JPH05237779A - Joint module for remote control manipulator and remote control manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A remote control manual that can be configured with a single type of joint module 1 and that allows the joint mechanism to be replaced by a simple operation by remote control, and that has a degree of freedom that can be changed. Regarding the purator. [Structure] Bonding surface 3 inclined by 45 ° with respect to the axis of rotation
A joint mechanism comprising a fixed casing 3 having a and 11a and a movable casing 11, said joint surfaces 3a and 11
Transmission corresponding to each of the male side and female side connectors 9 and 16 provided in a, and the other joint mechanism that is connected to both ends of the connectors 9 and 16 provided in the casing and is connected to the front and rear stages. A remote control manipulator formed by combining a plurality of joint modules 1 each having a wire harness 10 having a path.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manipulator joint module for performing various operations on behalf of a human and a remote control manipulator constructed by the module.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a remotely operated manipulator that performs various tasks on behalf of human beings in an environment where humans cannot directly access it, such as in a nuclear fusion reactor or in outer space, repair work of the manipulator itself is also performed by other manipulators. Will be done. Therefore, it is required that the manipulator should be able to be repaired in a short time and by a simple operation when a failure occurs during work. Therefore, in the conventional manipulator, in order to facilitate the replacement of the defective part, the drive mechanism has been made into a unit and the attachment and detachment thereof can be made one-touch.

On the other hand, the work that the manipulator has to perform in the above-described environment where humans cannot access it is expected that there are cases where a single manipulator cannot handle a wide variety of work targets and work contents. It Particularly, in maintenance and repair work for a device composed of various parts, there are various restrictions and demands on the operating range of the manipulator, the degree of freedom structure, and the general weight. However, in a fusion reactor, for example, the inside of the reactor is narrow and the radiation environment is at a high level, and in space, an increase in weight causes an increase in launch costs. It is difficult to bring it into the environment.

From the background as described above, the degree of freedom is formed by modularizing the joint portion and rearranging them.
A manipulator that can freely change specifications such as arm length and that can be easily repaired by replacing a failed joint with a sound one at the time of failure is required. Various proposals have been made regarding the mechanism and structure for separation and coupling.

[0005]

However, the manipulator main body is provided with wire harnesses for power supply to each axis and signal transmission, and the degree of freedom configuration is changed regardless of the replacement of the defective portion. It has never been so easy. On the other hand, the torque required for the joint of the joint manipulator, which is generally a cantilever structure, is smaller as it approaches the tip of the arm, and larger torque is required at the base end. In particular, in a manipulator having six or more degrees of freedom that can take any position and posture in space, the required torque is significantly different between the degree of freedom of the arm and the degree of freedom of the wrist that determines the posture of the end effector at its tip. ..

As described above, in the overall structure of the manipulator, the joint closer to the base end of the arm has a larger load moment, and therefore the capacity of the drive system of the joint needs to be selected according to the position of the joint. Even if the modularization as described above is performed, the degree of freedom can be rearranged practically within a very limited range. The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and the joint module and joint module unit for a remote operation manipulator capable of easily exchanging the joint mechanism by a simple operation by remote operation and changing the degree of freedom. It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote control manipulator which is constituted by one kind and can perform smooth and reliable operation.

[0007]

A joint module for a remote-controlled manipulator of the present invention includes a drive motor, a position detector, a speed reducer, etc., and is modularized so as to rotate between a fixed casing and a movable casing. The joint mechanism, which is a joint portion with another joint mechanism or an arm member, has a joint surface inclined by 45 ° with respect to the axis of the rotational movement, and the joint mechanism at the front stage and the rear stage which is provided on the joint surface and is released. It is characterized in that a lock mechanism that is operably coupled and an electric connector that is provided on the joint surface and cooperates with the electric connectors of the front and rear joint mechanisms are provided.

Further, the remote control manipulator of the present invention comprises a joint module having connecting portions at both ends and having a degree of freedom of rotation about one axis, and an arm member having a connecting portion similar to the joint module. In a manipulator composed of a plurality of combinations, a plurality of joint modules are installed in parallel at the base end of the arm member that drives the arm member, and one joint module is installed at the tip end portion that drives the wrist. The manipulator control device is provided with a function of switching the configuration of the control loop so that one of the joint modules installed in parallel is mainly used and the other joint module follows the joint module having the main function. It is characterized by

[0009]

In the joint module for a remote-controlled manipulator of the present invention having the above structure, the joint surface of the joint module having an independent drive motor and position detector is tilted at an angle of 45 ° with respect to the rotation axis of the joint. Since it is a surface and can be contacted / separated by a lock mechanism, it is possible to replace a failed joint module by a simple operation by remote operation, or change the configuration of the degree of freedom by rearranging the joint module and arm members.

Further, in the remote-controlled manipulator of the present invention having the above-described structure, the joint at the base end of the arm having a large load torque can cope with a large load torque by using a plurality of joint modules. Therefore, a multi-joint manipulator including a joint with a large load torque and a joint with a small load torque can be configured by a single type of joint module. Moreover, in the case where a joint is formed by a plurality of joint modules arranged in parallel, the control device controls the joint module so that one of the joint modules is the main and the other is the slave, and the slave joint module follows the main joint module. Since the configuration of the control loop can be switched, both joint modules can be driven in a synchronized state with a small phase difference.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a joint module according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2A is a plan view of a lock mechanism thereof, and FIG. 2B is a plan view of a connector portion thereof. In these figures, a drive motor 2 for driving the joint module 1 is fixed to a fixed casing 3. The drive motor 2 has a built-in brake 2A, and an output shaft 2B of the drive motor 2 is fixed with a gear 5B meshing with a gear 5A fixed to the input shaft 4A of the harmonic speed reducer 4. .. Input shaft 4 of harmonic reducer 4
A is supported by a hollow shaft 6 fixed to the fixed casing 3 via a bearing 7. An input shaft 8A of an absolute position detector 8 is fixed to the tip of the hollow shaft 6.

On the other hand, at the end of the fixed casing 3, a joint surface 3 inclined by 45 ° with respect to the rotation axis X of the joint module 1 is provided.
A is provided, and the male connector 9 is provided at the center of the joint surface 3A. One end of the wire harness 10 is connected to the connector 9 and the wire harness 1
Reference numeral 0 penetrates through the hollow shaft 6, is guided to a cable housing 12 attached to a movable casing 11, and is housed by being spirally wound therein. A joint surface 11A inclined by 45 ° with respect to the rotation axis of the joint module 1 is provided at the end of the movable casing 11, and a female connector 16 is provided at the center of the joint surface 11A via a bearing 13.
Is rotatably provided. The female connector 16
Is provided with a click stop mechanism including a spring 14 and a ball 15 pressed by the spring 14. Furthermore, the other end of the wire harness 10 pulled out from the cable housing 12 is connected to the female connector 16.

Further, the female connector 1 of the joint surface 11A
At the symmetrical position with respect to the center of 6, the conical locator pin 1
7 are provided perpendicularly to the joint surface 11A, and a lock mechanism 18 that cooperates with the locator pin 17 is provided around the joint surface 11A. The lock mechanism 1
8 is configured as follows. That is, on the outer periphery of the joint surface 3A of the fixed casing 3, the joints are distributed at equal intervals on the circumference centered on the intersection of the joint shaft 1 and the joint surface 3A. A protrusion 19 is provided which is a part of a conical surface having an apex and has an equal circumferential dimension. A similar protrusion 20 is provided on the outer periphery of the joint surface 11A of the movable casing 11.

On the joint surface 11A of the movable casing 11,
A ring 23 that is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the protrusion 20 is attached by a V-shaped groove 21 provided on the inner periphery. This ring 23
Are provided at the same intervals as the above-mentioned 19 and 20, and the protrusion 1
There is a notch 22 sized to allow the 9 to engage.

A cross roller bearing 3B is provided between the movable casing 11 and the fixed casing 3. Further, a guide hole 17A for the locator pin 17 is provided on the joint surface 3A of the fixed casing 3.

FIG. 3 is a connection diagram showing the structure of the wire harness 10 having the joint module 1 built therein. In this figure,
P _{1 to} P ₅ are multicore power cables that supply power to the drive motor 2 that drives the joint module 1, S _{1 to} S ₅ are multicore cables for signals connected to the absolute position detector 8, and B
Is a two-core power cable for supplying power to the brake 2A incorporated in each drive motor 2. Wire harness 10 formed by bundling each of these cables, each joint _module 1 _I ~
Joining surfaces at both ends of 1 _V 3A _{I to} 3A _V , 11A _{I to} 11A
The male connector 9 _I to 9 _V respectively provided in the _V, and the terminals of the female connector 16 _I ~ 16 _V, is connected to the appropriate core wire each end. Then, each cable is branched only within the articular module 1 _n, the driving motor 2 of the joint module 1 _n, respectively, the absolute position detector 8 is connected to the brake 2A.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a hand portion of a remote control manipulator according to an embodiment of the present invention constituted by the joint module having the above-mentioned structure, and FIG. 5 (a) is a front view showing the whole structure of the manipulator. 5 (b) is a plan view thereof. In FIG. 4, the joint module 1 _VII is connected to the tip of the arm member 24 so as to be coaxially rotatable, and the joint module 1 _VIII is rotatably connected to the tip of the arm module 24 about an axis orthogonal to the arm member 24. Has been done. This tip of the wrist module 1 _VIII is coupled to a variable rotation about an axis wrist module 1 _IX comprising a hand 25 is perpendicular to the joint module 1 _VIII.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), joint modules 1 _I and 1 _II are respectively attached to the tips of a pair of bases 26A and 26B fixed to a support (not shown) so that their axes are aligned. Next, they are connected so as to face each other, and arm members 27 are fixed to the joint surfaces on the output side of these joint modules. Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, joint modules 1 _III , 1 _IV are _attached to the arm member 27, and their axes are offset from the axes of the joint modules 1 _I , 1 _II , and are orthogonal to each other. They are connected back to back so that On the output side of these joint modules 1 _III and 1 _IV , arm members 28A and 28B are connected so as to be orthogonal to the axes of the joint modules 1 _III and 1 _IV and parallel to each other.

At the tips of these arm members 28A and 28B, joint modules 1 _V and 1 _VI are connected in parallel with the joint modules 1 _III and 1 _IV , and face each other, and their axes are collinear. It is connected as follows. And
The output side of these joint modules 1 _V and 1 _VI is shown in FIG.
The arm member 24, the joint module 1 _VII , and 1 shown in FIG.
Hands 25 provided on _VIII , 1 _IX and joint module 1
The arms consisting of are connected at the base end of the arm member 24 to form a manipulator.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the degree of freedom of the manipulator according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram of its controller. Hereinafter, the operation of the remote control manipulator of the present invention will be described with reference to these drawings. In FIG. 6, the remote operation manipulator of the above-described embodiment includes (1) the joint modules 1 _I and 1 _II of the arm member 27 about the vertical axis, and (2) the joint modules of the arm members 28A and 28B. 1 _III , 1 _IV rotation about an axis perpendicular to the vertical axis, that is, a horizontal axis, (3) rotation of the arm module 24 by the joint modules 1 _V , 1 _{VI about} a horizontal axis, (4) Pivoting of the joint module 1 _VII by the joint module 1 _{VIII in} the horizontal plane, (5) The arm member 24 of the joint module 1 _IX by the joint module 1 _VIII
Rotation about an axis perpendicular to, (6) Joint module _IX
Has a six degree of freedom configuration for rotation of the hand 25.
With the above six degrees of freedom, the hand 25 can bring the hand 25 to a target position within a range permitted by the manipulator configuration specifications, and a member positioned there,
It can handle parts, etc.

In FIG. 7, the control device 30 includes a plurality of servo control units S _{I to} S _IX , an operator input or an operation program analysis and coordinate conversion calculation, and a position detection signal POS of each joint module 1. , toward each joint module determines a first velocity servo controller S _I to S _IX, an arithmetic control unit C outputs a speed command Vref _I to VREF _IX sequentially operating signal from the operator to the operation control unit C Man-machine interface MMI with joystick J for inputting COM and keyboard K
And a storage unit M that stores a motion program and the like.

The storage unit M stores coordinate conversion calculation programs D1 to DN relating to all degrees of freedom configurations that can be realized by rearrangement. Further, the arithmetic control unit C
Is based on the calculation procedure of Vref _I to Vref _IX for each indirect module 1, the position information specified in the program as an independent axis or the target position instructed by the operator, and the joint module position detection signals POS _{I to} POS _IX . The procedure for calculating the movement of each joint module 1 and the function of switching the control loop so as to follow the position detection signal POS _{I of} the specific joint module 1 _I , that is, the speed command Vref _II of the specific joint module 1 _II , The position detection signal POS _II of that axis and the position detection signal P of the other joint module 1 _I
As a value proportional to the difference from OS _I , joint module 1 _II
It has a function of outputting to the servo control section S _II of the.

The operation and effect of the above embodiment will be described below. In each joint module 1, the movable casing 11 supported by the cross roller 3B on the fixed casing 3 is driven and rotated by the drive of the drive motor 2 via the gears 5A and 5B and the harmonic speed reducer 4. At this time,
The rotation angle of the joint module 1 is detected by the absolute position detector 8 connected to the hollow shaft 6. Further, in response to the above rotation, the wire harness 10 connected to the male connector 9 provided on the joint surface 3A of the fixed casing 3 is a portion that is spirally wound and housed in the cable housing 12,
Follows while changing the winding diameter. The wire harness 10 has a required number of power cable cores and a required number of signal cable cores in accordance with the number of joint modules 1 required to form a manipulator having a desired degree of freedom. For example, in the 6-DOF remote control manipulator shown in FIG. 6, the joint module has 1 _I
.About.1 _IX , and the wire harness 10 has core wires corresponding to those numbers.

Coupling of the joint module 1 having the above-described structure is carried out sequentially from the base end in the following manner according to the required degree of freedom structure. That is, in the portion having the degree of freedom of coaxial rotation, the rotational axis of the joint module 1 and the connecting surface 3A inclined at 45 ° are oriented so that the axis of rotation and the axis of rotation of the joint module 1 or arm member 24 in the preceding stage are aligned. Locator pin 1
7 is engaged with the guide hole 17A, and the both are fixed by the lock mechanism 18. More specifically, the phase is aligned with the notch 22 of the ring 23 supported by the projection 20 on the outer circumference of the joint surface 11A of the movable casing 11 of the joint module 1 in the preceding stage, and the projection 19 on the outer circumference of the joint surface 3A of the fixed casing 3 is aligned. Engage the notch 22 in the ring 23, where the ring 2
The protrusion 3 of the joint module at the front stage and the protrusion 19 of the joint module at the rear stage are pressed against each other by the V-shaped groove 21 provided on the inner periphery of the ring 23 by rotating the joint 3 by 1/4 to fix the joint modules. At this time, at the same time, the male connector 9 of the rear joint module is inserted into the female connector 16 of the front joint module, and the necessary electrical connection between the joint modules is completed.

On the other hand, in order to set the degree of freedom for center betting on the axis orthogonal to the axis of the joint module 1 or arm member 24 at the front stage, the joint module 1 or arm member 2 at the front stage is provided.
In the joint surface 11A of the movable casing 11 of No. 4, a jig is inserted into the female connector 16 supported by the bearing 13,
This is rotated 180 °. At this time, the female connector 16 is held in the rotated direction by the ball 15 pressed by the spring 14. As described above, the respective joint surfaces are joined so that the rotation axes of both modules are orthogonal to each other, and fixed by the lock mechanism 18 in the same manner as described above. If the arm member 24 is also provided with the same one as the connector supporting mechanism, the joint modules can be connected by the same operation as the joint modules 1. As described above, if the joint module 1 and the arm member 24 are sequentially selected and connected so as to have the degree of freedom around the axis that is coaxial or perpendicular to the rotation axis of the preceding stage, FIG. 5A and FIG. b) or an articulated manipulator as shown in FIG. 6 can be constructed. The joint module 1 connected to each core wire of the wire harness 10 in the manipulator is always constant regardless of the order of connection, and therefore the servo control unit S of the control device 30.
Has a 1: 1 correspondence with joint module 1,
It is not necessary to change the servo constant peculiar to the joint module when changing the degree of freedom or changing the combination.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), in a joint having a large load torque close to the arm base end, joint modules are installed in parallel and drive motors for these joint modules are installed. By synchronously driving
The arm can be driven with a margin for the large load torque. Further, in a region where the load torque is small, such as the wrist shaft, only one joint module can be installed to perform a required motion. Since one or two joint modules are used according to the magnitude of the load torque as described above, a multi-joint manipulator can be constructed using a single type of joint module. ..

Further, in the control device 30, the coordinate conversion program D is switched by the input from the man-machine interface MMI in accordance with the change of the degree of freedom, and the movable state can be quickly entered. In addition, joint modules 1 _I , 1 _II , 1 _III
Regarding 1 _IV , 1 _V and 1 _VI , the configuration of each control loop in the control device 30 is changed by an input from the man-machine interface MMI, and either one of the joint modules 1 _I and 1 _II installed in parallel, for example, 1 _With respect to the servo control unit S _I corresponding to one joint module 1 _I , which is the master joint module 1 _I and the other one is the slave 1 _II , the position information set by the program or the target position designated by the operator and The speed command Vref _I calculated based on the position detection signal POS _I of the joint module is output as it is. On the other hand, for the servo control unit S _II corresponding to the subordinate joint module 1 _II , it is proportional to the value obtained by subtracting the position detection signal POS _II of itself from the position detection signal PQS _I of the main joint module 1 _I. The speed signal command Vref _II is output. By doing so, the joint modules 1 _I , 1 _II, etc. having the same degree of freedom can be driven by being tuned with a small phase difference.

The following effects can be obtained in this embodiment having the above configuration.

(1) The joint surface of the joint module having independent drive motors and position detectors is an inclined surface at an angle of 45 ° with respect to the rotation axis of the joint, and can be contacted and separated by a lock mechanism. Therefore, it is possible to replace the failed joint module by a simple operation by remote control, and change the configuration of the degree of freedom by rearranging the joint module and the arm members.

(2) Since the joint module has a built-in wire harness composed of cables for signal transmission and power transmission according to the number of joint modules that may be connected to the joint module, By connecting with another joint module or arm member by operation, it is possible to immediately put it in an operable state. Moreover, since each joint module is provided with a transmission path in a one-to-one correspondence, the corresponding relationship with, for example, the servo control unit of the control device is always maintained, and the adjustment of the servo constants is unnecessary.

(3) The joint at the base end of the arm having a large load torque can handle a large load torque by using a plurality of joint modules. Therefore, a multi-joint manipulator including a joint with a large load torque and a joint with a small load torque can be configured by a single type of joint module. Moreover, when a joint is configured by a plurality of joint modules arranged in parallel, one of the joint modules is the main and the other is the slave, and the slave joint module follows the main joint module.
Since the control loop configuration can be switched in the control device, both joint modules can be driven in a synchronized state with a small phase difference.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the position detector is a single-rotation type and is installed in a movable casing to detect a rotation angle by interlocking with a hollow shaft that rotates together with a fixed casing. However, instead of this, a multi-rotation type is used. The position detector may be installed in the fixed casing to detect the rotation of the input shaft of the harmonic decelerator.

Further, although the above-described embodiment is an example in which the remote-controlled manipulator is composed of only the rotary joint module, if the structure of the connecting portion is the same as that of the joint module in the above-mentioned embodiment, a joint having a degree of freedom of straight advance is provided. It is also possible to configure a remote control manipulator by using a module or the like. Further, when using a joint module having a degree of freedom of straight movement, it can be connected in series to obtain a long straight stroke.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above, in the remote-controlled manipulator of the present invention, not only can a member be easily and quickly replaced at the time of a failure, but also a degree of freedom configuration accompanying a change of a work target or work content can be achieved. Can be changed by a simple operation by remote control. Also, maintenance and management is easy because there is no need to assemble electrical cables or readjust the control device. Furthermore, in joints with a large load torque, multiple joint modules are installed in parallel to counteract a large load torque. Therefore, by combining a single type of joint module, a remote-controlled manipulator including joints with various load torques. Can be configured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of an embodiment of a joint module of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a plan view of the lock mechanism, and FIG. 2B is a plan view of a connector portion thereof.

FIG. 3 is a connection diagram showing a configuration of a wire harness with a built-in joint module.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a hand portion of a remote control manipulator configured by the joint module shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

5A is a front view showing the overall configuration of the remote-controlled manipulator, and FIG. 5B is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a degree of freedom of the remote operation manipulator.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a control device of the remote operation manipulator.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Joint module 2 ... Drive motor 3 ... Fixed casing 3a, 11a ... Joining surface 4 ... Harmonic reducer 5A, 5B ... Gear 6 ... Hollow shaft 7, 13 ... Bearing 8 ... Absolute position detector 9 ... Male side connector 10 ... Wire harness 11 ... Movable casing 12 ... Cable housing 14 ... Spring 15 ... Ball 16 ... Female connector 17 ... Locator pin 18 ... Lock mechanism 19, 20 ... Projection 21 ... V-shaped groove 22 ... Notch 23 ... Rings 24, 27, 28A, 28B ... Arm member 25 ... Hand 26A, 26B ... Base

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A modular joint mechanism that includes a drive motor, a position detector, and the like, and performs a rotating operation between a fixed casing and a movable casing, and a joint portion with another joint mechanism or an arm member. A joint surface inclined by 45 ° with respect to the axis of the rotational movement, a lock mechanism provided on the joint surface and releasably coupled to the joint mechanism of the front stage and the rear stage, and a joint of the front stage and the rear stage provided on the joint surface A joint module for a remote-controlled manipulator, comprising an electric connector of a mechanism and an electric connector that cooperates with the mechanism. 2. A modular joint mechanism that includes a drive motor, a position detector, and the like, and performs a rotary operation between a fixed casing and a movable casing, and a joint portion with another joint mechanism or an arm member. , A joint surface inclined by 45 ° with respect to the axis of the rotation operation, a lock mechanism provided around the joint surface and releasably coupled to the joint mechanism of the front stage and the rear stage, and the electric mechanism of the joint mechanism of the front stage and the rear stage. It has an electric connector which cooperates with the connector, and further corresponds to the number of joint mechanisms necessary for constructing one manipulator in the joint mechanism, and is 1: 1 with each of the individual joint mechanisms. The joint module for a remote control manipulator according to claim 1, wherein a wire harness having a corresponding transmission path is incorporated. 3. The joint module according to claim 1, which has a connecting portion at both ends and has a degree of freedom of rotation about one axis, and an arm member having a connecting portion similar to the joint module. In a manipulator configured by combining a plurality of each, a plurality of joint modules are installed in parallel at a base end portion of an arm member that drives an arm member, and one joint is provided at a tip end portion that drives a wrist. A module is installed and configured, and the manipulator control device is provided with a function of switching the configuration of the control loop so that one of the joint modules installed in parallel is mainly used and the other joint module follows the joint module having the main function. Remote control manipulator characterized by