Patent Publication Number: US-2018043529-A1

Title: Multiaxial robot

Description:
This application claims priority to China Application Number 201610647434.X, filed Aug. 9, 2016, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to a multiaxial robot. 
     Description of Related Art 
     Compared with industries (e.g., the automobile industry) using mechanical arms, products of 3C industries (Computer, Communication and Consumer Electronic) have short life cycles and high deprecation rates. For this reason, the demands of the 3C industries for robots are getting higher and higher. Currently, SCARA (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm) is a robot widely used in the 3C industries, which is designed for planar tasks. Specifically, the SCARA uses two rotary joints to achieve rapid positioning in the X-Y plane, and additionally use a movement joint and a rotary joint to respectively move along and rotate about the Z-direction. The structural configuration makes the SCARA be good at grabbing an object from a location and then rapidly place the object at another location. Therefore, the SCARA has been widely used in automated assembly lines. 
     Although the SCARA has advantages of High-speed, having first and second rotary joints with strong rigidity of, low price, large effective operating range, having optimization for the X-Y plane, simple reverse movement, and etc, but also has disadvantages of only being able to work horizontally and having short stroke in Z-direction. Hence, current automated workstations using the SCARA in the 3C industries are still subject to many restrictions. 
     In addition, to perform three-dimensional actions, using a conventional six-axis mechanical arm can also be considered. The six-axis mechanical arm has advantages of having long arm length, moving with flexible angles, having optimization for 3D continuous path, and etc, so the six-axis mechanical arm can be used for almost all applications. However, the six-axis mechanical arm has disadvantages of slow, high price, having restrictions to spherical working range, difficult reverse movement, having singularities, and etc. Moreover, the six-axis mechanical arm specializes in large amount of applications of curved surfaces, such as grinding, polishing, and etc., and the flexibility exceeds the demands of the 3C industries. Regarding to certain 3C industries only having demands for less three-dimensional actions, the use of the six-axis mechanical arm is overkill. 
     Accordingly, how to provide a multiaxial robot to solve the aforementioned problems becomes an important issue to be solved by those in the industry. 
     SUMMARY 
     An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a multiaxial robot not only can be quickly and easily applied to production activities but also can perform with actions with flexible angles in various tasks. 
     According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the multiaxial robot includes a first rotation module, a second rotation module, and an elevator member. The first rotation module includes a base and a plurality of arms. The arms are configured to rotate parallel to a first plane relative to the base. The second rotation module includes at least one wrist. The wrist is connected to the farthest arm arranged from the base in the first rotation module and configured to rotate parallel to a second plane relative to the first rotation module. The elevator member is connected between adjacent two of the arms and the wrist. The elevator member is configured to elevate components of the multiaxial robot arranged after the elevator member relative to the base in an elevating direction. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the arms include a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm. An end of the first arm is pivotally connected to the base. Another end of the first arm is slidably connected to the elevator member. An end of the second arm is pivotally connected to the elevator member. An end of the third arm is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm. The wrist is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the arms include a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm. An end of the first arm is pivotally connected to the base. Another end of the first arm is slidably and pivotally connected to the elevator member. An end of the second arm is connected to the elevator member. An end of the third arm is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm. The wrist is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the arms include a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm. An end of the first arm being pivotally connected to the base. An end of the second arm is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm. Another end of the second arm is slidably connected to the elevator member. An end of the third arm is pivotally connected to the elevator member. The wrist is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the arms include a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm. An end of the first arm is pivotally connected to the base. An end of the second arm is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm. Another end of the second arm is slidably and pivotally connected to the elevator member. An end of the third arm is connected to the elevator member. The wrist is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the arms include a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm. An end of the first arm is pivotally connected to the base. An end of the second arm is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm. An end of the third arm is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm. Another end of the third arm is slidably connected to the elevator member. The wrist is pivotally connected to the elevator member. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the second plane is substantially perpendicular to the first plane. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the elevating direction is substantially perpendicular to the first plane. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, second rotation module includes a first wrist and a second wrist. The first wrist is connected to the farthest arm arranged from the base in the first rotation module and configured to rotate parallel to the second plane relative to the first rotation module. The second wrist is pivotally connected to the first wrist and configured to rotate parallel to a third plane relative to the first wrist. 
     According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the multiaxial robot includes a first rotation module, a second rotation module, and an elevator member. The first rotation module includes a base and a plurality of arms. The arms are configured to rotate parallel to a first plane relative to the base. The second rotation module includes at least one wrist. The wrist is connected to the farthest arm arranged from the base in the first rotation module and configured to rotate parallel to a second plane relative to the first rotation module. The elevator member is pivotally connected to the base and connected to an adjacent one of the arms. The elevator member is configured to elevate components of the multiaxial robot arranged after the elevator member relative to the base in an elevating direction. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the elevator member is pivotally connected to the base, and the arms include a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm. An end of the first arm is slidably connected to the elevator member. An end of the second arm is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm. An end of the third arm is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm. The wrist is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm. 
     Accordingly, the multiaxial robot of the disclosure modifies the structural configuration of the SCARA. Specifically, the structural configuration of the multiaxial robot of the disclosure not only retains the flat and fast operating characteristics of the SCARA, but also adds the capability of performing actions with flexible angles (up to five or six degrees of freedom) of the six-axis mechanical arm. It can be seen that the multiaxial robot of the disclosure can optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”, which is different from the operation mode for “3D continuous path” of the six-axis mechanical arm, so the multiaxial robot does not have the disadvantages of difficult reverse movement, having singularities, and etc. Moreover, the multiaxial robot of the disclosure can be designed to be higher to achieve a high-cylinder range, which is better than the optimization of the conventional six-axis mechanical arm for multi-layer test stations and can effectively reduce the footprint of the multiaxial robot. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the disclosure as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a multiaxial robot according to an embodiment of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of the multiaxial robot in  FIG. 1 , in which the multiaxial robot is placing a workpiece on a table; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a multiaxial robot according to an embodiment of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 4A  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot according to another embodiment of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 4B  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot according to another embodiment of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 4C  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot according to another embodiment of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 4D  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot according to another embodiment of the disclosure; and 
         FIG. 4E  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot according to another embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a multiaxial robot  100  according to an embodiment of the disclosure.  FIG. 2  is a side view of the multiaxial robot  100  in  FIG. 1 , in which the multiaxial robot  100  is placing a workpiece  20  on a table  2 . As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , in the embodiment, the multiaxial robot  100  includes a first rotation module  110 , a second rotation module  120 , and an elevator member  130 . The first rotation module  110  includes a base  111  and a plurality of arms (i.e., a first arm  112 , a second arm  113 , and a third arm  114  shown in  FIG. 1 ). The arms are configured to rotate parallel to a first plane (e.g., the X-Y plane formed by the X-axis and the Y-axis shown in  FIG. 1 ) relative to the base  11 . The second rotation module  120  includes a first wrist  121 . The first wrist  121  is connected to the farthest arm (i.e., the third arm  114 ) arranged from the base  111  in the first rotation module  110  and configured to rotate parallel to a second plane (e.g., the X-Z plane formed by the X-axis and the Z-axis shown in  FIG. 1 ) relative to the first rotation module  110 . The elevator member  130  is pivotally connected to the base  111  and connected to an adjacent one of the arms (i.e., the first arm  112 ). The elevator member  130  is configured to elevate components of the multiaxial robot  100  arranged after the elevator member  130  relative to the base  111  in an elevating direction A (e.g., the direction parallel to the Z-axis). 
     Specifically, in the embodiment, an end of the first arm  112  is slidably connected to the elevator member  130 . An end of the second arm  113  is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm  112 . An end of the third arm  114  is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm  113 . The first wrist  121  is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm  114 . Furthermore, the second rotation module  120  further includes a second wrist  122 . The second wrist  122  is pivotally connected to the first wrist  121  and configured to rotate parallel to a third plane (e.g., the Y-Z plane formed by the Y-axis and the Z-axis shown in  FIG. 1 ) relative to the first wrist  121 . In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 2 , an end of the second wrist  122  distal to the first wrist  121  is configured to grab and place the workpiece  20 , but the disclosure is not limited in this regard. 
     With the foregoing structural configuration, the multiaxial robot  100  of the embodiment can provide flat and fast operating characteristics by the first rotation module  110  and perform actions with flexible angles (up to six degrees of freedom) by the second rotation module  120 , so as to optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”. For example, the multiaxial robot  100  of the embodiment can easily perform the action of obliquely placing the workpiece  20  on the horizontal table  2 , which is what the conventional SCARA cannot achieve. Moreover, the multiaxial robot  100  of the embodiment can complete the whole action (i.e., moving to the destination and then performing the action of obliquely placing the workpiece  20 ) faster than the conventional six-axis mechanical arm. 
     In some embodiments, the second plane (i.e., the plane in which the first wrist  121  rotates) is substantially perpendicular to the first plane (i.e., the plane in which the arms of the first rotation module  110  rotate), but the disclosure is not limited in this regard. 
     In some embodiments, the elevating direction A is substantially perpendicular to the first plane (i.e., the plane in which the arms of the first rotation module  110  rotate), but the disclosure is not limited in this regard. 
     In some embodiments, the second rotation module  120  adopted in the multiaxial robot  100  can only include the first wrist  121 , and the end of the first wrist  121  distal to the arms is configured to grab or place the workpiece  20 . Although the full degrees of freedom cannot be achieved, the action of obliquely placing the workpiece  20  can still be performed. Moreover, the structural configuration reduces one motor, so as to reduce the overall implementation costs. 
     In some embodiments, the number of the arms included the first rotation module  110  adopted in the multiaxial robot  100  can be larger than three, so as to increase the degrees of freedom to meet the actual demands. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a multiaxial robot  100  according to an embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 3 , in the embodiment, the multiaxial robot  100  further includes a controller unit  140   a , a driver unit  140   b , a motor  140   c , a decoder  140   d , an I/O controlling unit  140   e , a valve controlling unit  140   f , a display unit  140   g  (with reference to  FIG. 1 ), and a communication unit  140   h . In practical applications, each pivotal portion of the arms or the elevator member  130  is equipped with the motor  140   c  and the decoder  140   d . As a result, each arm or each wrist can rotate or the elevator member  130  can elevate by using the motor  140   c , and the value of the rotation angle of each arm or each wrist or the value of the rotation angle of the motor  130  of the elevator member  130  can be obtained by the decoder  140   c . The driver unit  140   b  is configured to drive the motor  140   c . The I/O controlling unit  140   e  (i.e., a keyboard) is configured for users to input instructions to control the multiaxial robot  100  to perform specific actions. The controller unit  140   a  is configured to control the driver unit  140   b  according to the inputted instructions and the data obtained by the decoder  140   d . The display unit  140   g  is configured to display information relative to the multiaxial robot  100 . The communication unit  140   h  is configured to communicate with other computers or controllers. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 4A .  FIG. 4A  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot  300  according to another embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 4A , in the embodiment, the multiaxial robot  300  also includes the first rotation module  110 , the second rotation module  120 , and the elevator member  130 . The first rotation module  110  also includes the first arm  112 , the second arm  113 , and the third arm  114 . The second rotation module  120  also includes the first wrist  121  and the second wrist  122 . It should be pointed out that the difference between the present embodiment and the embodiment in  FIG. 1  is that the present embodiment provides an alternative to the connection order of the arms, the wrists, and the elevator member  130 . Specifically, in the multiaxial robot  300  of the present embodiment, an end of the first arm  112  is pivotally connected to the base  111 , and another end of the first arm  112  is slidably connected to the elevator member  130 . An end of the second arm  113  is pivotally connected to the elevator member  130 . An end of the third arm  114  is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm  113 . The first wrist  121  is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm  114 . The second wrist  122  is pivotally connected to the first wrist  121 . With the structural configuration, the multiaxial robot  300  of the embodiment can also provide the flat and fast operating characteristics by the first rotation module  110  and perform the actions with flexible angles (up to six degrees of freedom) by the second rotation module  120 , so as to optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 4B .  FIG. 4B  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot  400  according to another embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 4B , in the embodiment, the multiaxial robot  400  also includes the first rotation module  110 , the second rotation module  120 , and the elevator member  130 . The first rotation module  110  also includes the first arm  112 , the second arm  113 , and the third arm  114 . The second rotation module  120  also includes the first wrist  121  and the second wrist  122 . It should be pointed out that the difference between the present embodiment and the embodiment in  FIG. 1  is that the present embodiment provides an alternative to the connection order of the arms, the wrists, and the elevator member  130 . Specifically, in the multiaxial robot  400  of the present embodiment, an end of the first arm  112  is pivotally connected to the base  111 , and another end of the first arm  112  is slidably and pivotally connected to the elevator member  130 . An end of the second arm  113  is connected to the elevator member  130 . An end of the third arm  114  is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm  113 . The first wrist  121  is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm  114 . The second wrist  122  is pivotally connected to the first wrist  121 . With the structural configuration, the multiaxial robot  400  of the embodiment can also provide the flat and fast operating characteristics by the first rotation module  110  and perform the actions with flexible angles (up to six degrees of freedom) by the second rotation module  120 , so as to optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 4C .  FIG. 4C  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot  500  according to another embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 4C , in the embodiment, the multiaxial robot  500  also includes the first rotation module  110 , the second rotation module  120 , and the elevator member  130 . The first rotation module  110  also includes the first arm  112 , the second arm  113 , and the third arm  114 . The second rotation module  120  also includes the first wrist  121  and the second wrist  122 . It should be pointed out that the difference between the present embodiment and the embodiment in  FIG. 1  is that the present embodiment provides an alternative to the connection order of the arms, the wrists, and the elevator member  130 . Specifically, in the multiaxial robot  500  of the present embodiment, an end of the first arm  112  is pivotally connected to the base  111 . An end of the second arm  113  is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm  112 , and another end of the second arm  113  is slidably connected to the elevator member  130 . An end of the third arm  114  is pivotally connected to the elevator member  130 . The first wrist  121  is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm  114 . The second wrist  122  is pivotally connected to the first wrist  121 . With the structural configuration, the multiaxial robot  500  of the embodiment can also provide the flat and fast operating characteristics by the first rotation module  110  and perform the actions with flexible angles (up to six degrees of freedom) by the second rotation module  120 , so as to optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 4D .  FIG. 4D  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot  600  according to another embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 4D , in the embodiment, the multiaxial robot  600  also includes the first rotation module  110 , the second rotation module  120 , and the elevator member  130 . The first rotation module  110  also includes the first arm  112 , the second arm  113 , and the third arm  114 . The second rotation module  120  also includes the first wrist  121  and the second wrist  122 . It should be pointed out that the difference between the present embodiment and the embodiment in  FIG. 1  is that the present embodiment provides an alternative to the connection order of the arms, the wrists, and the elevator member  130 . Specifically, in the multiaxial robot  600  of the present embodiment, an end of the first arm  112  is pivotally connected to the base  111 . An end of the second arm  113  is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm  112 , and another end of the second arm  113  is slidably and pivotally connected to the elevator member  130 . An end of the third arm  114  is pivotally connected to the elevator member  130 . The first wrist  121  is pivotally connected to another end of the third arm  114 . The second wrist  122  is pivotally connected to the first wrist  121 . With the structural configuration, the multiaxial robot  600  of the embodiment can also provide the flat and fast operating characteristics by the first rotation module  110  and perform the actions with flexible angles (up to six degrees of freedom) by the second rotation module  120 , so as to optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 4E .  FIG. 4E  is a schematic diagram of a multiaxial robot  700  according to another embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 4E , in the embodiment, the multiaxial robot  700  also includes the first rotation module  110 , the second rotation module  120 , and the elevator member  130 . The first rotation module  110  also includes the first arm  112 , the second arm  113 , and the third arm  114 . The second rotation module  120  also includes the first wrist  121  and the second wrist  122 . It should be pointed out that the difference between the present embodiment and the embodiment in  FIG. 1  is that the present embodiment provides an alternative to the connection order of the arms, the wrists, and the elevator member  130 . Specifically, in the multiaxial robot  700  of the present embodiment, an end of the first arm  112  is pivotally connected to the base  111 . An end of the second arm  113  is pivotally connected to another end of the first arm  112 . An end of the third arm  114  is pivotally connected to another end of the second arm  113 , and another end of the third arm  114  is slidably connected to the elevator member  130 . The first wrist  121  is pivotally connected to the elevator member  130 . The second wrist  122  is pivotally connected to the first wrist  121 . With the structural configuration, the multiaxial robot  700  of the embodiment can also provide the flat and fast operating characteristics by the first rotation module  110  and perform the actions with flexible angles (up to six degrees of freedom) by the second rotation module  120 , so as to optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”. 
     According to the foregoing recitations of the embodiments of the disclosure, it can be seen that the multiaxial robot of the disclosure modifies the structural configuration of the SCARA. Specifically, the structural configuration of the multiaxial robot of the disclosure not only retains the flat and fast operating characteristics of the SCARA, but also adds the capability of performing actions with flexible angles (up to five or six degrees of freedom) of the six-axis mechanical arm. It can be seen that the multiaxial robot of the disclosure can optimize the operation mode of “rapidly and horizontally moving to a location and then performing horizontal or three-dimensional actions”, which is different from the operation mode for “3D continuous path” of the six-axis mechanical arm, so the multiaxial robot does not have the disadvantages of difficult reverse movement, having singularities, and etc. Moreover, the multiaxial robot of the disclosure can be designed to be higher to achieve a high-cylinder range, which is better than the optimization of the conventional six-axis mechanical arm for multi-layer test stations and can effectively reduce the footprint of the multiaxial robot. 
     Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.