Robot Joint Maintenance Movement to Prevent Grease Seepage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multi-joint robots face maintenance challenges due to grease seepage or vaporization when inactive, leading to potential interference with surrounding objects during maintenance operations, which can deter users from performing necessary maintenance.
Innovation Solution
The robot system is designed to move inactive joints in a way that minimizes contact with surrounding objects and prevents excessive force, allowing for safe maintenance operations without interference, using a control system that checks for inactive joints and executes predetermined maintenance movements to apply grease or adjust components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of repair
If the robot moves inactive joints to perform maintenance operations, then grease can be reapplied and components can be adjusted, but the robot may come into contact with surrounding objects causing interference
Solution Approach 1:
The robot dynamically adjusts its movement range and operation mode based on real-time detection of surrounding objects. The control unit modifies the maintenance operation parameters to avoid contact with detected objects, enabling adaptive maintenance that responds to changing environmental conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot uses sensors to detect surrounding objects and feeds this information back to the control unit, which then adjusts the maintenance operation accordingly. This closed-loop control ensures that maintenance activities are performed safely without interfering with surrounding objects.
2Ease of repair
If the robot moves inactive joints with full force to apply grease effectively, then maintenance quality improves, but excessive force may damage surrounding objects or the robot itself
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit changes operational parameters such as movement speed, acceleration, and applied force based on the detected environment and joint status. For inactive joints requiring grease application, the robot adjusts these parameters to apply sufficient force for effective maintenance while avoiding excessive force that could cause damage.
3Reliability
If the robot performs comprehensive maintenance on all inactive joints, then reliability improves, but the time and complexity of maintenance operations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The robot performs maintenance operations selectively based on the actual condition and inactivity level of each joint. Rather than uniformly maintaining all joints, the system focuses on those that require it most, reducing overall maintenance time while ensuring critical joints receive appropriate attention to maintain reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A robot including one or more joints is configured to, when a particular joint among the joints has not been driven for a predetermined time, move the particular joint such that the robot refrains from coming into contact with a surrounding object or such that the robot comes into contact with the surrounding object while preventing a force applied to the robot from reaching a predetermined level or higher.