Patent ID: 8601847

Claim:
A bending device that bends a longitudinal workpiece, the bending device comprising: a bending mechanism that includes a bending die and a clamping die which rotates around the bending die, the bending mechanism clamping the longitudinal workpiece with the bending die and the clamping die, and bending the workpiece by rotating the clamping die; a fixing table on which a chuck mechanism that grips the workpiece is mounted; an articulated robot to which the bending mechanism is attached; and a control unit that controls the articulated robot, the bending mechanism and the chuck mechanism, wherein the bending device clamps, by the bending mechanism, a desired position of the workpiece gripped by the chuck mechanism, and rotates the clamping die to bend the workpiece; the chuck mechanism is configured to be able to twist and rotate the gripped workpiece around a longitudinal axis of the workpiece, the control unit includes a first control unit that drives the articulated robot to twist the workpiece clamped by the bending mechanism around the longitudinal axis of the workpiece within a preset twisting angle range, a second control unit that, when the twisting angle by the first control unit exceeds the twisting angle range, controls the chuck mechanism to twist the workpiece around the longitudinal axis of the workpiece, and a determination unit that determines whether or not the articulated robot interferes with the workpiece when the workpiece is twisted by one of (i) the articulated robot driven by the first control unit and (ii) the chuck mechanism controlled by the second control unit, and the control unit controls operations of the first control unit and the second control unit in accordance with a determination result of the determination unit.