Mobile Robot Guide-Roller Alignment for Accurate Workpiece Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile robot systems face challenges in accurately positioning their arms with respect to workpieces due to positional and orientation misalignment, especially with larger workpieces, leading to increased manufacturing costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A mobile robot system with a placement platform and guide having an opening wider than the body part, utilizing mecanum wheels for omni-directional movement and guide rollers that can be received inside the guide, allowing the arm to accurately transfer workpieces by correcting misalignment in the X, Y, and Z axes without the need for a multi-axis robot arm.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a multi-axis arm is used to correct misalignment in three axes, then positioning accuracy is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a guide structure as an intermediary component between the mobile robot and the workpiece. The guide, with its opening part and body part, mediates the positioning process by providing a reference frame that simplifies the arm's positioning task from three-axis correction to primarily vertical alignment, thereby reducing the complexity requirements of the arm structure while maintaining positioning accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The positioning function is segmented into two independent parts: (1) the mobile robot's movement and粗 positioning handled by the guide structure, and (2) the arm's fine positioning primarily in the vertical direction. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, reducing the overall system complexity
2Volume of moving object
If the arm length is increased to handle larger workpieces, then workpiece coverage is improved, but positioning accuracy deteriorates due to amplified orientation control errors
Solution Approach 1:
The guide structure serves as a mediator that decouples the arm's positioning accuracy from the mobile robot's orientation control accuracy. By providing a fixed reference frame, the guide allows the arm to focus on vertical positioning without being significantly affected by horizontal orientation errors, enabling longer arm lengths to handle larger workpieces while maintaining positioning accuracy
3Device complexity
If teaching position information is used for arm positioning, then system simplicity is maintained, but positioning accuracy is insufficient due to mobile robot stop position fluctuations
Solution Approach 1:
The guide structure enables the system to self-correct positioning errors automatically. The guide's opening part and body part provide a physical reference that allows the mobile robot to self-align and the arm to self-position, compensating for stop position fluctuations without requiring complex feedback control systems
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex software-based position correction algorithms with a simple mechanical guide structure. The guide's physical geometry directly provides positioning references, substituting sophisticated control software with a straightforward mechanical solution that maintains system simplicity while improving accuracy
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile robot system includes a placement platform, and a mobile robot configured to transfer a workpiece placed at a prescribed position of the placement platform, which includes a guide including an opening part having an opening greater than a prescribed width and a body part having the prescribed width. The mobile robot includes an arm part configured to transfer the workpiece placed at the prescribed position, two or more rotatable rollers with mutually-parallel rotation axes arranged along one straight line crossing an extension direction of the rotation axes, an omni-directionally movable moving part, and a controller configured to drive a drive part to move the mobile robot so that the body part receives at least two of the rollers. The guide is positioned so that the arm part can transfer the workpiece placed at the prescribed position when the body part receives the at least two rollers.