JPH0760577A - Controller for automatic assembly device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a controller for an automatic assembly device for performing automatic building action so as to prevent a user from being forced to perform labor such as finely assigning a workpiece position in a magazine by assigning a specific cell position in the magazine divided into a plurality of cells. CONSTITUTION:A magazine 1, provided with a plurality of cells for receiving workpieces 4, is provided, and an arm 3 is moved by a robot 100 to move a finger to a target workpiece position, so that the workpiece 4 taken out from the magazine 1 is fitted in a jig 2. A controller, for automatizing work thus performed, has the first memory for storing an assembling program containing a relative position information for showing a relative cell position in the magazine and the memory for storing a parameter for converting the relative position information into a coordinate system. In accordance with the assembling program stored in the first memory, the relative position information is converted into a position of the coordinate system by using the parameter stored in the second memory, to control the work.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for an automatic assembling apparatus, and more particularly to an improvement of control (so-called palletizing operation) for specifying a specific part from a plurality of parts stored in a pallet (magazine). .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-123723 "Pallet Space Positioning Method in Robot System" is a conventional technology relating to a method for an automatic assembling apparatus to pick or place parts in a magazine. is there. In this conventional technique, the positions of the works on the magazine are represented as a matrix, and the control unit is taught the three end points on the matrix and the number of rows and columns. The control device calculates the position coordinates of each work from these teaching data, creates a program that the calculated position coordinates are provided to the robot as position data when the work gripping operation is executed, and by executing the program, It is palletizing.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, an operator (program creator) must write an operation program necessary for the automatic assembly apparatus to execute palletizing. The process of creating this program is time-consuming and requires programming with the relatively complicated concept of a matrix in mind, and program errors are likely to occur. In addition, the program itself becomes long, and the program interpretation time during execution cannot be ignored.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems, and its object is to provide an automatic assembling apparatus that does not require the user to finely specify a work position in a magazine. A control device is proposed. According to the present invention, there is provided a control device for an automatic assembling apparatus which performs an automatic assembling operation by designating a specific cell position in a magazine divided into a plurality of cells, the inside of the magazine being described by a user. A first memory for storing an assembly program including relative position information indicating a relative cell position in, and an input device for inputting a parameter for converting the relative position information into a coordinate system in the automatic assembly device, A second memory for storing the input parameters and a programming device for interpreting and executing an assembly program stored in the first memory, wherein the relative position information is stored in the second memory. And a program device for converting the coordinate system position into a position in the automatic assembling device using the existing parameters and executing the program.

Therefore, since the relative position in the magazine is converted to the position of the coordinate system of the assembling device on the control device side, the user does not need to create a program for the conversion.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the size of the magazine that stores the work is set to 5 rows and 5 columns. FIG. 1 is a view showing a general assembling work by a robot 3 as an automatic assembling apparatus. In FIG. 1, the robot 10
0 moves the arm 3 to move the finger to the target work position, grips the work 4 from the magazine 1 and assembles it to the jig 2. Generally, the inside of a magazine (also called a pallet, which is also referred to as a magazine hereinafter) used for assembling work is divided into a plurality of cells, and the cells here are often partitioned in a matrix. The robot repeats the work of picking up works on the magazine one after another and assembling them on the jig 2 every cycle. Such work is called "palletizing operation".

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a control device 200 for controlling the control of the robot 100 and its robot.
The control device 200 includes a processor (CPU) 4, a memory (R
OM, RAM) 5, 6, input / output interface 9, 1
0, common bus 11. The RAM 6 stores various data, and the program ROM 5 stores the program. The motor control unit 11 of the robot receives various operation commands via the output interface 9 and performs operations according to the commands. Furthermore, the robot causes various state quantities (feedback and teaching) associated with its movement to be loaded into the CPU and RAM through the input interface. RO
M5 has the MOV PALUP command and MOV PUP described later.
A program for interpreting and executing the ALDWN instruction is stored.

Next, palletizing will be described.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the 5 used in the automatic assembly system of the embodiment.
It is a conceptual diagram explaining the method of pinpointing the position of each point above the magazine of a row 5 column. 5 in this 5x5 magazine
25 points of teaching data are required to specify each of x5 = 25 cells. What is characteristic of the system of this embodiment is that the teaching data includes a reference point P ₁ for teaching, a sky point P ₀ thereof, an x-axis direction end point P _2, and a y-axis direction end point P _3. This means that there are only five types of data including the reference point and the size of the matrix, that is, (W _X , W _Y ) = (5, 5). These data represent the coordinates of all the 25 cells and their sky points. That is, the reference point coordinates are P ₁ = P ₁₁ = (x ₁ , y ₁ , z ₁ , S ₁ ) P ₂ = P ₁₅ = (x ₂ , y ₂ , z ₂ , S ₂ ) ... (1) P ₃ = P ₅₁ = (x ₃ , y ₃ , z ₃ , S ₃ ) (2) P ₀ = P _11z = (x ₀ , y ₀ , z ₀ , S ₀ ) ... (3) Then, X, Y The difference values (that is, the size of one cell) ΔPx, ΔPy, and ΔPz in the Z direction and the Z direction are ΔP _X = (P ₂ −P ₁ ) / W _X (4) ΔP _Y = (P ₃ −P ₁ ) / W _Y (5) ΔP _Z = (P ₀ −P ₁ ) (6) Therefore, the desired m rows and n columns (m, n = 0
Coordinates Pmn of P in to 4), as shown in FIG. _{3, P mn = P 11 +} ΔP x * m + ΔP Y * n ... (7) becomes also, over point P _MnZ of P _mn is 4 As shown, P _mnz = P _mn + ΔP _z (8)

Conventionally, the user himself had to program an algorithm for _{obtaining the} arbitrary coordinates P _mn . In other words, the user created such a coordinate conversion program using various commands specified in the robot language to be used, and such a program was not stored in the memory by the conventional control device. is there. In the present embodiment, the user only supplies the work information as shown in FIG. 5 to the control device 200, and the control device 200 generates the position coordinates of the desired work. That is, in this embodiment, a command MOV PALDWN (WN) is prepared to move the finger from the sky point to the descent point as shown in FIG. The command (WN) is prepared. Here, WN is a work number. The user first inputs various kinds of work information as shown in FIG. 7, and then the robot operation program (that is, the assembly operation program) is input with the MOV PALUP command or M
Created using OV PALDWN. The input work information is stored in the RAM 6 as shown in FIG. 7, for example.
FIG. 6 shows the main data structure of the RAM 6. RAM6
The work information table 302 and the assembly operation program 303 described and created by Yusa are stored in the table.

Under the control of the work information creation program 300 (FIG. 5), the work information shown in FIG. 7 is displayed by the user on a keyboard (not shown) or a teaching pendant (teaching console).
Enter using. Details of the work information creation program are shown in FIG. The assembly operation program 303 including the MOV PALUP command and MOV PALDWN is the interpretation execution program 3
01 interprets and executes. The details of the program 301 are shown in FIG. 9, and as will be seen later, when the interpretation execution program 301 finds the MOV PALUP command or MOV PALDWN in the assembly operation program 303, the above (7),
The coordinate conversion shown in the equation (8) is performed. That is, since the control device 200 of the present embodiment incorporates the coordinate conversion program in advance, the user is free from the trouble of writing the coordinate conversion program by himself / herself.

Explaining the work information of FIG. 7, the work number field stores the work number WN. Figure 7
In the table, for each work number, "array X",
Includes fields such as "array Y", "array pattern", "work remaining number", "use program", "use point" and the like. The "array X" field indicates the number of cells in the X direction,
In this example, it is "5", and the "array Y" field indicates the number of cells in the Y direction, which is "5" in this example. The "arrangement pattern" field indicates a number for identifying the arrangement pattern of the works stored in each cell of this magazine. If the identification number is "1", the works are stored in the magazine in a pattern as shown in FIG. If it is "2", the pattern is as shown in FIG. In any case,
If this pattern is known to the control device 200,
It is possible to reliably grasp the target work by skipping the empty cells. The "remaining number of works" indicates the number of works currently stored in the magazine, which is "2" in this example.
5 ". When the work is used, the interpretation execution program 301 decrements the value of the remaining number field by one.
The "use program" field indicates by which gripping program this work is gripped. The “use point” field stores the value of each point in FIGS. 3 and 5. In principle, the "work number" and the "point of use" match. However, the "array pattern" is
In the case of 1, when the work numbers are sequentially assigned only to the works that are actually stored,
Naturally, "point number" and "work number"
Will no longer match. The user is allowed to specify the work by the "work number", and the control device can know the actual cell position by the "use point" number corresponding to the "work number".

The work information creating program 300 of the embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When this program is activated, the control device 200 enters the teaching mode in step ST1. This is for teaching the above-mentioned three reference points. In step ST2, the user is prompted to specify a program for controlling the finger on which this work is to be gripped. In steps ST3 to ST6, the sky point P ₀ for the starting point P ₁ , the row direction end point P ₂ , the column direction end points P ₃ , P _{1 is} taught. These teaching point data will be stored in step ST14.

At step ST7, the operation shifts to the "work table mode". In this mode, the work number WN or the like is set in the work information table. That is, in step ST8, the user is prompted to input the work number WN. In step ST9, the number W _X in the row direction is prompted, and in step ST10, the number W _Y in the column direction is prompted. Work arrangement pattern in step ST11
The input of WL is prompted, and in step ST12, the input of the remaining number of workpieces WZ is prompted. Also, in step ST13,
The program number input in step S14 is set in the table, and in step ST14, the point number of the work is set in the table together with the teaching data taught in steps ST3 to ST6.

FIG. 9 shows a solution of the MOV PALDWN command as an example.
It is a flowchart of the execution procedure. Where the assembly operation
It is assumed that the program 303 includes the command MOV PALDWN (WN). Take out this command
And the program 301 is the work corresponding to the WN in the command.
Search the number field. Smell in step ST22
Is the palletizing data P₀~ P₃From the table
Reach. In step ST23, equations (4) to (6) are used.
Therefore, interpolation is performed and ΔP_X, ΔP_Y, ΔP _ZCalculate
It At step ST24, the remaining number of workpieces WZ and the array pattern
Based on the turn information WL,
The row number m and the column number n of the work to be gripped are calculated.
In step ST25, according to equations (7) and (8)
, P_mnAnd the sky point P_mnzAnd are calculated. However, WL
In the case of = 1 (FIG. 10), the row number m and the column number n are
Calculate as follows.

M = [(W_X・ W_Y-W_Z) / W_X] +1 (9) n = (W_X・ W_Y-W_Z) / W_X-[(W_X・ W_Y-W_Z) / W_X] (10) Here, [A] represents the integer part of A. Step ST2
At 6, the remaining number WZ is subtracted. Up in step ST27
Vacant point P _mnzTo the descending point P_mnMove to.

It is self-evident that the interpretation and execution of the MOV PALUP instruction are substantially the same as the control procedure of FIG.
In step ST27, the descending point P _mn to the sky point P
_{It differs in that} it moves to _mnz . The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, in the above embodiment, the cell position to be picked or placed next is stored in the form of the remaining number, but it may be stored in the form of the row number and the column number.

[0017]

As described above, the user describes the control device for the automatic assembling apparatus of the present invention, which performs the automatic assembling operation by designating a specific cell position in the magazine divided into a plurality of cells. A first memory for storing an assembly program including relative position information indicating a relative cell position in the magazine, and a parameter for converting the relative position information into a coordinate system in this automatic assembly apparatus. An input device for inputting, a second memory for storing the input parameters, and the first memory
A program device for interpreting and executing an assembly program stored in a memory of the second computer,
And a program device for converting the position into the coordinate system position in the automatic assembling device by using the parameters stored in the memory of the memory and executing the program.

Therefore, since the relative position in the magazine is converted to the position of the coordinate system of the assembling device on the control device side, the user does not need to create a program for the conversion. Specifically, there is an effect that the user is freed from troublesome programming, the occurrence of a program error is eliminated, and the program interpretation time is shortened by shortening the program.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic assembly system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a control device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a falling point of palletizing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing sky points of palletizing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a ROM 5;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a RAM 6;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a structure of a work information table.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a program for creating a work information table.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an instruction interpretation execution program using MOV PALDWN as an example.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an array pattern.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an array pattern.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of reference point data in a work information table.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Magazine, 2 ... Jig, 3 ... Robot (scalar type)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A controller for an automatic assembling apparatus which performs an automatic assembling operation by designating a specific cell position in a magazine divided into a plurality of cells, wherein the controller in the magazine is described by a user. A first memory for storing an assembly program including relative position information indicating a relative cell position; an input device for inputting a parameter for converting the relative position information into a coordinate system in this automatic assembly apparatus; A second memory for storing input parameters; and a program device for interpreting and executing an assembly program stored in the first memory, wherein the relative position information is
A controller for the automatic assembling apparatus, comprising: a program device for converting into a position of a coordinate system in the automatic assembling apparatus using the parameters stored in the second memory and executing the program. 2. The magazine has a rectangular shape extending in the X and Y directions, and the parameters include the number of workpieces in the X direction, the number of workpieces in the Y direction, and a teaching point. The control device for the automatic assembly apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The control device for an automatic assembly apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the parameter further includes a remaining number of workpieces. 4. The control device for an automatic assembly apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the parameter further includes a work array pattern. 5. The assembly program is described by an instruction having a parameter for designating the number of a work in a magazine, the programming device has a program for interpreting and executing the instruction, and the interpreting and executing program implements the parameter. The control device for the automatic assembly apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a routine for converting the position into a coordinate system position in the automatic assembly apparatus.