Robot Button Inspection With Position-Force Synchronization

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing inspection systems for operation components, such as buttons on electronic devices, face challenges in accurately determining quality due to deviations between load changes and operation amount changes, leading to inaccurate correspondence and quality assessment.

Innovation Solution

A robot system that includes a force detection portion and a display control portion to accurately correlate specific position information and force information, resolving temporal reception deviations and displaying allowable ranges for precise quality determination of operation components.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If the robot operates at high speed for inspection, then productivity is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates due to temporal reception deviation between position information and force information

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinspection speedVSAvoidcorrespondence accuracy between position and force information
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by storing position information and force information separately with timestamp markers before processing, allowing synchronization to be prepared in advance. This enables accurate correspondence even during high-speed operation by pre-organizing the data structure for subsequent alignment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The display control portion provides visual feedback by displaying both the first detection result (position-force correspondence) and second detection result (position-electric signal correspondence) simultaneously. This feedback mechanism allows operators to verify the accuracy of correspondence relationships and understand the temporal alignment status.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Productivity

If the robot operates at high speed, then productivity is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to overshoot of operation amount

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinspection speedVSAvoidoperation amount accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The robot is configured to perform preliminary positioning and force application before actual button inspection. The force detection portion measures force information in advance during the approach phase, allowing the system to predict and prevent overshoot before it occurs during the inspection operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system provides real-time feedback by displaying the relationship between operation amount and force information, allowing operators to monitor and adjust the inspection process. This feedback loop enables correction of potential overshoot conditions while maintaining high-speed operation capabilities.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Measurement precision

If force detection portion is reset frequently to minimize drift influence, then measurement precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to inspection time loss

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveforce detection accuracyVSAvoidinspection throughput
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary continuous inspection of multiple buttons before resetting the force detection portion. This preliminary action allows accumulation of inspection data across multiple components, minimizing the frequency of resets and maintaining higher productivity while still managing drift through periodic resetting after a sequence of inspections.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3363603B1robot
Publication Date: 2023.06.21 SEIKO EPSON CORP
  • EP3363603B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3363603B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3363603B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

A control device includes: a display control portion that displays a first detection result in which specific position information indicating a specific position of the robot and force information output from a force detection portion provided in the robot correspond to each other on a display portion, in a case where robot inspects an operation component that outputs an electric signal corresponding to an operation.