Robot operating device, robot, and robot operating method

Abstract

The robot operating device comprises: a camera (3) which is installed at the front end or near the front end of a robot arm (2a) and obtains an image; a display unit (6) which displays the image obtained by the camera (3); an operation receiving unit (7) which receives an operator's operation on the image displayed on the display unit (6); and a control unit (4) which controls the robot arm (2a) based on the operation received by the operation receiving unit (7).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a robot operating device, a robot and a robot operating method. Background Art

[0002] In order to make the robot execute an operation, a teaching operation of teaching the robot an action corresponding to the operation content is necessary (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4).

[0003] Prior art literature

[0004] Patent Literature

[0005] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-190756

[0006] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-289531

[0007] Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-126857

[0008] Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-241247 Summary of the invention

[0009] Problem that the invention aims to solve

[0010] Common teaching methods for robots include remote teaching, in which an operator uses a mobile teaching operating device to remotely operate the robot; and direct teaching, in which an operator holds a part of the robot and directly operates the robot. In these teaching methods, the operator moves the robot to the target position while visually confirming the relative position of the robot, external equipment, and the work object. When the work object is blocked by the robot or external equipment and cannot be seen, the operator must change his posture or move to another position to change the viewpoint. When there are many external equipment, the viewpoint needs to be changed frequently.

[0011] Solutions for solving problems

[0012] One embodiment of the present disclosure is a robot operating device comprising: a camera, a display unit, an operation receiving unit and a control unit, wherein the camera is installed at the front end or near the front end of a robot arm and obtains an image, the display unit displays the image obtained by the camera, the operation receiving unit receives an operator's operation on the image displayed on the display unit, and the control unit moves the robot arm based on the operation received by the operation receiving unit. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 This is an overall configuration diagram of a robot according to one embodiment.

[0014] Figure 2 This is a diagram showing an example of an operation panel of a robot control device.

[0015] Figure 3 This is a flowchart showing the operation of the robot control device.

[0016] Figure 4 The figures are diagrams for explaining (a) a tap operation on an image and (b) a change in the image due to the tap operation.

[0017] Figure 5 The figures are for explaining (a) a pinch-out operation on an image and (b) changes in the image due to the pinch-out operation.

[0018] Figure 6 The figures are diagrams for explaining (a) a rotation operation on an image and (b) a change in the image due to the rotation operation.

[0019] Description of reference numerals:

[0020] 1 Robot control device (robot operation device)

[0021] 2 Robot Mechanism

[0022] 2a Robotic Arm

[0023] 3 Camera (Robot operating device)

[0024] 4 Control Unit

[0025] 6 Display

[0026] 7 Operation receiving unit, touch sensor (touch operation unit)

[0027] 8 Touch display (display part, operation receiving part)

[0028] 13 Nine-axis sensor

[0029] 100 Robot

[0030] B-image DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Hereinafter, a robot operating device and a robot 100 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0032] like Figure 1 As shown, the robot 100 includes a robot mechanism 2, a robot control device 1, and a camera 3. The robot control device 1 controls the robot mechanism 2, and the camera 3 is attached to the robot mechanism 2. The robot operating device is composed of at least the robot control device 1 and the camera 3.

[0033] The robot mechanism 2 includes a robot arm 2a having at least one joint, and a tool 2c for operation is connected to a wrist flange 2b at the front end of the robot arm 2a. For example, the robot mechanism 2 is a vertical multi-joint robot with 6 axes J1 to J6, and includes a servo motor for driving each joint of the robot arm 2a, and an encoder for detecting the rotation angle of each joint. The tool 2c is, for example, a hand for holding the operation object A, or a tool for processing, inspecting, or welding the operation object A.

[0034] The camera 3 is a two-dimensional camera. The camera 3 is mounted on the wrist flange 2b or near the wrist flange 2b, for example, on the tool 2c. The camera 3 obtains a real-time view image B of the tool 2c and the surrounding area including the front of the tool 2c. The camera 3 may also have an autofocus function that automatically focuses on an object such as a work object A in the field of view. The camera 3 may also be a three-dimensional camera.

[0035] The camera 3 is temporarily attached to the wrist flange 2b or the tool 2c when the teaching mode is executed. Alternatively, the camera 3 may be a camera permanently attached to the front end of the robot arm 2a or the tool 2c for recognizing the work object A during the operation of the robot mechanism 2.

[0036] The robot control device 1 includes a control unit 4 and a mobile operating panel 5. The control unit 4 is connected to the robot mechanism 2 and the camera 3 to control the robot mechanism 2 and the camera 3. The mobile operating panel 5 is connected to the control unit 4 and is operated by an operator.

[0037] The control unit 4 includes a processor (not shown) and a storage unit (not shown) including a RAM and a ROM. The control unit 4 moves the robot arm 2a by sending control instructions to each servo motor. In addition, the control unit 4 can calculate the position and posture of the wrist flange 2b based on the detection values ​​from each encoder. The control unit 4 controls the robot mechanism 2 in either the automatic mode or the teaching mode. The automatic mode is a mode in which the robot mechanism 2 is controlled according to the action program stored in the storage unit. The teaching mode is a mode in which the action of the robot mechanism 2 is taught using the operating panel 5.

[0038] The operation panel 5 includes a display unit 6 that displays the image B obtained by the camera 3 , and an operation receiving unit 7 that receives an operation by an operator on the image B displayed on the display unit 6 .

[0039] Figure 2An example of an operation panel 5 is shown. The operation panel 5 includes a touch display 8 and a jog button 9. The touch display 8 and the jog button 9 are used for manual operation of the robot arm 2a by the operator in the teaching mode. As described later, the operator can move the wrist flange 2b in a desired direction by a touch operation on the touch display 8. In addition, the operator moves the wrist flange 2b in the desired direction by a predetermined distance each time, or rotates the wrist flange 2b in the desired direction by a predetermined angle each time by pressing the jog button 9. In addition, the operator moves the wrist flange 2b in the desired direction by tilting a joystick (not shown) prepared separately.

[0040] A switch 11 may be provided in the operating panel 5 to switch between valid and invalid operation of the robot arm 2a performed by the touch display 8 and the jog button 9. For example, the switch 11 may be used to validate one of the touch display 8 and the jog button 9 and invalidate the other.

[0041] A dead man switch 12 for switching between valid and invalid manual operation of the robot arm 2a may be provided in the operation panel 5. Only when the dead man switch 12 is pressed by the operator holding the operation panel 5, the manual operation of the robot arm 2a is validated.

[0042] The display unit 6 and the operation accepting unit 7 are a touch display 8. That is, the display unit 6 is a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel or an organic EL panel, and the operation accepting unit 7 is a transparent touch panel (touch operation unit) arranged on the display panel.

[0043] The live view image B obtained by the camera 3 is transmitted from the camera 3 to the operation panel 5 via the control unit 4 and is displayed on the display unit 6 .

[0044] The operation accepting unit 7 accepts a tap operation of the operator's finger F on the image B displayed on the display unit 6 , and transmits a movement operation signal including information on a tap position of the finger F in the image B to the control unit 4 .

[0045] In the teaching mode, the control unit 4 controls the robot mechanism unit 2 and the camera 3 based on the movement operation signal from the operation receiving unit 7. Figure 3 The operation method (robot operation method) of the robot mechanism unit 2 of the robot control device 1 in the teaching mode will be described. The following processing and control by the control unit 4 are realized by the processor executing processing according to the operation program stored in the storage unit.

[0046] The control unit 4 causes the camera 3 to start acquiring the image B, for example, when the operation panel 5 is activated or based on a predetermined operation by the operator.

[0047] First, the operator moves the robot arm 2a and arranges the robot arm 2a at a position where the target position to be taught is observed in the image B of the display unit 6. For example, when the position when the work object A on the conveyor C is held by the tool 2c is the target position, the operator arranges the robot arm 2a at a position where the work object A is observed in the image B. At this time, the operation of the robot arm 2a can be performed by any operation of the touch display 8, the jog button 9, or the joystick. Alternatively, the operator can hold a part of the robot arm 2a and directly move the robot arm 2a.

[0048] Next, if Figure 4 As shown in (a), the operator taps the position of the work object A in the image B displayed on the display unit 6. The operator's tapping operation on the image B is received by the operation receiving unit 7, and a movement operation signal is sent from the operation receiving unit 7 to the control unit 4 (step S1).

[0049] In response to the movement operation signal from the operation receiving unit 7, the control unit 4 imports the still image into the camera 3 (step S2). Next, the control unit 4 receives the still image from the camera 3 and stores the still image. In addition, the control unit 4 cuts out the surrounding image of the tap position including the tap position from the still image as a template image and stores the template image (step S3).

[0050] Next, the control unit 4 moves the robot arm 2a so that the tap position is located at a predetermined position in the image B (steps S4 to S7). The predetermined position is an arbitrary position in the image B, for example, the center of the image B. The case where the predetermined position is the center of the image B will be described below.

[0051] The control unit 4 calculates the movement amount of the robot arm 2a required to move the tap position to the center based on the difference between the tap position and the center position in the still image (step S4). For example, the control unit 4 calculates the movement amount of the wrist flange 2b based on the preset movement amount of the robot arm 2a per pixel and the number of pixels between the tap position and the center position, and calculates the rotation amount of each joint for moving the wrist flange 2b only by the calculated movement amount. Next, the control unit 4 moves the robot arm 2a only by the calculated movement amount (step S5).

[0052] The camera 3 moves by the movement of the robot arm 2a in step S5, so that Figure 4 As shown in (b), the work object A moves toward the center of the image B displayed on the display unit 6. At this time, the movement amount of the work object A in the image B caused by the movement of the robot arm 2a varies depending on the distance between the camera 3 and the work object A. Therefore, after the robot arm 2a moves, the work object A at the tap position is not limited to being located at the center of the image B.

[0053] Next, the control unit 4 imports the still image of the robot arm 2a after the movement into the camera 3 (step S6), and receives the still image from the camera 3. Next, the control unit 4 cuts out a peripheral image of the center position including the center position from the still image of the robot arm 2a after the movement, and compares the cut peripheral image with the template image to determine whether the tap position has moved to the center (step S7). For example, the control unit 4 determines that the tap position has moved to the center when the positional offset between the cut peripheral image and the template image is less than a predetermined value, and determines that the tap position has not moved to the center when the positional offset is greater than the predetermined value.

[0054] If the tap position has not moved to the center ("No" in step S7), the control unit 4 calculates the movement amount of the robot arm 2a required to move the tap position to the center based on the difference between the tap position and the center position in the still image received in step S6 (step S4), and then executes steps S5 to S7. The control unit 4 repeats steps S4 to S7 until the tap position moves to the center ("Yes" in step S7).

[0055] As a result of steps S4 to S7 , when the work object A is arranged at the center or near the center in the image B, the robot arm 2 a stops.

[0056] Next, the operator presses a storage button (not shown) provided on the operation panel 5. By pressing the storage button, the position and posture of the robot arm 2a when the work object A is located at the center of the image B are stored in the control unit 4.

[0057] Thus, according to the present embodiment, the operator can move the robot arm 2a to the target position by simply operating the operator to observe the image B of the work object A on the movable operation panel 5 and tap the position of the work object A in the image B with the finger F. That is, the operator can observe the work object A through the camera 3 even at a position where the work object A cannot be directly visually recognized, and therefore, there is no need to move or change the posture of the robot arm 2a to observe the relative position between the work object A and the robot arm 2a. Therefore, for example, even in a situation where the operator's operating space and the operating space of the robot mechanism 2 are separated by a wall or the robot mechanism 2 is surrounded by a large number of external devices, the operator can easily perform the teaching operation of the robot mechanism 2.

[0058] In addition, the operator does not need to be close to the robot mechanism 2, so the teaching operation of the robot mechanism 2 can be performed at a position far away from the robot mechanism 2. In the case of a large robot mechanism 2, the teaching operation near the moving robot mechanism 2 is a heavy psychological burden on the operator. According to this embodiment, the psychological burden of such an operator can be reduced.

[0059] After moving the robot arm 2 a by tapping the touch display 8 , the operator can more precisely align the position of the tool 2 c with the work object A by jogging the button 9 or the joystick.

[0060] As described above, the relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm 2a and the movement amount of the work object A in the image B varies depending on the distance between the camera 3 and the work object A. In addition, there is a spatial deviation between the position of the camera 3 and the position of the tool 2c. For these reasons, it is difficult to precisely align the position of the tool 2c with the work object A by a tap operation of the image B. Therefore, a combination of rough position alignment of the robot arm 2a by a tap operation of the touch display 8 and precise position alignment of the robot arm 2a by an operation of the jog button 9 or a joystick may be used.

[0061] In the above-described embodiment, the processing of steps S6 and S7 by the control unit 4 may be omitted. That is, the control unit 4 may move the robot arm 2a only once by the movement amount calculated in step S4.

[0062] In this case, the operator determines whether the work object A has moved to the center in the image B displayed on the display unit 6. If the work object A has not moved to the center, the operator taps the position of the work object A in the image B again to move the robot arm 2a again. As a result, the work object A moves closer to the center in the image B. By repeatedly tapping multiple times, the operator can move the work object A to the center of the image B.

[0063] In step S4 , the control unit 4 may calculate the relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm 2 a and the movement amount of the object in the image B, and calculate the movement amount of the robot arm 2 a based on the calculated relationship.

[0064] For example, in step S5, the control unit 4 initially performs a calibration process for calculating the above relationship. In one example of the calibration process, the control unit 4 moves the wrist flange 2b only by a predetermined amount, calculates the amount of movement of the object between the still images when the movement of the wrist flange 2b starts and ends, and calculates the amount of movement of the object in the image B per unit movement of the wrist flange 2b.

[0065] Thus, the movement amount of the robot arm 2a required to move the tap position toward the center can be calculated more accurately. In particular, the movement amount of the object at the tap position, that is, the work object A, is used as the movement amount of the object in the image B, thereby the required movement amount of the robot arm 2a can be calculated more accurately.

[0066] As the robot arm 2a moves, the position of the work object A also changes in the depth direction of the image B, and the relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm 2a and the movement amount of the object in the image B changes over time. During the movement of the robot arm 2a, the robot control device 1 sequentially calculates the movement amount of the object in the image B obtained by the camera 3, thereby sequentially updating the relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm 2a and the movement amount of the object in the image B, and recalculates the movement amount of the robot arm 2a based on the updated relationship. In this way, the movement amount of the robot arm 2a required to move the tap position toward the center can be calculated more accurately.

[0067] At this time, the control unit 4 can calculate the movement amount in the image of the object designated by the operator. For example, the operator touches the work object A among the multiple objects in the image B displayed on the display unit 6 to designate the work object A. Thus, the control unit 4 can appropriately calculate the movement amount of the robot arm 2a based on the movement amount of the work object A in the image B.

[0068] The scale 14 indicating the scale of the image B may be displayed in the image B displayed on the display unit 6. For example, the robot control device 1 may create the scale 14 indicating the actual distance based on the relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm 2a and the movement amount of the object in the image B, and may overlay the scale 14 on the image B displayed on the display unit 6.

[0069] In the above-described embodiment, the operation accepting unit 7 accepts a tap operation as an operation for designating an arbitrary position in the image B, but may instead accept another touch operation.

[0070] For example, the operation accepting unit 7 may accept a slide operation on the image B. In this case, the operation accepting unit 7 may send a movement operation signal including the start point and the end point of the slide operation to the robot control device 1, and the robot control device 1 may move the robot arm 2a from the start point to the end point (predetermined position).

[0071] In the above-described embodiment, the operation accepting unit 7 accepts a tap operation for designating an arbitrary position in the image B. However, the operation accepting unit 7 may accept an operation for designating zooming in the image B in addition to or instead of this operation.

[0072] For example, Figure 5As shown in (a), the operation receiving unit 7 receives a pinch-in operation (touch operation) and a pinch-in operation (touch operation) on the image B displayed on the display unit 6 as a zoom-in instruction and a zoom-out instruction, respectively. The pinch-in operation is an operation of increasing the distance between the two fingers F1 and F2 in contact with the touch display 8, and the pinch-in operation is an operation of decreasing the distance between the two fingers F1 and F2 in contact with the touch display 8. The operation receiving unit 7 sends a zoom-in operation signal or a pinch-in operation signal to the control unit 4.

[0073] The control unit 4 moves the robot arm 2a in response to the amplified operation signal from the operation receiving unit 7 so that the wrist flange 2b approaches the work object A. As a result, the camera 3 moves in the optical axis direction toward the work object A. Figure 5 As shown in (b), the work object A in the image B displayed on the display unit 6 is enlarged.

[0074] In addition, the control unit 4 moves the robot arm 2a in response to the reduction operation signal from the operation receiving unit 7 so that the wrist flange 2b is separated from the work object A. As a result, the camera 3 moves in the optical axis direction toward the opposite side of the work object A, and the work object A in the image B displayed on the display unit 6 is reduced.

[0075] When the operator visually checks the relative position of the tool 2 c and the work object A, the operator must immediately approach the tool 2 c and the work object A when precisely aligning the position of the tool 2 c and the work object A.

[0076] According to the present embodiment, the camera 3 magnifies and observes the work object A, so that the position where the tool 2 c is operated can be precisely aligned with the object A at a position away from the tool 2 c and the work object A.

[0077] The relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm 2a and the movement amount of the object in the image B changes by zooming. Therefore, the control unit 4 can also change the movement amount of the robot arm 2a in accordance with the change in the magnification of the object in the image B caused by zooming. For example, when the object in the image B is magnified 3 times by zooming, the control unit 4 can reduce the movement amount of the robot arm 2a to one third of that before zooming.

[0078] When the camera 3 has a zoom function, the control unit 4 can control the camera 3 to change the zoom ratio of the camera 3 instead of moving the camera 3 along the optical axis direction by moving the robot arm 2a. That is, the control unit 4 can increase the zoom ratio of the camera 3 in response to a zoom-in instruction, and reduce the zoom ratio of the camera 3 in response to a zoom-out instruction.

[0079] The operation accepting unit 7 may also accept an operation for instructing image B to rotate.

[0080] For example, Figure 6 As shown in (a), the operation receiving unit 7 receives an operation (touch operation) of rotating two fingers F1 and F2 in contact with the touch display 8 clockwise or counterclockwise as a rotation instruction. The operation receiving unit 7 sends a rotation operation signal including information on the rotation direction and rotation angle of the fingers F1 and F2 to the control unit 4.

[0081] The control unit 4 rotates the wrist flange 2b in a direction corresponding to the rotation direction of the fingers F1 and F2 by the same angle as the rotation angle of the fingers F1 and F2 in response to the rotation operation signal from the operation receiving unit 7. As a result, the camera 3 rotates around the optical axis or around an axis parallel to the optical axis, such as Figure 6 As shown in (b), in the image B displayed on the display unit 6, the work object A and the conveyor C rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.

[0082] When the optical axis of the camera 3 is eccentric with respect to the rotation axis J6 of the wrist flange 2b and there is a distance between the optical axis of the camera 3 and the rotation axis J6, when the wrist flange 2b rotates around the rotation axis J6, the image B does not rotate around the center of the image B but around the rotation axis J6. The control unit 4 can rotate the camera 3 around the rotation axis J6. Alternatively, in order to rotate the work object A in the image B around the center of the image B, the control unit 4 can move the robot arm 2a in such a manner that the camera 3 rotates around the optical axis of the camera 3 based on the positional relationship between the optical axis of the camera 3 and the rotation axis J6.

[0083] In the above embodiment, a switch for switching the operation of the robot arm 2a by the touch operation of the image B displayed on the display unit 6 to be effective and ineffective may be provided on the operation panel 5. This switch may, for example, enable the operation of the robot arm 2a by the touch operation of the image B only when the operator's hand is pressed, like the disable switch 12. In addition, switches may be provided for each operation of moving, scaling, and rotating.

[0084] In the above-described embodiment, the following configuration may be adopted: based on an operation on the image B, the image B displayed on the display unit 6 is moved, scaled, and rotated by digital processing.

[0085] In this case, a switch is provided to switch between valid and invalid operation of the robot arm 2a by the touch operation. When the operation of the robot arm 2a is invalid, the operation panel 5 performs digital processing on the image B based on the operation on the image B, and the digitally processed image B is displayed on the display unit 6.

[0086] In the above embodiment, the operation accepting unit 7 is a touch panel and accepts touch operations on the image B. However, it may accept operations using other devices such as a mouse instead.

[0087] For example, the operation accepting unit 7 may accept a click operation of a mouse connected to the operation panel 5 as an operation for indicating the position of the image B. In this case, the control unit 4 uses the click position in the image B instead of the tap position. In addition, the operation accepting unit 7 may accept a rotation operation of a mouse wheel as an operation for indicating the zoom of the image B.

[0088] In the above embodiment, the control unit 4 can control the robot arm 2a while applying a predetermined restriction to the movement of the robot arm 2a. For example, the control unit 4 can move the robot arm 2a while keeping the vertical position of the wrist flange 2b constant, so that the wrist flange 2b and the camera 3 move only in the horizontal direction. Alternatively, the control unit 4 can rotate only a part of the predetermined joints to move the wrist flange 2b and the camera 3 only around a predetermined axis.

[0089] In the case of the vertical multi-joint robot 2 with 6 axes J1 to J6, the robot arm 2a has a high degree of freedom in its movements, so it is sometimes difficult for the operator to predict the movements of the robot arm 2a. By restricting the movements of the robot arm 2a and simplifying the movements of the wrist flange 2b and the camera 3, the operator can easily predict the movements of the robot arm 2a when operating the image B, thereby improving the operability of the robot arm 2a.

[0090] In the above embodiment, if Figure 1 As shown, the robot control device 1 further includes a nine-axis sensor 13 mounted on the camera 3 .

[0091] The nine-axis sensor 13 includes a three-axis acceleration sensor, a three-axis angular velocity sensor, and a three-axis geomagnetic sensor, and detects the posture of the camera 3 in the world coordinate system in addition to the position and posture of the camera 3 in the sensor coordinate system. The sensor coordinate system is a coordinate system fixed relative to the nine-axis sensor 13. The world coordinate system is a coordinate system fixed relative to the base 2d (i.e., the ground or floor) of the robot mechanism 2, and the control unit 4 is a coordinate system of the robot arm 2a used for controlling the robot arm 2a. Therefore, the control unit 4 can infer the action (movement trajectory) and posture of the camera 3 in the world coordinate system based on the detection value of the nine-axis sensor 13.

[0092] When the nine-axis sensor 13 is provided, the control unit 4 can control the robot arm 2a so that the camera 3 moves in a predetermined direction with a predetermined attitude based on the attitude of the camera 3 estimated from the detection value of the nine-axis sensor 13. For example, the control unit 4 controls the robot arm 2a so that the camera 3 moves horizontally while being directed vertically downward.

[0093] When the camera 3 is installed at a position far from the wrist flange 2b, there is a difference between the movement of the wrist flange 2b and the movement of the camera 3. By directly detecting the movement of the camera 3 using the nine-axis sensor 13, the control unit 4 can grasp the relationship between the movement of the wrist flange 2b and the movement of the camera 3, and control the movement of the camera 3 through the movement of the robot arm 2a.

[0094] For example, as described above, when there is a distance between the rotation axis J6 of the wrist flange 2b and the optical axis of the camera 3, when the wrist flange 2b rotates, the image B rotates around the rotation axis J6 of the wrist flange 2b. In order to rotate the image B around the center, the control unit 4 can move the robot arm 2a in such a way that the camera 3 rotates around the optical axis based on the relationship between the movement of the wrist flange 2b and the movement of the camera 3.

[0095] For example, when the camera 3 is detachable, the position and posture of the camera 3 relative to the wrist flange 2b may be different each time the camera 3 is attached to the robot arm 2a or the tool 2c. By using the nine-axis sensor 13, the robot control device 1 can estimate the motion and posture of the camera 3 in the world coordinate system, so that complicated calibration for setting the position and posture of the camera 3 relative to the wrist flange 2b is not required. Therefore, the motion of the camera 3 can be accurately controlled by the control unit 4 only through simple settings.

[0096] Sometimes, an intrusion prohibited area is set within the movable range of the robot arm 2a, where the intrusion of the robot arm 2a is prohibited. In such a case, the robot control device 1 can notify the operator of the intrusion prohibited area through the operation panel 5. For example, when the tap position is within the intrusion prohibited area, the robot control device 1 can display a message to that effect on the display unit 6.

[0097] In the above-described embodiment, the robot operating device includes only one camera 3 , but may instead include a plurality of cameras 3 . In this case, the display unit 6 displays the images B obtained by the plurality of cameras 3 .

[0098] In the above embodiment, the robot mechanism 2 is a 6-axis vertical multi-joint robot, but it can also be replaced by other types of robots. For example, the robot mechanism 2 can be a vertical multi-joint robot with axes other than 6 axes, a horizontal multi-joint robot, or a parallel linkage robot.

Claims

1. A robot operating device, characterized in that: have: a camera mounted at or near the front end of the robot arm and acquiring an image; A display unit, which displays the image obtained by the camera; an operation accepting unit that accepts an operation for designating an arbitrary position in the image displayed on the display unit; as well as a control unit that operates the robot arm so that the indicated position moves to a predetermined position in the image based on the operation received by the operation receiving unit, The control unit calculates the movement amount of the robot arm required to move the instructed position to the predetermined position based on the relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm and the position difference between the instructed position and the predetermined position in the image.

2. The robot operating device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The operation accepting unit accepts an operation of instructing zooming in or out of the image displayed on the display unit, The control unit operates the robot arm so as to move the camera in the optical axis direction of the camera based on the operation of the zoom instruction received by the operation receiving unit.

3. The robot operating device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The operation accepting unit accepts an operation for instructing rotation of the image displayed on the display unit, The control unit operates the robot arm so that the camera rotates around an optical axis of the camera or around an axis parallel to the optical axis based on the operation of the rotation instruction received by the operation receiving unit.

4. The robot operating device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The operation accepting unit includes a touch operation unit provided on the display unit and accepting a touch operation by an operator.

5. The robot operating device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The robot operating device includes a nine-axis sensor mounted on the camera. The control unit estimates the posture of the camera in the coordinate system of the robot arm based on the detection value detected by the nine-axis sensor, and controls the robot arm based on the posture of the camera.

6. A robot, characterized in that: have: Robotics Department; and The robot operating device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. A robot operation method, characterized in that: An image is obtained using a camera mounted at or near the front end of the robot arm; Displaying the image obtained by the camera on a display unit; accepting an operation indicating an arbitrary position within the displayed image; Based on the received operation, the robot arm is operated so as to move the indicated position to a predetermined position in the image, Here, the movement amount of the robot arm required to move the indicated position to the predetermined position is calculated based on the relationship between the movement amount of the robot arm and the position difference between the indicated position and the predetermined position in the image.

Images