Material or article handling – Vertically swinging load support – Grab
Patent
1983-04-25
1986-05-06
Siemens, Terrance L.
Material or article handling
Vertically swinging load support
Grab
294 864, 901 39, B25J 1702
Patent
active
045868697
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a robot hand designed to be joined to the free end of the rotary wrist unit of an industrial robot and, more particularly, to an improved construction of a robot hand, which improvement contributes to improving the working efficiency of the industrial robot employed in combination with a machine tool.
BACKGROUND ART
The combination use of an industrial robot and machine tool, particularly an automatic machine tool such as an automatic lathe, is a technique widely employed to save labor and improve processing efficiency. Continuous unattended operation of an automatic lathe, for instance, is attained by having an industrial robot mount a work on the chuck of the automatic lathe, remove the work from the chuck after machining, return the machined work to the work table, then repeat the same mounting and removing operation. In such a machining operation, a double-hand type robot hand is often employed. The double-hand type robot hand is provided with right and left gripping units each adapted to perform individual work gripping operations. The right and left gripping units alternately grip a blank and a machined work so that the work replacing operation is attained sequentially, whereby the idle time of the machine tool is reduced to the minimum possible. In the operation of an industrial robot employing such a double-hand type robot hand, the industrial robot operates in accordance with commands provided by a robot control system to bring the right and left gripping units to positions opposite the chuck of a machine tool, such as an automatic lathe, by turning the wrist unit carrying the robot hand and performs work gripping and work replacing works. However, the right and left gripping units of the robot hand cannot be brought to the appropriate positions merely by turning the wrist unit 180.degree. since the work not yet machined and the machined work differ from each other in size and shape. This inconvenience may be eliminated by the measure of adapting the robot work command, which is taught beforehand to the robot control system, to the required robot work. It would, however, be extremely convenient if this inconvenience could be eliminated simply through the control of the robot hand.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an industrial robot hand capable of displacing and adjusting the right and left gripping units of a double-hand type robot hand to an appropriate position with respect to the machine tool and corresponding to the difference of size and shape between work not yet machined and machined work.
According to the present invention, in an industrial robot hand joined to the free end of a wrist unit and having right and left work gripping units each having a pair of work gripping swing fingers, an offset adjusting mechanism for laterally moving the right and left gripping units for positional adjustment and fixing the same at an appropriate position is provided between the right and left gripping units and the free end of the wrist unit.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an industrial robot hand in accordance with the present invention as joined to a rotary wrist unit, and
FIG. 2 is an enlarged exploded view of the industrial robot hand of FIG. 1.
BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Referring first to FIG. 1, a robot hand 20 in accordance with the present invention is joined to the wrist unit 10 of an industrial robot by means of a well-known safety coupling 12. The rotary wrist unit 10 and the robot hand 20 are fastened together by interposing an attaching plate 22 between the plate bracket 12a of the safety coupling 12 and a plate bracket 24 formed in the rear part of the hand base 26 of the robot hand 20 and, then, fastening those three parts with bolts 14 and other bolts 36. The rotary wrist unit 10 is capable of turning through a desire angle in the direction of the arrow T about the center axis of rotation C on the basis of a turning co
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patent: 2486294 (1949-10-01), Kearney et al.
patent: 2879059 (1959-03-01), Sandefur
patent: 3109535 (1963-11-01), Norwood
patent: 4239196 (1980-12-01), Hanger
patent: 4302144 (1981-11-01), Hallqvist
patent: 4344220 (1982-08-01), Sachot
patent: 4439090 (1984-03-01), Schaeffer
Fanuc Ltd.
Siemens Terrance L.
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