Force-Sensing Robot Hand for Bolt Fastening in Tight Clearances
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional robots face limitations in generality due to interference with objects when securing a necessary distance for bolt fastening, restricting the types of work targets they can handle.
Innovation Solution
A robot system equipped with a robot hand featuring a tool and a force sensor, allowing the tool to transition between attachable and detachable phases based on sensor output, ensuring secure fastening and loosening of bolts without interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a driver unit is provided at a distal end of a robot hand to loosen or tighten bolts, then bolt fastening operations can be automated, but the robot cannot handle objects where the clearance of the bolt fastening portion is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional driver unit with a screwdriver-type tool that manually rotates the fastener. This mechanical substitution eliminates the need for a complex automated driver mechanism, allowing the robot hand to perform bolt fastening operations while maintaining adaptability to objects with limited clearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot hand is designed with a screwdriver-type tool that can handle various types of fasteners (screws, bolts) through manual rotation. This universal approach allows the same tool to work on different objects with varying clearance requirements, improving the robot's versatility.
2Measurement precision
If image information from a camera is used to align workpieces with bolt holes, then positioning accuracy can be improved, but the robot still cannot handle objects with insufficient clearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the driver unit that requires significant clearance with a screwdriver-type tool that can operate in confined spaces. This substitution maintains positioning accuracy while enabling operation on objects with insufficient clearance for conventional driver units.
3Extent of automation
If a conventional driver unit structure is used, then automated bolt operations can be performed, but the structural complexity increases and limits the robot's applicability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the complex driver unit mechanism with a simpler screwdriver-type tool that performs automated bolt operations through manual rotation. This substitution reduces structural complexity while maintaining automation capability through control unit coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The screwdriver-type tool is designed to self-adapt to different fastener types and orientations through manual rotation control, eliminating the need for complex adjustment mechanisms. The tool serves multiple functions (tightening, loosening, positioning) through a single simplified structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system enhances generality by enabling reliable bolt tightening and loosening operations across various objects, reducing structural complexity and improving the robot's versatility.
Implementation Method 1
a force sensor, and the control unit displaces the tool from a phase in which the fastener is not capable of being attached to and detached from the object to a phase in which the fastener is capable of being attached to and detached from the object based on a sensor output of the force sensor while applying a pressing force by the tool to the fastener supported by the object
Data Source
AI summary
A robot includes: a robot hand attached to a distal end portion of a robot arm; and a control unit configured to control each operation of the robot arm and the robot hand to perform a work on an object. The robot hand includes: a tool for attaching and detaching a fastener to and from the object; and a force sensor. The control unit displaces the tool from a phase in which the fastener is not capable of being attached to and detached from the object to a phase in which the fastener is capable of being attached to and detached from the object based on a sensor output of the force sensor while applying a pressing force by the tool to the fastener supported by the object.