Robot and substrate orientation examination method
AssigneeKawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsIppei Shimizu, Hiroyuki Okada, Daisuke Yamanaka, Takahiro Abe, Junichi Sato
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Abstract
A robot that transfers a substrate includes a hand, an arm, a substrate detector, and a substrate orientation examiner. The hand holds and transfers the substrate. The arm is connected to the hand and moves the hand. The substrate detector detects absence or presence of the substrate in a non-contact manner. The substrate orientation examiner examines an orientation of the substrate based on a height detected by the substrate detector at which the substrate is located when it is not held by the hand.
Claims16
A robot that transfers a substrate, comprising:
- an arm;
- a hand that is installed to the arm and holds and transfers the substrate, wherein the hand includes a first finger and a second finger separated along a separation direction;
- a mapping sensor including a transmitter installed on the first finger and a receiver installed on the second finger, wherein the mapping sensor detects:
- absence or presence of the substrate between the first finger and the second finger using a detection light, and
- a height, along a direction perpendicular to the separation direction, at which the substrate is located when not held by the hand;
- and
- control circuitry configured to determine a magnitude of a tilt of the substrate, by examining an orientation of the substrate while the orientation of the hand is changed, based on a plurality of detected thicknesses, wherein
- each of the plurality of detected thicknesses is calculated from height information indicating the height detected by the mapping sensor during a vertical movement of the hand, and
- each detected thickness is obtained at a different orientation of the hand in a plan view.
A substrate orientation examination method applied to a robot that transfers a substrate, the robot including an arm, a hand installed to the arm and a mapping sensor installed to the arm, the method comprising:
- detecting, with the mapping sensor which includes a transmitter installed on a first finger of the hand and a receiver installed on a second finger the hand:
- absence or presence of the substrate between the first finger and the second finger using a detection light, and
- a height, the height along a direction perpendicular to the separation direction, at which the substrate is located when not held by the hand;
- and
- determining a magnitude of a tilt of the substrate, by examining an orientation of the substrate based on a plurality of detected thicknesses, wherein
- each of the plurality of detected thicknesses is calculated from height information indicating the height detected by the mapping sensor during a vertical movement of the hand, and
- each detected thickness is obtained at a different orientation of the hand in a plan view.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.