JPH0544072Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] A. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to the structure of a joint of a master-slave manipulator.

B. Summary of the invention The present invention supports the joints of the joints of the joints of the joints of the joints so as to be rotatable around two axes orthogonal to each other, at the joints of the manipulator that connect the joints of the joints in a flexible manner, and the joints of the joints of the manipulators that connect the joints of the joints in a flexible manner. By being bent with respect to the longitudinal axis of the manipulator, the workability of the manipulator is improved in accordance with the actual usage conditions of the manipulator.

C. Prior Art One type of power manipulator device is a master-slave manipulator. The master-slave manipulator has a structure in which when a worker operates the master arm, the slave arm operates in response to the movement of the master arm. In this master-slave manipulator, the joints of the slave arms are often arranged in a positional relationship similar to that of human joints. By making the slave arm similar in shape to a human arm in this way, the operator can intuitively operate the manipulator as if the slave arm were his own arm.

D. Problems that the invention aims to solve By the way, the basic postures that people use when working include elbow down, elbow side, and elbow up. Elbow-down is a posture in which the elbow joint is located below the shoulder joint, and a person takes this position when working, such as putting their hands under a desk. Also, elbow side is a posture in which the elbow is stretched out to the side, such as the one the left arm takes when writing with the right arm on a desk. Elbow up is a posture where the shoulders and elbows are at the same height and the hands are extended directly below the elbows. Of course, in reality, there are also postures that are a combination of these three basic postures. In such a basic posture, the elbows, shoulder joints, etc. are bent to some extent, and it is therefore desirable that each joint be able to bend in any direction from this basic posture.

However, in the conventional joint, when the joint is bent in the above-mentioned basic posture, it is in a state where it is deviated from the center position of its operating range to one side, and the range of motion from there to that side is limited. There was a problem with this.

The present invention solves these problems with the joints of conventional manipulators, and aims to improve the workability of a manipulator that takes a posture similar to a human working posture.

E. Means for Solving the Problems The joints of the manipulator according to the present invention which solve the above-mentioned problems are such that, in the joints of the manipulator that connect connecting bodies in a flexible manner, the joints of the connecting bodies at the joints are orthogonal to each other. The connecting body is rotatably supported around two axes, and the connecting portion is bent with respect to the longitudinal axis of the connecting body main body.

F Effect When the connecting part is at the center of the operating range around two mutually orthogonal axes in the joint, the connecting body is in a bent state, and from this state it can move in any direction around it.

G. Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a joint according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the joint. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the first
A connecting piece 12 is attached to the tip of the arm 11 so as to be rotatable around the A-A axis, and a connecting piece 12 is attached to the connecting piece 12 so as to be rotatable around the B-B axis orthogonal to the A-A axis. A second arm 13 is attached to form a universal joint type joint 14. In other words, the A-A axis and the B-B axis are two axes orthogonal to each other. Inside the first arm 11 is an A-A axis drive motor 15.
is arranged, and its output shaft gear 16 is connected to the first arm 11
The gear 18 fixed to the mating gear 17 meshes with the mating gear 17 which is pivotally supported by the gear train 19,
20 to the shaft of the connecting piece 12, and the connecting piece 12 is driven to rotate around the A-A axis with respect to the first arm 11 by the operation of the drive motor 15. ing. Similarly, the second arm 1
3, a B-B shaft drive motor 21 is disposed, and the operation of this drive motor 21 drives the output shaft gear 22, the mating gear 23, the gear 24, and the gear train 25, 2.
The connecting piece 12 is connected to the second arm 13 via B
- It is designed to be rotationally driven around the B axis.

Therefore, for example, if the first arm 11 is on the fixed side, the second arm 13 can be bent in any direction in two degrees of freedom at the joint 14 by the operation of both drive motors 15 and 21. be. Furthermore, this joint 1
The drive system No. 4 is not limited to the above-mentioned gear mechanism, and other drive devices may be used.

The second arm 13 has an arm main body 13a that is a connecting body and a connecting portion 13b projecting from the end of the arm main body 13a, and is connected to the connecting piece 12 at the connecting portion 13b. Here, the arm body 13
The arm body 13a is arranged so that the longitudinal axis of the connecting part 13b is inclined by an angle θ of about 45 degrees.
The connecting portion 13b is formed to be bent relative to the connecting portion 13b. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
When the rotational position relative to the connecting piece 12 is at the center point of the operating range and its longitudinal axis is parallel to the extension direction C-C axis of the first arm 11, the longitudinal axis of the arm body 13a of the second arm 13 The axis is inclined at an angle θ with respect to the C-C axis.

Next, the effect when the joint 14 according to the present invention is applied to the shoulder joint of a robot will be described.

3 to 5 are mechanical diagrams each showing the operating state of the robot arm according to the present invention. In the figure, 27 is a base, 28 is a torsion joint, 2
9 is an elbow joint, 30 is a forearm, 31, 32, 33 are wrist joints, and 34 is a hand. The main joint 14 and the torsion joint 28 constitute a shoulder joint mechanism in which three axes intersect at one point. Here, the aforementioned second arm 13 corresponds to the upper arm of the arm.

FIG. 3 shows a side view of the arm posture with the elbow up (elbow up). next,
FIG. 4 shows that after the torsion joint 28 has been operated 90 degrees from the state shown in FIG.
Wrist joint 3
2 is a plan view of the arm posture (elbow side) in a state where the hand 34 is operated so that the hand 34 faces forward. FIG. This arm posture is a state in which the elbows are stretched out and the arms are extended forward, and as mentioned above, this is the posture that people most often take during work. In this posture, the joint 14 of the present invention
In this case, the connecting portion 13b of the arm 13 is located at the center of the operating range with respect to the connecting piece 12, and therefore, the workability is best when the arm 13 is moved from there.

In addition, Fig. 5 shows the torsion joint 2 from the state shown in Fig. 4.
8 to 90 degrees, elbow joint 29 to shoulder joint 14,
28 and a side view of the arm posture (elbow down) with the forearm 30 extended forward. FIG. This arm posture is also a posture that people often take while working. In this case, if the elbow joint 29 can be pushed back and the hand can be pulled down toward the front, that is, if the arm 13 can be rotated as much as possible in the direction of arrow D, the workability will be improved. 13a is indicated by arrow D with respect to connecting portion 13b.
The rotation amount of the arm 13 in the direction of arrow D can be increased.

In this way, if the joint 14 of the present invention is used in a region where the joint is bent to some extent in the basic posture, the operating range can be expanded and workability can be improved. In the above example, the joint 14 of the present invention is used as a shoulder joint, but the scope of application of the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to other joints. Further, the bending angle between the connecting body body and the connecting portion is not limited to 45 degrees, and the bending angle is appropriately selected depending on the joint to which it is applied.

H. Effects of the invention As described above in detail with reference to one embodiment, according to the invention, the longitudinal axis of the main body of the articulated body is bent in advance with respect to the joint, so that the working posture is similar to that of a person. It is possible to expand the operating range of a manipulator that takes a posture and improve its workability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a joint according to an embodiment of the present invention seen from the front, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the joint seen from the plane, and Figs. It is a mechanism diagram showing the state. In the drawing, 11 is the first arm, 13 is the second arm, 1
3a is an arm body, 13b is a connecting portion, and 14 is a joint.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a joint of a manipulator that connects connecting bodies in a flexible manner, a connecting portion at the joint of the connecting body is rotatably supported around two mutually orthogonal axes, and the connecting portion is supported relative to the longitudinal axis of the connecting body body. A joint of a manipulator characterized by being formed by bending.