Substrate Transport Hand Inclination Detection via Sensor Timing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional substrate transport apparatuses with tactile sensors do not fully utilize the sensors for detecting positional deviations and facilitating maintenance, lacking a specific configuration to automatically perceive the time required for maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A substrate transport apparatus with a hand equipped with multiple guides and sensors that detect substrate contact, and a determination unit that calculates the time difference between sensor activations to determine the inclination state of the hand, thereby automatically perceiving maintenance time needs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a tactile sensor is used to detect substrate placement, then abnormality detection is enabled, but the sensor is not fully utilized for detecting positional deviations and maintenance timing
Solution Approach 1:
The tactile sensor is configured to perform multiple functions: detecting substrate placement abnormalities and measuring temporal differences in contact timing between multiple contact portions. This multi-functional use resolves the contradiction by enabling the sensor to serve both reliability monitoring and positional deviation detection purposes simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary measurement of temporal differences in contact timing between multiple contact portions during normal substrate placement. This preliminary action establishes a baseline that can be used to detect positional deviations and determine maintenance timing, allowing the sensor to be fully utilized before abnormalities occur.
2Measurement precision
If multiple sensors are added to detect positional deviation, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hand is divided into multiple contact portions, each equipped with a tactile sensor. This segmentation allows the system to detect positional deviations by measuring temporal differences in contact timing at different locations, improving measurement precision while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the temporal difference information from multiple sensors as feedback to determine both abnormal substrate placement and maintenance timing. This feedback mechanism enables precise positional deviation detection without requiring complex additional hardware, as the existing sensor data is utilized more effectively.
3Measurement precision
If manual inspection of hand inclination is performed, then maintenance timing can be determined, but productivity is reduced due to increased inspection time
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate transport apparatus performs self-inspection by automatically measuring temporal differences in contact timing between multiple contact portions during normal operation. This self-service capability eliminates the need for separate manual inspection processes, maintaining high measurement precision while preserving productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The temporal difference measurement is performed continuously during substrate transport operations rather than requiring separate inspection steps. This continuous measurement approach maintains accurate hand inclination detection while ensuring that productivity is not reduced by interrupting normal operations for manual inspection.
Data Source
AI summary
A taking hand including a first guide member provided on an upper surface of a base member and with which a peripheral edge of a substrate comes into contact, a first sensor configured to sense the substrate coming into contact with the first guide member, a second guide member provided on the upper surface of the base member and with which the peripheral edge of the substrate comes into contact, and a second sensor configured to sense the substrate coming into contact with the second guide member; and a comparison unit configured to determine an inclination state of the taking hand with respect to the substrate based on a difference between a timing at which the first sensor senses the substrate and a timing at which the second sensor senses the substrate are provided.