Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Kawasaki Robotics (usa), Inc.

Hirohiko Goto

Tetsuya Yoshida

Haruhiko Tan

Kazuo Fujimori

Masahiko Sumitomo

Katsuhiro Yamashita

Ming Zeng

Takayuki Fukushima

Shigeki Ono

Masayuki Saito

Masaya Yoshida

Shiro Oda

Avish Ashok Bharwani

Takahiro Inada

Hiroyuki Okada

Takeshi Shibata

Shinya Kitano

Eric Chan

Isao Kato

Mark Tang

Iori Kurata

A diagnostic system of a substrate transfer hand including a base part coupled to a hand tip portion of a robot arm and a substrate holding part coupled to the base part to hold a substrate, includes a camera which is secured to the base part and takes an image of the substrate holding part; and a diagnostic device which obtains image information of the image taken by the camera and diagnoses normality of the substrate holding part based on the image information.

Diagnostic system of substrate transfer hand

A control device of robot includes: image data acquirer configured to acquire image data taken by camera, image data including a teaching substrate and a substrate placing portion of a hand, the teaching substrate arranged as a teaching target at substrate target position; a virtual substrate information generator configured to generate information of a virtual substrate virtually arranged at the substrate placing portion of the hand in image data of the camera; distance information calculator configured to calculate distance information from substrate placing portion to the teaching substrate based on image data of the camera; operation control unit configured to control operation of robot arm based on distance information from the substrate placing portion to the teaching substrate such that the virtual substrate coincides with the teaching substrate; and storage unit configured to store, as teaching data, position of the hand when the virtual substrate coincides with the teaching substrate.

Robot, control device of robot, and method of teaching position of robot

A control device of a robot includes: an image data acquirer acquiring image data taken by a camera, the image data including a hand teaching substrate and substrate placing portion, the teaching substrate arranged as a teaching target at a substrate target position; a virtual substrate information generator generating information of a virtual substrate virtually arranged at the hand substrate placing portion in the image data; an operating unit receiving an input and generate operation information corresponding to the input; a screen display unit displaying an image of the teaching substrate and an image of the virtual substrate on a screen; a robot operation control unit controlling an operation of the robot arm in accordance with the operation information; and a teaching data record unit storing, as teaching data, a position of the hand when the virtual substrate has coincided with the teaching substrate.

A substrate conveyance robot is provided with a robot arm capable of elevating; a substrate holding device mounted to the robot arm; and a substrate detection unit for detecting a substrate held by the substrate holding device. The substrate detection unit has a substrate sensor for detecting the substrate and a sensor elevating unit for scanning a region including a position where the substrate is arranged by elevating the substrate sensor without elevating the robot arm. Thus, the substrate in a device provided with an opening having a small dimension can be detected without hindrance while preventing collision of the robot and the device.

Substrate conveyance robot and substrate detection method

A control device is configured to make a robot arm and a substrate holding device execute a blade member advancing operation for advancing a pair of blade members into a substrate placing structure, a substrate receiving operation for receiving a substrate placed on an upper stage of the substrate placing structure by the blade member in a substrate non-holding state, and a substrate placing operation for placing the substrate on the blade member in a substrate holding state onto a lower stage. A timing of receiving a substrate by the substrate receiving operation is shifted from a timing of placing a substrate by the substrate placing operation. A substrate conveying robot capable of shortening the tact time upon conveying substrates regardless of the kind of substrate fixing method in the substrate holding device can be provided.

Substrate conveying robot and substrate processing system

A controller: selects one optical sensor to use from among a first optical sensor and at least one second optical sensor; moves a substrate transfer hand to a detection start position at which an optical path of the selected optical sensor is positioned above a substrate placing portion and does not interfere with a pillar portion; lowers the substrate transfer hand from the detection start position to a detection position at which an object is detected by the optical sensor; and stores, as a height position of the substrate placing portion, a height of the optical path of the optical sensor from a predetermined positional reference when the substrate transfer hand is at the detection position.

Substrate transfer apparatus and method of teaching substrate transfer robot

A control unit of a substrate conveying robot makes a robot arm and a substrate holding device execute a blade member advancing operation, a substrate receiving operation, and a substrate placing operation. The substrate holding device is configured to be capable of being switched between a first working state that a pair of blade members are arranged in the vertical direction and a second working state that a pair of blade members are arranged in a position out of the vertical direction and a single blade member can be advanced into a substrate placing structure.

Substrate conveying robot and substrate processing system with pair of blade members arranged in position out of vertical direction

A substrate conveying robot has left and right arms having a common pivot axis line, an arm drive unit for driving the left and right arms, and a control unit for controlling the arm drive unit. A pulley ratio between a turning pulley, a first pulley, a second pulley, and a third pulley is set so that a moving locus of the substrate holding members when the first link member is rotated about the pivot axis line by the first drive portion so as to extend and contract the arm in a state that the turning pulley is fixed is substantially linear. Thereby, the moving locus of the substrate holding member when extending and contracting the arm can be substantially linear.

Substrate conveying robot and method of operating the same

A seal belt includes inner and outer belt sections. The inner belt section revolves according to the movable member movement. The outer belt section includes, between the inner belt section and an opening, a first portion in which a first end is retained at a movable member inside section portion, the portion being closer to the opening lower end, and the remaining portion extends along the opening and is retained at a third space position, and a second portion in which a first end is retained at an inside section portion, the portion being closer to the lower end, and the remaining portion extends to a fourth space position along the opening and is retained at the fourth space position. The first portion and second portions lengths are changed in a complementary manner according to the movable member movement. The drive mechanism is surrounded by the inner belt section.

Robot with inner and outer belt sections

A substrate angle alignment device includes a plurality of holding sections which hold a plurality of substrates, respectively in such a manner that the plurality of substrates are placed to be oriented horizontally and arranged vertically, a first up-down unit including a plurality of first support sections, and a second up-down unit including a plurality of second support sections. The device repeats a series of angle alignment operations in which the plurality of holding sections are rotated together to perform angle alignment of selected one of the plurality of substrates, and the first support section corresponding to the aligned substrate is moved up to lift up the substrate with the first support section. The device moves the plurality of second support sections up together to lift up the plurality of aligned substrates supported on the plurality of first support sections, with the plurality of second support sections, respectively.

Substrate angle alignment device, substrate angle alignment method, and substrate transfer method

A substrate transfer device includes a casing and a substrate conveying robot. A size of the casing in a second direction Y is more than a size of the casing in a first direction X. The casing includes walls forming a conveying chamber and at least one opening or provided at at least one side of the conveying chamber in the first direction X. The substrate conveying robot includes a base, a robot arm, a robot hand, and a controller. When a space in the conveying chamber except for a predetermined exclusive region is defined as an effective conveying chamber, an entire link length DL of a link is less than a conveying chamber size Dx, and an entire hand length Dh of the robot hand is not less than an effective conveying chamber size Dx'.

Substrate transfer device

Substrate transferring apparatus includes a first-hand mechanism and second hand mechanism. The first-hand mechanism includes a first lower arm, first upper arm, first-hand having a tip end portion as a first substrate holding portion, and first driven mechanism to rotate the first-hand with rotation of the first upper arm. The first-hand mechanism so the first substrate holding portion movable by rotations of the first lower arm, first upper arm, and first-hand between a contracted and extended positions. The second-hand mechanism includes a second lower arm, second upper arm, second-hand having a tip end portion as a second substrate holding portion, and second driven mechanism to rotate the second-hand with rotation of the second upper arm. The second-hand mechanism so the second substrate holding portion movable by rotations of the second lower arm, second upper arm, and second-hand in sync with the first substrate holding portion between a contracted and extended positions.

Substrate transferring apparatus

A transfer robot is equipped with a first hand and a second hand. The first and the second hands, each have two blades, for holding respective substrates. In addition, the transfer robot includes a rotation unit, a first extension and retraction unit, a second extension and retraction unit and an up-down unit, and by these four units, the first and the second hands can be moved to a substrate transfer relay device where substrates are placed, and to four process chambers.

Transfer robot, its substrate transfer method and substrate transfer relay device

A transferring apparatusincludes a revolving base, two hand mechanismsand, and two hand drive mechanismsand. The hand mechanismsandare provided at a revolving baseso as to be rotatable about rotation axes Land L, respectively. The hand mechanismsandare configured to be individually rotatable by hand drive mechanismsand, respectively. Each of the hand mechanismsandincludes an arm, a hand, and an interlock mechanism. The armsare provided at the revolving link so as to be rotatable about the rotation axes Land L, respectively. The handsare respectively provided at the armsso as to be rotatable about the hand axes Land L, respectively. The interlock mechanismis configured such that a reduction ratio of the handto the armis 1.55, and the armand the handoperate in conjunction with each other.

Transferring apparatus

A substrate holding device includes: holding members configured to hold substrates, the holding members being arranged along a predetermined arranging direction and being movable along the arranging direction; an interlocking mechanism interlocking the holding members for simultaneous coordinate movement along the arranging direction to change intervals between the holding members with respect to the arranging direction; driving unit for driving the holding members for shifting at least along the arranging direction; and control unit for controlling the driving unit to shift the holding members to substrate taking positions where the holding members are able to hold substrates, respectively, in accordance with a mapping information about a condition of arrangement of the substrates arranged along the arranging direction.

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Akashi, Japan

Hirohiko Goto