Substrate transfer robot, substrate transfer apparatus including the same, and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the same

A substrate transfer apparatus comprising:

• a substrate transfer robot having a hand for holding a substrate and movable between a plurality of taught positions that have been taught beforehand so as to transfer the substrate, the substrate transfer robot including interference-region setting means for setting an interference region in advance in a range of motion of the substrate transfer robot;
• pattern storage means for storing a plurality of patterns of a combination of a starting position, a target position, and the interference region, the starting position and the target position being among the plurality of taught positions;
• and pattern determining means for determining which pattern among the plurality of patterns a movement of the substrate transfer robot from the starting position to the target position matches when the substrate transfer robot moves between the plurality of taught positions, wherein the substrate transfer robot performs an avoidance movement from the starting position to the target position so as to avoid the interference region in accordance with the pattern determined by the pattern determining means;
• and
• a substrate container containing the substrate.

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising:

• a substrate transfer robot having a hand for holding a substrate and movable between a plurality of taught positions that have been taught beforehand so as to transfer the substrate, the substrate transfer robot including interference-region setting means for setting an interference region in advance in a range of motion of the substrate transfer robot;
• pattern storage means for storing a plurality of patterns of a combination of a starting position, a target position, and the interference region, the starting position and the target position being among the plurality of taught positions;
• and pattern determining means for determining which pattern among the plurality of patterns a movement of the substrate transfer robot from the starting position to the target position matches when the substrate transfer robot moves between the plurality of taught positions, wherein the substrate transfer robot performs an avoidance movement from the starting position to the target position so as to avoid the interference region in accordance with the pattern determined by the pattern determining means;
• a substrate container containing the substrate;
• and
• a processing device for processing the substrate transferred from the substrate container by the substrate transfer robot.

A method of causing a substrate transfer robot to avoid an obstacle existing in a range of motion of the substrate transfer robot, the substrate transfer robot having a hand for holding a substrate and movable between a plurality of taught positions that have been taught beforehand so as to transfer the substrate, the method comprising the steps of:

• setting an interference region in advance in the range of motion of the substrate transfer robot;
• storing a plurality of patterns of a combination of a starting position, a target position, and the interference region, the starting position and the target position being among the plurality of taught positions;
• determining which pattern among the plurality of patterns a movement of the substrate transfer robot from the starting position to the target position matches when the substrate transfer robot moves between the plurality of taught positions;
• and
• performing an avoidance movement from the starting position to the target position so as to avoid the interference region in accordance with the pattern determined by the pattern determining means.