JPH0668685B2 - Remote control robot - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Field of Industrial Application> The present invention relates to a remote control robot such as an extreme work robot.

<Prior Art> FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a conventional remote control robot. The remote control robot 01 includes an arm 02, a movable leg 03, and a main drive unit of an ITV camera arm unit 04. The arm 02 has first to sixth joints 05, 06, 0
It contains 7,08,09,010. Thus, the remote control robot 01 performs a predetermined work on behalf of a human in a bad environment based on a command from the operator 012 using the operation panel 011 installed on the safe base side. still,
The command signal from the operator 012 side is the operation panel 011.
It is supplied from the communication device 013 installed on the side to the communication device 014 installed on the robot 01 side.

By the way, in the case of the remote control robot 01 having this kind of articulated arm 02, each joint 05, 06, ..., 01
The drive system of 0 is the sub computer 1 as shown in FIG.
0, a servo amplifier 20, a servomotor 30, a tachogenerator T30, a position detector 40, and a load 50, and these components are almost common to each joint 05, 06, ..., 010. Therefore, each joint 05,0
The drive system sub-computer 10, the servo amplifier 20, the servo motor 30, etc. of 6, ..., 010 are gathered in one place due to mounting problems, and are unitized as a control unit, an amplifier unit, a motor unit, and the like.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, as described above, this type of remote control robot works on behalf of human beings in a bad environment, such as high temperature, high humidity, and radiation. Therefore, if it breaks down during work, it is extremely difficult to repair and recover it,
Therefore, high reliability is required for this kind of robot.

However, in the conventional remote control robot, even if an abnormality or a failure of the remote control robot is detected by the operator or the self-diagnosis function of the robot itself, it can be stopped so that the robot does not operate abnormally, and the subsequent processing is performed. Was left to the discretion of the operator, and robots could not always be recovered in all cases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a remote control robot capable of preventing the suspension of all functions due to a failure during work and maintaining the minimum function to avoid the worst situation. To provide.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a redundant shaft for each of the main drive units such as the arm, the movable leg unit, and the camera arm unit with respect to the number of shafts required to execute the minimum function. At least one axis is provided, and the controller system, the servo amplifier system, and the motor system are unitized for each main drive unit. A unit corresponding to the n (n is a natural number) axis, a unit corresponding to the (n + 1) axis, and (n + 1) ) A unit corresponding to the axis and a unit corresponding to the (n + 2) axis are switched to provide a switching mechanism that can switch and share the elements in each unit, and control the switching mechanism by detecting an abnormal failure. A self-diagnosis device is provided for isolating an element in the drive shaft or unit in which an abnormal failure has occurred.

<Operation> When an abnormality / failure occurs in an element in the unit, this is detected by the above mechanism, the switching mechanism is operated to avoid the element causing the abnormality / failure, and the remaining sound elements are time-shared. The redundant shaft will be inoperable even if a double or triple failure occurs, but the robot's minimum function can be maintained.

<Embodiment> An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, an example in which an arm (manipulator) 02 of a remote control robot 01 shown in FIG. 3 is implemented will be described.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an arm portion of a remote control robot according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a), (b) and (c) are diagrams showing an example of a switching mechanism.

If the minimum functional condition of the arm 02 of the remote-controlled robot 01 shown in FIG. 3 is defined as, for example, that the arm 02 can be moved and held in any position and direction, in order to satisfy this condition, It is sufficient that the 02 movement has 5 degrees of freedom. On the other hand, the arm 02 is actually 6
It has 1 degree of freedom (6 axes) for minimum functional conditions.
It can be considered to have latent redundancy in degrees of freedom.

The drive system for each joint 05, 06, ..., 010 of the arm 02 is constructed as shown in FIG. For example, looking at the drive system of the first joint 05, this is composed of a sub-computer 10, a servo amplifier 20, a servo motor 30, a tachogenerator T30, and a load (arm) 40. The drive systems of the other joints 05, 06, ..., 010 are also configured in the same manner, and 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are sub-systems.
Computers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 are servo amplifiers, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 are servomotors, T31, T32, T33, T34, T35 are tachogenerators, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 are It is a load (arm).

By the way, the same elements of the drive system of each of the joints 05, 06, ..., 010 are unitized as shown in FIG. 1, and an arm controller unit 1, an arm amplifier unit 2, an arm motor unit 3 and a load. The position detector unit 4 is constructed. And each unit 1, 2, 3
Among the elements, the switching mechanism 100, 200, 201, 300 for switching and sharing each of these elements and the abnormality / failure in each unit 1, 2, 3 are detected Self-diagnosis device (BI
TE) 150, 250, 350 are provided. For example, in the case of the arm servo amplifier unit 2, the switching mechanism 200 of the arm servo amplifier unit 2 is further configured by switching mechanisms 210, 211, ... As shown in FIG. 2 (a), which are servo amplifiers 20, 21 ,. Are configured so that two axes can be shared. For example, the internal structure of the switching mechanism 210 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the switching switches S1 and S are provided inside the switch.
2, S3, S4 are built in, and, for example, when a failure occurs in the servo amplifier 20 of the first axis, the changeover switch is operated by the operation of the self-diagnostic device (BITE) 250, and the second axis is operated. A backup system in which the servo amplifier 21 is shared is constructed. Similarly, the switching mechanism 201 is also constituted by a plurality of switching mechanisms 220, 221, ..., For example, inside the switching mechanism 220, FIG.
As shown in (c), switching switches S11 and S12 are built in. The broken line in FIG. 1 shows the physical connection relationship.

Thus, when each device is operating normally, the switching mechanism 100, 200, 201, 300 does not operate, and the conventional control is performed.

By the way, if an abnormality / failure occurs in each unit 1, 2, 3, this is detected by the self-diagnostic device (BITE) 150, 250, 350 provided in each unit 1, 2, 3. When a triple failure occurs in one of the units 1, 2, and 3, for example, three of the servo amplifiers 20, 21, ..., 25 in the arm amplifier unit 2, 20,
If 21, 22 fails, the first joint drive system can no longer be driven even if the switching mechanisms 200, 201 are activated. However, since the servo amplifier 23 can be shared by the servo amplifiers 21 and 22, the control of the second and third joint drive systems is possible, although it is time division. In other words, inability to control one axis is regarded as redundant for the minimum function, but the system does not go down. The other three servo amplifiers 23, 24, 25
Even with a combination of two or more axes, there is no possibility of losing control of two or more axes.

Also, if a triple fault occurs across other units, one unit with double fault may not be able to control one axis, but in other units, all axes may be switched by switching. Since it is controllable, the robot 01
The minimum function maintenance operation of is possible.

From the above, it becomes clear that the minimum maintenance operation is possible even for triple failures in each unit 1, 2, 3.
It is premised that the failure rates of the switching mechanisms 100, 200, 201, 300 and the self-diagnosis devices (BITE) 150, 250, 350 are negligibly smaller than that of the main body.

<Effects of the Invention> To increase the redundancy unnecessarily in order to increase the reliability leads to an increase in the weight and size of the robot main body, but since the minimum function maintaining operation is defined in the present invention, an increase in the number of current axes is required. Minimize the introduction of redundant mechanism, and even if a failure occurs in the drive system of the robot, if it is up to a triple failure, the minimum mechanism maintenance operation will be possible, thereby improving the reliability of the remote control robot. It can be significantly increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an arm portion of a remote control robot according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing an example of a switching mechanism of an arm servo amplifier unit, and FIG. Is a diagram showing a conventional remote control robot, and FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram of the remote control robot. In the drawings, 1 is a controller unit for arm, 2 is an amplifier unit for arm, 3 is a motor unit for arm, 100, 200, 201, 300 are switching mechanisms in each unit, and 150, 250, 350 are self-units in each unit. It is a diagnostic device.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --Continued from the front page (56) Reference JP-A-57-189254 (JP, A) JP-A-58-145242 (JP, A) JP-A-58-60359 (JP, A) JP-A-59- 117602 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. At least one redundant axis is provided for each of the main drive units such as an arm, a movable leg section, and a camera arm section for the number of axes required to execute the minimum function, and a controller system is provided for each main drive section. Servo amplifier system and motor system are unitized respectively, unit corresponding to n (n is a natural number) axis and unit corresponding to (n + 1) axis, unit corresponding to (n + 1) axis and unit corresponding to (n + 2) axis A switching mechanism is provided so that the elements in each unit can be shared by switching each element.In addition, an abnormal failure is detected and the switching mechanism is controlled to isolate the element in the drive shaft or unit where the abnormal failure has occurred. A remote-controlled robot characterized by being provided with a self-diagnosis device.