JPH0788785A - Industrial robot with load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To move a moving object in similar accuracy of permissible load or more of a robot arm capable of holding the moving object moved accurately three-dimensionally, by providing a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism for supporting a specific proportion or more of a load of the moving object. CONSTITUTION:A load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20, set up adjacent to a robot arm 10, has ability for supporting at least 20% or more 3 load of a moving object, and also a supporting part for supporting 3 moving object P or in the vicinity of a holding part of the robot arm 10 has at least a moving range to agree with that of this holding part. Accordingly, the load of the moving object P is partially loaded without interfering with moving the robot arm 10. Thus by substantially reducing the load of the moving object P applied to the robot arm 10, even when the moving object P is a heavy load, necessity for changing the robot arm 10 with that of larger permissible load is eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an industrial robot, and more particularly to an industrial robot capable of precisely holding and moving a moving object having a large load, although the manufacturing cost is slightly increased. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An industrial robot has a holding unit that holds and moves an object to be moved, and the movement of the holding unit is precisely controlled three-dimensionally.

Here, the moving object is a paint injection nozzle in the case of a coating robot used in the automobile industry, and a welding gun in the case of a welding robot. In the case of an electric motor assembly robot, it is each part of the electric motor, and in the case of a mobile work robot, it is a work or other item to be moved.

[0004]

In general, the cost of an industrial robot increases greatly as the allowable load increases,
In addition, if it is attempted to manufacture a robot having a structure that exceeds a heavy load (300 kg), the volume and installation area of the robot main body becomes enormous, which is not practical from the economical and structural viewpoints.

For example, a work attachment / detachment work robot installed adjacent to a machining center has an allowable load of 100.
Although it is about kg, when it is necessary to replace the jig for fixing the work, it is not uncommon to exceed 300 kg. Therefore, in such a case, the work attachment / detachment work robot described above cannot be used, which is extremely inconvenient.

A pallet changer for supplying / discharging a work or a pallet to be machined on a machine tool is usually
The allowable load is a small value of about 10 kg. However, due to the sophistication of machine tools in recent years, it has become possible to machine various kinds of workpieces and large workpieces with similar machine tools. It is uneconomical to dispose of existing equipment in order to handle heavier workpieces, and there has been a demand for the invention to make effective use of these pallet changers.

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art. Although the manufacturing cost is slightly high, the moving object with a large load can be precisely held. An object of the present invention is to provide an industrial robot having a movable load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism.

An industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to the present invention includes a robot arm capable of three-dimensionally precisely moving a holding unit that holds and moves an object to be moved, and a robot. The support unit, which is installed adjacent to the arm and has the ability to support at least 20% or more of the load of the moving object, and which supports the moving object or the vicinity of the holding unit of the robot arm, corresponds to the movement range of the holding unit of the robot arm. And a load-supporting auxiliary arm mechanism adapted to have at least matching movement ranges.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is installed on the ceiling above the moving object independently of the robot arm.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is fixedly installed on a part of the base or frame of the robot arm.

[0011]

The load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is installed adjacent to the robot arm and has at least two loads of the moving object.
In addition to having the ability to support 0% or more, the supporting portion that supports the moving object or the vicinity of the holding portion of the robot arm has at least a moving range that matches the moving range of the holding portion. Therefore, a part of the load of the moving object is borne without disturbing the movement of the robot arm. As a result, the load of the moving object on the robot arm is substantially reduced, and even if the moving object is heavy, it is not necessary to replace the robot arm with a large allowable load.

When the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is installed on the ceiling above the moving object, there is less possibility of disturbing the movement of the robot arm and the installation space is reduced.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment of an industrial robot having a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to the present invention.

The illustrated industrial robot is roughly
A robot arm 10 capable of precisely moving a holding unit that holds and moves the moving object P three-dimensionally, and a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism hung on a ceiling portion above the robot arm 10. 20 and 20 are included. The load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20 has a capability of supporting at least 20% or more of the load of the moving object P, and a supporting portion for supporting the moving object P is moved in a movement range of a holding portion of the robot arm 10. It is necessary to have at least a range.

As the robot arm 10, various conventionally known ones can be adopted. What is shown is that described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-24594,
A plurality of pallet stockers 1a, 1 for storing pallets
A workbench and a stocker 1d for mounting and demounting the workpieces mounted on the b and 1c and the pallet 9 are arranged concentrically and radially around the robot arm 10. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the pallet stockers 1a, 1b, 1c and the stocker 1d are formed in a multi-layered form so as to store pallets at a plurality of pallet storage positions. That is, the pallet 9 and the like are mounted and stored on the base 2. Pallet stocker 1
The rotary table 3 of the robot arm 10 is arranged in the vicinity of a, 1b, 1c and the stocker 1d. A support base 4 is erected on the rotary table 3, and a moving base 5 is mounted on the support base 4.
Is movably supported in the vertical direction shown in the figure. The support base 4 is formed at substantially the same height as the pallet stockers 1a, etc., so that the movable base 5 can be moved to a position substantially facing the stored pallet.

A first arm 6 whose one end side is link-coupled is attached to the movable table 5, and one end side of a second arm 7 is link-coupled to the other end side of the first arm 6. One end of the support arm 8 is linked to the other end of the second arm 7. The first arm 6, the second arm 7, and the support arm 8 constitute a pallet support mechanism that supports the pallet 9. The support arm 8 has an L-shaped cross section,
It is formed so as to support and hold the pallet 9.

The pallet stocker 1a and the rotary table 3 are arranged in the vicinity of the machine tool M, a so-called machining center as a whole.

Next, the operation of the robot arm 10 will be described in more detail. When the desired pallet 9 in the pallet stocker 1a or the like is pulled out, the rotary table 3 is rotated around its rotation center according to a command from a numerical control means (not shown), and the open side of the support arm 8 is moved to the pallet stocker 1a. Position it so as to confront it. Next, the movable table 5 is moved in the vertical direction along the support table 4, and the support arm 8
Are positioned at positions facing the desired pallet 9.

Further, while swinging the first and second arms 6 and 7 and the support arm 8, the support arm 8 is extended to the extended position and engaged with the lower surface of the pallet 9 (state shown by arrow B in FIG. 3). .

As described above, the first arm 6, the second arm 7 and the support arm 8 are appropriately swung to horizontally insert the support arm 8 below the pallet 9 and raise the movable table 5 slightly. Then, the pallet 9 is lifted, and then the first arm 6, the second arm 7 and the support arm 8 are appropriately swung to pull out the pallet 9 from each of the pallet stockers 1a, 1b, 1c and contract it to the contracted position (third part). Arrow A in the figure
State). In this case, it goes without saying that the support arm 8 is always held horizontally.

Then, the table base of the rotary table 3 is indexed and rotated, the support arm 8 is directed to the machine tool M side, and the first and second arms 6 and 7 and the support arm 8 are swung at this position. The pallet 9 is moved to the machine tool M side.

The above operation is performed for each pallet stocker 1a, 1
This can be done for all b, 1c, and for the pallet 9 in all pallet storage positions. Conversely, the machined pallets 9 on the machine tool M side can be returned to all the pallet storage positions by the same means.

The pallet 9 in the stocker 1d shown in FIG. 1 can be transferred to the pallet stocker 1a or the like by the same method as described above.

The pallet 9, which is the moving object P described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-24594, has a relatively light weight, but sometimes the moving object P exceeds the allowable load of the robot arm 10. May have to be supplied to or discharged from the machine tool M.

The load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20 supports a part of the weight of the moving object P, specifically, 20% or more of the weight, so as to suppress the load applied to the robot arm 10 within its allowable limit. Have.

As the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism, various conventionally known ones can be adopted. The one shown in FIG. 1 is the one described in JP-A-57-41186 installed on a ceiling.

The operation of the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20 will be described below with reference to the principle diagram of FIG.

The load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20 shown in FIG. 1 is attached to a slide member 24 movable along a pair of rails 22 stretched over the ceiling. Therefore, in the case of the moving object P that does not need to support a part of the weight of the moving object P by the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20, it is moved from above the robot arm 10 to another place. be able to.

The arm mechanism 20 is swung by a swivel mechanism 25 having its base end fixed to a slide member 24 to approximately 360 °. Although it is configured such that it can be installed on the ceiling by the pedestal 25a in the drawing, the installation method is arbitrary, and for example, it can be installed on the pedestal or can be configured to travel on the ground with a vehicle stand.

When the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is installed on the ceiling above the moving object, the possibility of hindering the movement of the robot arm is reduced and the installation space is reduced.

The turning mechanism 25 has a structure in which the rotary servo actuator is mounted via a mounting plate 20c provided on a pair of steel plates 20a and 20b.

The arm mechanism 20 has a parallelogram structure so as to maintain balance at any operating position.

That is, the upper and lower arms 2 extending horizontally
An auxiliary arm 27 is interposed between the upper and lower arms 25 and 26, and the base ends of the upper arm 25 and the auxiliary arm 8 are connected to the vertically connecting links 28 and 28 between the steel plates 20a and 20b, respectively.
The upper and lower arms 25, 2 are pivotally supported via 9, 30.
The front end of 6 is vertically connected and vertically supported by a vertical arm 31 which hangs downward through support shafts 32 and 33, respectively. Three
Reference numeral 4 is a vertical auxiliary arm along the vertical arm 31, to which a tip end portion of the auxiliary arm 27 is pivotally supported by a projecting piece 35 thereof via a support shaft 36 and is also pivotally supported by the vertical arm 31 via a support shaft 37. A hanging piece 38 is provided between the support shafts 33 and 37.

The arm mechanism having such a structure is regulated in a certain range (the range of arrow X and arrow Y in FIG. 4),
It is configured so that it can move back and forth and up and down.

A link 43 that vertically connects the base end of the auxiliary arm 27 and the lower arm 26 is pivotally supported by supporting shafts 44 and 45. Reference numeral 49 denotes a vertical movement mechanism connected to the support shaft 45 and configured to move the arm mechanism 20 which is restricted within a range (indicated by an arrow X in FIG. 4) in the vertical direction.
Up-and-down movement of the arm mechanism 20 can be operated using various known servo actuators for driving. Similarly, the back-and-forth moving mechanism 50 can use various driving servo actuators.

Further, in the servo actuator attached to the vertical movement mechanism 49, the thrust force generated by utilizing the air pressure keeps the arm mechanism 20 in a weightless state in accordance with the weight of the work held during the work. Is used for.

Next, the balance mechanism 96 is constructed so that the vertical arm 31 and the second vertical arm 34 can be moved in any position by the operation of the arm mechanism 20 while maintaining a good balance and working. .

The cylinders 99, 99 are arm mechanisms 20.
In order to follow the links 28, 28 with the forward and backward movement of the robot and always move in the forward and backward direction (arrow Z in FIG. 4) while keeping the vertical state, no matter what position the vertical arm 31 moves,
The thrust always acts in the vertical direction, and an appropriate balance can be maintained.

In the industrial robot of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, even if the support shaft 45 moves up and down in the direction of the arrow X, as is clear from the fifth operation explanatory view, ΔABC and Δ.
If the ADE always keeps the similar shape, the arm mechanism 2
No. 0 can maintain the balance, and when there is a load, the load balance can be properly maintained by the large thrust in the vertical direction due to the air pressure of the servo actuator as described above, and a weightless state can be created.

In the illustrated embodiment, a vacuum pad 57 attached to a link L pivotally supported at the lower ends of the vertical arm 31 and the second vertical arm 34 supports almost all the load of the pallet 9. However, it goes without saying that it is possible to reduce the load bearing ratio or convert it to various conventionally known hand mechanisms.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are perspective views of another embodiment of the industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to the present invention.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20 is fixedly installed on the base 10a of the robot arm 10 at a position behind the robot arm 10. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 7, the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20 is fixedly installed on the top of the support base 4 of the robot arm 10 of the same type as that shown in FIG.

Robot arm 1 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
Since the 0 and the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism 20 have conventionally known structures, detailed description of these structures will be omitted.

[0045]

In the industrial robot with the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to the present invention, since the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism supports at least 20% or more of the load of the moving object, the moving object is held. It is possible to move an object to be moved that is equal to or more than the allowable load of the robot arm that can be moved three-dimensionally with the same precision.

Since the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is generally a fraction of the price as compared with the robot arm, it has an effect that a heavy moving object can be precisely moved at a substantially low price.

Further, since the industrial robot can be miniaturized, there is an effect that the robot can be installed within the work range in which the worker is conventionally acting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the vicinity of the robot arm shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the vicinity of the robot arm shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a principle view of the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism shown in FIG.

5 is an explanatory view of the operation of the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism of FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to the present invention.

[Explanation of Codes] 1a, 1b, 1c ... Pallet stocker 2 ... Stand 3 ... Rotating table 4 ... Support stand 5 ... Moving stand 6 ... First arm 7 ... Second arm 8 ... Support arm 9 ... Pallet 10 ... Robot Arm 20 ... Auxiliary arm mechanism for load support M ... Machine tool P ... Moving object

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A robot arm capable of three-dimensionally precisely moving a holding unit that holds and moves a moving object, and is installed adjacent to the robot arm, In addition to having the ability to support at least 20% of the load, the support part that supports the moving object or the vicinity of the holding part of the robot arm has at least a moving range that matches the moving range of the holding part of the robot arm. An industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism, comprising: 2. The industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is installed independently of the robot arm on a ceiling above the moving object. An industrial robot with an auxiliary arm mechanism for load support, which is characterized in that 3. The industrial robot with a load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the load supporting auxiliary arm mechanism is fixedly installed on a part of a base or a frame of the robot arm. An industrial robot with an auxiliary arm mechanism for load support, which is characterized in that