Research and Development of Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (1st Report)

Characteristics of the System

Abstract

A new type assembly robot called "SCARA" (selective compliance assembly robot arm) has been developed. The robot has two jointed link arms swinging about the parallel vertical axes and a tool at the end of the second link. The robot has a characteristic construction of "selective compliance", that is, the compliances in z direction and for x and y moment are small, while which in x and y direction and for z moment are large. Owing to the construction, the tool moves laterally without bending in an insertion process, and thus the peg fits quickly into the hole, correcting passively the error of position. In this report the characteristics of the system is discussed, and the actual results with prototype robot are shown.