JPS5916916B2 - Manipulator control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a control device for remotely controlling a manipulator.

There are various types of manipulators depending on the purpose, but here, we will assume a manipulator with a detector attached to its tip for inspecting plant equipment, or a manipulator that opens and closes valves, etc.

When remotely controlling a manipulator, visual communication is suitable as a method of transmitting information about the relative position between the manipulator and the target device. Television is a typical visual device. When operating the manipulator while looking at the TV screen, the operator has to keep his eyes on the TV screen from beginning to end, which has the disadvantage of causing fatigue if there are too many inspections or operations. Furthermore, when an industrial television is used as the television, there is a drawback that it is difficult to accurately bring the manipulator close to the target point because stereoscopic viewing is not possible. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an automatic manipulator control device that reduces the labor required for operation.

In order to achieve the above object, the manipulator control device of the present invention includes a spherical object ■0 that is installed at a target position of an object and has a reflectance different from that of surrounding objects, and a lens at its tip. and an imaging section for projecting an image of a spherical object obtained through the lens onto the light detection means by regularly arranging a large number of light detection means, and the image formation means for dividing the area into a plurality of regions and calculating the sum of the magnitudes of signals output according to the amount of light detected by the light detecting means in each region; and determining the deviation by comparing the sums of each region. It is characterized by comprising a control means having a comparison circuit that outputs a signal and a control circuit that drives the manipulator so that the magnitude of the deviation signal falls within a predetermined range.

The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the manipulator control device of this embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes a self-propelled cart loaded with a manipulator 2, a television camera 4, etc., and moves around the plant in response to instructions from an operator.

Reference numeral 3 indicates a position detection device which is a component of the present invention, 5 indicates an inspection device, and 6 indicates a spherical object installed at the inspection location, and a paint (for example, white) whose light reflectance is as different as possible from that of the inspection device 5. is painted on it.

Furthermore, the television camera 4 has functions such as monitoring the movement of the manipulator 2 and showing the current position of the traveling truck. The self-propelled cart 1 is stopped at a predetermined position near the inspection equipment 5, a manipulator approaches the spherical object 6 as a target, and the position is detected by the position detection device 3 attached to the tip. Second
The figure shows an example of the position detection device 3 in FIG.

10 is a lens, 11 is an imaging section of the lens 10, and phototransistors are arranged in a grid pattern.

Among these phototransistors, a predetermined minute current flows through the phototransistor in the portion where the image 20 of the spherical object 6 is captured, depending on the amount of incident light. The image 20 of the spherical object 6 becomes a circle no matter which direction the manipulator approaches it. Therefore, by operating the manipulator so that this circle always comes to the center of the imaging section 11, it can be brought close to the spherical object 6, which is the target point. That is, as an example, the imaging section 11 is divided into four equal parts, and the magnitude of the signal output from the phototransistors 21 and 22 and the phototransistors 21 and 24 located at the position where the image 20 of the spherical object 6 is captured in each group is The manipulator should be controlled so that they are always equal. In addition, when controlling the manipulator, iron 20
is manually initialized so that it is connected to the position of the phototransistor 25 located at the center of the imaging section 11. The manipulator is then automatically controlled. FIG. 3 schematically explains the circuit configuration of the present invention.

The minute current output from each phototransistor of the imaging section 11 is amplified by an amplifier 30, and its output signal is sent to an adder 31.

In this circuit example, the adder 31 is composed of four adders, and output signals from the phototransistors 21 to 24 belonging to each group of the imaging section 11 divided into four equal parts at °C in FIG. is sent to the comparison circuit 32. The comparison circuit 32 compares the magnitudes of the signals sent out from the adder 31 for each quadrant, and sends out a drive signal to the input signal terminal of the manipulator control circuit 39 according to the magnitude relationship. That is, if the input signals to the comparison circuit 32 are equal, an extension signal is output without correcting the approach direction of the manipulator,
If they are not equal, the approach direction of the manipulator is corrected.
Further, in this embodiment, an automatic/manual changeover switch 36 is provided, so that when making rough adjustments such as initial setting of the position of the manipulator, the switch is switched to manual and the manipulator is operated using the operation button 37. FIG. 4 shows a detailed example based on the circuit configuration schematically shown in FIG.

To start operating the manipulator, the automatic/manual changeover switch 36 is set to the manual position. in this case,
The automatic gate signal 110 is sent to the analog switches 35A to 35F, and the gates of these analog switches are closed, and the manual gate signal 111 of level 40 is sent.
is sent to the analog switches 38 to open the gates of these analog switches. Therefore, the operation switch 37
The operation signal 112 from the input terminal is sent through the analog switch 38 to the input terminal of the corresponding manipulator control circuit 39, and sets the tip of the manipulator 2 in the direction of the spherical object 6 in FIG. In order to notify the operator that the settings have been made, the device 500 enclosed by the dotted line is added. That is, 11E is a phototransistor located at the center of the imaging section 11 in FIG. The signal is sent to amplifier 30E. The output of amplifier 30E is sent to Schmitt trigger circuit 41. In the Schmitt trigger circuit 41, when a signal equal to or higher than a predetermined trigger setting voltage is input, a constant square wave is sent to the lamp drive circuit 42, and the lamp 43 is turned on. The trigger setting voltage can be freely changed according to the magnitude of the photocurrent obtained when the phototransistor 11E receives light. The lighting of the lamp 43 allows the operator to know that the tip of the manipulator 2 has been set in the direction of the spherical object 6. When the above initial settings are completed, the operator switches the automatic/manual changeover switch 36 from manual to automatic.

As a result, the manual gate signal 111 is sent to the analog switch 38 to close the gate, and the automatic gate signal 110, which has changed to the level "O", opens the gates of the analog switches 35A to 35F. 11
A (・11D) is the first portion of the image forming section 11 in FIG. 2 which is divided into four parts, excluding the phototransistor 11E.
This is a phototransistor included in the quadrant or the fourth quadrant.

As shown in FIG. The addition signals 101A to 101D from the adders 31A to 31D are sent to the adder 34, and the addition signals 101A and 101B are sent to the comparator circuit 32A. On the other hand, the addition signals 101A and 101D are sent to the comparison circuit 32B.
・Think about it.

Comparison circuit 32A compares the magnitudes of addition signals 101A and 101B, and if addition signal 101A is larger than 101B, the deviation signal 104A is sent to corresponding analog switch 3.
5A to the right rotation input terminal of the manipulator leg circuit 39, causing the manipulator to rotate to the left. Similarly, if the magnitudes of the addition signals 101A and 101B are equal, the manipulator is extended by the deviation signal 104B,
If the addition signal 101A is smaller than 101B, the deviation signal 1
Turn the manipulator to the right using 04C. The comparison circuit 32B has the same function as the comparison circuit 32A, so that the vertical position of the manipulator can be corrected. When the tip of the manipulator 2 in FIG. 1 approaches within a predetermined distance from the spherical object 6 through the above operation process, it is necessary to stop the manipulator.

Adder 34 in FIG. 4 implements this. That is, in the adder 34, when the addition signals 101A to 101D having a predetermined magnitude or more are input, the blocking signal 102 is input.
is sent to the stop input terminal of the manipulator control circuit 39 to stop the manipulator and close the gates of the analog switches 35A to 35F.
and cut off the deviation signal from 32B. That is, the manipulator will automatically stop at the desired predetermined position. In the above embodiment, the phototransistor 21,
A condition was set that the magnitudes of the signals outputted from 22 and the phototransistors 21 and 24 were made equal.

On the other hand, if the method described below is adopted, manual initial setting of the manipulator becomes easy.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method for controlling the manipulator so that the image 20 of the spherical object 6 comes to the center of the imaging section 11. In this system, adders 310A to 310D are added between adders 31A to 31D and comparators 32A and 32B in FIG. 4. Addition signal 101A,
101D goes to adder 310A, while addition signal 101B,
101C is sent to adder 310B, which sends added signals 201A and 201B, respectively, to comparator 32A.
As in the case of FIG. 4, the comparator 32A outputs the addition signal 201A.
If it is larger than 201B, the deviation signal 104A is sent, if they are equal, the deviation signal 104B is sent, and if it is smaller, the deviation signal 104c is sent.
Send out. The adders 310C and 310D have the same functions as the adders 310A and 310B. If the above control method is adopted, when manually initializing the manipulator, the image 20 of the spherical object 6 will be Imaging section 11
If it exists at any position, the operation can be automatically switched, making the operation easier.

Next, a second embodiment as a method for processing photocurrent signals 100A to 100D output from phototransistors 11A to 11D will be described below.

FIG. 6 shows a digitalized embodiment of the circuit configuration of the present invention, in which the first quadrant out of four quadrants is extracted. A Schmitt trigger circuit 50A is provided corresponding to each amplifier 30A. This circuit uses "1" 6 to distinguish between the part where the image 20 of the spherical object 6 appears and the other parts.
The output signal 302A from the Schmitt trigger circuit 50A is sent to the register 51A. The output signal 302 stored in the register 51A
A is called by the scanning signal 301A output from the oscillator 60 and sends the storage signal 303A to the counting circuit 52A. That is, the counting circuit 52A counts how many phototransistors in which the image 20 of the spherical object 6 is captured are in the first quadrant. A counting signal 304A is sent from the counting circuit 52A to the comparing circuit 32A and the counting circuit 61. At the same time, counting signals 304B to 304D from the second to fourth quadrants are also sent to the counting circuit 61, and the manipulator 2
The counting circuit 61 has the function of stopping the manipulator 2 when it approaches within a predetermined distance. Therefore, counting circuit 61 corresponds to adder 34 in FIG.
The signal processing after the comparator circuit 32A is the same as that in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, so a description thereof will be omitted. However, in this embodiment, AND circuits are used in place of analog switches 35A to 35F and analog switch 38 in FIG. If this embodiment is adopted, even if the surface illuminance of the spherical object 6 changes due to a difference in the illuminance of the environment, the Schmitt trigger circuit 5
An advantage is that the influence can be reduced by appropriately setting the trigger setting voltage of 0A. As explained above, according to the present invention, a spherical object having a different reflectance from surrounding objects is added to the target device, and the manipulator is controlled to be driven with the object as a target. The image of a spherical object obtained through a lens is always a circle, and it is sufficient to recognize and judge the spherical object, regardless of the shape of the object.

Therefore, there is an effect that the determination of the position of the object becomes extremely easy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the manipulator control device of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the position detection device in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the circuit configuration of the present invention, and FIG. Third
5 is a detailed diagram based on the circuit configuration shown in the figure. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method of controlling the manipulator so that the image of a spherical object comes to the center of the imaging section. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the circuit configuration of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a digitalized embodiment.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. (1) A spherical object installed at a target position of the target object and having a reflectance different from surrounding objects; (2) A spherical object having a lens at its tip and a large number of light detection means regularly arranged to (3) a position detection device for the object, comprising an imaging section that projects an image of the spherical object obtained through a lens onto the light detection means;
means for dividing the imaging section into a plurality of regions and calculating the sum total of the magnitude of the signal output according to the amount of light detected by the light detection means in each region; and comparing the sum total of each region. A manipulator control device comprising: a control means having a comparison circuit that outputs a deviation signal; and a control circuit that drives the manipulator so that the magnitude of the deviation signal falls within a predetermined range.