Programmable vision-guided robotic turret-mounted tools

Abstract

An industrial robot has a mounting bracket and a servo motor secured to the mounting bracket for rotation relative thereto about a first axis offset from the vertical by 60.degree.. A sensor plate is mounted on one end of the motor, a position sensor is mounted on the bracket and interacts with the sensor plate to sense the rotational home and overtravel positions of the motor. A tool changer is coaxially mounted on the other end of the motor and has means for mounting a turret for coaxial rotation by the motor. A turret having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced tools is mounted on the tool changer for operation on a second axis offset 60.degree. from the first axis, such that each tool is rotatable about the first axis to a vertical working position. A video camera is mounted on the mounting bracket in a position to view the working position, and a controller, including a vision processor for interpreting the output of the video camera, controls the robot and the motor to position a preselected tool in a location to perform an operation on a workpiece. The tool changer releasably mounts the turret to enable quick mounting and release of a series of turrets each mounting different tools.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.