초록 ▼

After switching a control method for a robot arm based upon characteristic information containing pieces of information relating to a grabbed position of the robot arm by a person and a presence/absence of detection of a force as well as to presence/absence of influences from a drag, during an opera

After switching a control method for a robot arm based upon characteristic information containing pieces of information relating to a grabbed position of the robot arm by a person and a presence/absence of detection of a force as well as to presence/absence of influences from a drag, during an operation of the robot arm, by a control method switching unit, information relating to the force of operation information is corrected by an operation correcting unit in response to a manipulation of the person.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A control apparatus for a robot arm, which controls an operation of the robot arm so as to carry out a job by using the robot arm, comprising: an operation information acquiring unit that acquires operation information relating to the operation of the robot arm, the operation information includin

1. A control apparatus for a robot arm, which controls an operation of the robot arm so as to carry out a job by using the robot arm, comprising: an operation information acquiring unit that acquires operation information relating to the operation of the robot arm, the operation information including a force component;a force detection unit that detects a force externally applied to the robot arm;a grabbed position detection unit that, when a person grabs the robot arm, detects a grabbed position indicating a portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person, the portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person being a portion of the robot arm where the force detection unit is not available to detect a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person;a characteristic information acquiring unit that acquires pieces of characteristic information including (i) information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person at a time when the person grabs the robot arm at the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit and (ii) information relating to whether or not there is a possibility that the force detection unit receives influences of a drag from a contact surface when the robot arm is manipulated while being grabbed by the person at the grabbed position;a control method switching unit that switches control methods of the robot arm using (i) the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit, (ii) the information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit, and (iii) the information relating to whether or not there is the possibility that the force detection unit receives the drag from the contact surface acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit; andan operation correcting unit that, during the operation of the robot arm based upon the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit, corrects a value of the force component of the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit by using a manipulation of the robot arm by the person and the switched control methods of the robot arm by the control method switching unit,wherein, based upon the operation information corrected by the operation correcting unit, the operation of the robot arm is controlled. 2. The control apparatus for a robot arm according to claim 1, wherein the control method switching unit switches from a first control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm to a second control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm, the second control method being any one of the following control methods: (I) a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so that the robot arm is moved by a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person;(II) a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so as not to be moved by a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person; and(III) a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm by using the first control method, andwherein, in a case of the second control method being the control method of (I), the force detection unit detects the force externally applied to the robot arm during the manipulation of the robot arm by the person or detects the force externally applied to the robot arm by using the drag from the contact surface when the robot arm directly or indirectly collides with the contact surface during the manipulation of the robot arm by the person, andwherein, in a case of the second control method being the control method of (II) or being the control method of (III), the force detection unit detects the force externally applied to the robot arm upon application of the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person. 3. The control apparatus for a robot arm according to claim 1, wherein the control method switching unit switches from a first control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm to a second control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm, the second control method being to any one of the following control methods: (I) in a case where the characteristic information contains (i) information indicating that there is not a possibility that the force detection unit receives influences of the drag from the contact surface (ii) information indicating that the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person, a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm by using the first control method or a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so as not to be moved by a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person;(II) in a case where the characteristic information contains (i) information indicating that there is the possibility that the force detection unit receives influences of the drag from the contact surface (ii) information indicating that the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person, a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so that, upon application of a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person, the robot arm is prevented from being moved to directly or indirectly collide with the contact surface;(III) in a case where the characteristic information contains (i) information indicating that there is the possibility that the force detection unit receives influences of the drag from the contact surface (ii) information indicating that the force detection unit is not available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so that the robot arm is moved by the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person. 4. The control apparatus for a robot arm according to claim 1, wherein, upon detection of a plurality of grabbed positions by the grabbed position detection unit, the control method switching unit successively switches from a first control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm to a second control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm, the second control method being any one of the following control methods: (I) a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so that the robot arm is moved by a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person;(II) a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so as not to be moved by a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person; and(III) a control method for controlling the operation of the robot arm by using the first control method,wherein the control apparatus further comprises a force calculation unit, which, based upon a plurality of values detected at the grabbed positions by the force detection unit in each of the successively switched control methods, calculates a value of the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person, andwherein an operation correcting unit corrects the value of the force component operation information of the operation information database, by using the value of the force calculated by the force calculation unit. 5. The control apparatus for a robot arm according to claim 4, wherein the force calculation unit calculates the value of the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person by using any one of the following calculation methods: (I) a method for calculating a sum of the plurality of values detected at the grabbed positions by the force detection unit in each of the successively switched control methods;(II) a method for calculating a minimum value among the plurality of values detected at the grabbed positions by the force detection unit in each of the successively switched control methods;(III) a method for calculating a maximum value among the plurality of values detected at the grabbed positions by the force detection unit in each of the successively switched control methods; and(IV) a method in which, by multiplying each of the plurality of values detected at the grabbed positions by the force detection unit in each of the successively switched control methods by a weighting coefficient, and then summing up resulting values, and wherein the operation correcting unit corrects the value of the force component of the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit, based upon the value calculated by the force calculation unit. 6. A control apparatus for robot arms, comprising: a plurality of robot arms, which are controlled by the control apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the grabbed position detection unit detects which robot arm of the plurality of robot arms is being grabbed by the person,wherein the force detection unit is included in one of the plurality of robot arms,wherein in a case where the robot arm of the plurality of robot arms being grabbed by the person is the one of the plurality of robot arms in which the force detection unit is installed, the force detection unit detects a force externally applied by the person to the robot arm of the plurality of robot arms being grabbed by the person, andwherein the control apparatus further comprises a force calculation unit, that calculates a value for use in correcting another robot arm that is not being grabbed by the person, based upon a value of the force detected by the force detection unit,wherein the operation correcting unit corrects the force component of the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit, based upon the value calculated by the force calculation unit. 7. The control apparatus for robot arms according to claim 6, wherein in a case where a plurality of forces are detected by the force detection unit, the force calculation unit calculates the value for use in correction using any one of the following calculation methods: (I) a method for calculating a sum of values of the plurality of forces detected by the force detection unit;(II) a method for calculating a minimum value among the values of the plurality of forces detected by the force detection unit;(III) a method for calculating a maximum value among the values of the plurality of forces detected by the force detection unit;(IV) a method in which, by multiplying each of the values of the plurality of forces detected by the force detection unit by a weighting coefficient, and then summing up resulting values, andwherein the operation correcting unit corrects pieces of operation information relating to all of the plurality of robot arms acquired by the operation information acquiring unit, based upon the value calculated by the force calculation unit. 8. The control apparatus for a robot arm according to claim 2, wherein, upon switching from the first method to the second method where the second method is the method for controlling the operation of the robot arm so as not to be moved by a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person, the first control method and the second control method are alternatively switched with each other, andwherein when the first control method and the second control method are alternatively switched with each other, the force detection unit detects the force. 9. A control method for a robot arm, which controls an operation of a robot arm so that a job is carried out by the robot arm, comprising: acquiring operation information relating to the operation of the robot arm by using an information acquiring unit, the operation information including a force component;detecting a force externally applied to the robot arm using a force detection unit;when a person grabs the robot arm, detecting, using a grabbed position detection unit, a grabbed position indicating a portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person, the portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person being a portion of the robot arm where the force detection unit is not available to detect a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person;acquiring, a characteristic information acquiring unit, pieces of characteristic information including (i) information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the persona, at a time when the person grabs the robot arm at the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit and (ii) information relating to whether or not there is a possibility that the force detection unit receives influences of a drag from a contact surface when the robot arm is manipulated while being grabbed by the person at the grabbed position;switching, using a control method switching unit, control methods of the robot arm using (i) the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit, (ii) the information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit, and (iii) the information relating to whether or not there is the possibility that the force detection unit receives the drag from the contact surface acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit;during the operation of the robot arm based upon the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit, correcting, using an operation correcting unit, a value of the force component of the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit by using a manipulation of the robot arm by the person and the switching control methods of the robot arm by the control method switching unit;based upon the operation information corrected by the operation correcting unit, controlling the operation of the robot arm. 10. A robot comprising: a robot arm; anda control apparatus for a robot arm, disclosed in claim 1, for use in controlling the operation of the robot arm. 11. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having stored thereon a control program for a robot arm, which controls an operation of a robot arm so that a job is carried out by the robot arm, wherein, when executing, causes a computer to perform a method comprising: acquiring operation information relating to the operation of the robot arm by using an information acquiring unit, the operation information including a force component;detecting a force externally applied to the robot arm using a force detection unit;when a person grabs the robot arm, detecting, using a grabbed position detection unit, a grabbed position indicating a portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person, the portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person being a portion of the robot arm where the force detection unit is not available to detect a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person;acquiring, using a characteristic information acquiring unit, pieces of characteristic information including (i) information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person, at a time when the person grabs the robot arm at the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit and (ii) information relating to whether or not there is a possibility that the force detection unit receives influences of a drag from a contact surface when the robot arm is manipulated while being grabbed by the person at the grabbed position;switching, using a control method switching unit, control methods of the robot arm using (i) the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit, (ii) the information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit, and (iii) the information relating to whether or not there is the possibility that the force detection unit receives the drag from the contact surface acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit;during the operation of the robot arm based upon the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit, correcting, using an operation correcting unit, a value of the force component of the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit by using a manipulation of the robot arm by the person and the switching control methods of the robot arm by the control method switching unit;based upon the operation information corrected by the operation correcting unit, controlling the operation of the robot arm. 12. An integrated electronic circuit for a robot arm, which controls an operation of a robot arm so that a job is carried out by the robot arm, comprising: an operation information acquiring unit that acquires operation information relating to the operation of the robot arm, the operation information including a force component;a force detection unit that detects a force externally applied to the robot arm;a grabbed position detection unit that, when a person grabs the robot arm, detects a grabbed position indicating a portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person, the portion of the robot arm grabbed by the person being a portion of the robot arm where the force detection unit is not available to detect a force externally applied to the robot arm by the person;a characteristic information acquiring unit that acquires pieces of characteristic information including (i) information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person at a time when the person grabs the robot arm at the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit and (ii) information relating to whether or not there is a possibility that the force detection unit receives influences of a drag from a contact surface when the robot arm is manipulated while being grabbed by the person at the grabbed position;a control method switching unit that switches control methods of the robot arm using (i) the grabbed position detected by the grabbed position detection unit, (ii) the information relating to whether or not the force detection unit is available to detect the force externally applied to the robot arm by the person acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit, and (iii) the information relating to whether or not there is the possibility that the force detection unit receives the drag from the contact surface acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit; andan operation correcting unit that, during the operation of the robot arm based upon the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit, corrects a value of the force component of the operation information acquired by the operation information acquiring unit by using a manipulation of the robot arm by the person and the switched control methods of the robot arm by the control method switching unit,wherein, based upon the operation information corrected by the operation correcting unit, the operation of the robot arm is controlled. 13. A robot comprising: a robot arm; anda control apparatus for a robot arm, disclosed in claim 2, for use in controlling the operation of the robot arm. 14. A robot comprising: a robot arm; anda control apparatus for a robot arm, disclosed in claim 3, for use in controlling the operation of the robot arm. 15. A robot comprising: a robot arm; anda control apparatus for a robot arm, disclosed in claim 4, for use in controlling the operation of the robot arm. 16. A robot comprising: a robot arm; anda control apparatus for a robot arm, disclosed in claim 5, for use in controlling the operation of the robot arm. 17. A robot comprising: a robot arm; anda control apparatus for a robot arm, disclosed in claim 6, for use in controlling the operation of the robot arm. 18. A robot comprising: a robot arm; anda control apparatus for a robot arm, disclosed in claim 7, for use in controlling the operation of the robot arm. 19. The control apparatus for a robot arm according to claim 1, wherein the grabbed position detection unit detects the grabbed position based on image data obtained by an image pick-up device.