End effector with variable number of fingers and robot manufactured by end effector

Abstract

The end effector comprises an upper arm unit, a plurality of carrying fingers and a driver, locking holes are formed in the carrying fingers, the carrying fingers are arranged in a stacked mode at equal intervals, so that the locking holes are coaxially distributed, and the upper arm unit is connected with the driver. The upper arm unit comprises an upper expansion piece, an upper frame body and an upper driving shaft, bases of the upper expansion piece and the upper driving shaft are respectively fixed on the upper frame body, the expansion end of the upper expansion piece stretches towards the locking holes of the carrying fingers of each layer, the upper driving shaft is connected with a rotating shaft of the carrying fingers of each layer, and the upper driving shaft is connected with the locking holes of the carrying fingers of each layer. And a first transmission end of the driver is connected with the upper driving shaft. Therefore, the number of fingers structurally supporting the end effector can be adjusted in real time so as to adapt to more types of wafer storage boxes.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of semiconductor handling, in particular to an end effector with variable finger numbers and a robot made of the end effector. Background Art

[0002] With the progress and development of the domestic semiconductor industry, semiconductor equipment manufacturers have increasingly diversified requirements for wafer handling robots. Therefore, the fingers of the end effector, as the core component of the wafer robot, play a relevant role in wafer handling. Since the number of fingers of the end effector determines the number of wafers handled at one time, it will affect the handling efficiency of the equipment.

[0003] Therefore, the prior art has proposed a variety of multi-finger end effector structures. However, most of them are based on a fixed number of fingers. For example, Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN116805609A discloses a multi-finger wafer handling robot, which includes: a mounting frame, a finger connector and a joint connector; the mounting frame includes: a base and a side plate; the base and the side plate form a box-shaped space; the finger connector is installed in the mounting frame; a plurality of finger connection positions are opened on one side of the finger connector; the vertical spacing of the finger connection positions is a first preset spacing; the joint connector is installed at the bottom of the mounting frame, and is used to connect the mounting frame and the robot arm.

[0004] However, the disadvantage of this type of multi-finger end effector is that, since the number of fingers cannot be adjusted according to actual conditions, it can only be adapted to a single type of wafer storage box that matches the number of fingers to complete the wafer placement procedure, thus limiting the types of wafer storage boxes that can be adapted for this type of multi-finger end effector with a fixed number of fingers. Utility Model Content

[0005] The main purpose of the utility model is to provide an end effector with a variable number of fingers and a robot made thereof, so as to structurally support the real-time adjustment of the number of fingers of the end effector, thereby adapting to more types of wafer storage boxes.

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, according to one aspect of the utility model, there is provided an end effector with a variable number of fingers, which includes: an upper arm unit, a plurality of carrying fingers, and a driver, wherein the carrying fingers are provided with locking holes, and the carrying fingers are stacked at equal intervals so that the locking holes are coaxially arranged, and the upper arm unit includes: an upper telescope, an upper frame, and an upper drive shaft, and the bases of the upper telescope and the upper drive shaft are respectively fixed on the upper frame, and the telescopic end of the upper telescope telescopes toward the locking holes of each layer of carrying fingers, the upper drive shaft is connected to the rotating shaft of each layer of carrying fingers, and the first transmission end of the driver is connected to the upper drive shaft.

[0007] Preferably, the upper retractor is a voice coil motor.

[0008] Preferably, the upper frame body is provided with supplementary fingers extending therefrom, which are equidistantly spaced from each carrying finger so as to be stacked.

[0009] Preferably, the end effector with a variable number of fingers also includes: a lower arm unit, wherein the plurality of carrying fingers are arranged between the upper arm unit and the lower arm unit, and the lower arm unit includes: a lower telescope, a lower frame, and a lower drive shaft, wherein the bases of the lower telescope and the lower drive shaft are respectively fixed on the lower frame, and the telescopic end of the lower telescope telescopes toward the locking holes of each layer of carrying fingers, and the lower drive shaft is tubular for the shaft body of the upper drive shaft to pass through to form a coaxial arrangement, and the lower drive shaft is connected to the second transmission end of the driver.

[0010] Preferably, the lower retractor is a voice coil motor.

[0011] Preferably, the lower frame is provided with supplementary fingers extending therefrom, which are equidistantly spaced from each of the transport fingers so as to be stacked.

[0012] Preferably, the driver comprises: a first pulley mechanism and a second pulley mechanism, wherein the first transmission end of the first pulley mechanism is transmission-connected to the upper drive shaft, and the second transmission end of the second pulley mechanism is transmission-connected to the lower drive shaft.

[0013] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, according to another aspect of the utility model, a robot is further provided, which includes: a multi-joint robotic arm, wherein the wrist end of the multi-joint robotic arm is provided with an end effector, wherein the end effector is any of the above-mentioned end effectors with a variable number of fingers.

[0014] The end effector with a variable number of fingers and the robot made thereof provided by the utility model cleverly establishes a locking relationship with each layer of handling fingers through the upper and lower telescopic devices, so that the upper arm unit, the lower arm unit and the locked handling fingers of each layer form a rotational linkage relationship, thereby supporting the adjustment of the number of drivable handling fingers under the drive of the driver, thereby dividing different numbers of handling fingers for centralized picking or sorting and placing of wafers, so as to adapt to wafer storage boxes of different specifications and types, so as to improve versatility. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The drawings constituting a part of this application are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention. The illustrative embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute an improper limitation on the present invention. In the drawings:

[0016] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0017] Figure 2 It is a perspective structural diagram of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0018] Figure 3 It is a perspective assembly structure diagram of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0019] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the assembly structure of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0020] Figure 5 It is a half-section structural schematic diagram of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0021] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the lower arm unit of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0022] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the upper arm unit of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0023] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the carrying fingers of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0024] Fig. 9 It is a schematic diagram of the transmission structure of the driver and the upper and lower drive shafts of the end effector with a variable number of fingers of the utility model;

[0025] Figure 10 to Figure 11 It is a schematic diagram of the variable finger number end effector of the utility model with various finger numbers and adjustable finger modes;

[0026] Figure 12 to Figure 13 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the robot of the present utility model.

[0027] Description of Reference Numerals

[0028] Upper arm unit 1, carrying finger 2, lower arm unit 3, first pulley mechanism 4, second pulley mechanism 5, driving motor 6, multi-joint robot arm 7, end effector 8, telescopic end 9, wafer storage box 10, upper telescope 11, upper frame 12, upper drive shaft 13, locking hole 21, lower telescope 31, lower frame 32, lower drive shaft 33, replenishing finger 121, wafer 99. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the embodiments of the utility model clearer, the technical scheme in the embodiments of the utility model will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the utility model. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the utility model, not all of the embodiments. Generally, the components of the embodiments of the utility model described and shown in the drawings here can be arranged and designed in various different configurations.

[0030] Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to be protected, but merely represents selected embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0031] It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters denote similar items in the following drawings, and therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, further definition and explanation thereof is not required in subsequent drawings.

[0032] In the description of the present utility model, it should be noted that the terms "center", "up", "down", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inside", "outside", etc. indicate positions or positional relationships based on the positions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, or the positions or positional relationships in which the utility model product is usually placed when in use. They are only for the convenience of describing the present utility model and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present utility model. In addition, the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. are only used to distinguish the description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance. The terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

[0033] In addition, the terms "horizontal", "vertical", "overhanging" and the like do not mean that the components are required to be absolutely horizontal or overhanging, but can be slightly tilted. For example, "horizontal" only means that its direction is more horizontal than "vertical", and does not mean that the structure must be completely horizontal, but can be slightly tilted.

[0034] In the description of the present invention, it is also necessary to explain that, unless otherwise clearly stipulated and limited, the terms "setting", "layout", "installation", "connection" and "connection" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal connection of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present utility model can be understood according to specific circumstances and in combination with the prior art. In addition, the embodiments and features in the embodiments of the present utility model can be combined with each other unless there is a conflict. And one or more of the components in the diagram may be necessary or non-essential, and the relative position relationship between the components in the above diagram can be adjusted according to actual needs. Mechanical

[0035] In order to structurally support the real-time adjustment of the number of fingers of the end effector, so as to adapt to more types of wafer storage boxes 10, such as Figures 1 to 9 As shown, the utility model provides an end effector with a variable number of fingers, which includes: an upper arm unit 1, a plurality of handling fingers 2, and a driver, wherein Figure 8 As shown, the carrying fingers 2 are provided with locking holes 21, and the carrying fingers 2 are stacked at equal intervals so that the locking holes 21 are coaxially arranged, and the upper arm unit 1 includes: an upper telescope 11, an upper frame 12, and an upper drive shaft 13, wherein the bases of the upper telescope 11 and the upper drive shaft 13 are respectively fixed on the upper frame 12, and the telescopic end 9 of the upper telescope 11 is telescoped toward the locking holes 21 of each layer of the carrying fingers 2, the upper drive shaft 13 is connected to the rotating shafts of the carrying fingers 2 on each layer, and the first transmission end of the driver is connected to the upper drive shaft 13.

[0036] Specifically, since the thickness of the actual handling fingers 2 is very thin, the volume of the end effector 8 is not easy to be too large, so the design space left for the upper frame 12 is very compact. For this reason, in this embodiment, in order to establish an adjustable locking relationship between the upper frame 12 and each layer of the handling fingers 2, in the preferred example, the upper telescope 11 preferably adopts a voice coil motor, and the telescopic end 9 thereof has a shorter telescopic distance, but the advantage is that it is small in size and suitable for being set in a compact space. At the same time, considering that the thickness of the handling fingers 2 is very thin, the telescopic distance of the voice coil motor is sufficient to lock the multi-layer handling fingers 2.

[0037] like Figure 7As shown, a receiving groove is provided in the upper frame 12, and the base of the voice coil motor is fixed on the bottom surface of the receiving groove. The telescopic end 9 thereof does not exceed the space of the receiving groove in the initial state. When the number of fingers needs to be adjusted, the telescopic end 9 of the voice coil motor is controlled to extend forward a certain distance, so that it can be inserted into the locking holes 21 of the required layers of transport fingers 2 to form a locking relationship, thereby forming a locking relationship, and then the upper drive shaft 13 can establish a rotational linkage relationship with the transport fingers 2 locked at each layer. At this time, driven by the driver, the upper drive shaft 13 can rotate, thereby driving the locked transport fingers 2 at each layer to rotate, thereby adjusting the number of transport fingers 2 involved in the picking and placing of the wafer 99, and rotating these transport fingers 2 to one side of the end effector 8 to prepare for the picking and placing of the wafer 99.

[0038] Furthermore, as mentioned above, the telescopic distance of the telescopic end 9 of the voice coil motor is relatively short, and therefore the number of layers of the carrying fingers 2 that can be locked is limited. In order to increase the number of adjustable fingers, in a preferred embodiment, supplementary fingers 121 extend from the upper frame 12, which are equidistantly spaced from each carrying finger 2 to be stacked, thereby increasing the number of adjustable fingers by at least one layer.

[0039] Furthermore, as mentioned above, the telescopic distance of the telescopic end 9 of the voice coil motor is relatively short, so the number of layers of the transporting fingers 2 that can be locked is limited. In order to increase the number of adjustable fingers and finger modes, in a preferred embodiment, the end effector with a variable number of fingers also includes: a lower arm unit 3, wherein the plurality of transporting fingers 2 are arranged between the upper arm unit 1 and the lower arm unit 3, and the lower arm unit 3 includes: a lower telescope 31, a lower frame 32, and a lower drive shaft 33, wherein the bases of the lower telescope 31 and the lower drive shaft 33 are respectively fixed on the lower frame 32, and the telescopic end 9 of the lower telescope 31 is telescoped toward the locking holes 21 of each layer of the transporting fingers 2, and the lower drive shaft 33 is tubular for the shaft body of the upper drive shaft 13 to pass through to form a coaxial arrangement, and the lower drive shaft 33 is connected to the second transmission end of the driver.

[0040] Specifically, since the volume of the end effector 8 mentioned above is not easy to be too large, the design space left for the lower frame 32 is also very compact. Therefore, in this example, the lower telescopic device 31 also preferably adopts a voice coil motor. However, in view of the short telescopic distance of the telescopic end 9 of the voice coil motor, when expanding the multi-layer transport fingers 2, it is necessary to set these transport fingers 2 between the upper telescopic device 11 and the lower telescopic device 31, so that the telescopic ends 9 of the upper and lower voice coil motors can respectively control several layers of transport fingers 2, thereby jointly controlling the locking of the multi-layer transport fingers 2, thereby supporting the adjustment of multiple finger numbers and finger modes.

[0041] like Figure 6As shown, a receiving groove is provided in the lower frame 32, and the base of the voice coil motor is fixed on the bottom surface of the receiving groove. The telescopic end 9 thereof does not exceed the space of the receiving groove in the initial state. When the number of fingers needs to be adjusted, the telescopic end 9 of the voice coil motor is controlled to extend forward a certain distance, so that the telescopic end 9 can be inserted into the locking holes 21 of the required number of layers of transport fingers 2 to be linked, thereby forming a locking relationship, so that the lower drive shaft 33 can establish a rotational linkage relationship with the locked transport fingers 2 of each layer. At this time, driven by the driver, the lower drive shaft 33 can rotate, thereby driving the locked transport fingers 2 of each layer to rotate. At this time, it can be found that since the upper drive shaft 13 and the lower drive shaft 33 are coaxially arranged, they do not interfere with each other, and can rotate independently to drive the transport fingers 2 that have established a locking relationship with themselves to rotate, thereby adjusting the number of transport fingers 2 involved in the wafer 99 pick-up and placement, and rotating these transport fingers 2 to one side of the end effector 8 to prepare for the wafer 99 pick-up and placement.

[0042] Furthermore, as mentioned above, the telescopic distance of the telescopic end 9 of the voice coil motor is relatively short, and therefore the number of layers of the carrying fingers 2 that can be locked is limited. In order to increase the number of adjustable fingers, in a preferred embodiment, supplementary fingers 121 extend from the lower frame 32, which are equidistantly spaced from each carrying finger 2 to be stacked, thereby increasing the number of adjustable fingers by at least one layer.

[0043] Furthermore, in this example, Fig. 9 As shown, the driver includes: a first pulley mechanism 4 and a second pulley mechanism 5 . The first transmission end of the first pulley mechanism 4 is transmission-connected to the upper drive shaft 13 , and the second transmission end of the second pulley mechanism 5 is transmission-connected to the lower drive shaft 33 .

[0044] Specifically, the driver can be arranged on an adapted multi-joint robot arm 7, and the first pulley mechanism 4 and the second pulley mechanism 5 are respectively provided with driving force by respective driving motors 6, so as to be respectively linked with the coaxially arranged upper driving shaft 13 and the lower driving shaft 33 through the transmission belt or one side of the transmission wheel matched with the transmission belt, so that the upper arm unit 1 and the lower arm unit 3 can be independently controlled to rotate respectively, so as to drive the rotating fingers 2 of each layer locked therewith to form different numbers of finger adjustments, and even adjust different finger modes, such as Fig.10 As shown, taking 5 layers of fingers as an example, assuming that the upper telescopic device 11 locks 3 layers of carrying fingers 2, and the lower telescopic device 31 locks 1 layer of carrying fingers 2, then after the upper arm unit 1 and the lower arm unit 3 rotate at different angles, 4 fingers will be adjusted for carrying; Fig.11 As shown, assuming that the upper telescopic device 11 locks two layers of carrying fingers 2, and the lower telescopic device 31 locks one layer of carrying fingers 2, after the upper arm unit 1 and the lower arm unit 3 rotate at different angles, three fingers will be adjusted for carrying. Similarly, there are other adjustable modules, which will not be repeated here.

[0045] On the other hand, see Figure 12 to Figure 13 As shown, another aspect of the utility model provides a robot, which includes: a multi-joint robotic arm 7, wherein the wrist end of the multi-joint robotic arm 7 is provided with an end effector 8, wherein the end effector 8 is any of the above-mentioned end effectors with a variable number of fingers.

[0046] To sum up, the end effector with a variable number of fingers and the robot made of the end effector provided by the utility model cleverly establishes a locking relationship with each layer of handling fingers 2 through the upper and lower telescopic devices 31, so that the upper arm unit 1, the lower arm unit 3 and the locked handling fingers 2 at each layer form a rotational linkage relationship, thereby supporting the adjustment of the number of drivable handling fingers 2 under the drive of the driver, thereby dividing different numbers of handling fingers 2 for centralized picking or sorting and placing of wafers 99, so as to adapt to wafer storage boxes 10 of different specifications and types, so as to improve versatility.

[0047] The preferred embodiments of the utility model disclosed above are only used to help explain the utility model. The preferred embodiments do not describe all the details in detail, nor do they limit the utility model to the specific implementation methods described. Obviously, many modifications and changes can be made according to the contents of this specification. This specification selects and specifically describes these embodiments in order to better explain the principles and practical applications of the utility model, so that technicians in the relevant technical field can understand and use the utility model well. The utility model is only limited by the claims and their full scope and equivalents. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the utility model should be included in the scope of protection of the utility model.

[0048] In addition, various implementations of the embodiments of the present utility model can also be arbitrarily combined, as long as they do not violate the concept of the embodiments of the present utility model, they should also be regarded as the contents disclosed in the embodiments of the present utility model.

Claims

1. An end effector with a variable number of fingers, characterized in that: include: An upper arm unit, a plurality of carrying fingers, and a driver, wherein locking holes are provided on the carrying fingers, and the carrying fingers are stacked at equal intervals so that the locking holes are coaxially arranged. The upper arm unit comprises: an upper telescope, an upper frame, and an upper drive shaft. The bases of the upper telescope and the upper drive shaft are respectively fixed on the upper frame. The telescopic end of the upper telescope telescopes toward the locking holes of the carrying fingers of each layer. The upper drive shaft is connected to the rotating shafts of the carrying fingers of each layer, and the first transmission end of the driver is connected to the upper drive shaft.

2. The end effector with a variable number of fingers according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper telescoping device is a voice coil motor.

3. The end effector with a variable number of fingers according to claim 1, characterized in that: Supplementary fingers extend from the upper frame body and are equidistantly spaced from each carrying finger so as to be stacked.

4. The end effector with a variable number of fingers according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: A lower arm unit, wherein the plurality of carrying fingers are arranged between the upper arm unit and the lower arm unit, and the lower arm unit includes: a lower telescope, a lower frame, and a lower drive shaft, wherein the bases of the lower telescope and the lower drive shaft are respectively fixed on the lower frame, and the telescopic end of the lower telescope telescopes toward the locking holes of the carrying fingers of each layer, and the lower drive shaft is tubular for the shaft body of the upper drive shaft to pass through to form a coaxial arrangement, and the lower drive shaft is connected to the second transmission end of the driver.

5. The end effector with a variable number of fingers according to claim 4, characterized in that: The lower retractor is a voice coil motor.

6. The end effector with a variable number of fingers according to claim 4, characterized in that: Supplementary fingers extend from the lower frame and are spaced equidistantly from each carrying finger so as to be stacked.

7. The end effector with a variable number of fingers according to claim 4, characterized in that: The driver comprises: a first pulley mechanism and a second pulley mechanism, wherein a first transmission end of the first pulley mechanism is transmission-connected to the upper drive shaft, and a second transmission end of the second pulley mechanism is transmission-connected to the lower drive shaft.

8. A robot comprising: A multi-joint robotic arm, wherein an end effector is provided at the wrist end of the multi-joint robotic arm, characterized in that the end effector is an end effector with a variable number of fingers as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.

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