Robot apparatus, robot controlling method, programming and recording medium

• US 9,902,073 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2016
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Osaka, Tsutomu
• Primary Examiner(s): Sample, Jonathan L
• Application Number:
  US15/333,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20170036353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 490 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 13/088 with position, velocity or acceleration sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40018 Ball in cup
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/28 Joint
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/30 End effector

Abstract

A joint driving unit driving a joint of a robot arm includes a motor, a speed reducer transmitting rotation of the motor in a variable speed, an input side encoder detecting a rotation angle of a rotation shaft of the motor, and an output side encoder detecting a rotation angle of an output shaft of the speed reducer. When positioning the end effector at a working start position at which predetermined work is started, operation of the robot is set to an output based control mode in which an angle of a joint is feedback controlled based on an angle detection value from the output side encoder. When the robot performs the predetermined work, the operation of the robot is changed to an input based control mode in which the angle of the joint is feedback controlled based on an angle detection value from the input side encoder.

Claims

1. A robot apparatus comprising:

a robot having a robot arm including a joint and an end effector attached to an end of the robot arm; and

a control unit configured to control an operation of the robot,

wherein;

the robot arm has a joint driving unit configured to drive the joint,

the joint driving unit has a rotating motor, a speed reducer transmitting a rotation of the rotating motor, a first angle sensor sensing a rotation angle of a rotation axis of the rotating motor or an input axis of the speed reducer, and a second angle sensor sensing a rotation angle of an output axis of the speed reducer, and

the control unit controls the operation of the robot, based on an output value of the second angle sensor until the end effector is positioned to a predetermined position, and based on an output value of the first angle sensor when the operation of the robot is controlled to perform a predetermined working after being positioned to the predetermined position.

2. The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the robot arm has a plurality of the joints, and each of the joints has the joint driving unit.

3. The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the robot performs the predetermined working, the control unit calculates a contortion angle of the joint based on the output value of the first angle sensor and the output value of the second angle sensor, and continues the predetermined working if the contortion angle does not exceed an acceptable value.

4. The robot apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control unit stops the predetermined working when the contortion angle exceeds the acceptable value.

5. The robot apparatus according to claim 3, wherein, when the contortion angle exceeds the acceptable value, the control unit moves the end effector to the predetermined position, to operate the robot to perform the predetermined working.

6. The robot apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a warning unit configured to generate a warning to a user when the contortion angle exceeds the acceptable value.

7. The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the end effector is a robot hand grasping a first work, and

the predetermined working is an inserting operation of inserting the first work into a second work.

8. The robot apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the control unit determines the inserting operation as being completed, when the robot hand moves from a working start position in an inserting direction by a predetermined distance.

9. The robot apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, when the robot hand moves from a working start position in an inserting direction, the control unit calculates a contortion angle of the joint based on the output value of the first angle sensor and the output value of the second angle sensor, and the control unit determines the inserting operation as being completed when the contortion angle calculated reaches a predetermined value.

10. The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the end effector is a robot hand grasping a first work, and the predetermined working is an extracting operation of extracting the first work from a second work.

11. The robot apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the control unit determines the extracting operation as being completed, when the robot hand moves from a working start position in an extracting direction by a predetermined distance.