JPH07112381A - Manipulator system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the number of stocks and to simplify handling during an exchange work. CONSTITUTION:An address discriminating part to set the addresses of joint drive parts 10-15 is arranged on a connector part 19 for connection harnesses 10b-15b to connect the joint drive parts 10-15 to a serial signal transmission line 18. Only by connecting the connector part 19 to the connection connectors 10a-15a of the joint drive parts 10-15, the addresses of the drive parts 10-15 are set.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manipulator system used for assembling work such as a space station constructed in outer space.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of space development, there is a concept of constructing a structure such as a space station in outer space. When constructing a structure such as this space station in outer space, it is considered to be performed using a manipulator system because its working environment is different from that on the ground and has an extreme environment. As such a manipulator system, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a shoulder joint 2 having degrees of freedom is arranged on a base 1 in two orthogonal axes, and a uniaxial joint is provided to the shoulder joint via an arm 3. An elbow joint 4 having a degree of freedom and a wrist joint 5 having three degrees of freedom around three orthogonal axes are connected in order,
It is considered that the wrist joint 5 has an end effector 6 at the tip thereof and has six degrees of freedom. These shoulder joints 2,
Each of the elbow joint 4 and the wrist joint 5 is composed of a joint mechanism, which is composed of a servo motor or the like around each axis, and a joint drive section (see FIG. 5) called joint electronics that controls the operation of the joint mechanism. It

The joint drive unit 7 is a unit in which internal devices such as an electronic circuit and a central processing unit (CPU) are housed in a housing, and is located on the arm 3 in the vicinity of the shoulder joint 2, the elbow joint 4 and the wrist joint 5. As shown in FIG. 3, it is removably installed by using the mounting bolt 8. Further, the joint drive unit 7 is provided with a connection connector 7a, and the connection harness 9 is detachably connected to the connection connector 7a via a connector attachment / detachment mechanism 9a. The other end of the connection harness 9 is bus-connected to, for example, an arm control unit (not shown) arranged at the base of the arm 3 via a serial signal transmission line, and this arm control unit (not shown) and the joint drive unit are connected. Two-way communication with 7.

By the way, such a manipulator system is required to have a service life of about 30 years because its use environment is a special environment of outer space. Therefore, in such a manipulator system, for example, when the joint drive unit 7 fails, a person goes out of the spacecraft and detaches the joint drive unit 7 from the connector attaching / detaching mechanism 9a of the connection harness 9 to prepare in advance. New joint drive unit 7
The method of exchanging with is adopted.

However, in the above manipulator system, since the joint driving unit 7 is configured to perform bidirectional communication of the serial signal transmission line and the serial signal, the address identification of the joint driving unit 7 is the shoulder joint 2, the elbow joint 4, and the wrist. Joint 5
Since it is set corresponding to each axis around, the replacement joint drive unit 7 must be stocked for the number of the shafts, so that the stock quantity becomes very large, and the stock management is troublesome. Have the problem.

Further, in the above manipulator system,
When replacing the joint drive unit 7, the working environment is very strict,
Moreover, the joint drive unit 7 must be replaced in a space environment where workability is poor and the mounting bolt 8 can be loosened and removed, so that the removed joint drive unit floats in outer space. There is a risk that the joint drive unit for replacement cannot be installed at a predetermined position of the arm, or the work thereof becomes very troublesome. Such a problem is serious in the field of space development, where there is a strong demand for higher work efficiency as well as reduction of the number of onboard components.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional manipulator system, the number of stock items increases,
There is a problem that handling including inventory control is troublesome. In addition, there is a problem that replacement work of the joint drive unit is very troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a manipulator system having a simple structure and capable of reducing the number of stock items, thereby facilitating the handling including the stock management. The purpose is to It is another object of the present invention to provide a manipulator system having a simplified structure so that the replacement work can be simplified.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an arm body having a plurality of joints, and the arm body is detachably installed near the joints of the arm body so as to correspond to the joints of the arm body. A plurality of joint drive sections for controlling the operation of the arm, an arm control section for controlling the plurality of joint drive sections to control the operation of each of the joints and operating the arm body, and an arm body connected to the arm control section. A serial signal transmission line wired along the line and a plurality of address identification units for connecting the joint drive unit to the serial signal transmission line, the address identification unit setting an address of the joint drive unit. A manipulator system was configured with a connecting harness.

According to the above construction, the joint drive section sets the address by the address identification section of the connection harness connected to the serial signal transmission line.
It can be shared by each joint. Therefore, the number of stocks of the joint drive unit can be reduced, and the stocked products can be reduced and the handling including the management of the stocks can be simplified.

Further, according to the present invention, an arm main body having a plurality of joints, a plurality of joint drive parts detachably installed near each joint of the arm main body and driving the joints, and a plurality of joint drive parts. And magnetic coupling means for magnetically coupling the respective parts to the installation position of the arm body and temporarily controlling the plurality of joint drive parts to control the operation of the plurality of joints and operate the arm body. The manipulator system is configured to include the arm control unit and the plurality of joint drive units, and signal transmission means for transmitting signals bidirectionally.

According to the above construction, the joint drive section is magnetically coupled to the arm body by the magnetic coupling means and is temporarily fixed to the installation position. It is detached from the main body. Therefore, the attaching / detaching operation of the joint drive unit to / from the arm body and the taking-out operation can be performed separately, and the attachment work including the replacement work can be simplified.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an essential part of a manipulator system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 to 15 show two axes around the shoulder joint 2 and one axis around the elbow joint 4 shown in FIG. This is a joint drive unit that controls the movement of the wrist joint 5 around three axes around six axes. The six joint drive units 10 to 15 are respectively detachably installed in a mounting unit 3a provided at a predetermined position on the arm 3 as shown in FIG. These joint drive units 10 to 15 are likewise equipped with an electronic circuit 21 and a central processing unit (CP) in a metallic casing 20.
U) 22 is inserted and unitized, and its peripheral portion is screwed and supported by the mounting portion 3 a by using the mounting bolt 17.

Connection connectors 10a to 15a are provided in the joint drive units 10 to 15, and the connection harnesses 10b to 1 are provided in the connection connectors 10a to 15a.
The connectors 19 of 5b are detachably connected.
The connection harnesses 10b to 15b have their base ends bus-connected to the serial signal transmission line 18, respectively. An arm control unit (not shown) is connected to the serial signal transmission line 18, and bidirectional communication is performed between the arm control unit (not shown) and the joint drive units 10 to 15.

In the connector portion 19 (see FIG. 1) of the connection harnesses 10b to 15b, a to
The d terminal is provided corresponding to the address identification unit 23 of the joint drive units 10 to 15. The terminals a to d are respectively connected to the address identification section 23 of the CPU 22 of the joint driving sections 10 to 15, and predetermined terminals are short-circuited by using the shorting member 19a. As a result, the connector portion 19
Are connection connectors 10a to 15a of the joint drive units 10 to 15
These terminals a to d set the address of the address identification unit 23 of the joint driving units 10 to 15 to a predetermined address in accordance with the short-circuit condition.

The mounting portion 3a on the arm 3 has
The electromagnet 24 that constitutes the temporary fixing mechanism is embedded. In the electromagnet 24, a changeover switch 25 and a power supply 26 are connected and wired in series to a coil 24a of the electromagnet 24. Changeover switch 25
Is controlled to be turned on / off in response to a switching signal, supplies electric power of a power supply 26 to the electromagnet 24 in the on state to drive the electromagnet 24, and the magnetic force thereof causes the joint drive units 10 to 15 to operate.
Is magnetically coupled so as to be attracted to the mounting portion 3a on the arm 3 and temporarily fixed.

In the above structure, the joint drive units 10 to 15
Is connected to the serial signal transmission line 18 via the connection harnesses 10b to 15b, and is controlled by transmitting / receiving a signal to / from the arm control unit (not shown), the shoulder joint 2 (two orthogonal axes), the elbow. Joint 4 (1 axis) and wrist joint 5 (orthogonal 3
Control the operation around a total of 6 axes.

In this operation control state, the joint drive section 1
When one of 0 to 15 fails and is replaced, first,
Each joint drive unit 10 is controlled by controlling an arm control unit (not shown).
The operation of 15 is stopped. Then, the joint drive unit 10 (to 1) to be replaced via the arm control unit (not shown).
The changeover switch 25 corresponding to 5) is turned on. Then, electric power from the power supply 26 is supplied to the electromagnet 24 to drive the electromagnet 24, and the electromagnet 24 generates a magnetic force to cause the joint drive unit 10 to move.
(~ 15) is sucked into the mounting portion 3a of the arm 3 and the arm 3
It is temporarily fixed to the mounting portion 3a. Here, the connection harness 10
While the connector part 19 of b (~ 15b) is detached,
The mounting bolt 17 is loosened and removed to complete the preparation for removal. At this time, the joint drive unit 10 (to 15) is positionally regulated to the mounting portion 3a of the arm 3 in a temporarily fixed state, and is prevented from floating in outer space, for example. In this state,
The joint drive unit 10 (to 15) is detached from the attachment unit 3 a of the arm 3 by turning off the changeover switch 25 to stop the drive of the electromagnet 24, releasing the temporary fixing.

Next, a spare joint drive unit 10 (to 1) prepared in advance on the mounting portion 3a from which the joint drive unit 10 (15) is removed.
When installing 5), first, the joint drive unit 10 (to 1)
5) is placed on the mounting portion 3a of the arm 3 and the changeover switch 25 is turned on again to drive the electromagnet 24, and the joint driving portion 10 (to 15) is mounted on the arm 3 by the magnetic force of the electromagnet 24. It is temporarily fixed so as to be sucked by the portion 3a. In this temporarily fixed state, the joint driving unit 10 (to 15) is screwed and fixed to the mounting unit 3a of the arm 3 using the mounting bolt 17, and then the changeover switch 15 is turned off and the electromagnet 24 of the electromagnet 24 is turned off. The driving is stopped, and the temporarily fixed state by the magnetic force of the electromagnet 24 is released. And the joint drive unit 1
0 (~ 15) connector 10b (~ 15b),
The connector portion 19 of the connection harness 10b (to 15b) is mounted. Here, in the joint drive unit 10 (to 15), the address identification unit 23 has the connection harness 10b (to 15b).
Joint drive unit 10 that has failed due to the action of the connector unit 19 of
Corresponding to the address identification of (-15).

As described above, in the manipulator system, the joint drive section 1 is connected to the serial signal transmission line 18.
The connector section 19 of the connection harnesses 10b to 15b for connecting 0 to 15 is provided with an address identification section for setting the address of the joint drive section 10 to 15, and the connector section 19 is used to connect the connector 10a of the joint drive section 10 to 15a. ˜15a, the addresses of the joint drive units 10 to 15 are set.

According to this, since it becomes possible to share the joint drive units 10 to 15 corresponding to the respective axes of 6 degrees of freedom, the stock of the joint drive units 10 to 15 is prepared by the number of joints. Since there is no need to prepare one unit, the handling including inventory management can be simplified.

The electromagnet 24 is attached to the mounting portion 3a of the arm 3.
The joint drive parts 10 to 15 are temporarily fixed to the attachment part 3 a of the arm 3 by utilizing the magnetic force of the electromagnet 24.

According to this, it is possible to separately perform the attachment / detachment preparatory operation for attaching / detaching the joint drive units 10 to 15 to / from the attachment portion 3a of the arm 3 and the removal operation for detaching the joint drive portions 10-15 from the attachment portion 3a. For example, even in a severe working environment such as outer space, it is possible to replace the joint drive units 10 to 15 relatively easily, and the mounting work including the replacement work can be simplified.

In the above embodiment, the connection harness 10 is used.
a to 15a of the connector section 19 directly to the joint drive section 10
Although the description has been given of the case of connecting to the connection connectors 10a to 15a of No. 15 to 15, the connector attaching / detaching mechanism is arranged between the connection harnesses 10b to 15b and the joint drive units 10 to 15, without being limited thereto. It can also be configured as follows.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the manipulator system for space having 6 degrees of freedom around the shoulder joint 2, the elbow joint 4 and the wrist joint 5 in total of 6 axes has been explained. The present invention is not limited to the above, and can be applied to various manipulator systems including an arm having a plurality of joints, including a ground manipulator system.

Further, in the above embodiment, the joint drive unit 10
The description has been made on the case where the electromagnets 24 are embedded in the mounting portion 3a for mounting the members 15 to 15 on the arm 3 for temporary fixing.
The present invention is not limited to this, and for example, as a means for installing the arm control section (not shown), an electromagnet may be similarly embedded, and the magnetic force of the electromagnet may be used to perform temporary fixing. Therefore, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0027]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a manipulator system having a simple structure and capable of reducing the number of stocked items and simplifying the handling including the stock management is provided. can do. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a manipulator system having a simplified structure and capable of simplifying the replacement work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a main part of a manipulator system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a mounted state of the joint drive unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram shown for explaining the magnetic coupling operation of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a manipulator system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a diagram shown for explaining a problem of the conventional manipulator system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... base. 2 ... Shoulder joint. 3 ... arm. 4 ... Elbow joint. 5 ... wrist joint. 3a ... Mounting part. 10 to 15 ... Joint drive unit. 10a to 15a ... Connection connector. 10b to 15b ... Connection harness. 17 ... Mounting bolt. 18 ... Serial signal transmission line. 19 ... Connector part. 20 ... Housing. 21 ... Electronic circuit. 22 ... CPU. 23 ... Address identification section. 24 ... Electromagnet. 24a ... coil. 25 ... Changeover switch. 26 ... Power supply.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An arm main body having a plurality of joints, and a plurality of joint drive units that are detachably installed near the joints of the arm main body in correspondence with each joint of the arm main body and that control the operation of the joints. An arm control unit that controls the plurality of joint drive units to control the operation of each joint to operate the arm body, and a serial signal transmission line connected to the arm control unit and wired along the arm body And a plurality of connection harnesses for connecting the joint drive section to the serial signal transmission line, the plurality of connection harnesses having an address identification section for setting an address of the joint drive section. 2. An arm main body having a plurality of joints, a plurality of joint drive parts detachably installed near each joint of the arm main body and driving the joints, and the plurality of joint drive parts, respectively. A magnetic coupling unit that magnetically couples to the installation position of the arm body to temporarily fix it; an arm control unit that controls the plurality of joint drive units to control the operation of the plurality of joints to operate the arm body; A manipulator system comprising: a control section and a signal transmission means for connecting a plurality of joint drive sections and transmitting signals bidirectionally.