Robot and hand orientation adjustment method

A robot that transfers a substrate along an insertion direction, the robot comprising:

• an arm;
• a hand installed to the arm, wherein the hand includes a first finger and a second finger separated along a separation direction perpendicular to the insertion direction, and the hand to hold and transfer the substrate;
• a mapping sensor including a transmitter installed on the first finger and a receiver installed on the second finger;
• a tilter which adjusts an orientation of the hand with respect to the substrate;
• and
• a robot controller configured to
• acquire information, based on results of detection made by the mapping sensor, about an orientation of the substrate which is to be transferred;
• and
• control operation of the tilter to adjust the orientation of the hand performing a taking-out operation on the substrate based on the information, wherein
• the mapping sensor detects presence or absence of the substrate between the first finger and the second finger using a detection light,
• the tilter adjusts the orientation of the hand based on an output of the mapping sensor scanning the substrate with the detection light, and
• the robot controller is further configured to
• control movement of the hand in a vertical direction, perpendicular to both the insertion direction and the separation direction, relative to the substrate for the mapping sensor to perform the scanning and while maintaining the hand in a substantially horizontal orientation;
• calculate a detected thickness of the substrate based on a distance the hand moved in the vertical direction while the mapping sensor detected the presence of the substrate;
• determine whether a difference between the calculated detected thickness and a known actual thickness of the substrate exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• determine that the orientation of the substrate is tilted relative to the detection light in a case that the difference exceeds the predetermined threshold;
• and
• in a case that the difference exceeds the predetermined threshold, control the tilter to change a tilt of the hand relative to a horizontal plane to change the orientation of the detection light relative to the substrate.