Rotary articulated robot and method of control thereof

• US 6,408,224 B1
• Filed: 11/09/2000
• Issued: 06/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
• Original Assignee: National Aerospace Laboratory of Science & Technology
• Inventors: Okamoto, Osamu, Yamaguchi, Isao, Nakaya, Teruomi, Kamimura, Heihachiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Louis-Jacques, Jacques H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel, Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US09/708,667
• Time in Patent Office: 586 Days
• Field of Search: 700/245, 700/247, 700/261, 701/23, 744/900.3, 744/900.5, 746/65.L, 744/900.4, 901/21, 901/23, 901/25, 901/28, 901/15, 219/121.79, 219/121.78, 297/21, 297/40, 297/43, 414/5, 414/7
• US Class Current: 700/245
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 17/025 mounted in series
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1661 characterised by task planning, object-oriented languages
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1664 characterised by motion, path, trajectory planning
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33219 Drives, servo units, main control on internal net, lan, ethernet, tcp-ip, wireless
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34015 Axis controller
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/36417 Programmed coarse position, fine position by alignment, follow line, path adaptive
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39078 Divide workspace in sectors, lookup table for sector joint angle
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40114 From vision detected initial and user given final state, generate tasks
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40299 Holonic, made of similar modules, truss manipulator
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40442 Voxel map, 3-D grid map
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40543 Identification and location, position of components, objects
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40584 Camera, non-contact sensor mounted on wrist, indep from gripper
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53091 for work-holder for assembly or disassembly
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53178 Chip component
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53191 Means to apply vacuum directly to position or hold work part
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/19126 Plural drivers plural driven
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/20317 including electric motor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/20323 including flaccid drive element
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/20329 Joint between elements

Abstract

In a rotary articulated robot having at least a plurality of offset rotary joints in which a drive arm and driven arm are driven in rotation about an offset rotary axis inclined with respect to the arm axis, a hollow rotary shaft that is driven in rotation by a motor is arranged rotatably, being inclined, at the leading end of the arm of either the drive arm or driven arm while a rotor member to which turning effort from the hollow shaft is transmitted is fixed at the base of the other arm, said hollow rotary shaft and said rotor member constituting a high reduction ratio transmission/torque increasing mechanism. The method of control is that the operation of the joints is determined by dividing the operating region of the end effector into a plurality of blocks, the operating conditions of each joint necessary for movement to a prescribed block are converted to database form for each block, the teaching of operating points in the prescribed block region is converted to database form and a track is generated to the block of the operating region on the basis of the block region data; and when a reference point of the block is reached, the in-block operating point data is fetched.

Claims

1. A rotary articulated robot having at least a plurality of offset rotary joints wherein a drive arm and driven arm are driven in rotation about an offset rotary axis inclined with respect to the arm axis, a hollow rotary shaft that is driven in rotation by a motor is arranged rotatably, being inclined at a prescribed offset angle, at a leading end of either the drive arm or the driven arm, while a rotor member to which turning effort is transmitted from the hollow rotary shaft is fixed at the base of the other arm, and said hollow rotary shaft and said rotor member constituting a high reduction ratio transmission/torque increasing mechanism.

2. The rotary articulated robot according to claim 1 wherein said high reduction ratio transmission mechanism comprises said hollow rotary shaft with a cam surface formed on hollow rotary shaft its outer surface, an input gear member whose inner circumferential surface is a cam operating surface that engages with the cam surface of said hollow shaft, and whose outer circumferential surface is a toothed surface which is resiliently deformably fixed, and an output gear member whose number of teeth is slightly more than that of this input gear member, said output gear member constituting said rotor member.

3. The rotary articulated robot according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said motor is arranged such that axis of rotation is coincident with or parallel with the arm axis, and the turning effort from the motor to the hollow rotary shaft is transmitted by means of a bevel gear transmission mechanism comprising meshing of an externally toothed bevel gear fixed to the output shaft of the motor and an internally toothed bevel gear fixed to the base of said hollow rotary shaft.

4. The rotary articulated robot according to claim 3 wherein the case of said motor constitutes part of arm.

5. The rotary articulated robot according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the turning effort from said motor to the hollow rotary shaft is transmitted by means of a belt transmission mechanism comprising a pulley fixed to the motor output shaft, a pulley fixed to the base of said hollow rotary shaft, and a timing belt arranged between this pulley and said pulley.

6. The rotary articulated robot according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said motor is a motor with a brake formed integrally with an integral encoder and tachometer.

7. The rotary articulated robot according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the shaft end on the opposite side to output side of said of motor shaft projects and a manual rotary adjustment portion is provided on a projection.

8. A method of controlling a rotary articulated robot wherein an operating region of an end effector is divided into a plurality of blocks, and operating conditions of each joint necessary for movement to a prescribed block are converted to database form as block region data for each block, so that the operating conditions for each joint are determined by means of the block region data fetched from said database when a block of the operating region is selected beforehand.

9. The method of controlling a rotary articulated robot according to claim 8 wherein motor control is performed independently at each joint such that said block region data is satisfied, by comparing the block region data supplied from said database with a current operating condition at each joint.

10. A method of controlling a rotary articulated robot wherein a teaching of operating points in a prescribed block region is converted to database form as operating point data and, when an end effector reaches this block region, operation of each joint is determined by fetching an in-block operating point data from said database.

11. A method of controlling a rotary articulated robot wherein an operating region of an end effector is divided into a plurality of blocks, an operating conditions of each joint necessary for movement to a prescribed block are converted to database form as block region data each block and the teaching of an operating point in a prescribed block region is converted to database form as in-block operating point data, so that the operating conditions for each joint are determined by means of the block region data fetched from said database when a block of the operating region is selected beforehand, and when the end effector has reached a reference point of said selected block by being moved to a prescribed operating block by driving of joints so as to satisfy these conditions, operation of the joints is determined by fetching said in-block operating point data.

12. A method of controlling a rotary articulated robot wherein each joint is provided with a calculation processing device, joint database and communication interface, and a network is constituted such that a central controller that controls the movement of the robot as a whole and joints are independently connected and data directly exchanged between the joint control devices, so that the joints controlled in parallel and information directly sent to adjacent joints without passing through the central controller.