JPH11262884A - Manual operation device for robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify operation by an operator in moving the fingers of a robot mainbody to a desired direction with manual operation. SOLUTION: A teaching pendant 3 is provided for moving a robot mainbody 1 with manual operation during teaching work or others. During teaching work, a dialog screen for manual operation is displayed on a touch panel 11 provided on the teaching pendant 3 and cursor keys 18-25 of eight directions showing the moving direction in relation to the horizontal direction of the fingers 5a of the robot mainbody 1 with arrow marks are set on the screen. A front face direction specifying key 29 is set at a center encircled by the cursor keys 18-25 so that the operator can operate the font face direction specifying key 29 to selectively set a direction corresponding to the front face of the robot mainbody 1 to be one of the eight directions of the cursor keys 18-25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot manual operation device for moving a robot body by manual operation, for example, during a teaching operation.

[0002]

An industrial robot, for example, a robot for performing an assembling operation, is an articulated robot main body, a controller for controlling the robot main body, and a manual generally called a teaching pendant connected to the controller. It comprises an operation device and the like. The teaching pendant is configured to be portable by an operator, and is mainly used to actually operate the robot body by manual operation to teach (teaching) a work acquisition position, a movement path, a work assembly position, and the like. Used for

In this case, the robot has a so-called absolute robot coordinate system (three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system of X, Y, and Z), and a taught position is represented by position coordinates (position coordinates) based on the robot coordinate system. (Position vector). The teaching pendant moves the tip of the robot body in + X and -X keys for moving in the left and right directions, + Y key and -Y key for moving in the front and rear directions, and in the up and down direction, respectively. + Z for
The key of the robot body is moved by a distance corresponding to the key operation time in the direction corresponding to the key type based on the key operation by the operator. I have.

When teaching using the teaching pendant, an operator performs key operations to move the hand in a desired direction while watching the movement of the hand near the robot body. However, at this time, it is conceivable that the operator performs the operation while standing at various positions in front, rear, left and right of the robot body. However, in the above conventional teaching pendant, when moving the hand of the robot body by manual operation, the front, rear, left, and right directions of the robot body do not coincide with the position where the operator stands (viewing direction). However, the operator has to specify the direction from the viewpoint of the robot body itself.

[0005] In other words, even if the operator wants to move the hand of the robot main body to the right side, for example, from his own viewpoint, the operator sees that the key to be operated differs depending on the standing position. The key operation must be performed by converting the direction in which the hand is to be moved with respect to the direction in which the hand is to be moved into an absolute direction in each head. For this reason, in the conventional teaching pendant, it is difficult for the operator to perform a quick and smooth operation, and as a result, the teaching work is troublesome. In particular, such inconvenience is large when it is desired to move the hand of the robot body by a very small amount.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a manual operation of a robot capable of simplifying the operation required for an operator to manually move the hand of the robot body in a desired direction. In providing the device.

[0007]

The manual operation device for a robot according to the present invention is provided with a front direction defining means for defining a direction corresponding to the front of the robot body in any direction on the operating means. The present invention is characterized in that a direction correspondence means for associating the front direction of the robot body defined by the front direction defining means with the movement direction of the hand of the robot body by operating the operation means is provided (the invention of claim 1).

According to this, by the front direction defining means,
The operator can define the direction corresponding to the front of the robot in any direction on the operation means according to the direction in which he is looking. Then, the direction corresponding means moves the hand of the robot body at the time of operating the operating means to correspond to the front direction of the robot body defined by the front direction defining means.

Therefore, regardless of the position of the operator with respect to the robot main body, if the operator operates the operating means from his own viewpoint, the operator can move the hand of the robot main body in each direction. . As a result, claim 1
According to the invention, an excellent effect that the operator can easily perform the operation of moving the hand of the robot body in a desired direction by manual operation can be obtained.

At this time, the operating means is provided with a cursor key for moving the hand of the robot body in eight directions of front, rear, left and right and four diagonal directions, and the front direction defining means is used to control the front of the robot body. The direction may be defined as any one of the eight directions (the invention of claim 2). According to this, the operator can move the hand of the robot main body in a desired one of eight directions by operating the cursor key from his / her own viewpoint.

[0011] Further, in the operating means or in the vicinity thereof,
A display means for displaying the front direction of the robot body defined by the front direction defining means may be provided. According to this, the operator can perform the operation while checking the direction corresponding to the front direction of the robot main body while watching the display on the display means.

Further, the operating means may be constituted by a touch panel (the invention of claim 4), and according to this, various keys can be freely provided on the touch panel and display is also performed. And excellent in usability.

In the case where the inching operation mode in which the robot main body is moved by a very small amount by one operation of the operation means can be executed, one operation in the inching operation mode is performed. It is possible to provide an inching movement amount setting means for freely setting the movement amount accompanying the operation (the invention of claim 5). According to this,
The operability when the robot body is moved by a small amount while looking at the hand of the robot body is excellent, and the hand can be quickly and smoothly moved to a desired position.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a robot (assembly robot) according to the present embodiment includes a robot main body 1, a robot controller 2 for controlling each axis motor of the robot main body 1, and the like. The teaching pendant 3 is a manual operation device according to the present embodiment for performing (teaching) work and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, the robot body 1 is composed of an articulated robot having a plurality of arms 5 on a base 4 in this case. Is designed so that a tool such as a hand 6 can be attached thereto. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the robot body 1 is provided with the base 4 fixed on a work table 8 provided along a transport path 7 of an assembly line. The supplied assembly object 9 is configured to perform a work (not shown) for assembling a work or the like.

The robot controller 2 is configured to include a microcomputer, and based on an operation program stored in advance and position data (position coordinates) taught by a teaching operation using the teaching pendant 3,
Each axis (motor or the like) of the robot main body 1 is controlled to execute an assembling operation. At this time, the robot has a so-called absolute robot coordinate system (three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system composed of X, Y, and Z axes), and the taught position is represented by position coordinates (position coordinates) based on the robot coordinate system. Vector). In this case, the robot body 1 has a front surface facing the Y axis + direction, and a reference mark 10 indicating the front surface is provided on the base 4 as shown in FIG. .

Now, the teaching pendant 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the teaching pendant 3 is formed in a thin, substantially rectangular box shape having a size small enough to be held and operated by an operator by hand, and a central portion of an upper surface thereof has: A touch panel 11 is provided. The touch panel 11 has a well-known configuration in which a transparent electrode is arranged on the surface of a liquid crystal display, performs necessary display on a screen, sets keys (icons), and performs a touched position (key) on the screen. Is detected. As described later, in this embodiment, the touch panel 11 implements functions as a display unit and an operation unit.

Various hard switches 12 are provided around the touch panel 11 of the teaching pendant 3. Of these hard switches 12, the one at the upper left in the figure is a deadman switch (DMSW) 13 used at the time of teaching work as described later. As is well known, this deadman switch 13
Is a switch that is turned on only during the pressing operation.

Although not shown, a control circuit including a microcomputer, an I / O for performing data communication with the robot controller 2 and the like are provided inside the teaching pendant 3. Have been. The control circuit is configured to operate the touch panel 1 by its software configuration.
1 is controlled, and various processes are performed based on the operation of the keys set on the hardware switch 12 and the touch panel 11.

At this time, in an initial state, the control circuit is configured to display a menu screen on the touch panel 11 and perform various processes based on selection of a menu. Here, when the operator actually teaches the work position by manually moving the hand 5a of the robot body 1 by manual operation, a menu for setting a movement amount during the inching operation and a manual operation of the robot body 1 are required. Select the menu.

Among these, the menu for setting the movement amount during the inching operation is one operation when executing the inching operation of moving the hand 5a of the robot body 1 by a very small amount by one key operation of the operator. When this menu is selected, a dialog screen for inching operation amount setting is displayed on the touch panel 11 in a window format as shown in FIG. Is done.

In the dialog screen for setting the inching operation amount, a display unit 14 for displaying the set movement amount is provided on the screen of the touch panel 11, and an up-down operation for increasing and decreasing the numerical value of the set movement amount is provided. A key 15, an OK key 16 for fixing the set movement amount, and a cancel key 17 are set. By touching these keys 15 to 17, the operator can freely set the amount of movement of the hand 5a per 1 mm operation during the inching operation in units of 1 mm, thereby forming the inching operation amount setting means. It is supposed to be.

On the other hand, when the menu for manual operation of the robot body 1 is selected, the touch panel 11
A dialog screen for manual operation of the robot body 1 as shown in FIG. On this screen, cursor keys indicating the moving direction of the hand 5a of the robot main body 1 in the horizontal direction are set by arrows. Here, the front (rear), rear (front), left, Right,
Cursor keys 18 to 25 for eight directions (eight) in all of the four directions at an angle of 45 degrees therebetween are arranged in a square.

Further, on this screen, an inching operation mode switching key 26 for switching between a normal operation mode (a mode in which the hand 5a is moved by a distance corresponding to the key operation time) and an inching operation mode is set. At the same time, an up key 27 and a down key 28 for moving the hand 5a in the Z-axis direction (vertical direction) are set.

Further, on this screen, a front direction defining key 29 is set at a central portion surrounded by the eight cursor keys 18 to 25. As will be described later in the flow chart description, the operator operates the front direction defining key 29 to change the direction (front direction) corresponding to the front of the robot body 1 to one of the directions on the touch panel 11 (cursor key). Any of eight directions from 18 to 25) can be set freely, and the front direction defining key 29 functions as front direction defining means.

In this case, the front direction defining key 29 is
The thick arrow "a" is displayed by being surrounded by a circle. The direction (direction) of the thick arrow "a" also has a function as a display means for displaying a prescribed front direction. Each time the front direction regulating key 29 is turned on once, the direction of the thick arrow a is rotated and displaced by 45 degrees in a clockwise direction, for example.
The direction indicated by the thick arrow a on the touch panel 11 is defined as the front direction of the robot body 1.

The control circuit outputs movement data to the robot controller 2 based on the operation of the cursor keys 18 to 25, and outputs the movement data to the robot main body 1
Is operated to move the hand 5a. At this time, the front direction of the robot body 1 defined by the front direction defining key 29 is made to correspond to the movement direction of the hand 5a by operating the cursor keys 18 to 25. It functions as direction correspondence means.

As a specific example, the front direction defining key 29
If the front direction of the robot main body 1 is defined as left (by the arrow of the cursor key 20), the hand 5a is moved in the front direction (+ direction of the Y axis) when the cursor key 20 for left movement is operated. ), And when the cursor key 21 for rightward movement is operated, the hand 5a is moved backward (negative direction of the Y axis).

In the dialog screen for manual operation of the robot main body 1, various keys 18 to 29 set on the touch panel 11 are enabled only when pressed simultaneously with the deadman switch 13. It is configured to improve safety. Therefore,
An operation unit is configured by various keys 18 to 29 set on the touch panel 11 and the deadman switch 13.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows a general work procedure when an operator performs a teaching work. In the procedure P1, a setting operation of the movement amount M during the inching operation is performed. This setting is performed by the operator
In the dialog screen for setting the inching operation amount shown in FIG. 4, the operation is performed by operating the up / down key 15, the OK key 16, and the like while looking at the display unit 14 on the touch panel 11, and the movement amount M is set to 3 mm, for example. You. still,
If the moving amount M can be the same as the previous operation, this setting operation can be omitted.

After that, the touch panel 11 is switched to a dialog screen for manual operation of the robot body 1 as shown in FIG.
Is manually operated to move the hand 5a to a predetermined position (teaching). At this time,
First, in a procedure P2, an operation of defining a direction on the touch panel 11 corresponding to the front of the robot body 1 is performed. This regulation work is performed by the operator by the front direction regulation key 29.
This operation is performed by turning on (and the deadman switch 13) and adjusting the direction of the thick arrow a to a desired direction (any one of eight directions by the cursor keys 18 to 25) to be defined as the front.

The flowchart of FIG. 6 shows that the control circuit is executed when the front direction defining key 29 is turned on (the key 29 is pressed and released) on the dialog screen for manual operation of the robot body 1. Shows the processing to be performed. That is, when the front direction defining key 29 is turned on, it is determined in step S1 whether the deadman switch 13 has been pressed simultaneously. If the deadman switch 13 has not been pressed simultaneously (No), A message to the effect that the deadman switch 13 should be pressed simultaneously is displayed (step S2), the on-operation of the front direction defining key 29 is invalidated, and the state returns to the previous state.

When the deadman switch 13 is being pressed at the same time that the front direction defining key 29 is turned on (Yes in step S1), the direction of the thick arrow a on the key display is rotated clockwise by 45 degrees. Then, in the next step S4, the direction of the thick arrow a is stored (stored) as the front direction. By repeating the ON operation of the front direction defining key 29 (and the pressing operation of the deadman switch 13), the operator can set the desired direction to the front direction. If there is no change in the front direction, it is needless to say that the front ON key 29 need not be further turned on.

Here, the operator operates the robot body 1
On the other hand, the direction in which the teaching operation can be easily performed can be defined depending on which direction the user stands (from which direction). As a specific example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the operator is standing on the right side toward position A, that is, the front of the robot body 1, from the operator's viewpoint, the front of the robot body 1 is in the left direction. Is facing. At this time, the direction corresponding to the front of the robot body 1 is set to the left direction on the touch panel 11 (cursor key 20).
Direction).

When the operator is standing at the position B, that is, at the front side of the robot main body 1, facing the front, the front of the robot main body 1 faces rearward (forward) from the viewpoint of the operator. At this time,
The direction corresponding to the front of the robot body 1 may be defined as the front direction on the touch panel 11 (the direction of the cursor key 19).

When the front direction is defined as described above,
The actual movement of the hand 5a of the robot body 1 is performed. In step P3, the hand 5a is roughly moved to a position near the target position by operating the cursor keys 18 to 25 (normal operation mode). After switching to the inching operation mode by operating the inching operation mode switching key 26 at P4, the cursor keys 18 to
By the operation of 25, the hand 5a is strictly moved to the target position.

The flowchart of FIG. 7 shows the processing executed by the control circuit when the inching operation mode switching key 26 is turned on (the key 26 is pressed and released) in the procedure P4. That is, when the inching operation mode switching key 26 is turned on, if the deadman switch 13 is not pressed simultaneously (No in step S11), a message indicating that the deadman switch 13 should be pressed simultaneously is displayed. (Step S12), the ON operation of the key 26 is invalidated, and the state returns to the previous state.

On the other hand, the inching operation mode switching key 26
Is turned on and at the same time the deadman switch 13 is pressed (Yes in step S11).
s) The display of the inching operation mode switching key 26 is inverted between black and white (step S13), and the inching switch O
The state of N / OFF is reversed (switched) (Step S1)
4), the state of the inching switch is stored (stored) (step S15). Therefore, each time the inching operation mode switching key 26 (and the deadman switch 13) is turned on, the normal mode and the inching operation mode are alternately switched, and the operator can easily switch the mode in the procedure P4. .

The flowchart of FIG. 8 shows a processing procedure when any one of the cursor keys 18 to 25 is operated down (the key is pressed) in the above-mentioned procedure P3 or procedure P5. Further, the flowchart of FIG. 9 shows a processing procedure when the cursor keys 18 to 25 are up-operated (the pressed key is released).

That is, in FIG. 8, if any one of the cursor keys 18 to 25 is operated down, it is determined in step S21 whether or not the deadman switch 13 is simultaneously pressed, and the simultaneous pressing operation is not performed. In this case (No), a message to the effect that the deadman switch 13 should be pressed simultaneously is displayed (step S22).

On the other hand, any of the cursor keys 18 to 25
At the same time that the deadman switch 13
Has been pressed (Y in step S21).
es) First, in step S23, the front direction defined and stored in the above procedure P2 (step S4 in FIG. 6) is read out, and subsequently, in step S24, the directions of the operated cursor keys 18 to 25 are changed. Conversion into the operation direction D of the robot body 1 is performed.

This conversion process is performed by associating the directions of the cursor keys 18 to 25 with the respective axes of the robot coordinate system (converting the rotation direction), with the front direction on the touch panel 11 as the + direction of the Y axis. Done. As a specific example, when the position of the operator shown in FIG. 2 is A, the direction of the cursor key 20 (to the left) is defined as the front direction of the robot body 1, so that the left cursor key 20 is operated. Then, the operation direction D of the robot body 1 (hand 5a) is Y
When the cursor key 21 on the right side is operated in the + direction of the axis, the operation direction D is set in the − direction of the Y axis, and
When the cursor key 18 is operated, the operation direction D is set to the minus direction of the X axis, and when the rear (front side) cursor key 19 is operated, the operation direction D is set to the plus direction of the X axis.

When the position of the operator shown in FIG. 2 is B, the direction of the cursor key 19 (front side) is defined as the front direction of the robot body 1, so that if the forward cursor key 18 is operated. The operation direction D of the robot body 1 (hand 5a) is set to the minus direction of the Y axis, and if the rear cursor key 19 is operated, the operation direction D is set to the positive direction of the Y axis, and the left cursor key 20 is set. Is operated, the operation direction D is set to the minus direction of the X axis, and if the right cursor key 21 is operated, the operation direction D is set to the plus direction of the X axis. When the cursor keys 21 to 25 in the oblique direction are operated, the operation direction D is a direction at 45 degrees to each axis.

When the operation direction D is obtained in this manner, the stored ON / OFF state of the inching switch (step S15 in FIG. 7) is read in step S25. Then, in the next step S26, it is determined whether or not the inching switch is ON, that is, whether or not the inching operation mode is set. If it is not the inching operation mode but the normal operation mode (No), in the next step S27, the movement of the hand 5a of the robot body 1 in the operation direction D is started. In this case, in the normal operation mode, the hand 5a is continuously moved for a time (distance) corresponding to the time during which the cursor keys 18 to 25 (and the deadman switch 13) are down-operated.

On the other hand, when the inching switch is in the ON state, that is, in the inching operation mode (Yes in step S26), the procedure P1 is executed in step S28.
The moving amount M (for example, 3 mm) of one inching operation set in the step (5) is read. In the next step S29, the hand 5a of the robot main body 1 moves in the moving direction D by a small moving amount M. They will be moved.

Then, as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
When 25 is up-operated, first in step S3
In step S1, the ON / OFF state of the inching switch is read out.
It is determined whether it is in the FF state, that is, whether it is in the normal operation mode. In the case of the normal operation mode, (Ye
s) The movement of the hand 5a of the robot body 1 is stopped (step S33). If the current mode is the inching operation mode (No in step S32), the process ends.

In this manner, the operator can operate the teaching pendant 3 to move the hand 5a of the robot body 1 to a desired position and perform teaching. At this time, the operator can specify the front direction of the robot body 1 in any direction on the touch panel 11 by operating the front direction specifying key 29 or the like according to his / her viewpoint (viewing position). The movement direction of the hand 5a by operating the keys 18 to 25 can be made to match the direction as seen by the operator.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, unlike in the conventional case where the operator has to specify the direction from the viewpoint of the robot body itself, the operator can position the robot body 1 at any position. Even if the user operates the operating means from his own viewpoint, the hand 5a of the robot body 1 can be moved in each direction accordingly. As a result, it is possible to simplify the operation for the operator to manually move the hand 5a of the robot main body 1 in a desired direction, and to achieve an excellent effect that the teaching time can be shortened. Is what you can do.

In the present embodiment, the teaching pendant 3 is provided with a touch panel 11 capable of freely setting keys and displaying freely, and setting eight direction cursor keys 18 to 25. At the same time, the front direction of the robot main body 1 is displayed by the thick arrow a of the front direction defining key 29, so that the operator can easily operate the robot main body 1,
It can be more excellent in usability. Furthermore, since the movement amount M during the execution of the inching operation mode can be freely set, there is also an advantage that the hand 5a can be quickly and smoothly moved to a desired position. Is what you can do.

In the above embodiment, the cursor keys 18 to 25 in eight directions are set on the touch panel 11. However, the operation means may be four direction cursor keys in front, rear, left and right. Alternatively, the cursor keys may be constituted by mechanical switches, or a joystick or the like may be used instead of the cursor keys. In addition, the present invention can be implemented by appropriately changing the configuration of the robot main body 1 without departing from the gist, for example, various modifications are possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing an entire configuration of a robot, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a robot body installed on an assembly line.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a dialog screen during manual operation of the robot body.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a dialog screen when an inching operation amount is set.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a procedure of a teaching operation.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when the front direction defining key is turned on.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when an inching operation mode switching key is turned on.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a cursor key is operated down.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a cursor key is up-operated;

[Explanation of symbols]

In the drawings, 1 is a robot main body, 2 is a robot controller, 3 is a teaching pendant (manual operation device), 5 is an arm, 5a is a hand, 10 is a reference mark, 11 is a touch panel (operation means), 13 is a deadman switch, 18
25 to cursor keys; 26, an inching operation mode switching key; 29, a front direction defining key (front direction defining means)
Is shown.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An operation means operated by an operator for moving a hand of a robot body in each direction via a controller based on a manual operation of the operation means. And a front direction defining means for defining a direction corresponding to the direction of the operation means in any direction on the operation means, and a front direction of the robot main body defined by the front direction definition means and the hand by the operation of the operation means. A manual operation device for a robot, comprising: a direction correspondence unit that makes the movement direction correspond to the movement direction of the robot. 2. The operating means comprises a cursor key for moving a hand of the robot body in eight directions of front, rear, left and right and four diagonal directions, and the front direction defining means controls the movement of the robot body. 2. The robot manual operating device according to claim 1, wherein the front direction is defined in any one of the eight directions. 3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein display means for displaying the front direction of the robot body defined by the front direction defining means is provided at or near the operation means. Robot manual operation device. 4. The manual operation device for a robot according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit includes a touch panel. 5. An inching operation mode in which the robot body is moved by a very small amount by one operation of the operation means is enabled, and a single operation in executing the inching operation mode is performed. The robot manual operation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising an inching operation amount setting means for freely setting a movement amount.