Back to results
US 5,987,726 AGranted
Programmable positioner for the stress-free assembly of components
AssigneeFANUC Robotics North America, Inc.
InventorHadi A. Akeel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeFANUC Robotics North America, Inc.
InventorHadi A. Akeel
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for compliant positioning of an object during an assembly operation wherein the apparatus includes a base plate, a locator plate for mounting an object such as a clamp or a tool spaced from the base plate and a plurality of linear actuators connected between the base plate the locator plate by universal joints providing six degrees of freedom of movement. A control is connected to the actuators for selectively moving the locator plate to a predetermined position relative to the base plate for contacting a component to be assembled with an object mounted on the locator plate. Two or more of the actuators can be mechanically coupled to move the locator plate with less than six degrees of freedom. The control is responsive to a force applied to the locator plate through the object during assembly of the component for actuating the linear actuators to change the applied force.
An apparatus for positioning an object during an assembly operation comprising:
The apparatus according to 6 wherein said first predetermined pattern is generally triangular, said base pivot joints being arranged impairs with a midpoint of each said base pivot joint pair forming a point of said generally triangular first predetermined pattern, and said second predetermined pattern is generally triangular, said locator pivot joints being arranged in pairs with a midpoint of each said locator pivot joint pair forming a point of said generally triangular second pattern predetermined pattern.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.