Patent ID: 8798790

Claim:
An apparatus for detecting a contact position where a robot makes contact with an object, the apparatus comprising: a probe that is attached to the robot, the probe being configured to make a displacement in a direction of making contact with the object in an elastic manner; a probe-position calculating unit configured to calculate a position of the probe of the robot in operation; a contact detecting unit configured to detect a contact state of the probe with the object; a contact-position calculating unit configured to, when the contact state of the probe is detected, derive the contact position based on a calculated position of the probe; an external-force detecting unit configured to detect an external force applied to the probe; and a recording unit configured to record therein the external force detected by the external-force detecting unit and the position of the probe calculated by the probe-position calculating unit in a time series manner, wherein when the contact state of the probe is detected, the contact-position calculating unit obtains a contact time of the probe based on the external force recorded in the recording unit and derives a position of the probe at a recorded contact time as the contact position of the robot, and the contact-position calculating unit obtains a time when a temporal change of a value of the external force recorded in the recording unit changes as the contact time.