Electricity: motive power systems – Positional servo systems – Program- or pattern-controlled systems
Patent
1986-03-04
1989-03-28
Dobeck, Benjamin
Electricity: motive power systems
Positional servo systems
Program- or pattern-controlled systems
901 40, 318632, G05B 1942
Patent
active
048167339
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a tool position compensation method, and more particularly to a tool position compensation method which, when a tool on a hand of an industrial robot is replaced, is capable of easily converting the position of a new tool based on the point data taught by the replaced tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
Industrial robots have found widespread use and are being used in many fields in recent years. As numerical control technology is advanced, more industrial robots are numerically controlled for improved operation. Multi-articulation robots have many axes, and are widely used in the welding process as they can perform a highly sophisticated operation.
FIG. 7 of the accompanying drawings is a perspective view of a general industrial robot which is an articulated robot having six axes. The articulated robot has a T-axis about which an arm assembly rotates, a W-axis about which a lower arm is tilted back and forth, a U-axis about which an upper arm is tilted vertically, an A-axis about which a wrist rotates in a horizontal plane, a B-axis about which the wrist moves in a vertical plane, and a C(.gamma.)-axis about which the wrist rolls, these axes being independently controlled. Designated at 1 in FIG. 7 is a base on which the articulated robot is supported. A T(.theta.)-axis servo motor 2 is mounted on the base 1 for turning the axes about the vertical axis (T-axis). On the T(.theta.)-axis servo motor 2, there is mounted a T(.theta.)-axis unit 3 rotated by the servo motor 2. A W-axis unit 4 is fixedly mounted on the T(.theta.)-axis unit 3, and a W-axis arm 5 is rotatably supported by a pivot shaft 5a on the W-axis unit 4, the W-axis arm 5 being operated by a W-axis drive mechanism 6. A U-axis arm 7 is rotatably supported by a pivot shaft 7a on the distal end of the W-axis arm 5, the U-axis arm 7 being operated by a U-axis drive mechanism 8. A wrist mechanism 9 is mounted on the distal end of the U-axis arm 7. The wrist mechanism 9 is rotated by an A-axis servo motor 10, vertically swung by a B-axis servo motor 11, and rolled by a C-axis servo motor 12. Desired operation is performed by a tool attached to the wrist mechanism 9. An articulated robot of the type described above is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-59371, for example.
A teach and playback robot control process has widely been used in which a tool is mounted onto the hand of a robot. In this process, the robot is manually trained by being moved through steps or points to store such points in a data memory in a control unit. The points can later be traced by the tool automatically. However, the training process is considerably difficult to effect. There are many types of tools available and points to be taught are different from tool to tool. Therefore, when a tool is replaced, the new tool has to be trained entirely, which is quite tedious and low in efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tool position compensation method for the situation where a tool mounted on a hand of a robot is replaced with a new tool the compensation method easily and accurately correcting the tool position of the new tool by obtaining information on the axes of the robot after the new tool has been mounted, on the basis of tool position information prior to the tool change.
According to the present invention, there is provided a tool position compensation method for enabling a robot control device to correct the position of a new tool when a tool mounted on a hand of a robot is replaced, the method comprising the step of enabling the robot control device to obtain information on the axes of the robot after the tool is replaced based on information on the axes of the robot taught before the tool is replaced, tool position information at that time, and tool position information after the tool is replaced.
According to the present invention, the information on the axes of the robot after the tool is replaced is obt
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patent: 4497029 (1985-01-01), Kiyokawa
patent: 4594670 (1986-06-01), Itoh
patent: 4595989 (1986-06-01), Vasukawa et al.
patent: 4608645 (1986-08-01), Niwa
patent: 4617502 (1986-10-01), Sakaue
patent: 4620281 (1986-10-01), Thompson et al.
patent: 4626756 (1986-12-01), Inaba et al.
Karakama Tatsuo
Sakakibara Shinsuke
Dobeck Benjamin
Fanuc Ltd
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