JPS6336916B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a control device for a master-slave type manipulator that has excellent workability and is easy to adjust.

When the object to be worked on is dangerous, the working environment is poor, or monotonous repetitive work is to be performed, it is desirable to use robots to perform these tasks in order to improve the working conditions of the workers.

Therefore, robots must be controlled by a human operator by remote control, or, for simple tasks, must be operated automatically by numerical control.

Conventionally, as a remote control method for a robot, a method has often been used in which a worker operates the robot while using a telescope, an industrial television, or directly observing the workpiece and the robot with the naked eye.
However, with this method, when high precision is required or when the work is complex, it is difficult to operate the robot and highly skilled workers are required. Robots operated by numerical control do not have this problem at all, but if the shape of the workpiece or the content of the work changes frequently, new data must be created each time. It has the disadvantage of lacking in sexuality.

The master-slave type manipulator is useful as something that compensates for the above-mentioned drawbacks, and allows a work robot (slave) that performs work on a work object to follow the movement of an operation robot (master) operated by a worker, The robot's hands are photographed with a television camera, and the robot's hands are viewed on a television monitor as it performs its work. In this case, since the image taken by the TV camera is a flat image and cannot grasp the three-dimensional effect such as depth, generally multiple TV cameras are used and the images are observed on multiple monitors, and the images are viewed on multiple monitors. It is used to determine the position of the robot's hands. For this reason, the workability is poor and the risk of erroneous operation is high, so a high level of skill is required for the work. or,
Since the position of the television camera does not change even if the worker's posture changes, the position of the television camera must be adjusted by operating the control panel each time. This means that the work performed by the robot is interrupted, and is another cause of reducing work efficiency.

Therefore, two television cameras are placed side by side, and the two images obtained are observed with the left and right eyes of the worker to form a three-dimensional virtual image, and the robot is operated on this three-dimensional virtual image. A manipulator control device has been previously announced, and it has been confirmed that it has much better workability than the conventional device described above.

However, since the 3D virtual image is formed at the same position as the worker's eye level, when the worker operates the robot while looking at the 3D virtual image, the worker's shoulder or arm may come into contact with the TV monitor and interfere with the operation. Become. In addition, since the 3D virtual image is formed at eye level, the operator must always lift his hand up to eye level, where the 3D virtual image is located, to operate the operating robot, which can lead to fatigue and reduce work efficiency. This results in a decrease in

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a master-slave type manipulator operating device that overcomes these drawbacks and can endure long hours of operation.

The configuration of the present invention to achieve such an object includes: a pair of imaging devices that are juxtaposed and move together to take images of the workpiece; and a pair of imaging devices that respectively project two images of the workpiece taken by the imaging devices. An image plane, a pair of left and right eyepieces through which the worker looks, and a system located in front of these eyepieces, which combines the two images by separately reflecting each image on the pair of image planes to the eyepieces. an image synthesis device having a pair of semi-transparent mirrors for obtaining a three-dimensional virtual image in front of the operator, an operating robot operated by the operator and working on the three-dimensional virtual image, and an operating robot that follows the operation of the operating robot. and a work robot that performs work on the work object; and a line-of-sight tracking device that is fixed to the head of the worker and causes the imaging device to follow the movement of the head; are located symmetrically on the front side of the eyepiece, and each of the pair of semi-transparent mirrors faces upward so as to form a virtual image of the image plane below the horizontal plane of the eye that includes the eyepiece. The pair of image planes are each tilted so that the direction of the three-dimensional virtual image coincides with the direction of the work object.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a master-slave type manipulator control device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. As shown in FIG. 1 representing the basic principle of this embodiment and FIG. 2 representing the actual working state, a work robot 12 that performs work on a work object 11 is operated by a worker 13.
A work tracking device 15 connected to the operating robot 14 operated by the operator is adapted to follow the same movements as the operating robot 14. Work object 11
There are various types of processing, assembly, measurement, movement, etc., and the work robot 12 is equipped with tools, gripping tools, and measuring instruments that are compatible with these types of work.
The operating robot 14 is selectively attached to the tip of the operating robot 14, but since the operating robot 14 does not perform actual work, even if the operating robot 14 is equipped with a model of a tool, gripping tool, or measuring instrument. good. As the work tracking device 15 of the work robot 12 with respect to the operating robot 14, it is preferable to use a conventionally known mechanical copying device using an electrical copying device, a hydraulic device, or the like. Two identical television cameras (imaging devices) 16 and 17 that respectively obtain images of the work object 11 are arranged parallel to each other so that the distance between the optical axes of their imaging lenses is equal to the pupil distance PD of the worker 13. The line-of-sight tracking device 18
The robot moves integrally along the workpiece 11. The images are displayed on cathode ray tubes 22 and 23 assembled in the image synthesis device 19, and by observing the images of the two work objects 11 through the image synthesis device 19, the worker 13 can see the operating robot 14 as if This creates the illusion that the user is working on a three-dimensional virtual image 20 of the work object 11.

The external appearance and internal structure of the image synthesis device 19 according to this embodiment are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. As shown in FIG. 4, in this image synthesis device 19, an operator 13
A pair of left and right eyepieces 24 are provided, and cathode ray tubes 22 and 23 as image planes connected to the television cameras 16 and 17 are arranged symmetrically on the front sides of the eyepieces 24, respectively. Ru. Further, in front of the eyepiece section 24, cathode ray tubes 22 and 2 are provided.
A pair of semi-transparent mirrors 25 and 26 that respectively reflect images reflected on the eyepiece 3 to the eyepiece 24 are installed so as to form an angle α with each other. Here, the optical path lengths from the eyepiece section 24 to the pair of cathode ray tubes 22 and 23 are set to be equal. Furthermore, these semi-transparent mirrors 25,
26 shows the virtual images of the cathode ray tubes 22 and 23 by the worker 1.
It is tilted upward so that the image is formed below the level of the eye of No. 3, that is, the eye horizontal plane (hereinafter simply referred to as the horizontal plane) 21 that includes the eyepiece 24, and as a result, the semi-transparent mirrors 25 and 26 The angle between the horizontal plane 21 and a plane perpendicular to it is θ. Conventionally, since the semi-transparent mirrors 25 and 26 are perpendicular to the horizontal plane 21, the cathode ray tubes 22 and 23 installed on the horizontal plane 21 are viewed from the eyepiece section 24 through the semi-transparent mirrors 25 and 26 with separate left and right eyes. At this time, the three-dimensional virtual image 20, which appears to be behind the semi-transparent mirrors 25 and 26, is located on the horizontal plane 21 as shown by the broken line in the figure. In the present invention, the three-dimensional virtual image 20 is formed at a distance h below the horizontal plane 21 by tilting the semi-transparent mirrors 25 and 26 as described above.
23 is raised above the horizontal plane 21 by an amount H to prevent the shoulders and arms of the operator 13 from coming into contact with the image synthesizing device 19. In this case, in addition to lowering the position where the three-dimensional virtual image 20 is formed,
is raised above the horizontal plane 21, so the semi-transparent mirror 2
5 and 26 are tilted considerably. By tilting the semitransparent mirrors 25 and 26 in this way, the three-dimensional virtual image 2
0 is also tilted and does not correspond to reality, so the cathode ray tubes 22 and 23 are tilted so that the direction of the three-dimensional virtual image 20 matches the direction of the workpiece 11. That is, θ ₁ with respect to the direction of the line of sight seen from the eyepiece 24, the horizontal plane 21
It is tilted at an angle of θ ₂ with respect to the direction perpendicular to . From the above, the appearance of the image synthesis device 19 becomes V-shaped, twisted by angles θ ₁ and θ ₂ and raised at both ends by an amount corresponding to height H, forming an angle θ ₃ , as shown in FIG. .

On the other hand, the line-of-sight tracking device 18 is paired with a line-of-sight tracking device 18 that is integrated with a helmet 27 fixed to the head of the worker 13, and monitors the movement of the head of the worker 13 (that is, the direction of the line of sight). The television cameras 16 and 17 are arranged to move following. In other words, these line-of-sight tracking devices 18
6 and 17 have multi-joint extension and contraction mechanisms to enable three-dimensional movement, and the operating principle is exactly the same as that of the work robot 12 and the operation robot 14. If the image synthesis device 19 is also integrated with the helmet 27, vignetting of the image will be eliminated and the three-dimensional virtual image 20 will be easier to observe.

When the three-dimensional virtual image 20 of the work object 11 and the work robot 12 and the actual operating robot 14 are simultaneously observed overlappingly using the semi-transparent mirrors 25, 26, etc., as in this embodiment, the work robot 12 The distance between the working robot 12 and the television cameras 16 and 17 or the optical path length between the eyepiece 24 and the cathode ray tubes 22 and 23 are adjusted so that the three-dimensional virtual image of the working robot 14 and the operating robot 14 can be observed with the same size. If the television cameras 16 and 17 are equipped with zoom lenses, this can be easily done by operating the zoom lenses. Therefore, this TV camera 1
20 stereoscopic virtual images by operating zoom lenses 6 and 17
When the robot is enlarged, it is possible to perform highly accurate work, but at the same time, the distance between the eyepiece 24 and the operating robot 14 is reduced to create a three-dimensional virtual image of the operating robot 14 and the operating robot 12. Matching the sizes of the images allows for more precise and complex work.

Further, in the present invention, the three-dimensional virtual image 20 of the workpiece 11 seen from the image synthesis device 19 is h higher than the eye level.
The operator 13 can operate the operating robot 14 from a lower position. As described above, since the image synthesizing device 19 is V-shaped, the shoulders and arms of the worker 13 do not come into contact with it. Note that in this embodiment, the cathode ray tubes 22, 23
The image synthesis device 19 has a V-shape by being installed above the horizontal plane 21 by an amount H, but since it is operated at a position lower than eye level, even when H=0, the operator 13's shoulders and arms are not affected. It does not come into contact with the image synthesis device 19.

As described above with one embodiment, according to the present invention, the three-dimensional virtual image of the work object is formed below eye level, so that the worker can operate the operating robot below eye level. Therefore, the user does not get tired, and the image compositing device does not come into contact with his or her arm or shoulder, making it difficult to operate.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 relate to an embodiment of the master-slave type manipulator control device according to the present invention,
Figure 1 is a diagram of the basic principle, Figure 2 is a working status diagram, and Figure 3 is a diagram of the basic principle.
The figure is an external view of the image synthesizing apparatus, and FIG. 4 is an internal structural diagram of the image synthesizing apparatus. In the drawing, 11 is a work object, 12 is a work robot, 13 is a worker, 14 is an operating robot, 15 is a work follower, 16 and 17 are television cameras, and 18
19 is a line-of-sight tracking device, 19 is an image composition device, 20 is a three-dimensional virtual image, 21 is a horizontal plane, 22 and 23 are cathode ray tubes, 24 is an eyepiece, 25 and 26 are semi-transparent mirrors, 27
is a helmet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A pair of imaging devices that are arranged side by side and move together to take images of the work object, a pair of image screens that respectively project two images of the work object taken by the imaging devices, and a pair of left and right contacts that the worker looks into. a pair of eye parts located in front of the eye parts and these eyepiece parts for synthesizing the two images and obtaining a three-dimensional virtual image in front by separately reflecting each image of the pair of image planes to the eyepiece parts; an image synthesis device having a semi-transparent mirror;
an operating robot that is operated by the worker and works on the three-dimensional virtual image; a work robot that follows the operation of the operating robot and works on the work object; and a head of the worker. a line-of-sight tracking device that is fixed to the head and causes the imaging device to follow the movement of the head, the pair of image planes are located symmetrically on the front side of the eyepiece, and The semi-transparent mirrors are each tilted upward so as to form a virtual image of the image plane below the horizontal plane of the eye including the eyepiece, and
A control device for a master-slave type manipulator, characterized in that the pair of image planes are each tilted so that the direction of the three-dimensional virtual image coincides with the direction of the workpiece.