JPH0811078A - Robot hand - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a robot hand which can palletize workpieces without producing a clearance and depalletize them smoothly. CONSTITUTION:A movable frame 7 is supported on a fixed frame 6 attached to a robot arm 5 in such a manner that it can move freely in the horizontal direction, and the movable frame 7 is connected to the fixed frame 6 via bellows 9 so that it can move for the fixed frame 6 due to the adjustment of pneumatic pressure in the bellows 9. A pair of flange portions 2a adjacent to a bucket 2 are held by a claw portion 10 and a clamper 11 provided on the movable frame 7 in the vertical direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to palletizing (stacking on a pallet) and depalletizing (unloading from a pallet) works such as buckets in logistics.
It relates to a robot hand that performs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 6A and 6B are a front view and a plan view showing a palletizing state by a conventional robot hand, wherein 1 is a pallet and 2 is a bucket (work) stacked on the pallet 1. The bucket 2 has a quadrangular shape and has four flange portions 2a at the upper portion, and a fitting portion 2b with the upper portion of another bucket 2 at the lower portion. Reference numeral 3 denotes a robot hand, which supports a pair of opposed flange portions 2a of the bucket 2 with its claw portions 3a and stacks the bucket 2 on the pallet 1. In this case, a gap 4 is provided between the adjacent buckets 2 so as not to contact the claw portions 3a.

On the other hand, when depalletizing, that is, moving the buckets 2 stacked on the pallet 1 to another, it is desirable to provide a partitioning jig so that the bucket 2 does not move, but it is practical to process the pallet 1 Not that this has happened. Further, a method of dealing with the positional deviation of the bucket 2 by using image processing at the time of palletizing and depalletizing is also considered, but it is realized only when the target work is a cardboard box or a bag.

[0004]

When palletizing and depalletizing a pair of opposed flange portions 2a of the bucket 2 by the claw portions 3a as in the conventional robot hand 3 described above, palletizing and depalletizing are performed between the adjacent buckets 2. Claw 3a
Requires a gap 4 to escape, the load of the bucket 2 on the pallet 1 is reduced, and the load of the bucket 2 is displaced. Further, although the palletizing can be performed smoothly depending on the accuracy of the robot, the depalletizing cannot be performed smoothly because it is difficult for the claw portion 3a to enter the gap 4 due to the displacement of the bucket 2 or the like.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a robot hand that can palletize a work such as a bucket without any gaps and can smoothly depalletize it. The purpose is to

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a robot hand supports a movable frame horizontally on a fixed frame attached to a robot arm, and the fixed frame and the movable frame are bellows. A pair of holding means for holding the pair of flange portions of the bucket adjacent to each other from above and below, the movable frame being movable relative to the fixed frame by adjusting the air pressure in the bellows. Is.

Further, in the robot hand according to the second aspect, instead of the above-mentioned holding means, a movable frame is provided with a suction means for sucking a work and a positioning means for positioning the work.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the pair of adjacent flange portions of the bucket are clamped from above and below, and no gap is required between the buckets. Further, the movable frame follows and moves even if the palletized bucket is displaced, and smooth depalletizing is performed.

In the second aspect, the works are attracted to the movable frame, and no gap is required between the works. or,
The movable frame follows the displacement of the work, and the depalletizing is performed smoothly.

[0010]

【Example】

Embodiment 1 Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
2A and 2B are a schematic plan view and a schematic front view of the robot hand according to the first embodiment. Reference numeral 5 denotes a robot arm that moves in a three-dimensional space by a predetermined motion, 6 denotes a fixed frame attached to the robot arm 5, 7 denotes a movable frame, and a supporting portion 7a thereof.
The horizontal portion 6a of the fixed frame 6 is provided between the connecting portion 7b and the connecting portion 7b which is inserted into the hole 6b formed in the horizontal portion 6a.
The movable frame 7 and the support portion 7a are connected to each other through a free roller 8 provided between the movable frame 7 and the horizontal portion 6a and between the support portion 7a and the horizontal portion 6a. It is supported so as to be movable in the horizontal direction with respect to the fixed frame 6.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a pair of bellows connected between the fixed frame 6 and the movable frame 7 and having different directions of 90 degrees. Reference numeral 10 denotes the movable frame 7 corresponding to a pair of adjacent flange portions 2a of the bucket 2.
A pair of claws, 11 attached to the lower part of the, are a pair of clampers provided on the movable frame 7 so as to face the claws 10 in the vertical direction, and are constituted by air cylinders. 12 is a stopper provided inside the fixed frame 6, 13 is the fixed frame 6
The electromagnetic valve 13 is connected to the sealed bellows 9 via a pipe 14, and the electromagnetic valve 13 is switchably connected to an air pressure source and a vacuum generator.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are a front view and a side view showing the mounting state of the bellows 9. Both ends of the bellows 9 are rotatably attached to the fixed frame 6 and the movable frame 7 via pins 15. It is connected. When the movement of the bellows 9 is large, it is better to use a joint. A spiral nylon tube is used for the pipe 14 to have elasticity.

Next, the operation of the robot hand having the above structure will be described. First, at the time of palletizing, the robot arm 5 is moved, and the bellows 9 moves the solenoid valve 13 and the pipe 14.
A pair of adjacent flange portions 2a of the bucket 2 is sandwiched between the clamper 11 and the claw portion 10 by being evacuated through the pallet to be in a contracted position, and the bucket 2 is stacked on the pallet 1. Also, the operation during depalletizing is shown in FIG.
Explaining using (c), first, the robot arm 5 is moved to one of the buckets 2 stacked on the pallet 1 to bring the movable frame 7 close to the bellows 9 as shown in FIG. Send in. As a result, the bellows 9 expands, and if the pressure is the same, the claw portion 10 closer to the bucket 2 first comes into contact with the lower portion of one flange portion 2a of the bucket 2 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4C, the other claw portion 10 abuts on the lower portion of the other flange portion 2a.

In this state, the clamper 11 is projected downward so that the pair of adjacent flange portions 2a of the bucket 2 are held between the pawl portion 10 and the robot arm 5 and the bucket arm 2 is moved upward to move the bucket 2 to another bucket 2. After lifting to a height that does not interfere with, the bellows 9 is sucked to move the movable frame 7 to the stopper 1
Abut on 2 and position. In this way, a combination operation such as picking (depalletizing) the required number of buckets 2 on the pallet 1 and moving the robot arm 5 to palletize again on the shipping pallet can be smoothly performed.

According to the first embodiment, the pair of adjacent flange portions 2a of the bucket 2 are sandwiched between the claw portion 10 and the clamper 11 from above and below, so that the bucket 2 can be palletized without any gaps and palletizing can be performed. The loading rate is improved, and the displacement of the bucket 2 is less likely to occur. Further, even when the bucket 2 is displaced during depalletizing, the movable frame 7 can follow this and the depalletizing operation can be smoothly performed. Therefore, an expensive image processing device or the like which is weak against vibration is unnecessary. Further, the claw portion 10 is provided on the movable frame 7, and the movable frame 7 is connected to the fixed frame 6 via the bellows 9 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the burden on the transportable weight of the robot. Further, the increase in the weight of the bucket 2 can be dealt with by increasing the contact area between the claw portion 10 and the clamper 11, and the movable frame 7
A free roller 8 is provided between the support portion 7a and the fixed frame 6, and the movable frame 7 has good mobility and the bellows 9
Is small enough to work.

Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, the target work is the bucket 2, but in the second embodiment, the target work is a bag or a cardboard box. The movable frame 7 is not provided with the claw portion 10 and the clamper 11, but instead of these, a side plate 7c for positioning the target work and a vacuum pad 16 for adsorbing the target work are provided on the movable frame 7. Other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment.
In this case, the movable frame 7 is brought close to the work, the bellows 9 is extended to bring the side plate 7c into contact with the work, the work is adsorbed and lifted by the vacuum pad 16 and moved by the robot arm 5.

Also in the second embodiment, since the work is adsorbed by the vacuum pad 16 from above, the work can be palletized without a gap. Further, since the movable frame 7 is capable of following the work, it is easy to depalletize even if the work is displaced.

[0018]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the pair of adjacent flange portions of the bucket are sandwiched from above and below, the palletizing can be performed without a gap. Further, since the movable frame can follow the bucket, palletizing can be performed smoothly.

Further, according to the second aspect, since the work such as the bag or the cardboard box is sucked by the suction means from above, the palletizing can be performed without a gap. Further, since the movable frame follows the work, depalletizing can be performed smoothly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a robot hand according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the robot hand according to the first embodiment.

3A and 3B are a front view and a side view showing a mounted state of a bellows according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of bringing the movable frame closer to the bucket according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a main part of a robot hand according to a second embodiment.

6A and 6B are a front view and a plan view showing a palletizing state by a conventional robot hand.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Pallet 2 ... Bucket 2a ... Flange 5 ... Robot arm 6 ... Fixed frame 7 ... Movable frame 7c ... Side blade 9 ... Bellows 10 ... Claw 11 ... Clamper 13 ... Solenoid valve 14 ... Piping 16 ... Vacuum pad

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A robot arm which constitutes a part of a robot and is movable in a three-dimensional space, a fixed frame attached to the robot arm, a horizontally movable frame supported by the fixed frame, and a bellows. A movable frame connected to the fixed frame via a drive means for moving the movable frame with respect to the fixed frame by adjusting the air pressure in the bellows, and a pair of adjacent flanges of the square bucket provided on the movable frame. A robot hand comprising a pair of gripping means for gripping each part from above and below. 2. A robot arm which constitutes a part of a robot and is movable in a three-dimensional space, a fixed frame attached to the robot arm, a horizontal frame movably supported by the fixed frame, and a bellows. A movable frame connected to the fixed frame via, a drive means for moving the movable frame with respect to the fixed frame by adjusting the air pressure in the bellows, a suction means provided on the movable frame and sucking a work,
A robot hand, comprising a positioning means provided on a movable frame for positioning a work.