JPS6159877B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a robot of a type in which a traveling body is slidably provided on a horizontally long arm attached to an arbitrary support, and a lifting rod is attached to this traveling body. This invention relates to an improved gripping and conveying robot. below,
In this specification, the term "robot" is used to include automatic machines such as loaders, manipulators, conveyors, automatic processing machines, and all types of cargo handling equipment.

In general, robots are configured to perform a certain task as one cycle, and perform this cycle repeatedly.
Among such robots, the basic operation of a robot that grips and transports an object, that is, a gripping and transporting robot, is to transport the object from one position to another and return to the first position. It is usually structured as a cycle. In the basic operation of the robot, accurate positioning of the reciprocating gripping section and rapid operation are required. For this reason, gripping and conveying robots require advanced position control and speed control to eliminate damage caused by inertial force, and the energizing device itself becomes large and complex, so conventional robots are difficult to install and control. This had the disadvantage that handling, etc., was complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a gripping and conveying robot that performs position control and speed control using a simple mechanical mechanism.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a robot in which a horizontally long arm attached to an arbitrary support body is provided with a sliding body, and a lifting rod is attached to the traveling body. An operating base is provided, a link arm is attached to the base, a drive unit is provided for rotating the link arm, the tip of the link arm is pivotally attached to the traveling body, and an article is gripped at a proper position under the lifting rod. The device is attached and configured, and the tip gripping tool of the article gripping device is moved horizontally and horizontally by a predetermined stroke by the rotational extension and contraction operation of the link arm, and also vertically and vertically moved as appropriate by the gripping device, whereby the gripping tool at the tip of the article gripping device is moved in two axial directions. The object of the present invention is to provide a gripping and conveying robot that can accurately control the position and speed of the robot.

The present invention will be explained below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a gripping and conveying robot according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of FIG. In robot A, a moving body 3 is provided in a slidable manner, and a lifting rod 4 is attached to this moving body 3.A movement base 5 is provided at an arbitrary location on the arm 2, and a link arm 6 is attached to the base 5. That is, a link arm consisting of a driving link 7 and a driven link 8 supported thereon is attached, a driving section 9 for operating the link arm 6 is provided, and the tip of the link arm 6, that is, the tip 8a of the driven link 8 is attached. It is pivotally attached to the traveling body 3, and furthermore, an article gripping device 10 is attached to an appropriate position below the lifting rod 4. In this embodiment, the press machine P
It is used as an unloader to continuously take out the molded product R.

The operation base 5 allows the traveling body 3 to slide back and forth via the link arm 6, and is a third
As shown in the figure, a drive section 9 is mounted. The drive section 9 is composed of a motor M and a speed reduction mechanism 11, and receives a signal from a programming device (not shown) to rotate the drive link 7 at a predetermined angular velocity. This rotation includes continuous rotation as well as reciprocating rotation of the drive link 7 within a predetermined angle (for example, 0 to 180 degrees). The operation base 5 also includes a rotation position of the drive link 7, that is, a position of the traveling body 3.
A position detector 12 is provided to detect the traveling position of the vehicle. The detector 12 is composed of a photoelectric magneto-electric rotational position detector, a rotary switch, etc., and is configured to read the rotation of a gear or a rotary disk connected to the drive shaft 9a by meshing or the like. The operating base 5 configured as described above can be moved to any location on the arm 2 as described above, but when the present invention is operated, it may be It will be fixed at a predetermined position on the arm 2.

The link arm 6 has one end of the drive link 7 connected to the drive part 9, and the other end supported by the driven link 8, and the tip 8a of the driven link 8 is connected to the traveling body 3.
When the driving link 7 rotates, the driven link tip 8a reciprocates, and the traveling body 3 pivotally connected thereto slides back and forth over a predetermined stroke. That is, the traveling body 3 is made to slide on the arm 2 at a predetermined distance by the rotational expansion and contraction movement of the link arm 6.
This stroke is twice the distance between the pivot points of the drive link 7. Therefore, the fourth
By using a link that can freely adjust the distance between pivot points like the adjustment link shown in the figure, the traveling stroke of the traveling body 3 described above can be arbitrarily set to a desired value. Also, the adjustment link shown in FIG. 4 is connected to the driven link 8.
If applied to this, the sliding position of the traveling body 3 itself can be arbitrarily moved in parallel. FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the driving link 7 and the driven link 8, in which the supporting portions of the links 7 and 8 have a plurality of supporting holes 13 and 13, respectively.
If any one of them is selected and supported by the support pin 14, the stroke adjustment and sliding position adjustment of the traveling body 3 can be performed in the same manner as described above. Note that the driven link 8 has a length more than twice that of the driving link 7.

In this embodiment, the link arm 6 is provided on the upper part of the operating base 5, and the drive link 7 is configured to rotate on a horizontal plane.
As shown by the dashed line in Figure 3, the link arm 6
A cover 15 is attached to the base 5 so as to cover it. Note that the attachment position of the link arm 6 is not limited to the above-mentioned one, and it may be attached to the side of the base 5 so that the drive link 7 rotates on a vertical plane, or it may be attached to the bottom of the base 5. good.

In this example, the elevating rod 4 of the traveling body 3 uses a rack and pinion system, and is configured to be moved up and down by a drive device 4a. This elevating rod 4 is used to adjust the feed line F of the article gripping device 10 attached to the appropriate position at the lower part of the elevating rod 4, that is, in the case of this example, the press machine P.
This is to adjust the reference height of the tip gripper 19 from which the pressed product is taken out. However, the elevating rod 4 may be of any type as long as it can be preset and fixed at any position within a predetermined vertical height. Any type such as a cylinder type may be used, and the positioning may be performed manually.

The article gripping device 10 is provided at a suitable position below the lifting rod 4, and as shown in FIG. It is composed of a drive device 18 for reciprocating up and down movement, and a gripping tool 19 provided at the tip of the link arm 16 in a state that projects approximately horizontally forward. A reciprocating slider/crank mechanism causes the arm base 17 to move up and down, thereby causing the tip gripping tool 19 to move up and down from the pivot point B. Note that the rotation radius of the rotating part 18a of the device 18 or the driving force of the device 18 is
By adjusting the distance between the pivot points of the link 20 that transmits the transmission to the gripper 7, the vertical movement interval of the tip gripping tool 19 can be adjusted. Further, as described above, when a parallel link arm is used as the arm 16, the tip gripping tool 1
9 can always maintain a horizontal state. However, without using a parallel link arm for the arm 16, a configuration may be adopted in which the tip gripping tool 19 always maintains a horizontal state due to its own weight. In this example, the gripping tool 19 employs a suction cup type. Note that the present invention is not limited to this, and any method such as a gripping method or a clamping method may be adopted.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the article gripping device 10. In this example, instead of the parallel link arm 16 of FIG. 6, a sliding rod 21 that slides up and down with respect to the lifting rod 4 is used to move the base 22 of the rod 21 up and down with the drive device 18, thereby causing the tip gripping tool 1 to move up and down.
9 is configured to move vertically in parallel. Incidentally, the vertical movement of the tip gripping tool 19 may be configured using a known means such as a rack and pinion system.

In addition, in FIG. 1, the arm 2 is configured to be able to pivot relative to the support body 1. In this case, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, if the arm 2 is pivoted when replacing the mold Q of the press machine P, the work can be easily performed.

Next, the operation of the gripping and conveying robot according to the present invention will be explained.

First, the operating base 5 is moved to a predetermined location on the arm 2 and fixed. This position is a position where the tip gripping tool 19 can reach the mold Q of the press machine P when the driving link 7 and the driven link 8 of the link arm 6 are extended in a straight line. Next, the lifting rod 4 is adjusted to adjust the height of the feed line F of the gripping device 10 so that the lower end of the vertically moving gripping tool 19 comes into contact with the mold Q. When the positioning of the robot of the present invention is completed in this way,
Turn on the programming device and start operation. As will be explained in detail below, the operation of the present invention is to move the tip gripping tool 19 of the article gripping device 10 horizontally and horizontally by a predetermined stroke by the rotational expansion and contraction movement of the link arm 6, and to drive the gripping device 10. The device 18 is driven to move vertically and vertically by a predetermined stroke Y, and these horizontal and vertical movements are combined to perform an operation suitable for the purpose of use. In this example, the movement locus of the tip gripping tool 19 is set in a downward U-shape as shown in FIG. . At this time, the speed V at the stroke X when the operating base drive unit 9 is operated to rotate the drive link 7 increases gradually as shown in FIG. It has a speed pattern of slowing down and stopping. Therefore, the inertial force applied to the traveling body 3, the gripping device 10, etc. can be easily removed. Further, the speed V' in the stroke Y made by driving the drive device 18 of the gripping device 10 also has a speed pattern similar to that shown in FIG.

In the case of this embodiment, the vertical movement of the tip gripper 19 is as follows:
This is done by using a detector 12 to detect the positions of both ends of the sliding body 3 on the arm 2 (return positions). Note that if the detector 12 detects a position slightly before the folding position and gives a vertical movement command to the gripping device 10, the gripping tool 19 will follow the trajectory shown by the broken line in FIG. Work time can be shortened. In this manner, the gripping tool 19 moves in position within the predetermined strokes X and Y, so that its positioning can be controlled easily and reliably.

The travel pattern shown in FIG. 10 shows the case where the distance between the pivot points of the drive link 7 of the link arm 6 is expanded or contracted. , gripper 1
9 becomes shorter (FIG. 10, 1), and conversely, if link 7 is extended, the stroke becomes longer (FIG. 10, 3). Note that by expanding and contracting the link 20 of the gripping device 10, the stroke Y can be similarly lengthened or shortened. Therefore, the intermediate positions O of the illustrated strokes X _S to X to X _L are the same point. In order to move this position O, the distance between the pivot points of the driven link 8 can be expanded or contracted as described above, and as a result, as shown in FIG. It is possible. In addition, the driving link 7 and the driven link 8
If the spacing is adjusted at the same time, the combination of the patterns shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is possible, and if the gripping tool 19 is matched with the mold Q when the link arm 6 is extended, the combination shown in FIG. 12 is possible. , it becomes possible to perform work with arbitrary strokes.

As explained above, the present invention provides a movement base on an arm so that its position can be adjusted, a link arm is attached to the movement base, and the link arm is pivotally connected to a traveling body to constitute a slider crank mechanism. By attaching the article gripping device to the elevating rod of the traveling body, it is possible to accurately control the position of the article gripping device in two axial directions, horizontal and vertical, with a simple mechanical mechanism.

In addition, by providing the operating base having the drive unit on the arm so that its position can be adjusted, the sliding position of the traveling body on the arm, that is, the position of the article gripping device, can be arbitrarily determined depending on the working condition. Therefore, the sliding range of the traveling body required for the work can be shortened, speeding up the work, and simplifying the structure.

Furthermore, due to the nature of the slider crank mechanism, the speed of the traveling body in a smooth curve system such as slowing, high speed, and slowing can be easily controlled, and damage caused by inertial force is eliminated. It goes without saying that the present invention can function not only as a press machine but also as a robot that supplies or takes out articles to various working machines.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a gripping and conveying robot according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a partially vertical front view showing an operating base and a link arm portion linked thereto , Figures 4 and 5 are diagrams of other embodiments of the link arm, Figures 6 and 7 are configuration diagrams showing the article gripping device, Figure 8 is a diagram of the operation locus of the tip gripper, and Figure 9
The figure is a speed pattern diagram of the tip gripping tool, and FIGS. 10 to 12 are diagrams of other embodiments showing the operation locus of the tip gripping tool. 1... Support body, 2... Arm, 3... Running body,
4... Lifting rod, 5... Operating base, 6... Link arm, 7... Driving link, 8... Driven link, 9
... Drive unit, 10 ... Article gripping device, 11 ... Speed reduction mechanism, 12 ... Position detector, 16 ... Link arm, 17 ... Link arm base, 18 ... Drive device, 19 ... Grip tool 20...link, 21...
...Sliding rod, A...Robot, B...Pivot point, M...
...Motor, X, Y...Stroke, O...Intermediate position, P...Press machine, Q...Mold, R...Product, V...Speed, F...Feed line.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a robot in which a horizontally long arm attached to an arbitrary support body is provided with a sliding body, and an elevating rod is attached to the running body, an arbitrary point on the arm is provided. An operating base is provided whose position can be adjusted, two link arms connected to each other are attached to the base, a drive unit is provided for operating one of the link arms, and the other end of the link arm is pivoted to the traveling body. A slider crank mechanism is configured by the operating base, the link arm, and the traveling body, and an article gripping device having a tip gripper that moves up and down is attached to a proper position at the bottom of the lifting rod. Transport robot. 2. The gripping and conveying robot according to item 1, wherein the article gripping device is configured to move up and down with its tip gripper protruding approximately horizontally forward. 3. The gripping and conveying robot according to item 1, wherein the article gripping device is configured such that its tip gripper always maintains a horizontal state.