Seiko Epson Corporation

Kenjiro Murakami

Hiroshi Ishida

Toshikazu Kotaka

Yoshiaki Nakayama

Kazuto Yoshimura

Nobuhito Takahashi

Kiyoto Komuro

Satoshi Takehana

Tatsuya Seshimo

Keiichi Ohshima

Yoshinobu Goto

Yukihiro Uchiyama

Norio Horaguchi

Shigeki Mizuno

Motoyuki Niimura

Tatsumi Tsuboki

Hitoshi Igarashi

Satoshi Fujioka

Kenichi Miyazaki

Kazuo Saito

Seiichi Hirano

Daisuke Kirihara

Toshikazu Kodaka

Hirokazu Iinuma

Kiyoto Komura

An aspect of the invention provides a robot hand that performs an action for gripping an object between plural finger sections provided to be capable of changing a distance between the finger sections. Between the plural finger sections, a palm section movable along a direction in which a base side of the plural finger sections and a distal end side of the plural finger sections are connected is provided.

Robot hand

A robot hand has a plurality of fingers including a contact sensing finger that senses contact with an object. A base provided with the fingers detects a resultant reaction force that is the combination of reaction forces from the fingers. When no resultant reaction force is detected, the plurality of fingers are moved toward the object, and when the contact sensing finger comes into contact with the object, a force that drives the fingers is switched to a force corresponding to a grasp force. When the contact sensing finger has not come into contact with the object but a resultant reaction force is detected, the driving of the fingers is terminated and the position of the base is corrected by moving the base in a direction in which the resultant reaction force having acted thereon is not detected any more.

Robot hand and robot

A robot hand includes a palm section provided between a plurality of finger sections. The palm section may be brought into contact with an object while the object is gripped by the finger sections. The robot hand also includes a contact member that is detachably mounted on the palm section. The contact member may be brought into contact with the object instead of the palm section. Accordingly, even if an object is too small to be contacted by the palm section, it is possible to stably grip the small object since the contact member can be brought into contact with the object gripped by the finger sections instead of the palm section.

A robot hand that changes a space between finger members provided apart from each other includes: moving members on which the finger members are vertically provided; a palm member including a moving mechanism for moving the moving members in a predetermined axial direction; and guide members that guide the movement of the moving members in the predetermined axial direction.

A printer wherein a drive roller of a pair of sheet discharge rollers is made of rubber and a driven roller of the pair of sheet discharge rollers is made of synthetic resin; the leading end of a sheet is guided so as to be abutted against the drive roller earlier than the driven roller; the sheet that is in the course of being discharged is guided by a sheet discharge tray so as to come in slidable contact with an edge portion that is on a print head side of a sheet discharge opening. As a result, the printer can provide satisfactory printing conditions quickly with a simple structure and reduce noise leaking from the sheet discharge opening.

Printer

A printing apparatus arranged to perform printing while a monochrome printing head and a color printing head are moved in a direction in which the two heads are moved, the printing apparatus being arranged to print a plurality of patterns in which the relative quantity of deviation of printing timings of the two heads is changed in a stepped manner to cause a user to select a pattern having the smallest quantity of deviation among the plural patterns. Then, the selected pattern is used as a central value when a plurality of patterns in which the relative quantity of deviation of the printing timings of the two heads is changed in a stepped manner are furthermore printed to cause the user to select a pattern having a smallest quantity of deviation from the plural patterns. The above-mentioned process is repeated as necessary. As a result, the operation which is performed by the user to adjust the printing position can simply and easily be performed. Control is performed in such a manner as to change color to be printed by the color printing head whenever an adjustment mode in which the relative quantity of deviation of the printing timing is adjusted is started.

Method of adjusting printing position, printing apparatus using the same, and recording medium having program for the same

Printer having noise noise reduction structure

The present invention provides a serial printer and a printing method using the serial printer. In the serial printer, assuming that the number of driven nozzles arranged in a secondary scanning direction on a print head is n and a nozzle pitch is a k-dot pitch, k is set to an integer which is no greater than n and has no prime factors greater than one in common with n. Further, secondary scanning is performed at least once at each of the start of printing and the termination of printing using a paper feeding distance of an m-dot pitch. On the other hand, secondary scanning other than the at least once secondary scanning is performed using an interlaced printing paper feeding distance of an n-dot pitch. In this case, m is an integer which is less than n and has no prime factors greater than one in common with k. Preferably, m=k.+-.j, wherein j is an integer no less than 1 and less than n.

Serial printer and printing method

A paper skew removal apparatus including a single paper feed roller for feeding a paper in a state that the paper feed roller is in contact with the central part of the paper as viewed in the paper width direction, and a paper feed roller and gate roller for contacting the leading edge of the paper, the portions of the rollers that contact the leading edge of the paper are disposed in a direction orthogonal to the advancing direction of the paper fed by the paper feed roller. A printer is also disclosed which incorporates the disclosed paper skew removal apparatus. The inventive and unique construction provides reduction of paper feed time and size reduction in the overall printer, as well as ensuring a reliable skew removal from the paper.

Paper skew removal apparatus and a printer using the same

A printer which is compact, can accurately supply paper and has reduced noise characteristics. Additionally, the printer enables easy correction of paper jams and can be selectively operated in various modes according to the user's preference. The printer includes a paper feed roller which is pivotable between a paper feed position and a non-feeding position, a drive force transmitting mechanism for transmitting a drive force to the paper feed roller, a carriage reciprocatively movable along the width of the paper fed by the paper feed roller, and an intermediate transmission mechanism attached to the side of the carriage. Only when the carriage is in a stand-by position, the intermediate transmission mechanism couples with the drive force transmitting mechanism to transmit to the paper feed roller a paper-feed directional rotating force so as to rotate the paper feed roller to the paper feed position. The intermediate transmission mechanism is preferably an idler rotatably mounted on the side of the carriage. The paper feed roller is preferably driven through a planetary gear mechanism including a sun gear provided on a drive shaft, a paper-feed roller holder rotatably mounted on the drive shaft, and a planetary gear coaxially provided with the paper feed roller supported with the paper-feed roller holder.

Printer having an inverting paper tray

Printer having discharge rollers

A method of straightening a skew in a cut sheet according to the present invention including the steps of feeding the cut sheet toward a sheet forward roller which is rotating forwardly in a sheet forward direction by a sheet feed roller, rotating the sheet forward roller backwardly immediately after a front end of the cut sheet is nipped by the sheet forward roller, adjusting a position of the front end of the cut sheet in a direction orthogonal to the sheet forward direction by a difference between widthwise sheet nipping amounts on right and left ends of the cut sheet, and feeding the cut sheet by rotating the sheet forward roller forwardly again. An apparatus for carrying out the above-mentioned steps is also disclosed.

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Nagano, Japan

Kenjiro Murakami