JPH09141579A - Robot teaching device and teaching method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot teaching device and a teaching method that can perform off-line teaching of high accuracy. SOLUTION: In course of teaching a robot on a three-dimensional coordinate area in off-line operation, whether any one of the preset feature points A-H of a robot finger has interfered with a detailed evaluation area is judged (S11). In the case of interference, the detailed evaluation area is enlargedly displayed, and the digit number of significant figures of the coordinate value used for processing is increased according to an enlargement ratio on a CAD image plane to a three-dimensional coordinate area of the detailed evaluation area (S22). The robot and the finger on the enlarged CAD image plane are moved to set teaching points. In the case of all of the feature points A-H being positioned outside of the detailed evaluation area, the CAD image plane is set back to the CAD image plane that can display the whole three-dimensional coordinate area, and the significant figures of the coordinate value used for processing are reduced to the original number (S24).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot teaching device and a teaching method thereof, and in particular, offline teaching is possible by simulating the robot on a display device based on CAD data of a robot and a work generated in advance. The present invention relates to a teaching device and a teaching method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a manufacturing line of a factory,
Industrial robots such as articulated robots are actively working to improve work efficiency. These robots have a great effect if they start automatic operation, but on the other hand, since the operator teaches the operation in advance, the operator has to make the robot perform each operation in the manual mode on the assembly line. Further, this work, which requires skill and a considerable amount of time, is necessary every time the setup of the manufacturing line is changed, so that work efficiency becomes a problem. In recent years, advances in computers and CAD / CAM technologies have enabled offline teaching. This off-line teaching is based on CAD data of robots and workpieces generated in advance, teaching is performed while simulating the robots on a display device of an engineering workstation (hereinafter, EWS), and the data generated by the robots is taught by the robots. The robot is taught by converting it into a data format according to the servo function it has.

[0003]

However, in the above conventional example, the resolution of the motion of the robot is ±
Despite the high performance of 0.5 mm, when performing off-line teaching, it becomes about ± 3 to ± 5 mm due to the relationship between the EWS coordinate system determined prior to teaching and the resolution of the display device. Therefore, it can be used for work in which such an operation error is tolerated, for example, spray painting process, but it cannot be used for work that requires high-precision operation of the robot, for example, component assembly process. It was

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a teaching device for a robot and a teaching method therefor capable of highly accurate offline teaching.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized by the following constitution.

That is, based on the CAD data of the robot and the work generated in advance, the robot and the work are displayed on a display device in a preset coordinate system, and the robot is simulated to set a teaching point. In the teaching device of the robot for generating teaching data, means for enlarging and displaying the predetermined area while the robot interferes with the predetermined area on the coordinate system, and the enlarging and displaying the predetermined area. Means for changing the number of significant digits of the data format used for generating the teaching data according to the enlargement ratio of the area with respect to the coordinate system. As a result, while the robot is positioned within the predetermined area, the predetermined area is enlarged and the number of significant digits in the data format is increased, so that teaching can be performed with higher accuracy than when teaching is performed during display in the preset coordinate system. To do.

In order to achieve the same object, the present invention is further characterized by the following constitutions.

That is, the teaching point is set by displaying the robot and the work on a display device in a preset coordinate system based on the CAD data of the robot and the work that are generated in advance and simulating the robot. According to the teaching method of the teaching device of the robot for generating teaching data, when the robot interferes with a predetermined area on the coordinate system, the predetermined area is enlarged and displayed, and the enlarged predetermined area is displayed. The number of significant digits of the data format used to generate the teaching data is changed according to the enlargement ratio of the robot to the coordinate system, and when the robot is located outside the predetermined area on the coordinate system, It is characterized in that it is displayed in a preset coordinate system and the effective digit number is returned to the digit number before the change. As a result, while the robot is positioned within the predetermined area, the predetermined area is enlarged and the number of significant digits in the data format is increased, so that teaching can be performed with higher accuracy than when teaching is performed during display in the preset coordinate system. To do.

More preferably, in these configurations, the predetermined area is set prior to and / or during the pseudo operation of the robot, and a plurality of predetermined areas can be set. Characterize. This further enhances the operability.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a system configuration of an EWS as a teaching device to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an EW as an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a system configuration diagram of S.

In the figure, an EWS 20 is provided on a display device 23 such as a main body 21, a keyboard 22 and a CRT, a joystick 24 for operating a robot operation and a coordinate system rotation displayed on the display device 23, and a display device 23. A mouse 25 for clicking the displayed object, a floppy disk drive (FDD) 26, and a printer 27 capable of making a hard copy of the screen are provided. The EWS 20 is also connected to a robot controller 31 via a local area network (LAN) 28. The robot controller 31 is a robot 32 that is an articulated robot including fingers 33.
Control. The joystick 24 and the mouse 25 are not essential, and the keyboard 22 can be substituted, and the EWS 20 is not connected to the communication line, and various data exchanges with the external device such as the robot control device 31 are performed by the FDD 26. It goes without saying that the configuration may be performed by.

Next, the outline of the internal structure of the main body 21 of the EWS 20 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the EWS 20 to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, 1 is a CPU for controlling the operation of the entire EWS 20, 2 is a ROM for storing fixed parameters, and 3
Is used as variable parameter or work area
M and 4 are floppy disk drives (FDD), which are the same as the FDD 26. 5 is a hard disk drive (HDD) which is a mass storage device, 6 is an external communication interface for communicating with the LAN 28, 7 is a printer interface for controlling the printer 27, 8 is a display interface for controlling the display device 23, Reference numeral 9 is a keyboard interface of the keyboard 22, 10 is a mouse interface of the mouse 25, and 11 is a joystick interface of the joystick 24. These are connected to the internal bus 12 and bidirectional communication is possible.

Next, the processing in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining off-line teaching as one embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, in a preset three-dimensional coordinate area 36, the C of the robot 32 and the work (not shown) which are generated in advance are shown.
It is displayed based on AD data (3A). In order to perform offline teaching, the user uses the joystick 24 to artificially operate the robot 32 in the three-dimensional coordinate area 36. When the finger 33 interferes with the preset detailed evaluation area 37 during teaching, the display screen is enlarged and displayed as shown in 3B, and further EWS is displayed.
Inside 20, the process of increasing the number of significant digits of the coordinate value is performed. As a result, if the teaching points are set by finely operating the robot 32 and fingers 33 on the enlarged screen, offline teaching close to the actual resolution of the robot 32 is performed according to the resolution of the enlarged screen. . Then, when the fingers 33 no longer interfere with the preset detailed evaluation area 37, the screen of the size before enlargement and the effective digit number of the coordinate value are restored. Finger 3
To check whether or not 3 interferes with the detailed evaluation area 37, characteristic points of the finger, for example, points A to H on the finger 33 in 3B of FIG. 3 may be registered in advance in the three-dimensional coordinate area 36. .

The detailed evaluation area 37 can be set in advance before teaching, or can be set as needed during the simulated operation of the robot.

In the present embodiment, there is one detailed evaluation area 37, but a plurality of detailed evaluation areas having different sizes may be set. Further, although the detailed evaluation area 37 is a cube, it may have a shape such as a sphere centered on one point set in the three-dimensional coordinate area 36, if necessary. Where E
An example of a screen displayed on the WS 20 is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the three-dimensional coordinate area 36 according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows that the work of assembling the work 34 held by the fingers 33 to the work 35 is offline taught. .

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the detailed evaluation area 37 as an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which the detailed evaluation area 37 in FIG. 4 is enlarged. The three-dimensional coordinate area 36 of FIG. 4 and the detailed evaluation area 37 of FIG.
It can be confirmed from any direction by rotating it 360 degrees on the display device 23 of 0.

The flow of the above operation is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the processing of offline teaching as an embodiment of the present invention (when one detailed evaluation area 37 is set in advance).

In the figure, it is determined whether any of the preset characteristic points A to H of the finger 33 interferes with the detailed evaluation area 37 (step S11). If there is no interference, the robot 32 (including the finger 33) is moved on the CAD screen of the EWS 20, and the teaching point is set as necessary (step S12). On the other hand, in the case of interference, the detailed evaluation area 37 is enlarged and displayed. Inside the EWS 20,
CAD for the three-dimensional coordinate area 36 of the detailed evaluation area 37
A process of increasing the number of significant figures of the coordinate value used for the process is performed according to the enlargement ratio on the screen (step S2).
1). Then, the robot 32 (including the finger 33) is moved on the enlarged CAD screen of the EWS 20, and the teaching point is set as necessary (step S22). It is determined whether all of the preset characteristic points A to H of the finger 33 are located outside the detailed evaluation area 37 (step S2).
3). If it is within the detailed evaluation area 37, the process returns to step S22. On the other hand, if all the feature points are outside the detailed evaluation area 37, it returns to the CAD screen that can display the entire three-dimensional coordinate area 36, and inside the EWS 20, the effective number of the coordinate value used for processing is returned to the original number of digits. Processing is performed (step S
24) and proceeds to step S12. If the work is to be continued, the process returns to step S11 in step S13, and the above-described processing is continuously performed until the teaching of the intended operation is completed.

<Effects of this Embodiment> (1) When the fingers 33 interfere with the detailed evaluation area 37, the detailed evaluation area 37 is enlarged and displayed, and inside the EWS 20, the detailed evaluation area 37 with respect to the three-dimensional coordinate area 36 is displayed. By performing the process of increasing the number of significant figures of the coordinate value used for the process according to the enlargement ratio on the CAD screen and realizing the fine teaching, the offline teaching close to the precision of the operation actually held by the robot 32. Will be realized. (2) By using the display of the three-dimensional coordinate area 36 and the display of the detailed evaluation area 37 together, the positional relationship between the robot 32 and the work 35 on the CAD screen can always be easily grasped.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A robot teaching device and a teaching method therefor capable of highly accurate offline teaching are provided. As a result, it is possible to prevent the robot from colliding with the work during the actual test operation and reduce the time for teaching work.

[0029]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an EWS as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of an EWS 20 (main body 21) to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating off-line teaching as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional coordinate area 3 as an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram showing an example of No. 6; FIG.

FIG. 5 is a detailed evaluation area 37 as an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure showing an example of.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing of offline teaching according to an embodiment of the present invention (when one detailed evaluation area 37 is set in advance).

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 4 Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) 5 Hard Disk Drive (HDD) 6 External Communication Interface 7 Printer Interface 8 Display Interface 9 Keyboard Interface 10 Mouse Interface 11 Joystick Interface 12 Internal Bus 20 Engineering Work Station (EWS) 21 Main body 22 Keyboard 23 Display device 24 Joystick 25 Mouse 26 Floppy disk drive (FDD) 27 Printer 28 Local area network (LAN) 31 Robot controller 32 Robot 33 Finger 34 Work 35 Work 36 3D coordinate area 37 Details Evaluation area

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A C of a robot and a work which are generated in advance.
A robot teaching device that generates teaching data by displaying the robot and the work on a display device in a preset coordinate system based on AD data, and artificially operating the robot to set a teaching point, While the robot is interfering with a predetermined area on the coordinate system, a means for enlarging and displaying the predetermined area, and the enlarging ratio of the enlarging and displaying the predetermined area with respect to the coordinate system, A teaching device for a robot, comprising: means for changing the number of significant digits of a data format used for generating teaching data. 2. The teaching apparatus for a robot according to claim 1, wherein the setting of the predetermined area is performed prior to and / or during the pseudo operation of the robot. 3. The robot teaching apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of the predetermined areas can be set. 4. A C and C of a robot and a work which are generated in advance.
Teaching of a teaching device for a robot that generates teaching data by displaying the robot and the work on a display device in a preset coordinate system based on AD data, and simulating the robot to set a teaching point In the method, when the robot interferes with a predetermined area on the coordinate system, the predetermined area is enlarged and displayed, and the teaching is performed according to an enlargement ratio of the enlarged predetermined area with respect to the coordinate system. The number of significant digits of the data format used to generate the data is changed, and when the robot is located outside the predetermined area on the coordinate system, the robot is displayed in the preset coordinate system, and the number of significant digits is changed. To the number of digits before the change, a teaching method for a teaching device for a robot. 5. The teaching method for a robot teaching apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the setting of the predetermined area is performed prior to and / or during the pseudo operation of the robot. 6. The teaching method for a teaching device for a robot according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of the predetermined areas can be set.