JPS6147675B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage device for inserting and storing objects, particularly elongated objects, by a machine such as a robot or crane into deep pits or containers arranged on the ground or in a plane. Regarding.

Normally, the holes (accommodating spaces) in the housing chambers of these bits or containers are often slightly misaligned from their set positions due to manufacturing errors, placement errors, etc., and the positions of the pits and holes cannot be accurately determined. In addition, the movement error of the robot machine is also added, so these bits,
It is difficult to insert and store objects, especially elongated objects, into holes using devices such as robots or moving machines, and requires highly accurate hole position detection devices, control devices, etc.
Another example of this type of device is a wrist joint mechanism for an industrial robot known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-13877. In this wrist joint mechanism, the base of the handling part is suspended from the base via a pair mechanism.
The idea is to move the base using a pairwise motion with a degree of freedom to insert an object into a hole. When this mechanism is used to insert a substance into a hole, it requires complicated control to operate the pair mechanism, and at the same time, a position sensor must be incorporated to control the mechanism. The disadvantage is that the control becomes complicated.

Furthermore, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 53-56687 discloses a mechanism for detecting the grasping position of an article, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 54-136068 discloses a device for detecting the posture of an article. In order to store the article inside, it is impossible to store it without accurate position detection of the hole and highly accurate control of the article, which poses the problem that the equipment and circuit control become complicated and expensive.

The present invention does not use high-precision detection and control equipment,
The purpose is to provide a device for storing objects in holes, containers, etc. that can reliably and quickly store objects in holes. A plurality of suspension arms are swingably suspended from the movable part by means of universal joints, and a base on which a gripping mechanism is attached to the lower end of the suspension arms is swingably connected to the movable part. A parallelogram link is formed by the suspension arm and the base, so that the base can be moved horizontally with two degrees of freedom while maintaining the base in a horizontal position at all times, and the base can also allow some tilting and vertical movement of the article. The device is equipped with a remote-controlled gripping mechanism that grips the gripped part, and also uses a tilt detector that detects the tilt and direction of the gripped item on the base and a limit switch that detects the vertical position of the gripped part. A device for storing articles in a hole, container, etc. is provided.

The embodiments shown in the drawings will be described in detail.

This embodiment is a device for storing elongated articles with a neck at the top and a collar at the top in a bit container, and is an example of a device that can be used for both loading and unloading, and can not only store the articles but also take out the stored articles. It is.

The base connected to the lower end of the suspension arm also serves as a canopy of a cylindrical casing whose lower half has a reduced diameter and whose bottom is open. A gripping mechanism, a tilt detector, and a vertical position detector are built into the same cylindrical casing. The gripping mechanism has a plurality of chucking arms arranged radially, which can be opened and closed by remote control. A downwardly biased press plate is attached to the inside of the chucking arm, and four limit switches that are activated by contact with the top of the article are attached radially to the press plate.
It is a tilt detector that senses the tilt of the article and its direction from the ON/OFF state.

In addition, a downwardly biased lifting rod is installed in the vicinity of the center of the press plate so as to pass through it, and a limit switch is provided at the upper end of the lifting rod to control the vertical movement position of the article based on the vertical movement of the lifting rod. It is sensed and used as a vertical position detector.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

Fig. 1 is an overall view of this embodiment, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing the main parts, Fig. 3 is an explanatory view showing the planar arrangement of the tracking arm and the limit switch of the tilt detector, and Fig. 4 is It is an explanatory view showing a storing process by an example. In the figure, 1 and 1' are robot arms, and 2
is the board attached to the tip of the same robot arm, 3,
3' is a suspension arm that swings freely from the same board,
4 is an opening/closing operation arm of the checking arm 13;
Reference numeral 5 denotes a casing of the gripping device, 6 a slanted wall portion whose diameter decreases downward in the lower half of the casing, and 7 a casing for lifting and lowering the operating arm 4 of the chucking arm 13. A driving device for opening and closing, 8 and 8' are ball joints with two degrees of freedom that directly connect the suspension arms 3 and 3' in a swingable manner, 9 is a connecting rod connected to the lower part of the operating arm 4, and 10 is a connecting rod of the same. A pressing rod is attached to the lower part so as to be movable up and down, 11 is a disk-shaped pressing plate attached to the lower end of the pressing rod, 12
13 is a chucking arm; 14 is a fixed pivot of the chucking arm fixed to the casing 5; 15 is a connecting rod 9 of the chucking arm 13; 16 is a limit switch for detecting inclination arranged every 90 degrees in all directions around the upper surface of the press plate 11, 17 is a pressure-sensitive rod that is biased downward, and 18 is a pressure-sensitive rod that is directed toward the head of the object to be gripped. An energized lifting rod, 19 a spring of the lifting rod, 20 a limit switch that detects the lifting/lowering state of the lifting rod, 21 a long and narrow hole,
22 is an elongated object accommodated in the same hole.

Four chucking arms 13 are arranged around the outer periphery of the press plate 11, and each of them is rotatable around a fixed pivot shaft 14, and the claws are opened and closed by raising and lowering the connecting rod 9 and the operating arm 4, and the chucking arms 13 are arranged around the outer periphery of the pressing plate 11. It is designed so that it can be grasped. Further, the pressure-sensitive rod 17 and the limit switch 16 are arranged at the periphery of the pressing member 11 and between the arms of the chucking arm 13 (the third
(see figure).

In this embodiment, the gripping mechanism is housed in a casing 5 and consists of four chucking arms 13 rotated around a fixed pivot 14, a connecting rod 9 for driving the chucking arms, and an operating arm 4. When the operating arm 4 is raised and lowered by the drive device 7, the four chucking arms 13 rotate around the fixed pivot shaft 14 to grip and release the gripped portion. The object 22 is allowed to tilt slightly and rise as a whole while being held.

Next, the process of inserting and storing a long object into the long and narrow hole 21 according to this embodiment will be explained (see FIG. 4). First, the long object 22 is gripped by the four chucking arms 13, and then the robot arms 1, 1' are moved to a position above the hole 21 where the object is to be accommodated while the object is gripped. urge
Thereafter, the robot arms 1, 1' are operated to vertically lower the object 22. If the descending position of the object 22 is shifted from the position of the hole 21, the bottom surface of the object 22 will touch the opening edge of the hole 21, and if the object 22 continues to descend in this state, the object 22 will tilt toward the center of the hole 21 (first (See Figure 4 A).

In this state, the pressing plate 11, the pressure sensitive rod 17 for detecting inclination, and the lifting rod 18 are moved by the springs 12, 19.
of the four tilt detection limit switches 16, only the one on the tilt side
When it is OFF, the others are ON, and the limit switch 20 of the lifting rod 18 is also OFF.
The direction of inclination of the object 22 is determined from the ON/OFF state of each limit switch 16, and the object 22 is grasped by operating the robot arms 1, 1'.
After lifting it slightly, move it slightly horizontally in the direction of inclination (that is, toward the center of the hole) (see Fig. 4B). In this state, the pressure-sensitive rod 17 is pressed upward by the head of the object 22, all four tilt detection limit switches are in the ON state, and the lifting rod 18 is pressed downward by the spring 19. It is in the OFF state.

In this state, the object 22 is lowered toward the hole 21 again. As a result of this descent, the object 22 and the center of the hole 21 are aligned with each other, so that the object 22 that has been lowered is inserted into the hole 21 as is. If the bottom of the object 22 hits the periphery of the hole 21 again and tilts it,
By repeating the above-described operation steps, the centers of the holes 21 of the objects 22 become more aligned, and the objects 22 can be inserted into the holes 21. Object 22 is hole 2
When the object 22 is inserted into the object 1 and touches the floor or rests on a lower storage object, the head of the object 22 pushes up the pressing plate 11 and moves the pressing plate 11 and the lifting rod 18 upward against the spring 19, and the limit switch 20 Turn on. Therefore, in this state, the limit switch 16
and 20 are all turned on. If this state of the limit switch is sensed as an electrical signal and the drive device 7 is then actuated to raise the operating arm 4,
Accordingly, the connecting rod 9 is lifted and rotated in the direction to open the four chucking arms 13,
Release the grip on the object 22 and release it. Thereafter, the robot arms 1 and 1' are operated to leave the object 22 in the hole 21 and raise the gripping device from the hole 21 to remove the object 22.
A series of steps for storing the .

Note that the tilt detector, gripping mechanism, and vertical position detector of the present invention are not limited to those of this embodiment.
Other mechanisms and sensors having the same function can be used.

As described above, according to the present invention, by having the configuration having the above characteristics, any high-precision position detector,
It has the advantage that it can be inserted and stored reliably and quickly without a control device, and can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the main parts, Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the planar arrangement of the catching arm and limit switch, and Fig. 4 is It is an explanatory view showing a storing process of an object in a hole by the same example. 1, 1': Robot arm, 3, 3': Suspension arm, 4: Operation arm, 10: Pressing rod, 11: Pressing plate, 12: Spring, 13: Chucking arm, 16: Limit switch, 17: Pressure sensitive Rod, 1
8: Lifting rod, 19: Spring, 20: Limit switch, 21: Hole, 22: Object.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of suspension arms are swingably suspended from a movable part of a transfer machine such as a robot arm that can move in the horizontal and vertical directions by means of a universal joint, and a base for attaching a gripping mechanism to the lower end of the suspension arms can be freely attached. The movable part, the suspension arm, and the base form a parallelogram link so that the movable part, the suspension arm, and the base are connected to each other so as to be swingable through a joint, so that the base can be moved horizontally with two degrees of freedom while maintaining the base in a horizontal position at all times; In addition, the base is equipped with a remote-controlled gripping mechanism that allows the object to be tilted and moved up and down to some extent, and a tilt detector is installed on the base to detect the inclination and direction of the gripped object. A device for storing articles in holes, containers, etc., characterized by being provided with an article vertical position detector using a limit switch or the like that senses the position.