JPS587438B2 - Robot optical signal device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical signal device for a robot, which generates operation signals in a robot using optical signals, and protects the optical signal transmission path from noise, interruption, and damage prevention.

In recent years, robots in the field of automatic machines such as loaders, manipulators, conveyors, automatic processing machines, and all kinds of cargo handling equipment use a large number of electrical signal lines to perform complex tasks restricted to long axes or multiple axes. It is connected to the actuating part, and in the connected state, the actuating part traveling body must run on the above-mentioned axis.

Therefore, the signal lines mentioned above interfere with the robot's work movements, and are restricted in the operating range because of the wires.Moreover, for robots that require many types of signals, it takes a lot of effort to arrange the signal lines. It was time consuming.

Another possible method is to send the signal through the power line itself to the running body, but this method is not suitable for robots that require accurate positioning because it generates noise.

Therefore, the present invention adopts an optical signal system instead of a wired signal system in order to eliminate the various drawbacks mentioned above. , various types of external light, dust, and other noises exist, and along with this noise, there is a possibility that the optical signal transmission path will be blocked and prevented by other work loads and workers operating robots in the surrounding area. Damage prevention caused by this will cause signal errors.

Therefore, the present invention provides an optical signal device for a robot that reliably protects the optical signal transmission path from damage caused by noise and interruption.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a robot device in which a running body is slidably provided on an arm supported by an arbitrary support body to carry out a desired work, and a light emitting device is provided to send an optical signal to an appropriate position on the arm. At the same time, a light receiver responsive to the light emitter is provided on the traveling body, and a shielding tube is provided on the arm for locating the light receiver inside and covering the transmission path of the light emitter. .

The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the present invention. In the same figure, the present invention has a robot device A in which a traveling body 2 is slidably provided on a horizontally long arm 1, and a light emitting device 3 is installed at an appropriate position on the arm 1.
The traveling body 2 is provided with a light receiver 4, and the optical signal transmission path 5 is covered with a shielding tube 6.

The light emitter 3 preferably uses a light emitting diode, laser, etc. as a light source element, and uses a light source with a fast response speed.

Further, as a light receiving element of the light receiver 4, a photodiode,
A phototransistor, a light-receiving diode, a silicon solar cell, or the like is used, and it is also desirable to use an element with a fast response speed.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the robot's operation signal is sent out as an optical signal from the light emitter and light device 3, which is received by the light receiver 4 and sent via the traveling body 2 to the robot to perform a predetermined task. A signal for confirming the completion of the operation is transmitted from an auxiliary light emitter 3' and received by an auxiliary light receiver 4' provided at the other end of the arm 1.

Therefore, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, two optical signal transmission lines 5, 5 are provided on the left and right, and these transmission lines 5 are covered with a shielding tube 6.

Aluminum, ordinary steel, synthetic resin, or the like can also be used as the material for this tube.

As shown in FIG. 7, the shielding pipe 6 is formed into, for example, a circular shape or a hollow shape of another shape, and a guide groove 7 is provided in the direction of travel of the traveling body 2 on the surface facing the traveling body 2. It consists of
It is then attached to an appropriate position on the arm 1 via an arbitrary support 8 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Further, a linking tool 9 for the light receiver 4 is inserted into the guide groove 7, and the linking tool 9 slides in the guide groove 7 when the light receiver 4 is positioned in the shielding tube 6. This allows the running body 2 to freely run on the arm 1.

It is preferable to attach a soft sliding contact material 7a to the inner facing surface of the guide groove 7 in order to more reliably prevent noise substances such as external light, dust, and smoke from entering.

Both ends of the shielding tube 6 are configured to be provided with connecting tubes 10 as shown in FIG. 8, if necessary.

The connecting tube 10 has a light emitter 3 installed therein so as to receive a light emission signal from a transmitting device 11, and is detachably attached to the opening of the shielding tube 6.

Returning to FIG. 1, in each signal operation, the transmitter 11 causes the light emitter 3 to emit a predetermined signal based on an operation command from the central control unit 12, and this signal is received by the light receiver 4 in the shielding tube 6. Then, when the robot arbitrarily performs a predetermined operation and the receiver 4' receives the operation confirmation signal from the emitter 3', the receiving device 13 is activated and the central control unit 12 can confirm the completion of the operation. .

Note that the transmitting device 11 uses, for example, a pulse code modulation method (
POM) can be configured to send multi-channel data through the light emitter 3 to freely provide complex and accurate high-density motion signals to the robot.

Reference numeral 14 in FIG. 1 indicates a power line, and an example is shown in which one type of trolley is used.

In this manner, the robot operates via the traveling body 2 by obtaining the drive source from the power line 14 and the drive signal from the light emitter 3 via the shield tube 6.

FIG. 4 is a plan view specifically showing an example of the above-mentioned robot device A, in which the arm 1 is horizontally supported by a support 15 consisting of a column, on which the traveling body 2 slides in the lateral direction. An auxiliary arm 1' is supported on the body 2, and a traveling body 2' is also slidably attached to the arm 1'.
An elevating device 16 using a rope body or a vertical rod is provided on the top and is configured to move in three axial directions.

A signal device of the present invention is attached to each of the arms 1 and 1', and in the figure, shield tubes 6 and 6 are attached independently to each other.

Note that it is also possible to provide an independent signal device on each arm as shown in this figure, and the signal received by the traveling body 2 is sent to the traveling body of the auxiliary arm 1' via the light emitting device 3 of the traveling body 2. It is also possible to have a linked configuration in which the signals are received at 2'.

Furthermore, it is also possible to attach the device of the invention to a lift 16 consisting of a vertical arm.

With the above configuration, the moving body 2 moves to a predetermined position and stops in response to the operation signal received by the light receiver 4 of the traveling body 2, and also causes the traveling body 2' to move in a sliding motion, or moves the traveling body 2' by a lifting device. 16 to move up and down, and furthermore, the tip operating part of the lifting stem 16 (
(not shown) is used to perform gripping operations, turning operations, etc.

As another example, an arm of an arm crane linked to the traveling body 2 or a linked body such as a processing machine can be made to perform a predetermined operation.

For this reason, the term "running body 2" is used in a broad sense including the various linking bodies linked thereto.

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of FIG. 4, in which a light receiver 4 is attached to the upper surface of the traveling body 2 with a linking tool 9, and a shielding tube 6 that positions the light receiver 4 inside is a supporting tool. The input portion of the U-shaped running body 2 is connected to the power line 14 provided on the lower surface of the hollow arm 1 in a sliding manner.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of another main part in which the signal device has been slightly modified in accordance with the deformation of the arm 1. In this example, the shielding pipe 6 is provided in a suspended manner on the lower surface of the arm 1, and its guide groove 7 is It is located on the non-opposing side of arm 1.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams of other embodiments showing modified examples of the transmitting/receiving mechanism.

In FIG. 2, a light receiver 4' is attached to the light emitter 3 to receive a signal indicating completion of operation.

Therefore, the transmission line 5 is formed into two lines, an outgoing line and an incoming line, and if necessary, a shielding plate 17 is interposed between the two lines, and the entirety is covered with a shielding tube 6.

Figure 3 shows an example where the arm 1 is long, and the light emitter 3
are provided at both ends of the arm 1, so that the light receiver 4 of the traveling body 2 can receive signals from either the left or right light emitter 3, and the operation completion signal is also configured in the same way.

In addition, the light emitting device 3 may be configured such that it is not directly attached to the end of the arm 1, but is provided at a related location, and emits light in the direction of the traveling body 2 along the arm 1. Also, the light emitting device 3 may be configured such that it emits light in the direction of the traveling body 2 along the arm 1. In this case, a light emitter 3 and a light receiver 4 may be provided for the operation command signal, and the transmission path 5 may be protected by a shielding tube 6.

Since the present invention uses optical signals to issue various motion commands for the robot, it eliminates the need for conventional signal lines and eliminates the problem of motion restriction, and also covers the optical signal transmission path with a shielding tube. By doing so, it is possible to reliably prevent external light, noise such as dust from entering the transmission path, and transmission damage caused by blocking the transmission path by other objects.Moreover, by providing a guide groove in the shielding pipe, By linking the internal light receiver and the traveling body through the groove, it is possible to perform reception operations on the movable traveling body, and the robot can perform a wide range of operations without any interference using optical signals. This is what I did.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the device of the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are schematic diagrams showing other embodiments, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the robot, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of Fig. 4. , FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part showing another embodiment, FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the signal device section,
FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the end of the shielding tube. 1... Arm, 2... Running body, 3...
...Emitter, 4...Receiver, 6...
Shielding pipe, 7... Guide groove, 8... Supporting tool, 9... Linking tool, 10... Connecting pipe, 1
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Transmitter, 12... Central control unit, 13... Receiving device, 14... Power line, 15... Support body.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A robot device in which a running body is slidably provided on an arm supported by an arbitrary support body to carry out a desired work, in which a light emitting device for transmitting an optical signal is provided at an appropriate position on the arm, and The traveling body is provided with a light receiver that responds to the light emitter, and the arm is provided with a shielding tube for locating the light receiver inside and covering the optical signal transmission path. Robot optical signal device. 2. The shielding pipe described in item 1, wherein the shielding tube is provided with a guide groove on the opposite side of the traveling body in the traveling direction of the traveling body, through which the traveling body can run with a light receiver positioned inside. robot optical signal device. 3. The shielding tube covers the light emitter, the light receiver, and the transmission path of these optical signals, and simultaneously covers the transmission path when a signal device for operation confirmation is provided. The optical signal device for a robot according to item 1.