Toyoda Koki Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Akira Shimokoshi

Takashi Kawasaki

Osamu Toyama

Osamu Matsuda

Fumihiko Komuro

Toshio Matsumura

A robot system for taking out workpieces from a box using a robot having a floating hand and a workpiece recognition apparatus. The workpiece recognition apparatus detects the position and inclination of a selected workpiece, and calculates a target position and a desired inclined posture of the hand. The posture is so decided that a line of intersection of the floating plane of the hand with a vertical plane containing the longitudinal axis of the workpiece, becomes parallel to a horizontal direction, and the center axis of the wrist portion becomes perpendicular to the line of intersection. Data indicating the target position and the desired inclined posture are transmitted to the robot controller of the system, so that the controller drives the servomotors of the robot in such a way that the hand moves toward the target position with a desired inclined posture. With this operation, the hand contacts with the selected workpiece at a predetermined position to pick up the workpiece.

Method and apparatus for controlling a robot having a floating hand

Herein disclosed are a method and an apparatus for indexing a moving portion of a robot to a mechanical origin. First and second reference holes are formed respectively in the moving portion and a holding portion supporting the moving portion relatively movably. A plug gauge used has a foot to be fitted in the first reference hole and a probe attached to the foot and sized to be inserted into the second reference hole. The plug gauge is fitted in the first reference hole, and the moving portion is then moved in a first direction relative to the holding portion by operating a drive unit. This relative movement of the moving portion is stopped when the probe of the plug gauge comes into contact with the inner wall of the second reference hole. Then, the drive unit is operated to move the moving portion relatively in a second direction opposed to the first direction, and this relative movement of the moving portion is stopped when the probe of the plug gauge comes again into contact with the inner wall of the second reference hole. Thus, the central position of the moving stroke of the moving portion in the second direction is determined as the mechanical origin on the basis of the output of a position detector.

Method and apparatus for indexing moving portion of robot to origin

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Toyoake, Japan

Akira Shimokoshi