JPH0565766A - Construction robot system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] At a construction work site, the robot itself can judge the environmental conditions for a plurality of work robots with different functions, and accordingly control each work robot at high speed and efficiently. A construction robot that avoids dangerous high-altitude work at construction sites by manpower, improves work safety, improves reliability and reliability of work, and saves labor at work sites to cope with labor shortages. Provide the system. [Construction] A construction robot system comprising a plurality of work robots 2 to 4 having different functions for assembling a building structure and a command robot 1 for giving an instruction to each work robot, and connecting each robot 1 to 4 with a communication network. ..

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for constructing a building structure, and more particularly to a construction system using a construction robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, on the construction work site of a building, on-site workers such as jumpers have been placed at high places for assembly and construction work of steel frames and the like, flooring, and painting finish. Such work in high places poses a great risk to the worker, and since it is a manual work, there are many cases in which work errors and incomplete work occur, and the work period can be shortened from the viewpoint of ensuring safety. It may not be. Further, the number of workers at such a high-rise construction site, which is accompanied by such a danger and requires skill, is reduced, resulting in a shortage of manpower, which has developed into a social problem affecting the industrial world.

On the other hand, a LAN (Local Area Network) has been developed and put into practical use as a computer-based communication network. This LAN is a local communication network that interconnects various computers, data terminals, workstations, etc., which are distributed in a relatively small area, with a private private network. The functions and loads of computers and terminal equipment are distributed in real time. It is a system that enables high-speed transmission of.

Further, in various manufacturing fields, industrial robots for manufacturing are used to mechanize and automate manual work of workers. Such an industrial robot is a teaching playback type robot in which the position of the robot body is generally fixed in a factory and a simple work procedure is taught in advance.

[0005]

If a robot is to be used instead of a worker at the construction work site described above, such a construction robot must be movable. Can not be applied as it is, and the robot itself must determine the optimal work required by recognizing the progress of assembly of steel frames, the presence of obstacles and other environmental conditions to some extent, and proceed with the work based on this. Is desirable. In addition, if each work on site such as material transportation work such as steel frames, alignment work between assembly materials, and material joining work by bolts or welding is performed by one robot, the structure is large and complicated and work efficiency is increased. It's bad control and troublesome. Therefore, it is desirable to construct a construction robot system with a work robot group dedicated to each work.

However, no construction robot system has yet been developed which is capable of performing high-speed and efficient drive control by determining environmental conditions in real time for such a group of work robots and issuing work commands.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and at a construction work site, the robot itself judges environmental conditions for a plurality of work robots having different functions, and accordingly, at high speed and efficiently. By making each work robot controllable, it is possible to avoid the work of dangerous high places on the construction site by manpower, improve the safety of the work, improve the reliability and reliability of the work, and save labor on the work site. The purpose is to provide a construction robot system capable of coping with labor shortage.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a construction robot system according to the present invention comprises a plurality of work robots having different functions for assembling a building structure and a command robot for giving an instruction to each work robot. The robots are connected by a communication network. In a preferred embodiment, a wireless LAN is used as the communication network.

In a further preferred embodiment, the work robot comprises a robot and a crane robot for conveying materials, a positioning robot for positioning and fixing the materials, and a joining robot for connecting and fixing the materials. ..

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a construction site in which a construction robot system according to the present invention is adopted. Intelligent command robot 1 that monitors a group of robots and gives various work commands
Is fixedly held by the steel frame structure 7 in the portion already assembled and fastened. The command robot 1 is supported and transported by the crane robot 3b. Therefore, the steel structure 7 is fixed and held by an appropriate clamp means (not shown) for fixing the position, and the load of the command robot is mostly supported by the crane robot 3b and is almost not supported by the steel structure 7. Does not work.

The command robot 1 is equipped with a TV camera 6 for monitoring the surroundings. The image pickup signal from the TV camera 6 is subjected to image processing by a computer, and the materials, the positions of the robots, and the work progress status are determined. The image processing apparatus may be installed in the command robot 1 or may be provided in the monitoring room where the operator works. It is desirable that the image processing signal be input to a display in the monitoring room so that the image can be monitored. Further, the tele-gistance system may be adopted so that the operator in the monitoring room can feel the presence on the steel frame structure 7. In this case, in order to obtain the distance information of the surveillance image easily and accurately, the TV camera is set to 2
You may provide a stand or more. Further, such a TV camera for judging the surrounding condition may be provided in place of or attached to the robot, or may be fixed and provided at several predetermined positions in the construction site.

The positioning robot 2 is moved and supported by the crane robot 3b (or another crane robot) like the command robot 1, and is temporarily fixed and held to the steel structure 7 during the work. This positioning robot 2
Is for fixing and holding a material 5 such as a steel frame to be assembled according to the position of the design drawing. The command robot 1 has the function of reading the proper position of the material 5 from the design drawing and performing alignment.
It may be provided in the internal computer or in the alignment robot 2 itself. Alternatively, it may be stored in the computer as position data in advance as in the embodiment described later. In order to disperse the functions and achieve high-speed processing, it is desirable that the positioning robot 2 have position data and control functions. In this case, the command robot 1 and the positioning robot 2 are connected to each other via a network as will be described later, and the situation is comprehensively judged by exchanging data with each other.

The joining robot 4 is mounted on the steel frame structure 7 and joins and joins the steel frames (for example, a beam and a column) by bolts or welding. If the joining robot 4 is lightweight, it may be constructed so as to be able to move on a steel frame by being provided with a self-propelled traveling means, or even if its own weight is supported by a crane robot like the above-mentioned command robot and alignment robot. Good.

The material 5 to be assembled is the crane robot 3a.
It is lifted and supported by and is conveyed to a predetermined position.
The material 5 is positioned and held (or temporarily fixed) by the positioning robot 2 and fastened and fixed by the joining robot 4.

The command robot 1 wirelessly communicates with each work robot (positioning robot 2, crane robots 3a, 3b, joining robot 4) as shown in FIG. The command robot 1 instructs the crane robot 3b to move the command robot 1 itself (signal a) and also to move the positioning robot 2 (signal b). Further, it instructs the crane robot 3a to move the joining robot 4 (signal c) and the material 5 (signal d). Further, the position of the material 5 is monitored and the position is instructed to the positioning robot 2 (signal e). Further, when it is confirmed that the position of the material 5 is positioned at a predetermined position, the positioning robot 2 is instructed to fix and hold the material 5 (signal f). Further, the welding robot 4 is instructed to perform welding of the material 5 or bolt joining work (signal g).

The command robot 1 and the work robots 2 to 4 can be connected to each other and can communicate with each other by a wireless LAN. FIG. 3 shows an example of such a wireless LAN. N workstations WS1
N are connected by a LAN by a wireless network. WS1
Is a command robot incorporating a CPU, for example, and the other work robots are composed of WS2 to N, respectively. By providing a database and a personal computer in each workstation to disperse the functions and loads and enable the workstations to communicate with each other, the speed of data transmission, information processing, etc., and downsizing of the CPU can be achieved. As a result, the situation can be judged and dealt with in real time, the work can be performed efficiently, and prompt measures for danger prevention can be taken to enhance safety.

Next, an example of the steel frame assembling work by the construction robot system including the robot group according to the present invention will be described.

The order of assembling the members (construction materials) is determined at the design stage of the construction work, and the data is stored in advance in the main computer (for example, the command robot) before the construction work.

All robots form a network by a wireless LAN and can communicate with any of the robots. Each robot is equipped with a real-time and network-compatible OS (operating system). This LAN and network OS
Thus, a "distributed integrated robot system" similar to the so-called distributed processing computer system in the field of computers is configured.

For system reliability and work safety, it is not 100% automated, but the operator carries out the entire work flow and important work instructions, and the robot automatically judges the subsequent work. , Adopts a human-robot cooperative work method. Therefore, the operator is informed of the work status from the monitoring robot (command robot) by using the tele-distance technology as if he / she is at the work site. For this, a communication channel different from the wireless LAN is used.

When a work instruction is given, each robot receives work data from the main computer, and thereafter cooperates with the main computer to automatically carry out the work while synchronizing the robots.

An example of specific work steps will be described below with reference to the work site schematic diagram of FIG. 4 and the steel frame assembly work flowchart of FIG. The following description is a work flow when the work is started from a state where the steel frame is assembled to some extent.

First, the crane robot 8 pulls up the monitoring robot 9 to a predetermined position according to the data of the assembly procedure (step 15). The pulled-up surveillance robot 9 fixes itself on the already assembled steel frame 10 and stores its exact position (step 16). In order to get an accurate position, ultrasonic transmitters etc. are installed at several positions on the steel frame. The crane robot 8 continues to pull up the two positioning robots 11 (positioning robot 2; only one is shown in FIG. 1 described above) to a position where the positioning operation can be performed (step 17). The positioning robot 11 also fixes itself on the steel frame similarly to the monitoring robot 9 (step 18).

The crane robot 12 pulls up the member 13 to be assembled to the assembly position (step 19). The monitoring robot 9 measures the position of the member 13 and informs the crane robot 12 of the deviation from the target position in real time, and based on this information, the crane robot 12 accurately brings the member 13 closer to the predetermined position. When the member 13 approaches the reach of the arm of the positioning robot 11, each of the two positioning robots 11 grasps the end of the member 13 and performs positioning while cooperating with the crane robot 12 (step 20). The positioning robot 11 temporarily attaches the member 13 with a bolt or the like when the position of the member 13 is aligned (step 21). It is desirable that the member 13 be provided with an electromagnetic or other alignment mark for alignment that the robot can easily recognize.

The crane robot 8 slightly moves the positioning robot 11 (step 22), and then the crane robot 12 finishes the work on another steel frame and waits for the welding robot 14 as shown by an arrow. It is pulled up to the upper floor and installed (step 23). The welding robot 14 fixes itself on the steel frame (step 24). The crane robot 8 pulls up the power cable of the welding robot 14 and auxiliary materials (not shown) (step 25), and the positioning robot 11 near the welding robot 14 connects the power cable and the like to the welding robot 14 (step 2).
6). The prepared welding robot 14 performs the welding operation under the command of the monitoring robot 9 (step 27).

When the welding is completed, it is judged whether or not all the scheduled welding work of the steel frames is completed (step 28). When all the work is completed, the work completion is reported to the main computer and each robot receives the next work instruction. When all the work is not completed, the same work is repeated thereafter.

In the above description, the work procedure is stored in advance as data, and the case where the work is carried out using the materials brought into the site has been described. However, the robot itself needs necessary materials and schedules based on the design drawings. It can also be configured to create a work schedule or the like.

Further, in consideration of the safety of the site first, when an abnormal situation occurs, the operator is immediately notified and the measures for stopping the respective functions and preventing the robots, the respective materials, etc. from dropping. (For example, a clamp of a moving mechanism) is taken.

In the above embodiment, the steel frame assembling work has been described. However, a robot having a function dedicated to each work such as wiring work, piping work, floor work, ceiling construction work, and painting work is prepared and a plurality of command robots are provided. By constructing a network of work robot groups, all construction work can be performed by a robot system.

[0030]

As described above, in the construction robot system according to the present invention, since a plurality of robot groups having different functions are used and the robots are connected to each other through a network capable of communicating with each other, the functions and loads can be distributed. Realize real-time information exchange robot group, therefore sufficient safety is secured, construction work is done automatically and efficiently, labor saving is achieved, and workability and productivity at construction site are improved. You can Further, by using such a robot, it is possible to free humans from dangerous work at high places, cope with labor shortage, and contribute to the development of the entire construction industry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a work on a construction site using a construction robot system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a communication function of the robot group of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a wireless LAN applied to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining another example of work on a construction site using the construction robot system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the work example of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1; command robot, 2; alignment robot, 3a, 3
b; crane robot, 4; joining robot, 5; materials,
6; TV camera, 7: Steel structure.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A construction robot system comprising a plurality of work robots having different functions for assembling a building structure and a command robot giving an instruction to each work robot, wherein the robots are connected by a communication network. 2. The construction robot system according to claim 1, wherein a wireless LAN is used as the communication network. 3. The work robot includes a crane robot that conveys the robot and materials, a positioning robot that positions and holds the materials, and a joining robot that connects and fixes the materials to each other. Construction robot system.