Illumination – Light source and modifier – Laser type
Patent
1990-06-15
1992-07-21
Lazarus, Ira S.
Illumination
Light source and modifier
Laser type
362423, 362424, 21912178, 901 42, H01S 300, B23K 2600
Patent
active
051328879
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a multi-articulation type robot for a laser operation in a three-dimensional space, used for an industrial purpose such as welding, cutting, and deburring made by emitting a laser beam, and more particularly, to an improved construction of a robot wrist of a multi-articulation type robot for a laser operation and provided with a unit for collecting and emitting a laser beam.
BACKGROUND ART
Various laser manipulators and robots conducting laser operations, such as welding, cutting of a workpiece, and deburring of cast and molded products by the use of a laser beam, through manipulated and robotic motions of the robots, are conventionally well known. The conventional manipulator for a laser operation is a gantry type laser machine provided with a gantry-shape machine framework, and a laser emitting unit supported by the gantry type machine framework to be moved along two orthogonal axes in a plane and along an axis perpendicular to the plane, and is effectively used for laser emitted operations such as a welding of a flat shape workpiece.
The conventional laser robot is a cartesian coordinate robot provided with a robot mechanism to move a laser unit for collecting a laser beam introduced from a laser source through an appropriate laser beam conduit, in two orthogonal axis directions and another axis direction vertical to the two orthogonal axis directions, to thereby conduct a laser operation such as a welding on a surface of a workpiece. The former and latter laser manipulator and laser robot are able to advantageously conduct an accurate laser operation on a flat workpiece by a detection of a position on the surface of the workpiece by a distance sensor, but it is difficult or impossible for both the manipulator and the robot to bring a front end of the laser collecting and emitting unit toward a corner or corners of a complicated three-dimensional article. Furthermore, in the case of the laser manipulator, the laser operation must be conducted on a workpiece mounted on a worktable disposed inside the robust gantry-shape framework, and therefore, it is difficult to install the laser manipulator in the production line of a factory, and thus the laser manipulator has a disadvantage in that it must be installed and used at a position away from the production line.
On the other hand, in the case of the laser robot, specifically a multi-articulation laser robot, the laser collecting and emitting unit attached to an end of the robot, i.e., a robot wrist, is able to access corners of a complicated three-dimensional article or product to thereby conduct a desired laser operation by the laser emission, due to the maneuverability of the robot about respective articulations, and therefore, is able to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantage of the gantry type laser manipulator.
Nevertheless, the multi-articulation type laser robot has a motion mechnism such that an end effector of the robot, to which the laser collecting and emitting unit is attached, must be brought to a target position by total changes in the position and attitude of respective movable elements of the robot, which changes are caused by rotating the respective movable elements about a plurality of articulations thereof. Therefore, when the laser operations are conducted in a continuous manner, as the laser emitting end of the laser collecting and emitting unit must be kept at a constant distance from the surface of a workpiece, it is very difficult for the robot to accurately position the end effector and the laser collecting and emitting unit each time at each position adjacent to each desired position on the surface of a workpiece, to thereby apply a laser beam to the desired position, because during the moving of the movable elements of the robot, small delays in the motions about respective articualtions are gradually accumulated to cause an error in the abovementioned positioning of the laser collecting and emitting unit. Accordingly, even if the known precise light sensitive type distance
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Ito Susumu
Sasaki Yasuo
Terada Akihiro
Torii Nobutoshi
Fanuc Limited
Lazarus Ira S.
Quach Y.
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