Fanuc Corporation

Mitsuhiro Okuda

Akihiro Terada

Atsushi Watanabe

Masaru Oda

Norio Karube

Nobuaki Iehisa

Kazuhisa Otsuka

Yoshitake Furuya

Eiichirou Nagasue

Toshihiko Inoue

Kazunori Ban

Fumikazu Warashina

Masayuki Hamura

Tetsuya Kosaka

Katsutoshi Takizawa

Makoto Yamada

Fumikazu Terawaki

Yuuki Makihata

In a masking system a robot performs first conveyance work of making an object gripping unit grip an object and set the object at a predetermined position based on positional information of the object which was detected by a first detection unit, coating work of making a coating unit coat an adhesive on a masking location of the object which is set at the predetermined position, and second conveyance work of making a masking piece gripping unit adhere a masking piece to the masking location of the object based on positional information of the masking piece which was detected by a second detection unit.

Masking system using masking piece

A masking jig holding unit () holds a masking jig, a robot moves the masking jig to place on a temporary placement table, an object holding unit () holds an object, the robot moves and positions the object to face an application unit () in a predetermined position and posture, the application unit applies an adhesive to a masking part of the object, the robot directs the masking part of the object downward, and moves the object to the temporary placement table, and the robot brings the object down to the masking jig that is placed on the temporary placement table, and pastes the masking jig to the masking part of the object.

Masking method using masking jig

A masking device capable of effectively carrying out a masking operation using a masking jig by means of a robot. A step S, wherein the masking jig is taken out by a second robot, must be completed prior to step S, and may be carried out until step Shas been completed, otherwise, may be carried out concurrently with step S. Since the taking out operation of the masking jig by the second robot may be concurrently with the detecting/taking-out operation of the workpiece or the applying operation of adhesive by the first robot, cycle time may be reduced.

Masking device using masking jig

Provided is a correction data checking system, for robots, which makes it easy to reveal the cause of a machining defect. A laser machining head and a distance sensor or a sensor for detecting a work line are attached to the distal end of a robot arm. A robot is driven based on a teaching program, and a copying control technique is implemented based on information sent from the sensor so that the distance between the laser machining head and a workpiece will be equal to a set value. A path of taught positions of the laser machining head and a path of actual positions thereof are displayed in comparison with each other on a display of a teaching console or the like. Moreover, the difference between the taught position and actual position is calculated and displayed. As both the position commanded by the teaching program and the actual position derived from the copying control technique are displayed, if a machining defect occurs, the machining defect is checked to see if it is a problem attributable to the sensor or a problem attributable to the workpiece or a jig. The cause of the machining defect is then revealed. Consequently, the cause of a machining defect can be quickly revealed and dealt with at a working site.

Correction data checking system for rebots

If a machining program is reproduced in a robot controller and a robot is moved on a machining route, then a detection signal of a distance sensor is fetched through a distance sensor amplifier, and tracer control is carried out so as to keep a distance between a laser machining head and a workpiece at a predetermined value. In an acceleration and decoration processing in a corner, a restriction means that restricts a maximum acceleration and a maximum jerk is used to control an acceleration and a jerk of the robot not to exceed respective predetermined values, and prevents generation of a vibration when the laser machining head passes through the corner.

Laser machining robot

An image of a reference object is captured using a camera and displayed. A measurement starting point is pointed by an image position pointing device. A corresponding view line is obtained using a position on the image and a position and a direction of the camera, a robot approaches to the reference object such that it does not deviate from a projecting direction to move to a position suitable for measurement. A light is projected on the reference object and measurement of an inclination of a face of the object in the vicinity of a measuring point is started. An image including a bright line image on the reference object is photographed and 3-dimensional positions of points sequentially measured along a working line. A movement path of a robot is created using these positions as teaching points for a working robot.

Robot teaching apparatus

A nozzle system for laser machining capable of maintaining an interference region of a robot in a teaching operation to be substantially the same as that in a laser machining operation. An optical fiber supporting unit is attached to a nozzle body unit having laser beam converging lens for performing a laser machining operation. An optical fiber for supplying a laser beam is connected to an optical fiber connector on the optical fiber supporting unit. A laser machining is performed by combination of the nozzle body unit and the optical fiber supporting member attached to a distal end of a robot arm. In a teaching operation, a camera supporting unit (dummy nozzle) having substantially the same dimension as the nozzle body unit and supporting a camera at a predetermined position is used in place of the optical fiber supporting unit and the nozzle body unit. Alternatively, the nozzle body unit may be used commonly in combination with the optical fiber supporting unit in the machining operation and with the camera supporting unit in the teaching operation. A visual sensor using projection of a spot beam or slit beams may be adopted.

Nozzle system for laser machining

A laser machining apparatus with a simplified laser beam transmitting network. Respective laser beams form laser generators LS&num; to LS&num; divided into groups of G and G are aggregated to fiber-optic cables H and H by confluence devices HC and HC and transmitted to a most upstream laser beam outlet OP The laser beams are further aggregated to a fiber-optic cable H and distributed to a branch fiber-optic cable HH by the laser beam outlet OP and then distributed by laser beam outlet OP to OP to branch fiber-optic cables HH to HH The laser beams distributed to branch fiber-optic cables are focused by the machining tools TL to TL attached to robots RB to RB for laser machining. By controlling output levels of the laser generators with different oscillation wavelengths and different polarization characteristics, blend ratio of the laser beams can be adjusted. Distribution ratios of the laser beams at the laser beam outlets OP to OP are adjustable.

Laser machining apparatus

A plurality of laser generators are provided to be environmentally separated from a machining station, and temperature, humidity, vibration, cleanliness and the like are detected by a sensor, and displayed. When an abnormal environment is detected, machining operation is stopped immediately or after a predetermined time elapsed. The laser generators are grouped according to each machining tool, and fiber-optic cable switching devices FC and FC are arranged for each group. By the switchover of the laser generator, and the selective connection of a fiber-optic cable by using the fiber-optic cable switching device, the degree of freedom in selecting the laser generator and the fiber-optic cable is produced. The degree of freedom is utilized according to the abnormality of the laser generator, the abnormality of the fiber-optic cable, the type of machining work, and the like, by which a machining apparatus in which the occurrence of a partial failure does not lead to long-term shutdown of a manufacturing line can be obtained.

An operation line tracking device for a robot for performing an operation with a tool mounted on the robot while tracking an operation line using a sensor wherein a detection failure of the sensor is restored by automatically changing or resetting a detecting condition of the sensor when the sensor fails in detecting the operation line. If a detection failure occurs for a cause of excessive or too small quantity of light impinged on light receiving elements of a laser sensor, a laser output intensity is automatically changed. If a detection failure occurs for a cause of basing of the quantity of the impinged light, an orientation of the laser sensor is automatically adjusted. If a detection failure occurs for a cause of biasing of position of the operation line in the visual field of the laser sensor, the position of the laser sensor is automatically adjusted. If a detection failure occurs for a cause of detection of an unexpected line, an algorithm for detecting the operation line is replaced with another one. Thus, the detecting condition is automatically changed or reset in accordance with the cause of the detection failure, and the tracking operation of the robot is automatically restarted.

Operation line tracking device using sensor

An operation line searching method in which an operation start position is automatically approached and a robot/sensor system having such function of detecting the operation line. A robot having a laser sensor and an operation tool attached to a distal end thereof approaches an operation start position Q,using various searching motion path patterns (a) to (d). Pattern (a) is determined to avoid an obstacle F or an obstructively-shaped portion G. The path thereof, for example, can be determined by specifying a coordinate axis of a coordinate system w. Patterns (b) and (c) are carried out by teaching, to the robot, data for determining the paths thereof in order. Pattern (d) is carried out in the following manner: an initial parameter <V,>, an angle of rotation and a norm increase factor are specified as parameters, and at the time when incremental travel quantity of a (i&plus;1)th occurrence (i&equals;0, 1, 2, . . . ) Should be obtained, it is obtained by calculating <Vi&plus;1>&minus;<Vi>, where the vector <Vi&plus;1> is obtained from the last obtained vector <Vi>based on the illustrated relationship (the angle of rotation and the norm growth factor).

Operation line searching method and robot/sensor system having operation line searching function

Welding robot control system

A method of controlling a robot to perform a weaving action and a tracking action using a non-contact sensor. When a weaving start command with a condition of a cycle Tw is issued, a laser sensor starts scanning in a cycle Tw/2n in synchronism with the start of weaving action, and outputs sensor data for every scanning time to be stored in a memory. After starting the weaving action, the robot performs a weaving action with a welding line as a reference path, until the tool reaches the weaving extreme (Sm, Sn+m, S2n+m, . . . ) or the termination of the weaving according to the weaving condition. Since a timed relationship between the weaving action and the scanning action of the laser sensor is known, the robot position corresponding to detection data can be calculated, based on which it is possible to successively determine a target position of the robot movement by adding a weaving amount for each detection point. The weaving action is synchronized with the scanning of the laser sensor every time the robot reaches the position of the weaving extreme Sm, Sn+m, . . . to pause and the weaving action is continued tracing the welding line as a reference path.

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Yamanashi, Japan

Mitsuhiro Okuda