JPH0671581A - Positioning device for manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the positioning work for the working equipment by a manipulator. CONSTITUTION:As for a positioning device for a manipulator, an arm bracket 21 is installed in turnable manner at the arm top edge part (surface plate 19) of the manipulator by a rotary shaft 31, and a laser painter 23 which irradiates laser beam to a fixing bolt, CCD camera 24 far reading the laser beam irradiated from the laser painter 23, and a nut runner 22 as working equipment are installed on the arm bracket 21, and the laser painter 23 and the nut runner 22 are set in a prescribed angle from the center of the rotary shaft of the surface plate 19, and positioned on the concentric circles from the center of the rotary shaft.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manipulator positioning device for performing nut tightening work, welding work, painting work and the like by remote control.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, at a construction work site, when there is a problem in the work environment such as nut (bolt) tightening work, welding work, painting work, or when simple cargo handling work is repeated, It is difficult for a worker to perform these tasks manually. Therefore, manipulators that perform these operations in accordance with a given program in place of conventional operators are being adopted in various industrial fields.

Since a manipulator for performing the above-mentioned work is required to have substantially the same movement as that of the worker, for example,
It is necessary to adopt an articulated manipulator having about 7 control axes. Then, various work is performed by mounting working equipment such as a nut runner and a welding tool on the arm tip portion of the manipulator and operating according to a set program.

[0004]

In the manipulator as described above, various operations can be performed by operating in accordance with a program given in advance. Therefore, when the position of the work to be performed by the attached work equipment is known in advance, the work can be performed by programming this position in the controller or the like. However, in order to program the work position, it is necessary to search this position before the work, and when there are many work positions, this search work takes a long time and the work becomes troublesome. .

When the work positions are at regular intervals, it is easy to search and program the work positions.
If the work positions are random, the above-mentioned work becomes difficult.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a manipulator positioning device which facilitates various operations by the manipulator.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a manipulator positioning device according to the present invention comprises an arm extending at a tip of an arm of the manipulator in a direction orthogonal to a rotation axis direction of the arm. A bracket is rotatably attached, a laser pointer that emits a laser beam to a target object, a camera that reads the laser beam emitted from the laser pointer, and a work device that performs a predetermined work are attached to the arm bracket. It is characterized in that the laser pointer and the work equipment are distributed at a predetermined angle from the center of the rotation axis of the arm, and are located on a concentric circle from the center of the rotation axis of the arm.

Further, in the manipulator positioning device of the present invention, an arm bracket extending in a direction parallel to the rotation axis direction of the arm is rotatably attached to the arm tip end of the manipulator, and the target arm is attached to the arm bracket. A laser pointer that emits a laser beam to an object, a camera that reads the laser beam emitted from the laser pointer, and a work device that performs a predetermined work are attached, and the laser pointer and the work device are attached to a rotary shaft of the arm. It is characterized in that they are distributed at a predetermined angle from the center, and their axial center lines are located in the same plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the arm.

[0009]

When working with the attached work equipment, the laser pointer emits laser light to the target object, and the camera reads whether the laser light is correctly projected onto the target object. Activate the manipulator to correct the position. Then, the arm of the manipulator is rotated by a predetermined angle to move and position the working device to the position of the laser pointer. In this state, the work equipment is brought close to the target object to perform the work.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a manipulator positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the manipulator positioning device, FIG. 3 is a front view of the manipulator positioning device, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are manipulators. The following is an explanation of the operation of the work equipment positioning method.

The manipulator of this embodiment is a multi-joint type manipulator having seven control shafts, and a nut runner as working equipment is attached to the tip of the arm.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mounting base 11 is formed with a mounting surface 12 fixed to a work floor surface, a work wall surface, or the like (not shown). The mounting base 11 has a first surface perpendicular to the mounting surface 12. A swivel base 13 that is swivelable about an axis is connected to the swivel base 13.
The base end portion of the arm sleeve 14 that rotates around the axis is connected. The proximal end of the intermediate arm 15 that rotates around a third axis orthogonal to the second axis is connected to the distal end of the arm sleeve 14, and the distal end of the intermediate arm 15 has a third end. A base end portion of a connection sleeve 16 that rotates around a fourth axis orthogonal to the axis is connected. Further, a base end portion of an extension sleeve 17 that rotates around a fifth axis orthogonal to the fourth axis is connected to a tip portion of the connection sleeve 16, and a fifth end portion of the extension sleeve 17 is connected to the tip portion of the extension sleeve 17. A wrist portion 18 that rotates around a sixth axis orthogonal to the axis is connected. A face plate 19 that rotates around a seventh axis that is orthogonal to the sixth axis is attached to the wrist portion 18, and can be rotationally driven by a drive motor 20.

Then, a face plate 19 of the wrist 18 is provided with a nut runner 22 as various working equipment via an arm bracket 21 and laser pointers (line projectors) 23, C as various sensors for position detection and positioning.
CD camera 24, distance sensor (ultrasonic displacement sensor) 25
Is installed. In addition, the first manipulator described above
An arm driving motor or the like (not shown) is connected to each of the shafts to the seventh axis, and the position and posture of the face plate 19 with respect to the mounting base 11 can be arbitrarily changed according to the work mode by controlling the operation of the arm driving motor and the like. It can be changed.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the arm bracket 21 has a V-shape in a plan view, and a rotary shaft of the face plate 19 (a drive shaft of the drive motor 20) is formed in a mounting hole formed at a base end portion thereof. ) 31 penetrates, and the base end portion of the arm bracket 21 and the face plate 19 are connected by a plurality of bolts 33 via a mounting flange 32. The arm bracket 21 extends in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis 31 of the face plate 19. It is installed in the extended state.

A nut runner 22 is attached to one arm portion 34 of the arm bracket 21 by a mounting bracket 35 and a bolt 36. Nutrunner 2
Reference numeral 2 denotes an electric drive, and an electric cable 37 is connected to the rear portion. At the front part of the nut runner 22, the drive rotation shaft 38 projects and a support cylinder 39 is attached. The socket 40 is loosely fitted in the support cylinder 39, and the drive rotating shaft 38 and the socket 40 are
Are connected by a connecting pin 41, and the compression coil spring 4 is interposed between the drive rotary shaft 38 and the socket 40.
2 is inserted so that the socket 40 can be slightly retracted.

The socket 40 has a hexagonal holding hole 43 opening forward, and a magnet 44 is embedded in each inner wall surface of the holding hole 43. In the holding hole 43, the hexagon nut 6 is inserted.
When 1 is inserted, the magnet 44 attracts and holds the hexagon nut 61 (see FIG. 4) so that it does not drop off. A reaction force receiving lever 45 projecting outward is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the support cylinder 39, and the nut runner 2 is acted upon by the tightening reaction force when tightening the hexagon nut 61.
The rotation force of the nut runner 22 itself can be prevented by bringing the reaction force receiving lever 45 into contact with the adjacent fixing bolt 62 (see FIG. 5) or the hexagonal nut 61 so that the rotation of the nut runner 22 itself does not occur.

A laser pointer 23, a CCD camera 24, and a distance sensor 25 are mounted on the other arm portion 46 of the arm bracket 21. That is, the arm part 4
The laser pointer 23 is attached to the holder 47 in order from the tip side of 6.
And a nut 48, the distance sensor 25 is fixed by a nut 49, and the CCD camera 24 is fixed by a holder 50 having a spherical bearing and a nut 51.

The mounting position of the laser pointer 23 is located at a predetermined angle θ about the rotation center O of the arm bracket 21 with respect to the mounting position of the nut runner 22, and the laser pointer 23 and the nut runner 22 are arranged. The mounting position is located on the concentric circle of the rotation center O of the arm bracket 21. Although the relative angle θ between the laser pointer 23 and the nut runner 22 is set to 40 ° in the present embodiment, the angle θ is not limited to 40 ° and may be 180 °, for example.

The procedure for tightening the nut by the nut runner 22 mounted on the manipulator will now be described. In the case of this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
A large number of fixing bolts 62 are projected at random, and a nut 61 is tightened to the fixing bolts 62 by a manipulator. In this case, the CCD camera 24 has an angle of view of 34 ° up and down and 46 on the left and right.
The work is performed by setting the distance between the work equipment such as the above and the fixing bolt 62 to 180 mm or less.

First, whether the nut runner 22 and the laser pointer 23, etc., mounted on the arm bracket 21 are properly attached, that is, the laser pointer 23 is positioned at an angle θ with the nut runner 22 and is located on a concentric circle of the center O. Then, make sure that they are located on the same plane and that their central axes are parallel. And
It is arranged so that the tip light of the laser emitted from the laser pointer 23 and the tip portion of the nut runner 22 enter the field of view of the CCD camera 24. Further, the nut bracket 2 is rotated by rotating the arm bracket 21 and measuring the distance from the wall surface 63 by the distance sensor 25 at appropriate 3 to 4 positions.
The parallelism with 2 is detected,

In this state, the laser pointer 23 emits a laser beam to the fixing bolt 62 as a target object, and as shown in FIG.
The CCD camera 24 reads whether is correctly projected on the center of the end surface of the fixing bolt 62. At this time, if the projection is not correct, the manipulator is operated to finely adjust the position. Then, when the driving motor 20 rotates the face plate 19 of the manipulator, that is, the arm bracket 21 in a predetermined angle θ (40 °) in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 5, the nut runner 22 is moved to the position of the laser pointer 23 and fixed. Bolt 62 center and nut runner 2
The center of the nut 61 held by
Is positioned.

After that, the nut runner 22 (arm bracket 21) is brought close to the wall surface 63 by the manipulator, and the nut 61 is pressed against the end portion of the fixing bolt 62. Then, in this state, the nut runner 22 is energized, the held nut 61 is rotated and screwed into the fixing bolt 62, and the tightening work is performed.

As described above, the nut runner 22, the laser pointer 23, the CCD camera 24, etc. are attached to the tip of the manipulator via the arm bracket 21, and the laser pointer 23 and the nut runner 22 are arranged at a predetermined angle θ. By disposing on the concentric circle of the rotation center O of the arm bracket 21, the cross marker 64 of the laser light emitted from the laser pointer 23 is fixed to the fixing bolt 6.
It is aligned while being read by the CCD camera 24 so that it comes to the center of 2, and after confirmation, the arm bracket 21 is rotated only by a predetermined angle θ and the nut runner 22 and the fixing bolt 6
The center of 2 can be easily matched, and the positioning work and the tightening work of the nut can be efficiently performed.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the main part of a manipulator positioning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. The members having the same functions as those in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the duplicated description will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 6, in the manipulator positioning device described above, the nut runner 22 is mounted so that its rotation axis is parallel to the rotation axis 31 of the face plate 19. However, in the manipulator of this embodiment, the nut runner 22 is installed. The rotary shaft is mounted so as to be orthogonal to the rotary shaft 31 of the face plate 19.

That is, the V-shaped arm bracket 71
Is connected and fixed such that the base end portion thereof is orthogonal to the rotation shaft (drive shaft of the drive motor 20) 31 of the face plate 19. The nut runner 22 is attached to one arm portion 72 of the arm bracket 71 by a vertical bracket 73 and a bolt 74. On the other hand, the arm bracket 71
The other arm portion 75 of the laser pointer 23 and the CCD
A camera 24 and a distance sensor 25 are attached. The mounting position of the laser pointer 23 is the nut runner 22.
Center of rotation of the arm bracket 21 with respect to the mounting position of
The laser pointer 23 and the nut runner 22 are mounted so that their axial center lines are located in one same plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the arm bracket 21. It is arranged.

Therefore, the laser pointer 23 emits a laser beam to the fixing bolt 62, and the CCD camera 24 reads whether the cross marker 64 of the laser beam is correctly projected to the center of the end face of the fixing bolt 62.
Further, the nut bracket 22 is moved to the position of the laser pointer 23 by performing position correction and rotating the arm bracket 21 by a predetermined angle by the manipulator, and the center of the fixing bolt 62 and the nut 6 held by the nut runner 22.
The nut 61 is positioned with the centers of 1 aligned.

[0028]

As described above in detail with reference to the embodiments, according to the manipulator positioning apparatus of the present invention, the arm bracket is rotatably attached to the arm tip of the manipulator, and the target object is attached to the arm bracket. A laser pointer that emits a laser beam, a camera that reads the laser beam emitted from the laser pointer, and a work device that performs a predetermined work are attached to the laser pointer and the work device, and the laser pointer and the work device are predetermined from the rotation axis center of the arm. Or the position of the arm on the concentric circle from the center of the rotation axis of the arm,
Alternatively, since the axial centerlines of the both are positioned on the same plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the arm, the arm bracket is set in a predetermined state with the cross marker 64 of the laser light emitted from the laser pointer being correctly aligned with the target object. The working device is moved to the position of the laser pointer by rotating the working device, and the working device can be easily positioned in a short time. As a result, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the work performed by the attached work equipment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a manipulator positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a manipulator positioning device.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a manipulator positioning device.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view of the method for positioning the working equipment by the manipulator.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of the method for positioning the work equipment by the manipulator.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts of a manipulator positioning device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 19 Face Plate 20 Drive Motor 21 Arm Bracket 22 Nutrunner (Working Equipment) 23 Laser Pointer 24 CCD Camera 24 25 Distance Sensor 31 Rotation Axis

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An arm bracket extending in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis direction of the manipulator is rotatably attached to the arm tip end of the manipulator, and laser light is emitted to the target object on the arm bracket. Attach a laser pointer and a camera that reads the laser light emitted from the laser pointer and a work device that performs a predetermined work, and divide the laser pointer and the work device at a predetermined angle from the rotation axis center of the arm, Further, the manipulator positioning device is characterized in that it is positioned concentrically from the center of the rotation axis of the arm. 2. An arm bracket extending in a direction parallel to a rotation axis direction of the arm is rotatably attached to an end of the arm of the manipulator, and a laser beam is emitted to the target object on the arm bracket. A laser pointer, a camera for reading a laser beam emitted from the laser pointer, and a work device for performing a predetermined work are attached, and the laser pointer and the work device are distributed at a predetermined angle from the center of the rotation axis of the arm, and A positioning device for a manipulator, characterized in that the axial center lines of both are located in the same plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the arm.