as long as the tool gripping portion 6b can grip. Can be placed. Therefore, the tool box 3 does not need to be manufactured for each shape of the tool 8, and only one type is required. Therefore, the tool 8 and the tool box 3 can be versatile.

Since the visual camera 7 is provided,
It is not necessary to move the tool connecting portion 2a to the visual field of the shoulder camera 2, and the restriction on the axial arrangement of the manipulator in the system configuration is relaxed. Therefore, the degree of freedom configuration such as the polar coordinate type and the multi-joint type in the manipulator can be designed according to the main work other than the tool change, and the degree of freedom in the system configuration is increased. Further, since no special tool changing device is required, the entire device does not become large.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the additional manipulator 6 grips the appropriate tool 8 and mounts it on the right manipulator 5, so that the shape limitation of the tool 8 is greatly relaxed, and the tool box 3 is used for the tool 8. There is no need to create each shape, and the manipulator axis configuration is not limited, the system configuration is expandable, and there is no need to arrange a special manipulator tool changer. You can

Further, as shown in the present embodiment, the manipulator in which the additional manipulator 6 of the articulated type is attached to the left manipulator 4 of the polar coordinate type is integrally selected by selecting an appropriate axis of the left side manipulator. It can be used for various work environments.

The joint structure of the left and right manipulators 4 and 5 and the additional manipulator 6 is shown in FIG.
However, other joint structures can be similarly implemented.
In addition, the left manipulator 4 and the additional manipulator 6
Although the tool attachment / detachment mechanism in between is shown by the center pin 11, the auxiliary pin 13, the tool attachment / detachment instruction section 14, the pressing rod 15 and the drive section 16, it can be similarly implemented as long as the tool 5 can be attached and detached.

Although the power for gripping and releasing by the additional manipulator 6 has been described as air, it can be similarly implemented by adding another medium such as an electric actuator for gripping and releasing.

Furthermore, the left and right manipulators 4, 5
Also, the additional manipulator 6 and the bilateral master-slave manipulator in which a force sensor for assisting the gripping operation is attached to the first and second master arms can be implemented in the same manner, and a force is fed back by using a joystick instead of the master arm. The same thing can be carried out.

Although the additional manipulator 6 is attached to the left manipulator 4, the additional manipulator 6 may be attached to the right manipulator 5 and the tool 8 may be attached to the left manipulator 4.

Further, as a mounting method other than the above, a method in which the manipulator having the additional manipulator 6 is not moved and the operating side is operated to drive and remove the other manipulator, the manipulator having the additional manipulator and the other manipulator are mounted. The same can be applied to a method of operating both of them and attaching / detaching the tool as a double-arm operation. In addition, the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, the additional manipulator mounted on the hand of the first manipulator is operated by the first master arm from the outside to move the first manipulator to the first manipulator.
It is a simple structure that moves integrally between the manipulator and the second manipulator and moves between the tool box and the second manipulator, and grips and releases the tool by the power transmitted from the power source, which is unnecessary for the design of the manipulator. Since there is no such restriction, it is possible to provide a manipulator tool changing method and device capable of constructing a manipulator system having high expandability while suppressing the complexity of the control device and the increase in size of the entire device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a manipulator tool changing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a monitoring state of a tool box by a shoulder camera during normal work.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a tool box.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a tool connecting portion on the manipulator side.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a tool connecting portion on the manipulator side and the tool side.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the supply of air to the additional manipulator and the tool.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which a tool gripping portion of an additional manipulator hand is closed.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a state in which a tool gripping portion of an additional manipulator hand is opened.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a monitoring state of a tool connecting portion by a visual camera when changing tools.

FIG. 10 is a motion function diagram showing the axial degree of freedom configuration of the manipulator according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a control block of a manipulator single axis.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a block configuration of combination control means.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a specific system of combination control means.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating mounting of an additional manipulator using the playback function of the manipulator.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a procedure of using the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 ... Tool box, 4 ... Left manipulator, 5 ... Right manipulator, 4a, 5a ... Tool connection part, 6 ... Additional manipulator, 6a ... Arm connection part, 6b ... Tool gripping part, 7 ... Visual camera, 8 ... Tool, 60 ... combination control means.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Yamashita 2-4 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Toshiba Keihin Office

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first manipulator, which is driven and driven by an operation of a first master arm, and a second manipulator, which is driven and driven by an operation of a second master arm, each of which is attached to each hand. In a dual-arm manipulator that operates the generated tool by the power transmitted from the power source, when exchanging the tool attached to the hand of the manipulator, an appropriate tool can be grasped and released at the tool connection portion of the first manipulator. An additional manipulator having a different grip portion is mounted, and the additional manipulator is operated integrally with the first manipulator by the operation of the first master arm, and the tool box provided at an appropriate position and the second manipulator. Of the first manipulator and the additional manipulator of each of the first manipulator and the additional manipulator of By selecting and controlling the combination, the gripping portion of the additional manipulator is operated by the power transmitted from the power source to grip or release the tool, and the tool is attached to or detached from the tool connecting portion of the second manipulator. How to change tool for manipulator. 2. A first manipulator, which is driven and driven by an operation of a first master arm, and a second manipulator, which is driven and driven by an operation of a second master arm, and is attached to each hand. A dual-arm manipulator that operates the generated tool by power transmitted from a power source, a tool box provided at an appropriate position in the operation range of the first and second manipulators, and a tool of the first manipulator It is attached to a connecting portion, and is operated integrally with the first manipulator by the operation of the first master arm to move between the tool box and the second manipulator, and from the power source. An additional manipulator having a grip portion for gripping and releasing the tool by the transmitted power, the first manipulator and the manipulator. Combination control means for attaching and detaching an appropriate tool to and from the tool connecting portion of the second manipulator by selecting and controlling the respective axes of the attached additional manipulators based on an axis selection signal input from the outside. A tool changing device for a manipulator, which is provided with.