JPH0736990B2 - Robot hand - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot for adjusting rotary knobs and levers of electronic equipment such as oscilloscopes.
Regarding the hand.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One of the expected fields of use of industrial robots is the adjustment of electronic equipment such as oscilloscopes. What is needed here is a hand portion for operating the rotary knobs and levers of the panels of these electronic devices. When the rotary knob is pinched and rotated, if there is a deviation between the rotary axis of the rotary knob and the rotary axis of the hand portion, an undesired force is applied to the rotary knob with the rotation unless the hand portion has a function of following the rotary knob.

In order to enable the hand portion to operate the knob in a state where the rotation axis of the hand portion and the rotation axis of the rotary knob coincide with each other, the conventional technique has been solved by providing three or more claws on the hand portion. Was there. JP-A-50-6
The robot hand in Japanese Patent No. 0970 is a suitable conventional example, and uses four claws.

On the other hand, an operation required to adjust an electronic device includes an operation of operating the lever up and down or left and right. In such a case, in order for the hand portion to properly operate the lever, the claw is 2 Clearly, a book is desirable. The conventional example of a two-claw hand is innumerable.

As described above, when the robot adjusts the electronic device, it has a hand having three or more claws for operating the rotary knob and two hands for operating the lever. I had no choice but to prepare a hand and a hand.

[0006]

As described above, in the prior art, the dedicated hands are required for operating the rotary knob and for operating the lever, respectively. Therefore, the work of replacing the hand portion in accordance with the operation is required. The process was necessary and the control was complicated.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a robot hand which can handle various operating states with a two-jawed hand portion. Another object of the present invention is to provide a robot hand capable of controlling the flexibility (compliance) in a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the hand portion with respect to the main body in three stages depending on the operation state. Another object of the present invention is to provide a robot hand capable of restraining the hand portion with high rigidity with respect to the main body when the main body moves quickly.

[0008]

In the robot hand of the present invention, a first bearing housing is mounted on the main body, and the first rotary shaft is rotatably mounted on the first bearing housing. The second rotary shaft is connected to the first rotary shaft by a universal joint. A hand portion is provided at one end of the second rotating shaft, and the second rotating shaft is held by the second bearing housing. The second bearing housing is movable with respect to the main body in a plane perpendicular to the second rotation axis by the slide mechanism. A guide is fixed to the second bearing housing. The positioning head is engageable with this guide. The elastic member is connected to the guide or the positioning head. High rigidity means can also be engaged with the guide or the positioning head. The elastic member and the high-rigidity means are respectively provided with moving means.

[0009]

The guide, the positioning head, the elastic member and the high rigidity means described above constitute a variable compliance mechanism. Thereby, the flexibility of the movement of the second bearing housing with respect to the main body can be controlled in three stages: an unrestrained state, a restrained state with medium rigidity, and a restrained state with high rigidity. When the variable compliance mechanism releases the movement of the second bearing housing without restraint after gripping the rotary knob with medium rigidity, the slide mechanism holds the second bearing housing and moves to the first and second rotary shafts. The second bearing housing is allowed to move smoothly within a predetermined range in a vertical plane. Even when the second rotary shaft is displaced from the first rotary shaft by following the rotation of the rotary knob of the electronic device, the universal joint smoothly and accurately transmits the rotation from the first rotary shaft to the second rotary shaft. .

With the above operation, even when the hand portion having the two claws is rotated by pinching the rotary knob of the electronic device, the rotation caused by the deviation between the rotary shaft of the hand portion and the rotary shaft of the rotary knob. It is possible to perform the rotating operation of the rotary knob while avoiding the load of the force on the rotary knob at the time. Also, the lever operation can be performed with a two-claw hand portion for rotating operation.

Further, since the high-rigidity means engages with the guide or the positioning head, the second bearing housing can be restrained to the main body with extremely high rigidity, and this restraint restrains the second rotary shaft and the second bearing housing, and hence the hand. The part can follow the sudden movement of the main body.

[0012]

The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Fig. 2 shows 2 for operating knobs and levers of electronic equipment.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the robot hand of the present invention with the present nail. FIG. 1 is a side view of the robot hand of the present invention. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the main body 10 is provided on an elevator (described later) and can be moved up and down. Reference numeral 12 is a first rotation shaft, and the rotation driving force thereof is from the rotation driving shaft 74 to the bevel gear 94 and the bevel gear 96.
Be transmitted via. The power source is mainly a pulse motor, and its selection and installation will be easy for those skilled in the art.
The first bearing housing 14 rotatably holds the first rotary shaft 12 and transmits the rotational driving force to the second rotary shaft 18 via the universal joint 16. In this embodiment, the Oldham coupling is used as the universal joint, but a hollow flexible joint or the like may be used here, and the rotary driving force can be transmitted while overcoming either the first rotating shaft or the second rotating shaft. Any hollow member may be used. The reason for making it hollow will be described later. The second bearing housing 20 holds the second rotating shaft 18 rotatably, and the slide mechanism (described later) and the variable compliance mechanism (described later) are the second.
It holds the bearing housing 20.

A claw holder 22 is attached to the end of the second rotary shaft 18 opposite to the universal joint 16, and the claw holder 22 is rotatable integrally with the second rotary shaft 18. The region sandwiched by the break lines 23 and 33 shows the inside of the claw holder 22. Inside the claw holder 22, a claw opening / closing cam 28 engages with a roller 26 provided at one end of each of the two claws 32. The claw opening / closing cam 28 is used for the claw opening / closing shaft 2
4, and the pawl opening / closing shaft 24 is moved in the axial direction. As a result, the engagement surface of the pawl opening / closing cam 28 with the roller is
6 is moved up and down to rotate the claw 32 around the pin 30. In this way, the operation of gripping and releasing the claw 32 with respect to the object is performed. The pawl opening / closing shaft 24 is a hollow first rotating shaft 12
Claw opening / closing shaft 92 that can rotate and flexure inside each other
The claw 32 that is connected to the claw 32 (which is not shown in the figure) is provided to allow the claw opening / closing shaft 24, which rotates with the rotation of the claw 32, to escape the rotation and follow the rotation of grasping an object (described later). The shift of the pawl opening / closing shaft 24 with respect to the second pawl opening / closing shaft 92 is released. The pawl opening / closing shaft 92 is a bearing 9 fixed to the main body 10.
No. 0 is mounted movably in the axial direction, and one end opposite to the pawl opening / closing shaft 24 is connected to the shaft of the moving pulley 88.
The pawl opening / closing shaft 92 is also connected to the member 83. Spring 84
Since both ends of the member are attached to the bearing 90 and the member 83, this spring 84 always pulls the member 83 in the claw direction.

The movable pulley 88, the member 83, and the pawl opening / closing shaft 92 can be integrally moved along the slide member 86 in the axial direction. The gripping wire 80 passes through the pulley 82 attached to the main body 10 and is wound around the moving pulley 88 by a half turn to be fixed to the main body. The pulling force of the spring 84 toward the claw 32 and the movement pulley 88 of the gripping wire 80
The pulling forces exerted on the pulley 82 in the direction of the pulley 82 are balanced here. Since one end of the gripping wire 80 is fixed to the main body, an appropriate drive pulley (not shown) winds the other end of the wire 80, and an appropriate motor controls the rotation of the drive pulley. The position of the moving pulley 88 can be controlled by this motor. Since the shaft of the moving pulley 88 is connected to the pawl opening / closing shaft 92, the movement of the moving pulley 88 moves the pawl opening / closing shaft 92 in the axial direction. Accordingly, the pawl opening / closing cam 24 is driven via the pawl opening / closing shaft 24 to open / close the pawl 32.

Next, the slide mechanism of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 which is a perspective view of the slide mechanism. Second
The bearing housing 20 rotatably holds the second rotating shaft 18. A groove extending along the second rotary shaft 18 is provided in the lower portion of the second bearing housing 20, and two sets of holes are formed on both side surfaces of the groove. Two groove direction slide shafts 36 are respectively inserted into these holes via two miniature strokes 46, and stoppers 38 are attached from the outside. The miniature stroke 46 has a substantially cylindrical shape, the inner cylindrical surface of which slides smoothly with the shaft 36 to which it is mounted, and the outer cylindrical surface of which slides smoothly with the hole of the second bearing housing 20 in which it is mounted. .
By setting the thickness of the shaft and the size of the hole in the bearing housing so that an appropriate preload is applied to the inner and outer cylindrical surfaces by mounting, the sliding member can function at a stable position. The miniature stroke 46 may be replaced with a slide bearing.

The central portions of the two lateral slide shafts 36 are fixed in the two holes of the slide block 34, respectively. Therefore, the slide block 34 is arranged in the groove in the lower portion of the second bearing housing 20. It should be noted that the slide block 34 and the slide block 44 are one component, and as can be seen, a part of each of the lower part of the second bearing housing in FIG. 1 and the upper part of the bracket 42 in FIG. Each of them is disclosed by 40. Two vertical slide shafts 48 are fixed to the slide block 44 at their central portions. The second bearing housing 2 is provided on each of the fixed blocks 50.
As with 0, make holes 52 and insert vertical slide shafts 48 there through miniature strokes 46,
Install stoppers 38 on both ends of the shaft. The slide block 44 is suspended from the fixed block 50 by a spring 54 having an appropriate strength, so that the height of the slide block 44 relative to the fixed block 50 is always maintained appropriately.
The fixed block 50 is fixed to the main body 10. The bracket 42 is fixed to the lower surface of the second bearing housing 20 in FIG. 1, and the slide block 3 in FIG.
Although there is no direct engagement relationship between the No. 4 and the bracket 42, they are described to clearly show the mutual positional relationship.

As is apparent from the above description, the second bearing housing 20 is movable in the lateral direction with respect to the slide block 34, and the slide block 44 is movable in the longitudinal direction with respect to the fixed block 50 fixed to the main body 10. You are free. Therefore, the second bearing housing 20 is movable with respect to the main body in a plane perpendicular to the second rotation axis. Therefore, the second rotary shaft 18 and the claw holder 22 which are held in the second bearing housing 20 and to which the rotational force is transmitted through the universal joint 16.
The claw 32 attached thereto via is also movable with respect to the main body in a plane perpendicular to the second rotation axis.

Next, the variable compliance mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 which is a perspective view of the variable compliance mechanism. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 42 denotes a bracket, which is fixed to the lower portion of the second bearing housing 20 as described above. Reference numeral 56 denotes a guide, which is inserted into the hole 45 in the lower portion of the bracket 42 and fixed integrally. The positioning head 58 side of the guide 56 has a conical recess, and the positioning head 58 is engaged (or fitted) with the conical hole of the guide 56 to guide the guide 5.
The movement of the guide 56 is restrained by pressing 6. Therefore, the movement of the bracket 42 integrated with the guide 56 and the second bearing housing 20 is restricted.

Reference numeral 60 denotes an elastic shaft (elastic member), which has an appropriate flexibility, and when the positioning head 58 restrains the movement of the guide 56, the flexibility of the elastic shaft 60 of the guide 56, and by extension, the flexibility of the guide 56. Affects the flexibility of movement of the two-bearing housing 20. The side of the elastic shaft 60 opposite to the positioning head 58 is fixed to the plate 66 by penetrating the hollow shaft (high rigidity means) 62 and the plate 64. One end of the hollow shaft 62 is fixed to the plate 64, and the two slide shafts 70 whose one end is fixed to the plate 64 extend through the plate 66. The other two slide shafts 72 have one end fixed to the plate 66 and the other end extending like the shaft 70.

The lower block 73 is a slide shaft 7.
2 is movably held in the axial direction. One end is the lower block 7
3, a spring 68 having the other end connected to the slide shaft 72.
Accordingly, the slide shaft 72 is always pressed against the positioning head side. The functions of the plate 64 and the spring 69 will be described later.

Similar to the slide shaft 72, the slide shaft 70 is held by a lower block 73 fixed to the main body so as to be axially movable. An end of the slide shaft 70 opposite to the plate 64 is connected to a compliance changing wire 78. An end of this wire 78 opposite to the slide shaft 70 is passed through a pulley 76 so that an appropriate drive pulley (not shown) can be wound up like the case of the handle wire 80, and an appropriate motor controls the rotation of the drive pulley. Then, the hollow shaft 62 can be slid by this motor. Here, as in the case of the slide shaft 72, the slide shaft 70 is constantly pressed toward the positioning head 58 by a spring 69 fixed to the lower block 73 at one end and the slide shaft 70 at the other end. The compliance changing wire 78 pulls the slide shaft 70, and the plate 64 is the plate 66.
The plate 64 can pull the plate 66 toward the pulley 76 when it comes to the position of hitting. Plate 66
The positioning head 58, which is integrated with the pulley 76 via the elastic shaft 60, is separated from the guide 56 by the movement of the pulley 76 side. Therefore, the guide 56 loses the restraint force from the positioning head 58. By adjusting the compliance changing wire 78 in this manner, the following three states of the variable compliance mechanism can be realized.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C respectively show three stages that the variable compliance mechanism described above can take.
It is the figure seen from above in. In FIG. 5A, the positioning head 58 and the hollow shaft 62 are both pressed toward the guide 56. Here, the rigidity of the hollow shaft 62 is added to the rigidity of the elastic shaft 60 to restrain the movement of the guide 56. In this state in which the movement of the guide 56 is restrained, the restraining force of the variable compliance mechanism on the guide 56 is the strongest. As described above, the guide 56 is integrated with the second bearing housing 20 via the bracket 42, and the second bearing housing 20 holds the second rotary shaft 18 having the claw 32. In addition, the variable compliance mechanism is a lower block 73 integrated with the main body 10.
Held in. Therefore, in this state, the main body 10 holds the second bearing housing 20 with high rigidity. Such a state is suitable as a state to be taken when the position is changed to move quickly in order to change the knob or the like of the target electronic device.

FIG. 5B shows a state in which the hollow shaft 62 is separated from the positioning head 58 and only the elastic shaft 60 restrains the guide 56 via the positioning head 58 without exerting a restraining force on the positioning head 58. Therefore, the variable compliance of the variable compliance mechanism in this state is substantially equal to the variable compliance of the elastic shaft 60. Therefore, by appropriately designing the variable compliance of the elastic shaft 60, the claw 32 is suitable as the state of the variable compliance mechanism set when operating the lever switch, push button switch, etc. of the electronic device.

In FIG. 5C, the hollow shaft 62 is further pulled toward the main body side, and the plate 64 presses the plate 66 and retracts it toward the roller 76 side, and the positioning head 58 also guides.
FIG. In this state, the positioning head 58 does not restrain the guide 56 at all, and therefore the guide 56 is not constrained.
, That is, the movement of the second bearing housing 20 is left to the sliding mechanism already described. In this state, the second rotary shaft 18 held by the second bearing housing 20 can rotate while being displaced with respect to the first rotary shaft 12 within the range permitted by the slide mechanism. Therefore, when the two pawls 32 rotate the rotary knob of the electronic device, even if the pawl does not grip the center of the knob, it can be rotated without applying an undesired force to the rotary knob. That is, the state shown in FIG. 5C is suitable for the rotary operation of the rotary knob.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C, in the variable compliance mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention, the second bearing housing 20 is restrained by the high rigidity shown in FIG. 5A and the second compliance housing by the low rigidity shown in FIG. 5B. The restraint state of the bearing housing 20 and the restraint state within a predetermined range in FIG. 5C can be changed in three stages.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of an example of mounting an industrial robot on the robot hand 122 of the present invention. 126 is an elevator for moving the main body 124 up and down, and 128 is the main body 124.
Is a drive device for moving the main body in the axial direction of the hand portion, and 130 is a drive device (including guide rails) for moving the main body in a direction perpendicular to the drawing. The main body can read any position in a predetermined space.

[0027]

According to the present invention, by the variable compliance mechanism having the guide, the positioning head, the elastic member and the high rigidity means, the flexibility of movement of the second bearing housing with respect to the main body while maintaining the second bearing housing in the main body. Can be controlled in three steps. That is, in the first stage, the high-rigidity means is engaged with the guide or the positioning head, and the main body constrains the second bearing housing. Therefore, even when the main body is to be moved rapidly, the hand portion quickly follows the main body. it can. In the second stage, since the second bearing housing has a moderate flexibility with respect to the main body, it is suitable for a gripping operation of a rotary knob having a misaligned rotation axis. Further, in the third stage, since the second bearing housing is unconstrained with respect to the main body, the hand portion can move smoothly with respect to the rotary shaft within a plane perpendicular to the rotary shaft. Therefore, due to the gripping in the second stage, the rotational force can be smoothly and accurately transmitted even when the second rotating shaft deviates from the first rotating shaft. Therefore, according to the present invention, in addition to the lever operation, the rotating operation and the like can be performed with the two-claw hand portion, so that it is not necessary to prepare and replace a dedicated hand for each operation, and various operations can be performed with the same hand portion. Can respond to conditions.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of a robot hand of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the robot hand of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of a slide mechanism used in the present invention together with a positional relationship with a bracket.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a variable compliance mechanism used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing three rigid states of the variable compliance mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an example in which the robot hand of the present invention is mounted on an industrial robot.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body 12 1st rotating shaft 14 1st bearing housing 16 Universal joint 18 2nd rotating shaft 20 2nd bearing housing 22-32 Hand part 34-52 Slide mechanism 56 Guide 58 Positioning head 60 Elastic member 62 High rigidity means 64, 66 , 70, 76 and 78 means of movement

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main body, a first bearing housing mounted on the main body, and a first rotatably mounted on the first bearing housing.
A rotary shaft, a second rotary shaft connected to the first rotary shaft by a universal joint, a second bearing housing holding the second rotary shaft, and a hand portion provided at one end of the second rotary shaft. A slide mechanism that allows the second bearing housing to move with respect to the main body within a plane perpendicular to the second rotation axis; a guide fixed to the second bearing housing; and engageable with the guide. A positioning head; an elastic member connected to the guide or the positioning head; a high-rigidity means engageable with the guide or the positioning head; and a moving means for moving the elastic member and the high-rigidity means, respectively. A robot hand equipped.