Arm mechanism and vacuum robot with the mechanism

Abstract

The invention provides an arm mechanism of a vacuum robot which has both high rigidity and heat resistance and is suitable for vacuum conditions. Particularly, the mechanism comprises an arm pedestal with an inner airtight space; an arm driving motor which is disposed in the arm pedestal; a first reducer which is composed of a hollow reducer shaft rotated by the arm driving motor and a first reducer output shaft which inputs the rotation of the reducer shaft, decelerates only with a specified ratio, and rotates around the reducer shaft, wherein the first reducer is disposed that the lower endof the reducer shaft is exposed in the arm pedestal; a first arm which has an airtight space with the same pressure as the airtight space of the arm pedestal by allowing the upper end of the hollow reducer shaft to enter, and is fixed at the first reducer output shaft; a second reducer which is disposed at the front of the first arm and is connected to the input shaft; a second arm which is disposed at the second reducer output shaft and has no inner airtight space; and a linkage mechanism which follows the first arm and the second arm.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a robot for transporting substrates such as wafers and glass in a vacuum, in particular to the structure of its robot arm. The vacuum referred to here means, for example, a space state depressurized from atmospheric pressure by a pump or the like. Background technique [0002] For example, Patent Document 1 and the like are known as an arm structure of a robot that transports substrates. In Patent Document 1, in order to operate the robot arm and the hand, a transmission mechanism such as a motor, a speed reducer, and a timing belt is arranged inside the arm. On the other hand, such a robot is installed in a vacuum container depressurized from an atmospheric pressure state, and is used to transport substrates such as wafers and glass. A robot installed in a vacuum container is called a vacuum robot. In order not to destroy the vacuum environment in the vacuum container, the vacuum robot needs to isolate the atmospheric press...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, when the arm stretches, it needs to be moved within the range where the first arm and the first link do not interfere with each other, and there are cases where the stretching range of the arm is limited.

Since it is necessary to extend the telescopic range of the arms, it is necessary to arrange the distance between the axes of each arm and the distance between the axes of each link to be relatively long, so there is a problem that the mass of each arm increases, or due to the increase of the first arm and the first The inter-axis distance between the connecting rods has to make the arm base excessively large, etc.

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