Robot with linear drives and rotary drive
AssigneePersimmon Technologies Corporation
InventorsMartin Hosek, Tuan Ha, Christopher Hofmeister
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus including a frame, a first position sensor, a drive and a chamber. The frame has at least three members including at least two links forming a movable arm and an end effector. The end effector and the links are connected by movable joints. The end effector is configured to support a substrate thereon. The first position sensor is on the frame proximate a first one of the joints. The first position sensor is configured to sense a position of two of the members relative to each other. The drive is connected to the frame. The drive is configured to move the movable arm. The frame is located in the chamber, and the drive extends through a wall in the chamber.
Claims22
An apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of end effectors, where each end effector is configured to support a substrate thereon;
- a drive connected to the end effectors, where the drive comprises a first linear drive connected to a respective first one of the end effectors, a second linear drive connected to a respective second one of the end effectors, and a first rotary drive connected to the first and second linear drives, where the first rotary drive is configured to rotate both the first and second end effectors about a same vertical axis;
- and
- a controller coupled to the drive, where the controller is configured to control the drive to provide a first mode of movement of the first and second end effectors including use of the first and second linear drives to move substrates at a substantially same time and independently of each other, and an alternative second mode of movement of the first end effector by the drive without moving the second end effector.
A method comprising:
- providing a drive comprising a first linear drive, a second linear drive and a first rotary drive;
- connecting a first end effector to the first linear drive;
- connecting a second end effector to the second linear drive;
- connecting the drive to a controller, where the controller and the drive are configured to control the drive to provide a first mode of movement of the first and second end effectors including use of the first and second linear drives to move substrates at a substantially same time and independently of each other, and an alternative second mode of movement of the first end effector by the drive without moving the second end effector, and where the controller and the first rotary drive are configured to rotate both the first and second end effectors about a same vertical axis.
An apparatus comprising:
- at least one processor;
- and
- at least one non-transitory memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
- control a drive, by a controller coupled to the drive, to move a first end effector with use of a first linear drive of the drive and to move a second end effector with use of a second linear drive of the drive to provide a first mode of movement of the first and second end effectors to move substrates at a substantially same time and independently of each other, where the end effectors are configured to support the substrates thereon, and where the drive comprises the first linear drive connected to the first end effector and the second linear drive connected to the second end effector;
- control the drive, by the controller, to move the first end effector with use of the first linear drive without moving the second end effector;
- and
- control the drive, by the controller, to rotate the first end effector, with use of a first rotary drive of the drive, about a vertical axis;
- and
- control the drive, by the controller, to move the second end effector, with use of the first rotary drive of the drive, about the same vertical axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.