JPS6260238B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible arm device used, for example, in industrial robots.

Prior Art Most of the arms used in industrial robots employ link mechanisms. This link mechanism is not suitable when the work space is narrow and there are obstacles in front. In order to overcome this drawback, an arm was constructed by connecting a large number of discs with varying thicknesses, and by rotating these discs, the arm could be bent in any direction (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58 - Publication No. 59785)
and multi-jointed arm (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 129687/1987)
is proposed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, although the above-mentioned conventional arm can be bent in any direction, it cannot be expanded and contracted at the same time, which poses a problem when attempting to automate complex processes. Ta.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the flexible arm device of the present invention has three rod-shaped bodies arranged radially at 120° intervals in a first plane and each having one end connected to the other. a sliding body held by each rod-shaped body so as to be slidable in the axial direction thereof, and one end of which is pivotally supported by the other end of each of the rod-shaped bodies, in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane. The first and second slides are slidable in the
A first swing link that connects each first swing link and a corresponding sliding body to guide the first swing link in one space partitioned by a first plane.
a connecting link, and a second swinging link that connects each second swinging link and its corresponding sliding body and guides the second swinging link within the other space separated by the first plane.
A plurality of basic units consisting of connecting links are connected via spherical bearings interposed between the other ends of the corresponding swing links, and the unit is located at the end of the plurality of basic units. The free end of each swing link of the basic unit body and the frame are connected via drive swing links, and a spherical bearing is provided between each swing link free end and each drive swing link. Intermediate,
Further, a worm wheel is attached to the end of each of the driving swing links on the pedestal side, and an electric motor is provided which has a worm that meshes with these worm wheels and swings each of the drive swing links separately. be. In the above configuration, the electric motor
If each set of the first and second swing links provided at one end of the rod-shaped body arranged at 120° intervals is swung at the same swing angle, the flexible arm will expand and contract, and the first and second swing links will be swung at the same swing angle. By swinging each set of second swing links at different swing angles, the flexible arm bends in a predetermined direction.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. 1 is a flexible arm device,
A plurality of basic units 3 (two in this embodiment) forming the flexible arm 2, a first end unit 4 connected to one end of the basic unit 3, and the other end of the basic unit 3. a second end unit 5 connected to the side;
and a drive device 6 that bends the flexible arm 2 in any direction and extends and contracts it via the second end unit 5. Hereinafter, the flexible arm 2, the first end unit 4, the second end unit 5, and the drive device 6 will be explained in this order. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the flexible arm 2 is composed of a plurality of basic units 3. As shown in FIGS. This basic unit body 3 has a first plane (for example, a first plane).
three rod-shaped bodies 8 arranged radially at 120° intervals in a horizontal plane (in the figure) and connected at one end to each other via a cylindrical connecting member 7;
A sliding body (for example, a linear bearing) is slidably held on each of these rod-shaped bodies 8 in the axial direction.
9, and a second shaft perpendicular to the first plane, which is pivotally supported at the other end of each rod-shaped body 8 via a connecting pin (having an axis within the first plane and perpendicular to the rod-shaped body 8). First and second swing links 11 and 12 that are swingable in a plane (vertical plane in FIG. 1);
The middle part of the swing link 11 and the corresponding sliding body 9 are connected to each other so that the first swing link 11 can swing in one space (the upper space in FIG. 1) divided by the first plane. The first connecting link 14 that guides the movement, and the middle part of each second swinging link 12 and the corresponding sliding body 9 are connected to connect the second swinging link 12 to the other part separated by the first plane. and a second connecting link 15 that guides its swing within the space (lower space in FIG. 1). In addition, the length of each rod-shaped body 8, the length of each swinging link 11, 12, and each connecting link 1.
The lengths of the comrades 4 and 15 are equal, and the swing links 11 and 12 and the connecting links 14 and 15 are alternately provided on both sides of the rod-shaped body 8, and the lengths of the connecting links 14 and 15 are the same. The ends are each connected to the other by a mounting pin 16 parallel to the connecting pin 10 described above. The flexible arm 2 is made up of two basic unit bodies 3 connected together, and a spherical bearing 17 is provided at the connecting part.
is used. That is, a spherical bearing is connected to the other end (upper end) of the first swing link 11 of one (for example, lower) basic unit 3A via a mounting pin (having an axis parallel to the connecting pin 10). 17 is attached, and at the other end (lower end) of the second swing link 12 of the other (for example, upper) basic unit 3B, a holding box 1 for holding the spherical bearing 17 is attached.
9 is installed. Next, the first and second single unit bodies 4 and 5 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 1, the first end unit 4 is for connecting the flexible arm 2 and the operation part (for example, the wrist part) of the robot, and similarly to the basic unit 3, the first end unit 4 is connected radially. It is composed of three connecting rod-shaped bodies 20 and a connecting swing link 21 similar to the second swing link 12. The first swing link 11 of the unit body 3B is also connected via the same spherical bearing 17 as described above. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the second end unit 5 is
It connects the flexible arm 2 and its drive device 6, and is the first swing link 11 of the basic unit 3.
One end of the driving swing link 22 is mounted on the support pin 24 on the frame 23 in the same arrangement as the basic unit 3.
The other end is connected to the second swing link 12 of the basic unit 3A below the flexible arm 2 via the same spherical bearing 17 as described above. Next, the drive device will be explained.
As shown in FIG. 6, each of the driving swing links 2
A fan-shaped worm wheel 25 is fixed to the support pin 24 side of the drive pin 2 (of course, the drive swing link 22 and the worm wheel 25 are
They may be connected via 4. ), and a servo motor (electric motor) 2 with a reduction gear is installed on the lower surface of the pedestal 23 at a position corresponding to each of the drive swing links 22.
6 is attached, and each output shaft 26
A worm 27 that meshes with the worm wheel 25 is attached to a.

Therefore, when the three servo motors 25 disposed on the lower surface of the pedestal 23 are rotated at the same rotation angle to swing each driving swing link 22 downward, for example, the third servo motor 25 of the lower basic unit 3B is rotated. The second swing link 12 follows, and at the same time the angle (α) between the rod-shaped body 8 and this second swing link 12 becomes smaller.
The sliding body 13 moves inward, and the angle (β) formed by the rod-shaped body 8 and the first swing link 11 also becomes smaller like a twist (of course, α=β). Therefore, it will shrink overall. Furthermore, if the rotation angle of, for example, one of the three servo motors 25 is increased, the drive swing link 22 connected to that servo motor 26 will tilt more than the other drive swing links 22. Each of the swing links 11, 12, and 21 connected to the driving swing link 22 also tilts significantly, so that the flexible arm 2 as a whole expands and contracts as well as bends in that direction. In addition, since the spherical bearings 17 are interposed at the connecting portions of the unit bodies 3, 4, and 5, the flexible arm 2 can freely tilt. Further, by appropriately selecting the rotation angles of the three servo motors 26, the length of the flexible arm 2 and its bending direction can be freely adjusted. Note that FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view when the flexible arm 2 is bent in a certain direction.

Effects of the Invention According to the configuration of the present invention described above, the flexible arm includes three rod-shaped bodies arranged at 120° intervals;
Since a plurality of basic units consisting of first and second swing links swinging in opposite directions are connected to one end of each of these rod-shaped bodies, an electric motor can be used to connect the first and second swing links. By swinging each pair at the same angle, the distance between the rod-like bodies, that is, the flexible arm, can be expanded and contracted. Also,
Since a spherical bearing is interposed in the connection between the basic unit bodies, if each set of the first and second swing links is swung at different angles, the One plane can be tilted relative to each other, so the flexible arm can be extended and contracted and tilted in any direction at the same time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a connecting portion of a rod-like body, FIG. 3 is a view taken along the - arrow in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the swing link portion, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the connecting link portion, FIG. 6 is a side view of the drive device, and FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing the operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Flexible arm device, 2... Flexible arm, 3, 3A, 3B... Basic unit body, 5... Second end unit body, 6... Drive device, 8... Rod-shaped body, 9...
Sliding body, 11... First swing link, 12... Second swing link, 14... First connection link, 15... Second connection link, 17... Spherical bearing, 21... Swing link for connection, 22... For driving Swing link, 23... Frame, 25
...worm wheel, 26...servo motor (electric motor), 27...worm.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Three rod-shaped bodies arranged radially at 120° intervals in a first plane and connected to each other at one end, and a sliding body held by each rod-shaped body so as to be slidable in its axial direction. , first and second swing links, each of which has one end pivotally supported by the other end of each of the rod-shaped bodies and is swingable in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane; and each first swing link. and a sliding body corresponding thereto, and a first connecting link that guides the first swinging link in one space partitioned by the first plane, and each second swinging link and the sliding body corresponding thereto. and a second connecting link that connects the two and guides the second swinging link in the other space separated by the first plane, between the other ends of the corresponding swinging links. A plurality of swinging links are connected via interposed spherical bearings, and each swinging link free end of the basic unit located at the end of the plurality of basic units is connected to the base. At the same time, a spherical bearing is interposed between the free end of each swing link and each drive swing link, and a worm wheel is attached to the pedestal side end of each drive swing link. A flexible arm device further comprising an electric motor having a worm that meshes with these worm wheels and swings each of the driving swing links separately.