JP2005231789A - Pancake changing robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic pancake changing robot capable of automating all the process of changing a pancake by automating a process for drawing a magnetic tape from the pancake. <P>SOLUTION: In order to draw the magnetic tape 107 from the pancake 104 mounted to a delivery shaft 105, the two-arm type automatic pancake changing robot carries out attaching/detaching the pancake and pressing the tape with a first hand 103 and carries out detecting a tape end 108 and drawing the tape with a second hand 106. A tip of the second hand for drawing the tape is equipped with an optical sensor 110 for detecting the tape end 108. When the optical sensor 110 detects the tape end 108 and the second hand 106 peels off the tape end 108, dropout of the tape is prevented by pressing the pancake 104 with the first hand 103 from the opposite side with extremely low pressure. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to automation of pancake exchange in which a pancake having a tape wound around a hub is attached to a delivery shaft and the tape is pulled out.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, automatic pancake attachment / detachment devices are well known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the pancake attachment / detachment device disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the figure, an orthogonal coordinate system scanning mechanism 1 includes a traveling unit 4 that is guided by a pair of upper and lower guide units 2 and 3 to be scanned in the X-axis direction, and a carriage 5 that is scanned on the traveling unit 4 in the Y-axis direction. The robot hand 6 is disposed, and the pancake 8 in which the magnetic tape 80 (see FIG. 6) is wound around the hub 81 is moved two-dimensionally. The robot hand 6 is scanned to take out the pancake 8 from the stock device 7 and attach it to the delivery shaft 9. While the magnetic tape is wound around the take-up shaft 10 from the pancake 8, edge damage or pinholes on the magnetic tape The robot hand 6 removes the pancake 8 from the take-up shaft 10 and sorts it into a non-defective product and a non-defective product after the inspection is completed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the robot hand 6 has a hand portion 14 attached to a base portion 12 fixed to the carriage 5 via a motor 13 so as to be rotatable around the Z axis. Three engaging claws 15a constituting the mechanical chuck 15 and three elastic suction pads 16 are arranged at the tip. The elastic pad 16 is driven back and forth by an air cylinder (not shown).
On the other hand, the pancake 8 is formed by winding a magnetic tape 80 of a predetermined length around a so-called flangeless NAB hub 81 having an insertion hole 81a as shown in FIG. An adsorption recess 81b that 20 contacts and attracts it and an engagement recess 81c that engages the engagement claw 15a are formed at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. In addition, the hub 81 is fixed to the shaft by a clamper that contacts the inner surface recesses (three locations) of the insertion hole 81a of the hub 81 of the pancake 8 and fixes the pancake 8 in a posture perpendicular to each axis. ing.
JP-A-8-147934

The conventional method disclosed in Patent Document 1 relates to automatic replacement when a pancake is mounted on a delivery shaft and the pancake is removed from the delivery shaft.
However, after mounting the pancake on the delivery shaft, how to pull out the tape from the delivery shaft, how to detect the tape end in that case, and when the tape end is detected and the tape end is removed There was no description of the preventive measures when the tapes were broken and the tapes dropped out, and no problem was found.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and is not simply transporting the pancake to the delivery shaft and mounting it there, but subsequent processing, that is, when pulling out the tape from the delivery shaft. When the tape end is detected by the detecting means and the tape is started to be pulled out, a means for pressing the tape from the opposite side of the pancake is provided to prevent the tape from falling off. It aims at providing the pancake automatic exchange method which automates a drawing-out process.

In order to solve the above problem, the invention for a pancake replacement robot according to claim 1 is a pancake replacement robot including a first hand and a second hand, and the pancake is provided at a fingertip of the first hand. The nub hub portion is gripped, and the tape end of the pancake is detected by the fingertip of the second hand.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the pancake replacement robot according to the first aspect, a pad for pressing the tape on the outer peripheral surface of the pancake from the outside at an extremely low pressure is provided near the finger tip of the first hand. Features.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the pancake replacement robot according to the first or second aspect, an optical sensor that detects the tape end from the difference in reflectance between the tape end of the pancake and the magnetic tape at the fingertip of the second hand. It is provided with.

The invention according to claim 4 is the pancake replacement robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the tape end of the pancake is picked by two fingers of the second hand. .
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the pancake replacement robot according to any one of the first to third aspects, the finger of the second hand is provided with an air suction mechanism to suck the tape end of the pancake. It is characterized by.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is the pancake replacement robot according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the finger of the second hand detects the tape end of the pancake and pinches or sucks the tape end. Then, before peeling off the tape end from the pancake, the finger of the first hand presses the tape on the outer peripheral surface of the pancake opposite to the tape end from the outside with an extremely low pressure around the nub hub portion of the pancake. Thus, the tape is prevented from falling off, and the tape is pulled out in this state.
The invention according to claim 7 is a pancake replacement robot comprising two 1-arm robots, and the arm of the first robot has the pancake replacement robot according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The role of the first arm is provided, and the arm of the second robot is caused to execute the role of the second arm.
The invention according to claim 8 is the pancake replacement robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a self-propelled transport mechanism is provided at a lower portion thereof.

According to the present invention, the pancake is taken out from the pancake stock device, transported to the delivery shaft, attached to the delivery shaft, and then the tape end of the pancake is detected, picked, peeled off from the magnetic tape, and the magnetic tape. Is pulled up to the take-up shaft, wound around the take-up shaft, and after inspection, etc., the pancake that has been rewound on the feed shaft is removed from the feed shaft, and a series of operations to convey it to another pancake stock device is automatically performed A self-propelled robot that can be completed will be obtained.
In particular, when pulling out the magnetic tape from the pancake attached to the delivery shaft, a means for detecting the tape end is provided, and the tape end is detected by the detecting means, so that the tape drawing can be automated. Also, when peeling the tape end from the pancake, the outer robot hand softly presses the outside of the tape from the opposite side of the pancake, so it can prevent the tape from falling off when the tape is pulled out. Has the effect of being automated and achieving full automation of the system.
In addition, there is an effect that the apparatus can be miniaturized and space-saving can be realized by making the pancake exchanging robot into a two-hand type by pulling out the tape and the robot hand for pressing the tape by one robot.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual perspective view for explaining the operation of detecting a tape end of a pancake by attaching the pancake to the delivery shaft by the pancake automatic exchanging robot according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the robot shown in FIG. It is a conceptual perspective view explaining the operation | movement at the time of picking and peeling the tape end of a pancake from a magnetic tape.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a pancake replacement robot in which a robot base 102 is mounted on a self-propelled transport mechanism 101 powered by an air cylinder, a motor or the like, and constitutes a two-handed robot.
Reference numeral 103 denotes a first hand, which has at least two fingers 103a for gripping the NAB hub portion of the pancake at the tip thereof. As shown in a plan view of the pancake in FIG. 6, the NAB hub 81 has a portion that slightly protrudes from the surface of the pancake magnetic tape winding body. What is necessary is just to hold | grip with the finger 103a of a book. Or you may make it hold | grip in the state which put the two fingers 103a in the recessed part 81b which the NAB hub 81 has, and pressed from the inner side to the outer side.
In this way, since the pancake 104 can be gripped by the first hand 103, the pancake 104 can be gripped by gripping the NAB hub portion of the pancake by the first hand 103 from the pancake stocker 111 provided in the preceding stage. It can be taken out, transported to the delivery shaft 105 as it is, and inserted into the delivery shaft 105.
In the case of the detaching operation, the reverse is performed.
Further, the first hand 103 includes a pad 114 that is softly pressed at an extremely low pressure so as not to damage the tape on the outer peripheral surface of the pancake 104 from the outside to the finger 103a.

106 is the other robot hand.
The hand 106 performs a function of pulling the magnetic tape 107 from the pancake 104 by gripping a tape end (adhesive tape or the like) 108 provided at the tip of the magnetic tape 107 of the pancake 104. For this purpose, a chuck portion 109 having two fingers 109a and 109b capable of gripping the tape end 108 is attached to the tip of the hand 106. The tips of the two fingers 109a and 109b are delicate and thin so that the end of the tape end 108 can be turned up in order to peel off the tape end 108 temporarily bonded to the magnetic tape 107 from the magnetic tape 107. A stiff peeling member (not shown) is provided.

  Alternatively, the chuck portion 109 may be provided with a suction mechanism (not shown) that sucks the tape end 108 by air or the like instead of the peeling member.

  Further, an optical sensor 110 that detects the tape end 108 is installed at the tip of the finger 109a. The optical sensor 110 is composed of a photocoupler, and the light received from the light receiving unit is reflected by the light emitted from the light emitting unit, and the change in the material can be seen from the amount of light received. In this case, since the tape end 108 is white and the magnetic tape 107 is black, the reflected light changes greatly. Therefore, the point that the amount of light received is changed from a small amount of light to a large amount of light. That is, the tip of the tape end 108 is changed.

  In the figure, reference numeral 112 denotes a tape switching unit which performs tape end / start end processing by tape cutting, suction, automatic joining, and the like. Reference numeral 113 denotes a tape guide roller.

  FIG. 2 illustrates the operation when the robot picks the tape end 108 from the pancake 104 attached to the delivery shaft 105 and peels it off from the pancake 104. In the figure, the pancake 104 is delivered in FIG. The first arm 103 of the two-handed robot has finished gripping the NAB hub, and this time, the pad 114 pressed at the end presses the tape on the outer peripheral surface of the pancake 104 softly from the outside at an extremely low pressure. ing. In this state, the second arm 106 is pulled out from the pancake 104 with the two fingers 109a and 109b sandwiching the tape end 108 therebetween. By doing so, the magnetic tape 107 is prevented from falling off the pancake and falling off the tape.

FIG. 3 is a series of flowcharts for automatic pancake exchange performed by the robot according to the present invention.
First, it is judged from the detected tape length whether the pancake 104 that has been wound by the winder has been wound by a predetermined length (S200). A part of the tape path on the used side of the pancake delivery shaft 105 is cut by the tape switching unit 112 that performs automatic joining or the like (S201).
A joining table (not shown) in the pancake switching unit 112 is slid, the tape cut end cut first is automatically joined using a joining tape by a joining means, and a tape termination process is performed (S202).
Subsequently, the robot main body 102 is moved to the winder where the used pancake is located, and the hub clamp lever of the used pancake is released by the first hand 103 (S203).

The NAB hub of the used pancake 104 (see FIG. 6) is chucked by the grip portion 103a by the first hand 103, and the used pancake 104 is removed from the pancake delivery shaft 105 (S204).
The robot body 102 moves while the hub of the used pancake 104 is chucked, and performs a disposal process of placing it at a predetermined place (S205).
Next, the new pancake 104 is taken out from the dedicated chassis (stocker) 111 by chucking the hub (S206).
The robot body 102 moves to the pancake replacement winder position, is set on the pancake delivery shaft 105, is rotated to perform hub clamping, and the hub 81 is fixed to the delivery shaft 105 (S207).

  While rotating the pancake delivery shaft 105 clamped by the first hand 103, the tape end 108 is detected by the optical sensor 110 attached to the second hand 106, and the rotation of the pancake is stopped at a predetermined angle (S208). ). Here, the detection of the tape end 108 is normally performed by attaching a fixed width adhesive tape or the like to the tape end 108 of the tape 107 wound around the pancake 104. Since the color of the adhesive tape 108 is white and the tape 107 is black, if the reflected light is detected by projecting light by the optical sensor 110, the position of the tape end 108 is detected because the reflectance is large. it can. In this case, the pancake delivery shaft 105 is rotated in small increments in the L (counterclockwise) and R (clockwise) directions to search the position of the tape end 108, and the finger of the chuck 109 with respect to the tape end 108 is moved. Position it.

Next, the robot A 103 presses the pancake 104 at an extremely low pressure so that the outer peripheral portion does not fall off, and the tape end 108 detected previously is chucked by the second hand 106, and the tape bonding portion 108 (for tape end stop) (S209). In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the vacant first hand 103 is moved, and the left side of the pancake 104 is lightly pressed so that the tape 107 does not fall and cause the tape to fall off. A pad 114 or the like having a low contact resistance with a soft tape may be attached to a portion of the finger that contacts the tape of the portion 103a at a position that does not interfere with the chucking operation of the pancake hub. Further, the operation of peeling the tape bonding portion 108 is performed by causing the finger portion 109b of the chuck portion 109 previously positioned to enter the back side of the adhesive tape 108, and sandwiching and peeling the adhesive tape portion 108 between both finger portions 109a and 109b. .
When the adhesive tape 108 is peeled off in this way, the adhesive tape portion is set on the pancake end standby junction of the pancake switching unit 112 (S210).
Subsequently, the vacuum switch of the suction table that sucks the pancake end portion 108 on the winder operation panel is turned ON, and the protruding portion of the unnecessary pancake such as the adhesive tape portion 108 is cut to perform the tape start end processing. One cycle of the replacement work is completed (S211).

  The automatic pancake replacement by this robot is not only used in the tape inspection process as described above, but also by cutting multiple short tapes from pancakes wrapped with long black tape or recorded tape. Also used when manufacturing.

  In the above embodiment, the pancake replacement robot 100 has been described as an example of a two-handed robot that includes the left hand 103 and the right hand 106 in one robot. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Of course, it is possible to perform the same operation and control by using the first hand 103 and the second hand 106 as separate robots as a two-robot type system. In this case, since the hand A and the hand B are separate robots, synchronous control is required depending on the operation such as setting of the pressing timing of the pancake 104 by the hand A103, but each robot may be an inexpensive robot. . On the other hand, the two-hand type robot is complicated in control and more expensive than the single-hand type, but the system can be reduced in size and space.

As described above, according to the present invention, the pancake is taken out from the pancake stock device, transported to the delivery shaft, attached to the delivery shaft, and then the tape end of the pancake is detected, picked, and peeled off from the magnetic tape, After winding the magnetic tape to the take-up shaft, winding it on the take-up shaft, and completing the inspection, etc., a series of operations to remove the pancake rewound on the feed shaft from the feed shaft and transport it to another pancake stock device A self-propelled robot that can be completed automatically will be obtained.
In particular, when pulling out the magnetic tape from the pancake attached to the delivery shaft, a means for detecting the tape end is provided, and the tape end is detected by the detecting means, so that the tape drawing can be automated. Also, when peeling the tape end from the pancake, the outer robot hand softly presses the outside of the tape from the opposite side of the pancake, so it can prevent the tape from falling off when the tape is pulled out. Has the effect of being automated and achieving full automation of the system.
In addition, there is an effect that the apparatus can be miniaturized and space-saving can be realized by making the pancake exchanging robot into a two-hand type by pulling out the tape and the robot hand for pressing the tape by one robot.

It is a conceptual perspective view explaining the operation | movement which mounts a pancake on a delivery axis | shaft with the pancake automatic replacement robot which concerns on this invention, and detects the tape end of a pancake. It is a conceptual perspective view explaining the operation | movement at the time of picking and peeling the tape end of a pancake from a magnetic tape with the robot shown in FIG. It is a series of flowcharts of the automatic exchange of pancakes performed by the robot according to the present invention. It is a block diagram of the mounting / detaching apparatus of the pancake disclosed in Patent Document 1. It is sectional drawing of the robot hand shown in FIG. It is a top view of the hub shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Pancake exchange robot 101 Conveying mechanism 102 Robot base 103 1st hand 104 Pancake 105 Delivery axis 106 2nd hand 107 Tape 108 Tape end 109 Chuck 109a, 109b Finger 110 Optical sensor 111 Pancake stocker 112 Pancake switching device 113 Guide roller 114 Pat

Claims (8)

  A pancake exchanging robot having a first hand and a second hand, wherein a nub hub portion of the pancake is gripped by a fingertip of the first hand, and a tape end of the pancake is detected by a fingertip of the second hand Pancake replacement robot characterized by that.   The robot for exchanging pancakes according to claim 1, further comprising a pad for pressing the tape on the outer peripheral surface of the pancake from the outside at an extremely low pressure near the finger tip of the first hand.   3. The pancake replacement robot according to claim 1, further comprising an optical sensor that detects a tape end from a difference in reflectance between a tape end of the pancake and a magnetic tape at a fingertip of the second hand.   The pancake exchanging robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a tape end of the pancake is picked with two fingers of the second hand.   The pancake replacement robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the finger of the second hand is provided with an air suction mechanism to suck the tape end of the pancake.   Before the finger of the second hand detects the tape end of the pancake and pinches or sucks the tape end, and then peels the tape end from the pancake, the finger of the first hand moves the nub hub portion of the pancake. The tape on the outer peripheral surface of the pancake opposite to the tape end is pressed from the outside at an extremely low pressure to prevent the tape from dropping, and the tape is pulled out in that state. 5. The robot for exchanging pancakes according to any one of 4 above.   A pancake exchanging robot composed of two one-arm robots, wherein the arm of the first robot has the role of the first arm provided in the pancake exchanging robot according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The robot for exchanging pancakes is characterized in that the arms of the second robot are also caused to perform the roles of the second arms.   The pancake exchanging robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a self-propelled conveyance mechanism at a lower portion thereof.

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