JPS59107890A - Robot hand - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a robot hand, and more particularly, to a robot hand that is particularly suitable for use in a fruit harvesting device that the applicant has already proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 57-140021.

Generally, the position of a robot hand is first controlled based on the coordinates of the object to be captured, and then the position is controlled by directly sensing the object. For this purpose, the robot hand is usually equipped with a touch sensor. A microswitch is generally used as the touch sensor. However, in the case of microswitches, depending on the direction in which the hand touches the object, it may not work, or the moving parts may rust or wear out after years of use. Narrowness and variations in sensing levels over time are problematic, so especially
Not suitable for robot hands for fruit harvesting.

In other words, in the case of fruit-harvesting plants, it is necessary to use sensors with a wide sensing range because the fruits ripen in a wide variety of postures and at random. It is necessary to use a sensor that can maintain a constant sensing level over a long period of time in order to distinguish between foreign objects such as green leaves and leaves.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to be able to reliably detect an object to be captured no matter from which direction the robot approaches the object. Another object of the present invention is to provide a robot equipped with a sensor that can maintain a constant sensing level over a long period of time.

In order to achieve the above object, the robot hand according to the present invention is characterized in that a contact sensor made of pressure-sensitive conductive rubber having electrodes on both the front and back surfaces is provided at the tip of the finger member.

The effects achieved by the above characteristic configuration are as follows.

In other words, since a sensor made of pressure-sensitive 4-electro rubber is used as a contact sensor, no matter from which direction No.Ndo approaches the object to be captured, as long as it makes contact, it will always capture the object. Since it can sense objects, the sensing range can be widened, and the sensor can be set arbitrarily in the signal processing circuit part. It can be maintained for a long time. Therefore, the robot hand according to the present invention is particularly suitable for a robot hand for fruit harvesting, which has the above-mentioned needs.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an arm III that can bend and extend freely is attached to the main body (not shown) between fruit harvesting bags that is configured to be movable, and a fruit harvesting robot hand +21 is attached to the tip of this arm (1). is stored, and this hand (2
) is connected with a fruit conveying chute (3) for conveying fruits to a main body storage section (not shown).

To explain this robot hand (2), (4)
is a cylindrical base end, which is configured to be able to control its direction with respect to the arm il+, and is moved 'S' by the arm +11 to introduce the fruit to be captured into its interior through its introduction port (5). (6)... is the fruit inlet (5) at the base end (4)
This is a finger member for capturing fruit provided around the fruit.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the finger member (6) has a distal end member (6A) and a proximal end member (6A), respectively.
The middle part except for B) is made of a coiled spring (spring) as an elastic material (6C), and can be freely bent. Although not shown in the figure, the tip member (
6A) and the proximal end member (6B), the lower side or the upper side thereof is formed into a male threaded portion that matches the inner shape of the intermediate spring (6C).

1) The tip member (6A) of each finger member (6) in a.
) is provided with a hole (9) passing through its tip member (6A), and a wire (10) is provided that passes through these holes (9) and - in a four-way pattern. By pulling the wire (+01), the finger members (6) are simultaneously bent toward the inside of the fruit inlet (5).

The wire (10) has one end (IOA) fixed to one side end (11A) of the proximal end member (11j) erected from the cylindrical proximal end (4), and the other end fixed to the proximal end (11A) of the proximal end member (11j). The proximal end member (the front edge (IIB) of the convex curved shape of the river is intersected with Wt so as to be retractable downward, and this wire (101) can be retracted by connecting the wire (1o) to the UIIJ equipment W such as a motor.
(The winding mechanism is not shown).

The front edge (IIB) K of the proximal end member (11) forms a blade portion (IIC), and is configured to function as a cutter for cutting the tenon by crossing the wire (10).

(7) is a contact sensor provided on the tip member (6A) of the finger H1r+), which sends a signal to the control device to control the arm il+ when capturing the fruit. (8) is a photoelectric sensor that detects whether the fruit has entered the inside of the hand (2) to the position where the tenon can be cut.

As shown in FIG.
The pressure-sensitive 4-electro rubber (7c) to which 7b) is attached constitutes a generally cap-shaped king switch type contact sensor as a whole. In the figure, (7d) is an insulator, (7e
) and (7f) are lead wires.

Then, a waterproof thin film (7 g) is applied to the entire surface of the sensor (7) by means of spraying or the like. In the case of this embodiment, the tip member (6A), spring (6C), and base end member (6) of the finger member (6) are
B) may be made of a quadruple member such as aluminum, or may be made of an acyclic external material such as hard glass.

Robotic hand for fruit harvesting configured as above (2)
is controlled as follows. That is, the robot hand (2
) is first moved toward the position of the fruit detected by the fruit position detecting means (not shown), and then the contact sensor (7) provided at the tip of the finger member (6) detects the position of the fruit. The position of the hand (2) is corrected according to the fruit detection signal to introduce the fruit into the central gap formed by the finger members (6).

When the fruit enters the hand (2) for 1 minute, the photoelectric sensor (
8) detects this fruit, so at this point wire (1
0) is pulled by a drive device (not shown) and the finger member (6).
• is bent to capture the fruit and pull the tenon of the fruit toward the proximal member (11) serving as the cutter. The front edge (II) of the proximal member (11) No. 111
B) and the wire (10) intersect,
The tenon of the fruit is automatically cut and the fruit is picked. The picked fruit passes through the inside of the base end (4) and is sent to a storage section (not shown) K. When the fruit has been picked, the wire UO+ is loosened, and the finger member (6) returns to its original upright position due to its own elastic force.

FIG. 6 shows four examples of the contact sensor (7), including the tip member (6A), the spring (6C), and the proximal member (
The entire finger member (6) consisting of 6B) is made of aluminum or the like.
By constructing the finger member (6) itself as a conductive rubber member (7c), the finger member (6) itself can also be used as an electrode on the back side of the Hamada conductive rubber (7c).
).

FIG. 7 shows yet another embodiment in which the sensing portion of the contact sensor is formed only on the inner and outer circumferential sides of the hand (2). In this way, jW[(7a), (7
Since a sheet-like material can be used instead of a cap-like material as b) and the conductive rubber (7c), manufacturing becomes extremely easy.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] The drawings show an embodiment of the robot hand according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view, and FIG. 2 is an old body flat +, fz! Figure, 3rd
4 is an enlarged perspective view of the finger member, FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part of another embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part of another embodiment. FIG. 7 is a partially omitted perspective view of a finger member of still another embodiment. (6)...Finger member, (7)...Touch sensor, (7a)...Electrode, (7b)...
...Electrode, (7c)...Pressure-sensitive conductive rubber 0-5''. Fig. 2 Fig. 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] ■ Electrodes (7a) on both the front and back surfaces at the tip of the finger member (6). (7b) A robot hand characterized in that it is provided with a contact sensor (7) made of pressure-sensitive conductive rubber (7c). (2) By using a conductive material as the finger member (6), the finger member (6) itself is connected to the pressure-sensitive conductive rubber (7).
The robot hand according to claim 0, characterized in that it is also used for the back side of c). (2) The robot according to claim 0 or (2), wherein the outer surface of the contact sensor (7) is waterproofed.