JPH11226887A - Work device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an operation stop due to LS overrun at actual work operating time, even in the case of correcting a teaching data based on deviation of a stop position. SOLUTION: In each articulation part, in addition to hard LS and soft LS, further, teaching LS is set inside of the soft LS. Operation teaching is performed in a range not exceeding the teaching LS on each articulation part. In this way, a teach data obtained at operation teach time is formed in a manner wherein each articulation part operates in a range narrower than an operable range in the soft LS. Accordingly, a moving unit is stopped to be deviated from a stop position at teach time, the teach data is corrected, even when an actual work operation is changed from action at the teach time, possibility of action in the articulation part exceeding the prescribed operable range is lowered down. In this way, an operation stop of a work device by the action of the articulation part exceeding the soft LS can be prevented, as compared with in the past, an increase of automatic conveying efficiency can be expected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work, such as a mobile robot for transfer in a clean room, which is installed on a moving body and performs work such as transfer of articles at a predetermined work position based on teaching data. It concerns the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a semiconductor clean room, a carrier (moving body) equipped with a work robot (work means) is stopped at a predetermined work position, and a predetermined work is performed by the work robot at the stop position. A mobile robot or the like that performs the operation is used. In this type of device, the work robot performs work in accordance with the teaching data taught in a state where the carrier is stopped at the work position (teaching position) in advance. However, usually, the positioning accuracy of the carrier is low, and the stop position of the automatic guided vehicle at the time of work often deviates from the teaching position. Naturally, when stopped at a position deviated from the teaching position, the working robot cannot perform a desired operation by an operation according to the teaching data. Therefore, even when the transport vehicle stops at a position shifted from the stop position at the time of acquiring the teaching data,
For example, the following are known as mobile robots capable of causing the work robot to perform desired work. As shown in FIG. 3, the mobile robot A <b> 0 includes a carrier 31 and an arm 32 mounted on the carrier 31. At the tip of the arm 32, a CCD camera 33 and a hand 34 are attached.

[0003] At the time of teaching the operation to the arm 32 prior to the work, the operation is taught to the arm 32 while the carrier 31 is stopped in front of a work table (not shown). With the arm 32 fixed in a predetermined reference posture, a mark (not shown) provided on the worktable is imaged by the CCD camera 33. At the time of actual work, the mark is imaged by the CCD camera 33 with the arm 32 fixed at the predetermined reference posture after the transfer carriage 31 is stopped before the work table. The obtained picked-up image is compared with the picked-up image obtained at the time of the above teaching, a shift amount of the mark position on both the picked-up images is detected, and based on the shift amount, a shift of the stop position of the carrier 31 is detected. The amount is calculated. Then, the teaching data obtained by the operation teaching is corrected based on the obtained shift amount, and the operation of the arm 32 is controlled according to the corrected teaching data.
As described above, in the mobile robot A0, since the teaching data obtained at the time of teaching the movement is corrected based on the deviation of the stop position of the transport vehicle 31, the stop position of the transport vehicle 31 is shifted from the teach position. Thus, it is possible to cause the arm 32 to perform a desired operation accurately.

[0004]

Generally, a joint (such as the arm 32) has an operable range (angle).
At both ends of the operable range, hard LSs (limit switches) are provided as limit points at which no further operation is possible mechanically. Also, inside these hardware LS, software L for protecting operation by software is provided.
S is often provided. FIG. 4 shows an example of the relationship between the operable range of the joint and the above hardware LS and software LS. Therefore, for example, when the mobile robot A0 teaches the operation to the arm 32, if an attempt is made to teach the operation outside the range of the software LS, for example, a warning is issued. Thereby, the operation teaching is performed so that each of the joints operates between the two software LSs. By performing such operation teaching,
When the work by the arm 32 is performed in a state in which the carrier 31 is accurately stopped at the teaching position, each joint of the arm 32 is reliably operated between the two software LS. However, when the transporting cart 31 is shifted from the teaching position and stopped, no matter how much the joints are set to operate between the two software LSs for the operation teaching, the teaching data is stored as described above. Is corrected, the movement of the joint part may exceed the range of the two software LSs during the actual work. As described above, when attempting to operate beyond the range of the soft LS, the control unit that controls the operation of the arm 32 determines that the LS is over, and stops the operation of the arm 32. Such a sudden stop of operation has a great effect on the efficiency of automatic conveyance, and thus improvement has been desired. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent an operation stop due to an LS over during an actual work operation even when teaching data is corrected due to a shift of a stop position. It is to provide a working device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a working device having one or a plurality of joints installed on a moving body and operating within a predetermined operable range. The operation is taught in a state where the moving body is stopped at a predetermined position in advance, and a predetermined work is performed based on the teaching data corrected based on a deviation between the stop position of the moving body and the predetermined position at the time of work. In the working device to be performed, an allowable range of the operation of the joint portion at the time of the operation teaching is set to be narrower than the predetermined operable range.

[0006]

According to the working device of the present invention, the teaching data obtained at the time of teaching the movement is created so that each joint operates within a range smaller than a predetermined operable range. Therefore, even if the moving object stops at a position shifted from the stop position at the time of teaching, the teaching data is corrected, and even if the actual work operation fluctuates from the operation at the time of teaching, the operation of the joint is within the predetermined operable range. Is less likely to be exceeded. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation of the working device from being stopped due to the movement of the joint portion exceeding the predetermined operable range, and it is possible to expect an increase in the efficiency of automatic conveyance as compared with the related art.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments and examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to facilitate understanding of the present invention. The following embodiments and examples are mere examples embodying the present invention, and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention. Here, FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the operable range of the joint of the mobile robot A1 according to the embodiment of the present invention and the hardware LS, the software LS, and the teaching LS, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an operation teaching system of the mobile robot A1 according to the embodiment. The mobile robot A1 according to the present embodiment is an example of a working device according to the present invention, and has a schematic configuration similar to that of the conventional mobile robot A0 shown in FIG. That is, it comprises a carrier 31 (an example of a moving body) and an arm 32 mounted on the carrier 31. A CCD camera 33 and a hand 34 are provided at the tip of the arm 32.
And are attached. The arm 32 has a plurality of joints. Arm 3 performed prior to work
When teaching the operation to 2, the operation teaching is performed to the arm 32 while the transfer carriage 31 is stopped in front of the worktable (not shown), and the arm 32 is fixed at a predetermined reference posture. In this state, a mark (not shown) provided on the worktable is imaged by the CCD camera 33. At the time of actual work, the carriage 31 is stopped in front of the work table, and then the CCD camera 3 is fixed with the arm 32 fixed at the predetermined reference posture.
3, the mark is imaged. The obtained picked-up image is compared with the picked-up image obtained at the time of the above teaching, a shift amount of the mark position on both the picked-up images is detected, and based on the shift amount, a shift of the stop position of the carrier 31 is detected. The amount is calculated. Then, the teaching data obtained by the operation teaching is corrected based on the obtained shift amount, and the operation of the arm 32 is controlled according to the corrected teaching data. Each joint of the arm 32 has an operable range (angle), and a hard LS is provided at each end of the operable range as a limit point at which no further mechanical operation is possible. Inside, a software LS for protecting operation by software is provided. Then, at the time of the operation by the arm 32, if an operation is performed such that the joint is out of the range of the software LS, the operation of the arm 32 is stopped and a warning is issued. In the above points, the conventional mobile robot A0
The mobile robot A1 according to the present embodiment does not change.

However, the mobile robot A1 according to the present embodiment has the
This is different from the above-described conventional mobile robot A0 in the detection of over. In the mobile robot A1, each joint has
In addition to the hardware LS and the software LS (an example of a predetermined operable range), a teaching LS (an example of an allowable range of movement of a joint) is provided further inside the software LS (see FIG. 1). The procedure at the time of teaching the movement in the mobile robot A1 will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. When the arm 32 is actually operated for teaching the operation, an operation signal of each joint is output from the joint operation detecting unit 1 which detects the operation of each joint of the arm 32. The motion signal output from the joint motion detector 1 is transmitted to the teaching data generator 3
, Where it is converted into teaching data. During this time, the motion signal output from the joint motion detecting unit 1 is always LS
It is monitored by the over-detection unit 2 to check whether the operation of the joint does not exceed the range of the teaching LS. If the teaching of the operation of the joint section exceeds the range of the teaching LS, a warning is issued by the LS over detection section 2 and the operation signal is transmitted to the teaching data creation section 3. Stopped. Therefore, in the mobile robot A1, the operation teaching is performed such that the joints operate reliably between the two teaching LSs.

Since the teaching data obtained in this manner is created with a margin corresponding to the range between the software LS and the teaching LS, the transport vehicle 31 stops at a position shifted from the teaching position and stops. Is corrected, and even if the actual work operation fluctuates from the operation at the time of teaching, the possibility that the operation of the joint during the work exceeds the range of the two software LSs is reduced. Therefore, arm 3 due to LS over
2 can be prevented from suddenly stopping operation, and the efficiency of automatic conveyance can be improved. Here, as the teaching LS is set farther away from the software LS, the probability of LS over can be reduced, but the operable range of each joint at the time of teaching the operation also becomes narrower. The degree of freedom of operation is reduced. Therefore, the teaching LS is
In consideration of the stop error of the transport carriage 31, it is desirable to set the probability of LS over to almost zero and set it to a position as close to the software LS as possible.

[0010]

In the mobile robot A1 according to the above-described embodiment, the amount of deviation from the teaching position of the transport trolley 31 is detected by comparing captured images at the time of teaching with the CCD camera 33 attached to the arm 32 and at the time of work. Although it is configured to perform this, the present invention is not limited to this, and various known methods can be used. For example, the CCD camera may be installed at the lower part of the carriage 31 to capture an image of the floor.

[0011]

As described above, the present invention relates to a working device having one or a plurality of joints installed on a moving body and operating within a predetermined operable range. The operation device is taught in a state where is stopped at a predetermined position, and performs a predetermined operation based on teaching data corrected based on a deviation between the stop position of the moving body and the predetermined position at the time of operation. Since the working device is characterized in that the allowable range of the operation of the joint portion at the time of the operation teaching is set to be smaller than the predetermined operable range, the teaching data obtained at the time of the operation teaching is Each joint is created so as to operate within a range narrower than a predetermined operable range. Therefore, even if the moving object stops at a position shifted from the stop position at the time of teaching, the teaching data is corrected, and even if the actual work operation fluctuates from the operation at the time of teaching, the operation of the joint is within the predetermined operable range. Is less likely to be exceeded. As a result, it is possible to prevent the operation of the working device from being stopped due to the movement of the joint section exceeding the predetermined operable range, and it is possible to expect an increase in the efficiency of automatic conveyance as compared with the related art.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a mobile robot A1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the operable range of a joint part and the hardware LS, the software LS, and the teaching LS.

FIG. 2 shows a mobile robot A1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an operation teaching system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional mobile robot A0 (mobile robot A1 according to the embodiment of the present invention).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a relationship between an operable range of a joint of the mobile robot A0 and hardware LS and software LS.

[Explanation of symbols]

 31 ... Transportation trolley (an example of a moving body) 32 ... Arm (an example of a working device) 33 ... CCD camera 34 ... Hand

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A working device having one or a plurality of joints installed on a moving body and operating within a predetermined operable range, wherein the working apparatus operates in a state where the moving body is stopped at a predetermined position in advance. A work device that is taught and performs a predetermined work based on the teaching data corrected based on a deviation between the stop position of the moving body and the predetermined position at the time of work.
A working device, wherein an allowable range of the operation of the joint portion at the time of teaching the operation is set to be narrower than the predetermined operable range.