Robot hand apparatus with signal conversion sections

Abstract

A robot hand apparatus includes a hand base mounted on a shaft extending from the leading end of a robot main body, a rotary base rotatably held by the hand base, an electric contact provided on a contact surface of the hand base, an electric contact ring provided on a rotary contact surface of the rotary base, a plurality of chucks provided on the rotary base, a first signal converting device positioned on the robot main body side, and a second signal converting device positioned on the rotary base side. The first signal converting device converts parallel signals outputted from a robot control section into a serial signal so as to transmit the serial signal to the second signal converting device via contact between the electric contact and the electric contact ring, and converts a serial signal outputted from the second signal converting device into parallel signals so as to transmit the parallel signals to the robot control section. The second signal converting device converts the serial signal outputted from the first signal converting device into parallel signals so as to transmit the parallel signals to a chuck drive control section positioned on the rotary base side, and converts parallel signals outputted from the chuck drive control section into a serial signal so as to transmit the serial signal to the first signal converting device via the current transmitting device.