Substrate Robot Hand Serial Wiring for Compact Arm Sensing

Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional substrate conveying robots with sensors require complex wiring through the arm, leading to increased size and complexity, which is undesirable.

Innovation Solution

Implement a substrate conveying robot system with a serial communication connection between the robot controller and hand circuit substrate through the arm, using a daisy chain connection to reduce the number of wiring lines and minimize the arm's size.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If a number of sensors are provided on substrate conveying hands to detect substrates, then the detection capability is improved, but the wiring becomes complex and the size of the arm increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesubstrate detection capabilityVSAvoidwiring complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Multiple sensors are integrated onto a single hand circuit substrate, consolidating what would otherwise require multiple separate wiring paths into a unified circuit board. This merging approach maintains full sensor detection capability while dramatically reducing wiring complexity inside the arm.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The hand circuit substrate acts as an intermediary device between the sensors and the robot controller. It collects signals from multiple sensors locally and communicates with the controller through a single serial connection, eliminating the need for individual wiring from each sensor to the controller.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If a number of sensors are provided on substrate conveying hands to detect substrates, then the detection capability is improved, but the size of the arm increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesubstrate detection capabilityVSAvoidarm size

Core Design Contradiction:

Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSVolume of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

Multiple sensors are integrated onto a single hand circuit substrate, consolidating what would otherwise require multiple separate wiring paths into a unified circuit board. This merging approach maintains full sensor detection capability while dramatically reducing wiring complexity inside the arm.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The hand circuit substrate serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical mounting for sensors, collects electrical signals from multiple sensors, processes the collected data, and communicates with the robot controller. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate components and reduces overall arm volume.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Reliability

If sensors communicate with the robot controller through the inside of the arm using traditional wiring, then the connection is established, but the number of wiring lines increases and noise interference occurs

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesensor-controller connectionVSAvoidnoise interference

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces traditional parallel wiring with a serial communication system. Instead of multiple separate signal lines, data from multiple sensors is transmitted sequentially through a single communication channel, eliminating crosstalk and reducing susceptibility to electromagnetic interference.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The hand circuit substrate acts as an intermediary device between the sensors and the robot controller. It collects signals from multiple sensors locally and communicates with the controller through a single serial connection, eliminating the need for individual wiring from each sensor to the controller.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS20250340387A1Substrate conveying robot system

Publication Date: 2025.11.06 KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KK

AI summary

A substrate conveying robot (100) includes a hand sensor (22) provided on a substrate holding hand (20), and a hand circuit substrate (23) provided on the substrate holding hand (20) and connected to the hand sensor (22), and a serial communication connection is made between a robot controller (2) and the hand circuit substrate (23) through an inside of an arm (10).