Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyokanetsu Kabushiki Kaisha

Katsumi Ishihara

Yusaku Azuma

Masateru Yasuhara

Hiroyuki Kigami

Yasuhiro Sawada

Takeo Tanita

Toshihiko Miura

Sachio Umetsu

Toshio Tsuda

Teiji Ohsaka

Makoto Akahira

Toshihiro Yamamoto

Shozo Kasai

Takeshi Yakou

Yasushi Aoki

Masaru Shibata

Masatoshi Morita

Shuichi Hirasawa

Hiroki Shinohara

Teiji Oosaka

Toshiomi Hoshi

In a working method of performing work on a workpiece, a plurality of work chambers corresponding to work steps for the workpiece are consecutively arrayed, and a cleanliness with respect to dust particles is independently controlled in each of the work chambers. The workpiece is transferred to the respective work chambers, and working is performed in each of the work chambers in which a cleanliness is maintained below a predetermined cleanliness corresponding to the type of work on the workpiece.

Work working method and apparatus, cassette, and unit for printing apparatus

A robot apparatus includes a robot arm, a robot hand, an electrical/electronic device mounted on the robot hand for operating the robot hand, and a hand attaching/detaching device, arranged between the robot arm and the robot hand, for detachably mounting the robot hand on the robot arm. A signal transmission path, is connected to an external robot controller at one end thereof and to the electrical/electronic device at the other end thereof, extends through the hand attaching/detaching device, and is able to be disconnected between the robot hand side and the robot arm side in the hand attaching/detaching device. The signal transmission path drives the robot hand, and allows a plurality of kinds of signals for the electrical/electronic device to pass therethrough in a multiplexed serial format; a first signal conversion circuit, arranged on a robot hand side, converts the multiplexed serial format signal into original parallel signals, and output the parallel signals to the electrical/electronic device, or converts signals from the electrical/electronic device into a multiplexed serial format signals, and outputs the multiplexed serial signal to a robot controller.

Robot apparatus with an electrical driver for controlling a detachable

An arm origin calibrating method for an articulated robot is capable of implementing highly accurate calibration without requiring special high-precision measuring devices. A round bar is mounted on a first arm and a round hole is provided in a second arm. A rotation angle of the second arm is detected when, with the first arm being fixed, the second arm is rotated in the first direction until the round bar comes in contact with the inner surface of the round hole. A rotation angle of the second arm is detected when, with the first arm being fixed, the second arm is rotated in the second direction reverse to the first direction until the round bar comes in contact with the inner surface of the round hole. An offset angle of the second arm is detected on the basis of the two detected rotation angles.

Arm origin calibrating method for an articulated robot

A change-over device is provided for a sorting conveyor. Projected members of slats forming the sorting conveyor are made of ferromagnetic substance such as iron alloy. Those projected members are guided by a guide rail which is installed on the rear side of the conveyor. The guide rail is made up of a main rail and a branch rail. The side wall of the branch rail is partially omitted near at the inlet of the branching portion of the guide rail where the branch rail branches from the main rail, and instead an upper side wall and a lower side wall are formed there by an electromagnet and a permanent magnet, respectively. When the electromagnet is energized, each projected member is attracted towards the upper side wall, and is then allowed to move along the lower side wall, thus being led into the branch rail. Thus, the articles on the conveyor are suitably sorted while being conveyed to the selected branch conveying path.

Sorting apparatus

There are provided method and apparatus for controlling a robot, in which when the robot is continuously controlled in different directions such that from the movement in the horizontal direction to the movement in the vertical direction, the movements in the horizontal and vertical directions from a predetermined position are executed in parallel during the movement in the horizontal direction. In the method, target movement positions in the horizontal and vertical directions are input, a first distance which is necessary to move the robot in only the vertical direction is input, and the predetermined position is determined on the basis of the target movement positions in the horizontal and vertical directions and the first distance. The movements in the horizontal and vertical directions include the equal acceleration motion and the equal deceleration motion. With this method, the operator can easily perform the programming and teaching of the robot such that the robot can reach a desired final target position while avoiding obstacles without colliding therewith in the shortest time.

Method and apparatus for controlling an obstacle avoiding robot

A work pick-up apparatus which picks up an object work out of a plurality of works held on a container case through visual recognition of the position of the object work by a visual sensor. The apparatus comprises: a memory circuit for storing shape characteristic information concerning the shape characteristic of the object work; an input circuit for externally inputting approximate position information representing an approximate position of the object work on the case, the approximate position information being expressed in terms of a coordinate system associated with the work pick-up apparatus; and a measuring circuit for measuring the pick-up position of the work in terms of the coordinate system associated with the pick-up apparatus, by processing the image information concerning the work obtained through the visual sensor in accordance with the approximate position information and the shape characteristic information.

Work pick-up apparatus

A mounting system having a function of picking up one of several different type works from a pickup position where the works having the different types are selectively fed, and of moving a picked up work to an insertion position so as to mount the work on a printed circuit board. The mounting system includes a rotary member arranged to be rotatable, head mechanisms having different types and mounted on the rotary member, the head mechanisms having a number of types corresponding to that of the types of the works, a memory for storing a pickup order and an insertion order in units of types of works, a driver for rotating and stopping the rotary member at predetermined angles, and a control device for preferentially driving the head mechanism to the pickup or insertion position.

Mounting system including a plurality of hand mechanisms for picking up,

There is disclosed an apparatus and a method for feeding articles, the apparatus containing a tape transporting apparatus, including a transporting member having plural containing portions in succession, a cover tape for covering the apertures of the containing portions of the transporting member, a first reel for simultaneously winding the transporting member and the cover tape, a second reel for winding the transporting member only, a third reel for winding the cover tape only, a drive assembly for rotating the first, second and third reels, intermittent drive unit for driving the transporting member, control unit for driving the drive assembly and intermittent drive unit, an aperture for loading or removing the articles into or from the containing portions of the transporting member, a first detector for detecting the presence or absence of the article in the containing portion, and a guide member for defining the position to an article assembling apparatus or an article manufacturing apparatus, wherein each of these apparatus is provided with a robot hand and a main control unit to be connected to the control unit mentioned above.

Method for supplying articles and apparatus therefor

In a method of storing teaching points of a robot, when teaching points for a plurality of moving units are input, information for identifying the moving units associated with the teaching points is input, and the teaching points and the identification data are stored in a single area of a memory.

Method of controlling robot and robot control apparatus

A bundle of wiring and piping lines, for supplying a control signal and working a first arm from a control unit to a hand, passes through a first flexible pipe, one end of which is connected onto a fixing jig attached to a base unit and the other end of which is connected onto a second arm, a second flexible pipe, one end of which is connected onto the second arm and the other end of which is connected onto a hollow third arm, and the third arm. One end of the bundle is connected to the control unit and the other end thereof is connected to the hand.

Industrial robot

A technique of this invention discloses an orthogonal two-axis moving apparatus basically adapted to move in horizontal and vertical directions. In one embodiment the apparatus includes a vertical block, a horizontal moving member movably supported on the vertical block, and a driving mechanism for moving the horizontal moving member, a driving pulley, a driven pulley, and a belt for transmitting a driving force.

Orthogonal two-axis moving apparatus

There is disclosed an apparatus for feeding articles, containing a tape transporting apparatus, including a transporting member having plural container portions in succession, a cover tape for covering the apertures of the container portions of the transporting member, a first reel on which ends of the transporting member and the cover tape are fixed, for simultaneously winding the transporting member and the cover tape, a second reel on which the other end of the transporting member is fixed, for winding the transporting member only, a third reel on which the other end of the cover tape is fixed, for winding the cover tape only, a drive assembly for rotating the first, second and third reels, intermittent drive unit for intermittently driving the transporting member by engaging with successive perforations formed on the transporting member, a control unit for driving the drive assembly and intermittent drive unit, an aperture for loading or removing the articles into or from the container portions of the transporting member, a first detector provided in the vicinity of the aperture, for detecting the presence or absence of an article in a container portion, and a guide member for defining the position to an article assembling apparatus or an article manufacturing apparatus, wherein each of these apparatus is provided with a robot hand and a main control unit to be connected to the control unit mentioned above.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Katsumi Ishihara