Robot for coating a vehicle body

A robot for coating a vehicle body, comprising:

• an arm,
• wherein the arm comprises:
• a coating head,
• the coating head configured to dispense coating material onto the vehicle body;
• and
• a supply device,
• wherein the supply device includes a circulation path for circulating the coating material between a reservoir storing the coating material and the coating head, and
• the supply device is configured for controlling a pressure of the coating material flowing through the circulation path;
• wherein the arm is a multi-axis arm including multiple arm members and a movable shaft connecting each arm member to each other, and further comprises:
• a posture control means that controls the posture of the multiple arm members constituting the said multi-axis arm during coating of the vehicle body by the coating head to maintain the relative position of the coating head and the supply device at a constant level or to suppress fluctuations in the relative position within a predetermined allowable range;
• and
• a moving mechanism for moving the multi-axis arm along the coating direction of the vehicle body in the coating head during coating of the vehicle body by the coating head;
• wherein the circulation path includes:
• a supply path for supplying the coating material stored in the reservoir to the coating head, and
• a return flow path for returning the coating material not used by the coating head to the reservoir;
• wherein the supply device includes:
• a dispensing means for feeding the coating material stored in the reservoir to the supply path;
• a retracting means for drawing the coating material from the coating head into the return flow path;
• a first detection means for detecting the pressure of coating material fed to the supply path;
• a second detection means for detecting the pressure of coating material drawn into the return flow path;
• and
• a pressure control means for controlling:
• a dispensing amount of coating material by the dispensing means based on the detection result by the first detection means, and
• a drawing amount of coating material by the retracting means based on the detection result by the second detection means;
• wherein the posture control means controls a posture of the multiple arm members constituting the multi-axis arm based on the detection result from the first detection means and the second detection means.