JPS6339395B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention provides an automatic fingering system for a robot that allows only the finger portion of the hand to be automatically replaced when several types of hands are required to be attached to an assembly robot, etc. This relates to exchangeable hands.

[Prior art]

FIG. 1 shows a conventional automatic tool exchange hand section of a robot. In the figure, 1 is an arm section of the robot, and 2 is a tooling module section attached to the tip of the arm of the robot body. 3 is an automatic hand exchange mechanism part built into the touring module, and 4a, 4b, 4
c is a variety of interchangeable hands that are automatically attached to and detached from the robot. Reference numeral 5 denotes an air cylinder that drives the automatic hand exchange mechanism, which opens and closes the clamp jaw 6. 7 is a positioning pin attached to the exchange hand. 8 is exchange hand 4
This is a tool pot for storing items a to 4c.
Reference numeral 9 denotes an air pipe for the exchange hand or a control table.

In the tool exchange device configured in this way, various robot exchange hands 4a to 4 are installed in the tool pot 8.
4c is prepared, and the robot automatically exchanges the exchange hand using the automatic exchange mechanism 3 built into the touring module 2 according to a command from its controller (not shown). In this operation, the robot hand is positioned at the tool exchange position by its control unit, closes the clamp 6 built into the automatic exchange mechanism 3 in the tooling module 2, and moves the positioning pin 7 attached to the exchange hand. It is used to attach and detach the exchange hands 4a to 4c. The clamp jaws 6 are opened and closed by an air cylinder 5 attached to a touring module of the robot. In addition, exchange hand 4
Since each of the finger opening/closing mechanisms a to 4c is built in the replacement hand, the operating pneumatic piping or control cable 9 is attached to each of the replacement hands 4a to 4c.

Since the automatic tool exchange type hand of a conventional robot is configured as described above, each of the automatic tool exchange mechanism and the exchange hand requires a hand opening/closing mechanism. Since the robot is complex and large in size, the robot cannot operate at high speed, and it is also expensive.

[Summary of the invention]

This invention was made in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional robot tool exchange structure, and to create an automatic finger exchange robot hand that is small, lightweight, and structurally simple, minimizing the number of parts to be replaced. is intended to provide.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, numerals 1 and 2 have the same structure as the conventional one. 10 is a base hand section attached to the wrist section of the touring module section. 11
1 is a replacement finger base, and 12 is a fixing pin, which is wired to extend in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the hand. 13 is an exchange finger, 14
is the finger pot that stores the replacement finger base.

3 and 4 show the detailed structure of the base hand section 10 and the tool pot 14. Reference numeral 20 denotes a slider, which is supported by a slide shaft 22 via a slide bearing 21. Reference numeral 200 denotes a drive piece supported by a shaft 220 via a slide bearing 210, to which the slider 20 is connected. 23 is a bracket, and 24 is a support frame, to which the shafts 22 and 220 are fixed via the bracket 23. 25 is a base plate integrally fixed to this support frame with bolts 26, and 27 is a pneumatic rotary actuator for opening and closing the slider 20 attached to this base plate. 28 and 29 drive the output rotation of the rotary actuator 27 to the drive piece 200.
The rack and pinion are formed on the drive piece through which the opening and closing sliding movements of the slider 20 are transmitted. Reference numeral 30 denotes guide pins for positioning the tool pot 14, and two guide pins are attached to each of the left and right finger bases 11 with nuts 31. Reference numeral 32 denotes a mount provided on the tool pot 14, and a bearing 33 is fitted into a hole into which the guide pin 30 is inserted.
34 is a detection switch provided inside these, which detects the presence or absence of the finger base. 35 is a mounting plate for this detection switch.

FIG. 5 shows a further enlarged view of the slider 20, in which 36 is a ball plunger and 31 is a nut, which are installed in a position to lock the groove of the fixing pin 12. Note that 38 is a fixing pin mounting nut, and 39 and 40 are mounting bolts.

The operation of the automatic finger exchange robot hand configured as described above will be explained. The operation of the pneumatic rotary actuator 27 built in the base hand section 10 is controlled by the command signal from the robot control section.
The slider 20 is opened along the axis 22 via the slider 20 and lowered onto the finger base 11 which is switched onto the mount of the toolpot 14. Then, the robot positions the slider 20 with high precision so that the fixing pin insertion hole of the slider 20 and the axis of the fixing pin 12 are aligned, and the slider 20 is closed. As a result, the fixing pin is inserted into the slider hole, and the replacement finger base 11 is attached to the slider 20. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, since the ball plunger 36 is attached to the slider, the finger base 11 is always locked in a fixed position. If it rises in this state,
The finger base comes off from the mound 32 of the finger pot 14, and the finger 13 is attached to the base hand section 10 on the robot side. In this state, if the hand is opened and closed by the pneumatic rotary actuator, sufficient hand function can be performed and the workpiece can be gripped. When returning the finger base 11 to the finger pot 14, the fingers can be removed from the robot hand in the reverse order as described above.

Normally, hand replacement can be done by simply changing the shape of the hand finger part due to changes in the size and shape of the workpiece, and the opening/closing stroke of the hand can be kept to a minimum. It is sufficient to handle the function of tool exchange in conversion.

In addition, in the above explanation, the finger attached to a hand that normally grips a workpiece is described, but even when gripping a workpiece inside, the finger base 11 can be moved from the closed state to If the finger base 11 is set and pulled upward, the finger base 11 will not come out from the slider 20 even if the work is gripped, similar to when the work is opened outward.

In the above embodiment, it is built into the base hand section 10. Although a pneumatic rotary actuator 27, a rack 28, and a pinion 29 are used as the opening/closing actuator of the slider 20, the effects of the present invention will not be impaired as long as the sliding movement can be achieved, and for example, an electric or hydraulic actuator may be used. Alternatively, a sliding motion may be acquired using a link structure. Although the slider is supported by the slide shaft 22 and slide bearing 21 in the above embodiment, a slide unit or a cross roller guide may be used to sufficiently increase the rigidity.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in this invention, as an automatic tool exchange means for a robot, only the finger portion of the hand attached to the tip of the hand is exchanged,
Since the mechanism for attaching and detaching the fingers can be used both as the opening/closing mechanism for gripping the workpiece, the finger exchange device provided in the robot can be made small and lightweight, and can be made inexpensive without impairing the high-speed operation of the robot. Furthermore, there is no need to connect air piping or control cables to the replacement finger.
Since there is no need to deal with cables and the replacement fingers are small, the space required for replacement fingers can be minimized, and a large number of replacement fingers can be stored.

Further, according to the present invention, the slider and the finger base are connected using a pin and a hole extending in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the hand, so that the hand can grip a heavy object with good stability even with a simple configuration. Obtainable.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the finger base is provided with a guide for opening and closing a detection switch for detecting the presence or absence of a replacement finger base on the tool pot side, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of a finger base on the tool pot side. Furthermore, using the signal from the detection switch, it is possible to check whether the finger base has been definitely returned to the tool pot, and to check whether the desired finger base is present in the tool pot.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional example, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an enlarged base hand portion, and FIG.
The figure is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the tool pot section.
The figure is a cross-sectional view of the slider portion viewed from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3. In the figure, 10 is a base hand part, 11 is a replacement finger base, 12 is a fixing pin, 13 is a replacement finger, 14 is a finger pot, 20 is a slider, 30 is a guide pin, 32 is a mount, 33
is a bearing, 34 is a detection switch, and 36 is a ball plunger. Note that the same reference numerals in each figure indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A base hand section provided at the tip of the robot arm, a pair of sliders that are slidably provided on the base hand section via a slide mechanism and have holes or pins extending in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the hand, and this slider. A replacement finger base that is removably attached to the slider by fitting the pin or hole into the hole or pin of the slider by sliding, and a replacement finger base that is provided between the pin of the base or slider and the inner wall of the hole into which it is inserted. A ball plunger that elastically locks the two is provided on the base, and when this base is replaced, it is fitted into a hole on the tool pot side, and when it is fitted into a hole on the tool pot side, it becomes a replacement finger base on the tool pot side. An automatic finger exchange robot equipped with a guide that opens and closes a detection switch to detect the presence or absence of a finger.