Powder metallurgy processes – Powder metallurgy processes with heating or sintering – Making composite or hollow article
Patent
1992-12-31
1996-06-11
Underwood, Donald W.
Powder metallurgy processes
Powder metallurgy processes with heating or sintering
Making composite or hollow article
15319, 15320, 15 532, 114222, 244 1R, 901 1, 901 45, B25J 1100
Patent
active
055250270
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a working apparatus, and in particular, relates to a working apparatus having a manipulator.
RELATED ART
A working apparatus with a manipulator and a working unit such as a polishing unit and a cleaning unit disposed at an end of the manipulator has been known. While the working apparatus is operated, the working unit is brought into contact with and pressed against an objective working surface.
When any plane surface or curved surface is cleaned or painted with such a working apparatus, a manipulator having five or six degrees of freedom is used. This manipulator is provided with multiple joints of two or three axes, basic configuration such as Cartesian coordinates, cylindrical coordinates, or the like, and two or three orientation axes. At one end of the manipulator, a working unit is disposed. In addition, in order to control the force with which the working unit presses against the objective working surface, force sensors are provided where necessary.
FIG. 48 is a perspective view showing a conventional working apparatus for cleaning an objective working surface such as a wall.
In FIG. 48, a manipulator 200 is a multi-jointed manipulator having five degrees of freedom consisting of three joint axes R1, R2, and R3 and two orientation axes R4 and R5. In the vicinity of an outer or working end of the manipulator 200, a motor 202 for driving the orientation axes R4 and R5 is disposed. At this end of the manipulator 200, a rotating shaft 204 is provided. A brush 201 which is to be brought into contact with an objective working surface 205 is secured to the rotating shaft 204 as a working portion. The brush 201 is guided to a particular position of the objective working surface 205 by operations of arms 208 and 209 of the manipulator 200. The orientation of the brush 201 is controlled by the orientation axes R4 and R5 in such a way that the axis of rotation of the brush 201 is pressed perpendicularly to the objective working surface 205. The brush 201 is rotated about the rotating shaft 204 so as to perform a cleaning work. A bottom portion 206 is securely connected to a base 207.
When the above described working apparatus is operated in such a manner that-the working unit such as a cleaning unit or a painting unit is pressed against any plane surface or curved surface, it is preferable that the working portion of the working unit be brought into contact with and pressed against the objective working surface from a particular direction relative to the direction normal to the objective working surface with a particular force from the viewpoint of working efficiency. Thus, the manipulator for use in the conventional working apparatus requires many degrees of freedoms, namely five or six degrees of freedom. In this construction, since the weight of the two or three orientation axes should be supported, the weight of two or three axes of the basic configuration proportionally increases. Thus, the structure of the manipulator and its control unit become complicated, thereby increasing their size.
Moreover, when the working portion is pressed from a particular direction relative to the direction normal to the objective working surface, although the shape of the objective working surface can be taught to the working apparatus, this work requires a great amount of labor.
When the shape of the objective working surface is unknown, by using an inner force sensor and a torque sensor provided on each of the five or six axes, the shape of the objective working surface can be estimated. However, this technique requires expensive sensors and advanced control techniques.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 49, it is possible to mount a working unit 301 through two orientation axes R4 and R5 at an end of a basic configuration having three joint axes R1, R2, and R3. In this construction, when the working apparatus 300 is operated, a brush 302 at the end of the working unit 301 is brought into contact with and pressed against an objective working surface 303. However, the working
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Jinno Makoto
Matsuhira Nobuto
Matsumaru Takafumi
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Underwood Donald W.
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