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US 2021/0276180 A1Published application
Multi-turn drive assembly and systems and methods of use thereof
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsJeff Hudgens, Damon K. Cox, Rajkumar Thanu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed herein are multi-turn drive assemblies, systems and methods of use thereof. The multi-turn drive assemblies enable a robot link member to have a maximum rotation of at least 360 degrees about an axis. The multi-turn drive assemblies can be incorporated into a robot arm for enabling 360 degrees rotation of one or more link members about an axis. The robot arm may be located in a transfer chamber of an electronic device processing system. Also disclosed are methods of controlling the multi-turn drive assemblies and related robots.
Claims27
A robot, comprising:
- an arm rotatable about a shoulder axis;
- a forearm rotatable relative to the arm about a forearm axis at a position offset from the shoulder axis, wherein the forearm has a maximum rotation of at least 360 degrees about the forearm axis;
- and
- a forearm drive assembly for rotating the forearm about the forearm axis, the forearm drive assembly comprising:
- a forearm driving member;
- a forearm driven member attached to the forearm;
- a forearm transmission element comprising:
- a first band, wherein a first end of the first band is affixed to the forearm driving member and a second end of the first band is affixed to the forearm driven member, and wherein the first band wraps at least two times around the forearm driving member when the forearm is in a first forearm position;
- and
- a second band, wherein a first end of the second band is affixed to the forearm driving member and a second end of the second band is affixed to the forearm driven member, wherein the second band wraps at least two times around the forearm driven member when the forearm is in the first position,
- wherein the first band is wrapped around the forearm driving member in a first direction and the second band is wrapped around the forearm driving member in an opposite second direction.
8 more elements
A robot, comprising:
- an arm rotatable about a shoulder axis;
- a forearm rotatable relative to the arm about a forearm axis at a position offset from the shoulder axis;
- a first wrist member rotatable relative to the forearm about a wrist axis at a position offset from the shoulder axis, wherein the first wrist member has a maximum rotation of at least 360 degrees about the wrist axis;
- and
- a first wrist drive assembly for rotating the first wrist member about the wrist axis, the first wrist drive assembly comprising:
- a first wrist driving member;
- a first wrist driven member attached to the forearm;
- and
- a first wrist transmission element, comprising:
- a first band, wherein a first end of the first band is affixed to the first wrist driving member and a second end of the first band is affixed to the first wrist driven member, and wherein the first band wraps at least two times around the first wrist driving member when the first wrist member is in a first wrist position;
- and
- a second band, wherein a first end of the second band is affixed to the first wrist driving member and a second end of the second band is affixed to the first wrist driven member, wherein the second band wraps at least two times around the first wrist driven member when the first wrist member is in the first position,
- wherein the first band is wrapped around the first wrist driving member in a first direction and the second band is wrapped around the first wrist driving member in an opposite second direction.
10 more elements
A drive assembly for a robot, comprising:
- a driving member;
- a driven member attached to an arm link;
- and
- a transmission element, comprising:
- a first band, wherein a first end of the first band is affixed to the driving member and a second end of the first band is affixed to the driven member, and wherein the first band wraps at least two times around the driving member while the arm link is in a first position;
- and
- a second band, wherein a first end of the second band is affixed to the driving member and a second end of the second band is affixed to the driven member, wherein the second band wraps at least two times around the driven member when the arm link is in the first position, and wherein the first band is wrapped around the driving member in a first direction and the second band is wrapped around the driving member in an opposite second direction,
- wherein the arm link is rotatable about an axis of the driven member and has a maximum rotation of at least 360 degrees about the axis.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.