Programmed manipulator arrangement for assembling randomly oriented parts

Claim 2

Programmed manipulator apparatus for interfitting one part with another part, said pair of parts being interfitted by movement along an insertion axis comprising in combination a manipulator arm, means for moving said arm in a plurality of axes, article gripping means carried by said arm, program control means for controlling said article gripping means to seize one of said pair of interfiting parts and for controlling said arm to move the seized part to an insertion position at which said seized part is in engagement with the other part of said pair of interfitting parts, means operative upon movement of said arm to said insertion position for exerting a biasing force on said parts along said insertion axis and in the direction to cause said parts to be interfitted, and means for moving one of said parts relative to the other by an amount such that said biasing force urges said parts into interfitting relationship by movement along said insertion axis.

Claim 3

The combination of claim 1, wherein said relative movement is produced by vibrator means associated with one of said parts and operative to produce a change in the position of said one part relative to the other part which is sufficient to permit said biasing force to urge said parts into said interfitting relationship.

Claim 4

The combination of claim 1, wherein said article gripping means is movable relative to said arm and said biasing force is developed by a coil spring positioned between said article gripping means and said arm, said coil spring being compressed when said arm is moved to said insertion position.

Claim 5

The combination of claim 1, which includes spring means for developing said biasing force as said arm is moved to said insertion position.

Claim 6

The combination of claim 3, which includes vibrator means associated with one of said parts, switch means controlled by relative movement between said arm and said article gripping means as said arm is moved to said insertion position, and means including said switch means for energizing said vibrator means.

Claim 7

The combination of claim 5, which includes means responsive to movement of said parts into said interfitting relationship for de-energizing said vibrator means.

Claim 8

The combination of claim 1, in which said part moving means comprises meaNs for rotating one of said parts about said insertion axis while said manipulator arm is in said insertion position.

Claim 9

The combination of claim 7, which includes means responsive to the interfitting of said parts by movement along said insertion axis for disabling said part rotating means.

Claim 10

The combination of claim 3, which includes means for selectively preventing movement of said article gripping means relative to said arm.

Claim 11

The combination of claim 9, wherein said selective means comprises a member interposed between said article gripping means and said arm, and means for selectively moving said member to a non-interposing position in which said article gripping means may be moved relative to said arm.

Claim 12

The combination of claim 1, wherein said program control means includes a series of recorded program steps, means for sequentially sensing said stored program steps, means controlled by said sensing means for controlling said moving means to move said arm to the position indicated by a sensed program step, means for developing a total coincidence signal when movement of said arm in all of said axes has been completed for the sensed program step, means for disabling said coincidence signal developing means when said arm is moved to said insertion position, and means responsive to movement of said parts into said interfitting relationship for controlling said sensing means to select the next program step in said series.

Claim 13

The combination of claim 11, which includes vibrator means associated with one of said parts, and means for energizing said vibrator means when said arm is moved to said insertion position.

Claim 14

The combination of claim 12, which includes means for de-energizing said vibrator means when said parts are moved into said interfitting relationship.

Claim 15

The combination of claim 13, which includes means for disabling said arm moving means when said vibrator means is energized.

Claim 16

The combination of claim 1, wherein said program control means includes a series of recorded program steps, means for sequentially sensing said stored program steps, means controlled by said sensing means for controlling said moving means to move said arm to the position indicated by a sensed program step, an auxiliary control signal recorded in association with the program step following the insertion position step of said series, means for sensing said control signal, means responsive to said control signal for rotating said article gripping means about said insertion axis, and means responsive to movement of said parts to said interfitting relationship for terminating rotation of said article gripping means.

Claim 17

The combination of claim 15, which includes means responsive to movement of said parts to said interfitting relationship for selecting the next program step in said series.

Claim 18

The combination of claim 3, which includes switching means actuated by movement of said article gripping means relative to said arm, and means for controlling said part moving means in accordance with the actuation of said switching means.

Claim 19

In a programmed manipulator apparatus, the combination of, a manipultor arm, means for moving said arm along a predetermined path, means for developing a digital command signal representing a desired position of said arm, means for developing a digital position signal representing the actual position of said arm, means for comparing said command and position signal to develop a digital error signal, means responsive to said error signal for controlling said arm moving means to move said arm in the direction to reduce said error signal, and means for sequentially altering said digital position signal so that it differs from the actual position of said arm by a series of predetermined offset increments, whereby said arm is sequentially moved to a series of positions which are offset from said desired position in a predetermined search area around said desired position.

Claim 20

In a programmed manipulator apparatus, the combination of, a manipultor arm, means for moving said arm along a predetermined path, means for developing a digital command signal representing a desired position of said arm, means for developing a digital position signal representing the actual position of said arm, means for comparing said command and position signal to develop a digital error signal, means responsive to said error signal for controlling said arm moving means to move said arm in the direction to reduce said error signal, and means for sequentially altering said digital position signal so that it differs from the actual position of said arm by a series of predetermined offset increments, whereby said arm is sequentially moved to a series of positions which are offset from said desired position in a predetermined search area around said desired position.

Claim 21

The combination of claim 18, which incluDes means for selectively varying the amount by which said arm is offset from said desired position.

Claim 22

The combination of claim 18, which includes means for developing a digital offset signal representing a desired increment of offset from said desired position, second comparing means for comparing said digital position signal and said digital offset signal, to develop a modified position signal, and means for supplying said modified position signal to said first named comparing means so that said digital error signal is altered by the amount of said digital offset signal.

Claim 23

The combination of claim 20, which includes means for sequentially varying the value of said digital offset signal so that said arm is sequentially moved to different offset positions in the vicinity of said desired position without changing said digital command signal.

Claim 24

The combination of claim 18, wherein article holding means are provided on the end of said manipulator arm and movable with respect thereto, said article holding means being arranged to hold one part of a pair of interfitting parts so that said arm may be moved to an insertion position in which said one part may be inserted into the other part, and means for selectively varying said offset increment so that said one part is selectively moved to different positions around said insertion position to facilitate interfitting of said parts without changing said command signal.

Claim 29

The method of claim 24 which includes the step of disabling the driving movement of said manipulator arm during vibration of said other part prior to the interfitting of said pair of parts.

Claim 32

In programmable manipulator apparatus of the type having a manipulator arm movable along a plurality of axes and program control means for moving said arm to a series of positions corresponding to a sequence of recorded program steps, the method of interfitting one part with another part, said pair of parts being interfittable by movement along an insertion axis, which comprises the steps of supporting one of said parts to an insertion station, sequentiAlly sensing said program steps so that the other of said pair of parts is moved from a pickup station to said insertion station by said manipulator arm and is moved into engagement with said one part at said insertion station to establish a biasing force therebetween, and controlling said manipulator arm independently of said recorded program steps to move said other part into said interfitting relationship with said one part.

Claim 33

In programmable manipulator apparatus of the type having a manipulator arm movable along a plurality of axes and program control means for moving said arm to a series of positions corresponding to a sequence of recorded program steps, the method of interfitting one part with another part, said pair of parts being interfittable by movement along an insertion axis, which comprises the steps of supporting one of said parts to an insertion station, sequentiAlly sensing said program steps so that the other of said pair of parts is moved from a pickup station to said insertion station by said manipulator arm and is moved into engagement with said one part at said insertion station to establish a biasing force therebetween, and controlling said manipulator arm independently of said recorded program steps to move said other part into said interfitting relationship with said one part.

Claim 34

The method of claim 26, which includes the step of vibrating said manipulator arm independently of said recorded program steps and by an amount sufficient to align said parts along said insertion axis so that said biasing force moves the aligned parts into said interfitting relationship.

Claim 35

The method of claim 26, which includes the step of sequentially adding small increments to the sensed program step corresponding to said insertion station position of said arm, whereby said other part is aligned with said one part along said insertion axis and said biasing force moves the aligned parts into said interfitting relationship.

Claim 36

In programmable manipulator apparatus of the type having a manipulator arm movable along a plurality of axes, an article pickup hand connected to the end of said arm and program control means for moving said arm to a series of positions corresponding to a series of recorded program steps, the method of interfitting one part with another part, said pair of parts being interfittable by movement along an insertion axis, which comprises the steps of recording a first group of program steps corresponding to movement of said arm from a pickup station to an insertion station, then recording a second group of program steps, corresponding to different positions of said pickup hand spaced about said insertion axis and with said arm remaining at said insertion station position, supporting one of said pair of parts at said insertion station, sequentially sensing said first group of recorded program steps so that the other of said pair of parts is moved from said pickup station to said insertion station by said manipulator arm, sequentially sensing said second group of recorded program steps so that said other part is moved to said different positions spaced about said insertion axis, and terminating sensing of said second group of recorded program steps when said pair of parts is moved into said interfitting relationship.

Claim 37

In programmable manipulator apparatus of the type having a manipulator arm movable along a plurality of axes, an article pickup hand connected to the end of said arm and program control means for moving said arm to a series of positions corresponding to a series of recorded program steps, the method of interfitting one part with another part, said pair of parts being interfittable by movement along an insertion axis, which comprises the steps of recording a first group of program steps corresponding to movement of said arm from a pickup station to an insertion station, then recording a second group of program steps, corresponding to different positions of said pickup hand spaced about said insertion axis and with said arm remaining at said insertion station position, supporting one of said pair of parts at said insertion station, sequentially sensing said first group of recorded program steps so that the other of said pair of parts is moved from said pickup station to said insertion station by said manipulator arm, sequentially sensing said second group of recorded program steps so that said other part is moved to said different positions spaced about said insertion axis, and terminating sensing of said second group of recorded program steps when said pair of parts is moved into said interfitting relationship.

Claim 38

The method of claim 30, which includes the step of moving the other of said parts into engagement with said one part at said insertion station and establishing a biasing force therebetween as said other part is sequentially moved to said different positions spaced about said insertion axis.

Claim 39

The combination of claim 1, wherein said article gripping means is mounted on the end of said arm and said relative movement is produced by vibrator means associated with said article gripping means, and means for preventing transmission of the vibrations of said article gripping means to said arm.

Claim 40

In a programmed manipulator apparatus, the combination of, a manipulator arm, means for moving said arm, means for developing a digital command signal representing a desired position of said arm, means for developing a digital position signal representing the actual position of said arm, means for comparing said command and position signals to develop a digital error signal, means responsive to said error signal for controlling said arm moving means to move said arm in the direction to reduce said error signal, means operative when said error signal has been reduced to a predetermined value for developing a digital offset signal representing a desired increment of offset from said desired position, and means jointly responsive to said digital offset signal, said command signal and said position signal for controlling said arm moving means to move said arm by said desired increment of offset from said desired position.

Claim 41

In a programmed manipulator apparatus, the combination of, a manipulator arm, means for moving said arm, means for developing a digital command signal representing a desired position of said arm, means for developing a digital position signal representing the actual position of said arm, means for comparing said command and position signals to develop a digital error signal, means responsive to said error signal for controlling said arm moving means to move said arm in the direction to reduce said error signal, means operative when said error signal has been reduced to a predetermined value for developing a digital offset signal representing a desired increment of offset from said desired position, and means jointly responsive to said digital offset signal, said command signal and said position signal for controlling said arm moving means to move said arm by said desired increment of offset from said desired position.

Claim 42

The combination of claim 33, which includes means for varying said digital offset Signal in a series of predetermined offset movements so that said arm is sequentially moved to a series of positions which are offset from said desired position.

Claim 43

The combination of claim 34, wherein said arm is movable in two different directions relative to said desired position, and said digital offset signal is employed to control movement of said arm in said different directions so that said series of offset positions define a predetermined search area around said desired position.

Claim 44

The combination of claim 35, wherein said predetermined search area comprises a pattern in the form generally of a spiral about said desired position.

Claim 45

The combination of claim 35, wherein two digital offset signals are developed to control movement of said arm in said different directions, and means for alternately changing the magnitude and sign of said two digital offset signal, so that said arm is moved in a modified spiral search pattern about said desired position.