JPH0735031B2 - Robot's offline pro-milling device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an off-line programming apparatus for a robot that creates an operation program for the robot by off-line programming.

[Prior Art] In recent years, many robots have been introduced into production plants as a means of maintaining a comfortable working environment in accordance with changes in the industrial structure.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the work of the robot in such a production factory. In FIG. 9, (1) is a robot,
(2) is a robot controller for controlling the robot (1),
(3) is a teaching box for teaching robot operation, (4) is a workbench, and (5) is a part to be worked.

In order for the robot (1) to work, the work to be performed by the robot must be determined in advance and an operation program must be created. The operation program is teaching. There are a method of operating the robot (1) by operating the box (3) and teaching and creating an operating position and an operating sequence, and a method of inputting a robot language from the robot controller (2) to create. . By executing the operation program created by these methods, the robot (1) performs a predetermined operation.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, in order to create a motion program in the conventional robot work, it is necessary to teach or program in a robot language for each robot. In the case of teaching, there is a problem that the target robot and the entire production line must be stopped for a long time, which takes time and effort, and the production efficiency is reduced.

Also, programming in robot language requires mathematical knowledge and the ability to grasp a three-dimensional space, and cannot be easily created by anyone.

Further, there has been a problem that a work change must be taught or programmed again.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems,
It is an object to provide an offline programming device that can create and edit a robot operation program without stopping the production line and having little robot language and mathematical knowledge, and can immediately respond to changes in the situation of a production factory. And

[Means for Solving Problems] An off-line programming apparatus for a robot according to the present invention is a robot that realizes off-line programming that causes a robot to execute an operation program that causes a robot to perform a predetermined work on a work object. In the off-line programming device, a first storage means for storing the shape of the work target, the work point of the work target, a plurality of motion route patterns for configuring the motion route of the robot, and route parameters thereof, Based on the shape of the work target object, the work point of the work target object, the plurality of motion path patterns for configuring the motion path of the robot, and the path parameters stored in the first storage means, A display means for displaying a work point of the work object and a movement path of the robot in a three-dimensional graphic; Second storage means for storing a plurality of operation path patterns and their path parameters as a library, and the operation path pattern and its path parameters stored in the second storage means, and correcting the selected path parameters. And inputting / correcting means for interactively creating an operation program by inputting a path parameter to be modified, storing the selected operation path pattern and the path parameter or the modified path parameter in the first storage means. It is equipped with.

[Operation] In the present invention, the first storage means stores the shape of the work target, the work point of the work target, a plurality of motion route patterns for configuring the motion route of the robot, and route parameters thereof. The display means displays the shape of the work target stored in the first storage means, the work point of the work target,
Based on a plurality of motion path patterns for configuring the motion path of the robot and its path parameters, the shape of the work object, the work point of the work object, and the motion path of the robot are three-dimensionally displayed graphically. The storage means stores a plurality of robot motion path patterns and their path parameters as a library, and the input / correction means selects the motion path patterns and their path parameters stored in the second memory means, and selects the selected path. When modifying a parameter, the path parameter to be modified is input, the selected motion path pattern and the path parameter or the modified path parameter are stored in the first storage means, and an operation program is interactively created. It

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an off-line programming apparatus for a robot according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, (6) is an off-line programming apparatus for a robot according to the present invention, (7) is a data processor, (8) is a library of operation paths, created operation programs and position data, etc. are stored. Memory, (9) is a disk controller for controlling a disk device such as a magnetic disk (15) and a floppy disk (16) connected to the off-line programming device (6) of the robot according to the present invention, (10) Keyboard (17), magnetic tape unit (1
8) and other input / output controller for controlling the input / output device, (11) is a display controller, which processes various data from the data processing processor (7), and the CRT (13) via the display memory (12). To display. These are connected to the data processor (7) by the data bus (14). The off-line programming device (6) for the robot according to the present invention and its peripheral devices are the second
As shown in the figure, it is compactly assembled on the operation desk.

Next, a plurality of welding work points (21a), (21b), (21) of the work object having the outer shape (20) as shown in FIG.
Programming of an operation program for performing spot welding on c), (21d), (21e), (21f), and (21g) will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

(1) Step 41 The data processor (7) uses the keyboard (17), the magnetic tape device (18) and other input / output devices to input the external shape of the work object (20) via the input / output controller (10). ) And welding work points (21a) to (21g) are read and stored in the memory (8).

(2) Step 42 When the data processor (7) completes the reading of the position data, based on the read position data, the CRT (1
3) The outer shape of the work object (20) and the welding work point (2)
Three-dimensional graphic display of 1a) to (21g).

(3) Step 43 The data processor (7) creates and edits the operation path between the welding work points displayed graphically to create the operation program of the robot.

(4) Step 44 The data processor (7) converts the operation program into a source program in robot language and outputs it.

The operation program is described by connecting, as operation segments, data representing operation path patterns suitable for the welding work points that are sequentially selected. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the data structure of such an operation program. The operating program is “program code”, “first
It has a data structure composed of "motion segment for work target point", "motion segment for second work target point", ..., "motion segment for final work target point", and "number of motion segments".

The motion segment, that is, the motion path pattern, is created by deciding how to set a waypoint on the way to the work target point, and an example thereof is shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, (26) is the start point of the movement route, (27) is the work target point, (28) and (29) are intermediate points from the start point (26) to the work target point (27), ( 30) and (31) are reference points, (32) and (34) are interpolation ratios (33) and (35) are shift amounts.

Here, the change of the movement path pattern means that when the movement path pattern as shown in FIG. 6 (a) is created, it is changed as shown in FIG. 6 (b) or FIG. 6 (c). It is to replace with a pattern. In addition, the correction of the motion path pattern means the interpolation ratio (3) of FIG. 6 (b) or FIG. 6 (c).
2), (34) or shift amount (33), (35) is to be changed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the data structure of the motion path pattern. In FIG. 7 (a) showing a general data structure, (77) is a trunk for describing the configuration of the movement path, and the "registered name", "the number of intermediate waypoints" in the library, and the position of each point It is composed of a "pointer" that points to element data for calculating data. (78), (81), (8
2) is the element data of the trunk (77), (79), (80) is the element data of the element data (78), and is a "pointer" that points to the element data indicating the reference point required to calculate the position data. And "parameter".

Element data is calculated for two position data (for example, 2
Position data is newly obtained by the relative relationship between two position data, that is, the calculation of the matrix product of two position data, or the calculation of the point interpolated by the ratio between the two position data), and the direct position data Which indicates (starting point, work target point, position data newly determined numerically, etc.).

The position data is expressed as a four-matrix coordinate transformation matrix including a translation vector that describes a position with respect to the basic coordinate system that describes the program and a rotation transformation matrix that describes the posture of the work implement held by the robot at that position. That is, the position data is In FIG. 7 (b) showing a specific data structure,
(83) is a trunk whose "registered name" is "VPATH", and (84) is a "pointer" which represents the product of two position data is "RELA".
Element data that is, (85) is a "pointer" that represents interpolation
Is (INTER), (86) is element data whose "pointer" indicating the starting point is "TERMC", (87) is element data whose "pointer" indicating the target point is "TERMT", (88) ) Is element data in which the "pointer" representing the position data that numerically newly determines the position data is "TERMZ". Note that "TERMZ" describes the position that has the parallel movement component in the Z-axis direction, and is the element data (8
In 8), Indicates.

Next, details of the above-described step 43, that is, a procedure for creating an operation path between welding points and completing the operation program of the robot will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

(1) Step 101 CRT (13) displays on the display screen an operation menu for creating a motion path, an outer shape of the object, a welding point position and a cursor on which the spot welding work is performed.

(2) Steps 102-104 The operator operates the keyboard (17) to move the cursor to select a welding point to be programmed (step 102) and input a number corresponding to the selected operation menu ( In step 103), the data processor (7) discriminates the input number (step 10).
4), creation / change of motion path (steps 105 to 108), modification of motion path already created (steps 109 to 11)
2), copy (steps 113 to 115) or end processing is executed.

(3) Steps 105 to 108 The data processor (7) causes the CRT (13) to display a list of operation path patterns registered as a library (step 105).

When the operator selects an appropriate operation path pattern and inputs a code corresponding to it (step 106), the data processor (7) discriminates the input code (step 107) and a library of the selected operation path pattern. Required data such as work target data and pointers are written in and added as a new segment to the operation program (step 108). If there is no motion path pattern corresponding to the input code, the process proceeds to step 101.

(4) Steps 109 to 112 The created motion path is modified by changing the parameters specified by the library. For example, the correction of the operation path pattern shown in FIG. 6 (b) described above is performed as follows. That is, the reference point (3) that is interpolated at a ratio of 0.5 between the start point (26) (element data (88)) and the work target point (27) (element data (87)).
0) (element data (85)) is calculated, and this reference point (30)
And an intermediate waypoint (28) is calculated from the element data (88) that has been shifted by 100 in the Z-axis direction, and this is used as element data (88),
The work target point (27) (element data (89)) is reached. To correct the motion path pattern in this way, the number of parameters to be input is determined (step 109), and the interpolation ratio (32) and shift amount (33) as parameters are input (step 111) and set (step 111). Step 112). In this example, the route parameters are the interpolation ratio 0.5 of the element data (85) and the shift amount 100 of the element data (88), which are given as initial values in the library, but these can be changed when the operation program is created. The route pattern can be arbitrarily modified.

In addition, FIG. 6 (c) shows that the start point (26) is changed to the intermediate point (28),
The reference point (30) is calculated from the interpolation ratio (32) in the movement path pattern that reaches the work target point (27) via the two points (29), and the reference point (30) is shifted in the normal direction. The point shifted by the distance indicated by (33) is set as the intermediate waypoint (28), the reference point (31) is calculated from the interpolation ratio (34), and the distance normal line shift indicated by the shift amount (35) is calculated. This is a midway operation route pattern.

When the input of the parameters is completed (step 110), the midway point is calculated by executing the operation element of each motion segment (step 114), and the CRT (13) displays the three-dimensional graphic (step 115).

In addition to the above-mentioned functions, when newly adding an operation segment, a copy function that adopts the same program path pattern (step 113), a function that deletes a certain segment from the operation program, and an arbitrary operation program A function of inserting a new motion segment at a position can be used, and a programmer can interactively proceed with these programming operations while checking them on a three-dimensional graphic.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the spot welding work is described as an example, but an assembly work or other robot work may be performed, and the same effect as that of the present embodiment is obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of motion paths for configuring the shape of the work object, the work point of the work object, and the motion path of the robot by the first storage means. The pattern and its route parameter are stored, and by the display means,
The shape of the work object based on the shape of the work object, the work point of the work object, the plurality of motion path patterns for configuring the motion path of the robot, and the path parameters stored in the first storage means. , The work point of the work object and the movement path of the robot are displayed three-dimensionally, a plurality of movement path patterns of the robot and its path parameters are stored as a library by the second storage means, and the second by the input / correction means. When selecting the operation route pattern and its route parameter stored in the storage means and modifying the selected route parameter, the route parameter to be modified is input, and the selected operation route pattern and its route parameter or modified route The parameters are stored in the first storage means, and the operation program is interactively created. Without the much needed language and mathematical knowledge, the effect is obtained that a short time operation program of efficient robots can be created.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a block diagram of an off-line programming device for a robot according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of a robot and an off-line programming device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is an external view of a work object, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the offline programming apparatus for a robot according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a data structure diagram of an operation program, FIG. 6 is an operation path pattern diagram, FIG. 7 is an operation path pattern data structure diagram, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating an operation path between welding points and completing an operation program of the robot, and an explanatory view for explaining the operation of the robot in the production factory shown in FIG. In each drawing, 6 is an off-line programming apparatus for a robot according to the present invention, 7 is a data processor, 8 is a memory, 9 is a disk controller, 10 is an input / output controller, 11 is a display controller, 12 is a display memory, 13 Is CR
T and 14 are data buses, 15 is a magnetic disk, 16 is a floppy disk, 17 is a keyboard, and 18 is a magnetic tape device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An off-line programming apparatus for a robot that realizes off-line programming for causing a robot to execute an operation program for causing a robot to perform a predetermined work on a work object, the shape of the work object, and the work object. Work point, a plurality of movement path patterns for forming the movement path of the robot, and first storage means for storing the path parameters thereof; and the work target object stored in the first storage means. Based on the shape, the work point of the work target, the plurality of motion route patterns for configuring the motion route of the robot, and the route parameters thereof, the shape of the work target, the work point of the work target, and the Display means for three-dimensionally displaying the movement path of the robot; A second storage unit in which a plurality of route parameters are stored as a library, and an operation route pattern and its route parameter stored in the second storage unit are selected, and when the selected route parameter is modified, the route to be modified Inputting / correcting means for inputting a parameter, storing the selected operation path pattern and the path parameter or the modified path parameter in the first storage means, and interactively creating the operation program. A unique robot offline programming device. 2. The off-line programming apparatus for a robot according to claim 1, wherein the route parameter is a waypoint that the robot passes through to reach the work point.