JPH11881A - Clean robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily adjust the upward and downward attitude of a work W around a vertical axial line at the time of transferring the work W comprising a wafer being changed from lateral attitude to vertical attitude while keeping the robot reliable and at a lower cost without increasing the number of the axes of a clean robot. SOLUTION: An elevator 15 is provided for a mover 13, as a clean robot 10, moving in almost horizontal and longitudinal directions, an arm 17 is provided to the elevator 15 to be rotationally movable around a first axis 16 in horizontal and cross directions and a work hand 20 is provided to the arm 17 to be rotatable around a second axis 23 extending along a plane perpendicular to the first axis 16 and having the axial line L2 not crossing the axial line L1 of the first axis 16. The movement of the second axis 23 via which the hand 20 is connected to and supported by the arm 17 is used to adjust the upward and downward attitude of a work W being in vertical attitude.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clean robot and, more particularly, to a technical field for transferring a workpiece while changing its orientation with a small number of axes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a clean room for manufacturing semiconductors, a plurality of wafers serving as IC substrates are stored in a storage case called a carriage with a plurality of wafers stacked in a horizontal orientation and transferred by a robot. In a wafer processing step, a plurality of wafers may be taken out from the storage carriage, transferred to a processing carriage, housed in a vertical position, and processed together with the processing carriage. At this time, it is necessary to convert a plurality of wafers housed in a normal storage carriage in a horizontal posture into a vertical posture in a vertical direction, and then insert the wafers into the processing carriage.

As described above, when a workpiece such as a wafer is transferred while being changed from a horizontal position to a vertical position by a robot, the robot is conventionally moved in a horizontal direction as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-77672. A movable platform, a vertical drive unit movably provided in the vertical direction on the movable platform, and the head of the vertical drive unit rotatable about a horizontal fulcrum axis perpendicular to the moving direction of the movable platform. And a mounting base supported on the mounting base and an arm body rotatably provided around an axis extending in a length direction of the mounting base and having a chuck portion for a work at a distal end thereof. I have.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the work can be changed from the horizontal posture to the vertical posture by rotating the arm body with respect to the mounting base, but the work in the vertical posture is limited to one posture. As a result, there is a problem that the vertical posture of the work cannot be arbitrarily adjusted around the vertical axis (see FIG. 4B).

In order to adjust the vertical posture of the work about the vertical axis, the chuck is changed to a structure that supports the chuck about a vertical axis extending vertically with respect to the arm body. As a result, the number of axes of the robot increases, which leads to a decrease in the reliability of the robot and an increase in cost.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to improve the structure of the above-mentioned robot for a clean room so that the number of axes can be increased without increasing the number of axes. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily adjust the vertical posture of a workpiece when transferring while changing the posture from the vertical posture to the vertical posture.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an arm is supported on a lifting / lowering body of a robot around a horizontal axis, and a hand is attached to the arm at right angles to the horizontal axis of the arm. The axis is rotatably supported by an axis that does not intersect the axis of the horizontal axis.

More specifically, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a moving body that moves in a horizontal direction, an elevating body that is provided on the moving body so as to move in a vertical direction, and the moving body An arm provided so as to rotate about a first axis extending in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the arm;
A work hand that is provided so as to rotate around a second axis that extends along a plane orthogonal to the first axis and has an axis that does not intersect with the axis of the first axis, and that grips the work; It is characterized by:

According to the above arrangement, when a workpiece in a horizontal horizontal position is transferred while being changed to a vertical vertical position, first, the work hand is positioned in a horizontal position by positioning the vertical position of the lifting body. After that, the moving body is moved in the front-rear direction, and the workpiece is gripped by the hand. Next, the arm is rotated about the first axis, and the hand and the work are inverted in a plane orthogonal to the first axis. At this time, since the work hand is connected to and supported by the arm by a second shaft having an axis extending along a plane orthogonal to the first axis for rotating the arm and not intersecting with the axis of the first axis. ,
By adjusting the elevating position of the elevating body at the same time as the rotation of the arm about the first axis, the second axis can be positioned in the vertical direction, and the work is placed in the vertical posture in the direction along the second axis. change. Therefore, if the hand is rotated about the second axis, the vertical posture of the work can be arbitrarily adjusted about the vertical axis. In this way, by using the movement of the second axis that connects and supports the work hand to the arm, it is possible to reduce the reliability and cost of the robot without adding a vertical axis separately, Adjustment of the vertical posture about the vertical axis can be easily performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the lifting body is provided with a carriage hand for gripping the work storage carriage. Thus, in addition to the above effects, the work storage carriage can be easily grasped and moved by the carriage hand of the elevating body.

[0011]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which R is a clean room for manufacturing semiconductors, and the air flow in the clean room R is set to a downward flow. Reference numeral 1 denotes a floor surface of the clean room R, on which a horizontal left-right direction X (the left-right direction in FIG.
3 and the transfer table 2 and the processing table 3 extending in parallel to each other in the direction perpendicular to the drawing are spaced apart in the front-rear direction Y (vertical direction in FIG. 1, and horizontal direction in FIGS. 2 and 3). The processing receiver 3 is set up in an opposed state, and the height of the processing receiver 3 is set higher than the transfer receiver 2. A plurality of work storing carriages 5, 5,...
Are placed at regular intervals in the length direction (the left-right direction X). Carriage 5 for storing each of the above works
Is a substantially rectangular box having one open side, and is placed on the transfer pedestal 2 by a transfer robot 10 described later so that the opening faces the processing pedestal 3 side. A large number of concave grooves 5a, 5a,... Extending in the front-rear direction Y for fitting a large number of disc-shaped works W, W,. Of the workpiece W is formed between the two concave grooves 5a, 5a corresponding to the left and right, and the left and right ends of the outer periphery thereof are concave grooves 5a, 5a. It is supported in a state of being inserted inside.

On the upper surface of the processing table 3, a plurality of processing carriages 6, 6,... Correspond to the work storage carriages 5, 5,. Are placed at regular intervals. Each of the processing carriages 6 also has a substantially rectangular box shape with one surface opened, and is placed on the processing pedestal 3 so that its opening faces upward. On the left and right side surfaces in each of the processing carriages 6, a large number of vertically extending concave grooves 6a, 6a,... For fitting and inserting a large number of works W, W,. The work W is formed between the corresponding concave grooves 6a, 6a so that the front and rear ends of the outer periphery thereof are located in the concave grooves 6a, 6a. It is designed to be accommodated in the inserted state.

On the floor 1 between the transfer receiving table 2 and the processing receiving table 3, a plurality of works W are placed between each of the work storing carriages 5 and the processing carriage 6 corresponding to the carriage 5. , W,... Is provided with one transfer robot 10. That is, a pair of front and rear rails 9, 9 extending in parallel to each other in the left-right direction X are laid on the floor surface 1 between the two receiving stands 2, 3, and the robot 10 moves along the pair of rails 9, 9, It has a traveling platform 11 that moves in the horizontal left-right direction X. A pair of left and right rails 12, 12 extending parallel to each other in the front-rear direction Y is attached to the upper surface of the traveling platform 11, and a moving body 13 extends between the two rails 12, 12.
Are mounted on and supported so as to move in the horizontal front-rear direction Y.

A pair of right and left columns 14, 14 is erected on the upper surface of the movable body 13, and an elevating body 15 is supported so as to move in the vertical direction Z between the two columns 14, 14. An arm 17 is supported by the body 15 so as to rotate about a first shaft 16 extending in the horizontal left-right direction X. That is, an intermediate portion between the two columns 14, 14 is cut out on the upper surface of the elevating body 15, and first shafts 16, 16 divided in the axial direction are respectively provided on the upper end of the side surface of the cut portion so as to protrude left and right. Have been. On the other hand, the arm 17 has a substantially U-shape in which the distal ends of long box-shaped arm members 18 and 18 are connected and integrated by a box-shaped connecting member 19.
The base ends of the shafts 8 and 18 are respectively attached to the first shafts 16 and 16 so as to rotate integrally with the first shafts 16 and 16. I do.

Further, a work hand 20 for gripping works W, W,... Is provided at the tip of the arm 17. The work hand 20 includes a work W, a work W in the work storage carriage 5 (in the processing carriage 6).
W,..., The same number of support members 21 as substantially V-shaped thin plates,
Are arranged in multiple stages vertically at regular intervals and integrated at each base end, and the outer peripheral edge of each work W is locked to the tip of each support member 21 at two points. A pair of left and right distal claw portions 21a, 21a is formed on the base end side, and one base claw portion 21b for supporting the outer peripheral edge of the same work W on the side opposite to the distal claw portions 21a, 21a is formed. In addition, each work W is sandwiched between these three claws 21a, 21a, and 21b, and is held so as not to drop even when the work W is inverted. The number of the support members 21 is not limited to the same as the number of the works W in each carriage 5 and may be one or more.

The base end of the work hand 20 is rotatably supported by a connecting member 19 of the arm 17 by a second shaft 23 provided so as to penetrate the connecting member 19 in an orthogonal state. A drive unit 24 that is drivingly connected to the second shaft 23 is attached and fixed to the work hand 20. The drive unit 24 drives the work hand 20 to rotate about the second shaft 23. The connecting member 19 of the arm 17 is disposed so as to intersect the two arm members 18 at a predetermined angle with a plane extending on the first shaft 16 in the length direction of the arm member 18. This allows the arm 17
The second axis 23 supporting the workpiece hand 20 extends along a plane perpendicular to the first axis 16, that is, along a vertical plane, and the axis L 2 of the second axis 23 extends in the horizontal direction of the first axis 16. The arrangement does not intersect with the extending axis L1, in other words, does not pass on the axis L1.

At the front end of the elevating body 15, there is provided a carriage hand 27 comprising a pair of left and right claws 28, 28 for opening and closing to grip the carriages 5 for storing the workpieces. As shown by the imaginary line on the left side of FIG. 2, the two claws 28 of the carriage hand 27 are closed and engaged with the engaging portions (not shown) on the upper surfaces of the left and right side walls of the work storage carriage 5. Thus, the carriage 5 is gripped by the hand 27.

Although not shown, in the robot 10, the traveling of the traveling platform 11, the movement of the moving body 13, the
The lifting and lowering, rotation of the arm 17, and opening and closing of the claws 28, 28 of the carriage hand 27 are performed independently by the driving device.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. In advance, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the processing carriages 6, 6,... Have their respective openings upward and have concave grooves 6a, 6a,. It is placed with its side wall facing the front-back direction Y. In this state, first, the workpieces W, W,.
Are placed in a horizontal position in the horizontal direction, and a plurality of work storage carriages 5, 5,... In other words, the moving body 13 of the robot 10 is moved to the retreat position (the right end position in FIG. 2), and the arm 17 of the robot 10 is rotated around the first axis 16 in FIG. By rotating the work hand 20 in the clockwise direction, the work hand 20 is positioned at a position where the work hand 20 does not hinder the conveyance of the work storage carriage 5. In that state, the carriage 11
Are moved in the horizontal direction X to the positions of the work storage carriages 5, 5,...
And the two claws 28 of the carriage hand 27,
The carriage 5 is closed and engaged with the engaging portions on the upper surfaces of the left and right side walls of the carriage 5, and the carriage 5 is gripped by the hand 27. Thereafter, the carriage 11, the moving body 13, and the elevating body 15 are position-controlled to position the work storage carriage 5 on the predetermined transfer receiving table 2, and the claw portions 28,
28 to open the work storage carriage 5 and the transfer pedestal 2
Transfer to the top. By repeating these operations, a plurality of work storage carriages 5, 5,... Are arranged and placed on the transfer receiving table 2 with their openings facing the processing receiving table 3.

Thereafter, a plurality of workpieces W, W
.. Are taken out in the horizontal horizontal posture and the postures of the workpieces W, W,. It is transferred into the carriage 6. Specifically, first, the elevating body 15 is positioned and stopped at a predetermined elevating position, and each support member 21 of the work hand 20 is set in a horizontal posture, and the moving body 13 is moved forward in this state. As a result, the hand 20 is inserted into the work storage carriage 5, and each support member 21 is positioned below each work W. In this state, the elevating body 15 is slightly raised to lift each work W by the support member 21 of the hand 20 and to grip the work W between the three claws 21a, 21a, 21b so as not to fall.

Then, when the moving body 13 is retracted, the plurality of works W, W,... Are pulled out from the work storage carriage 5 while being held by the respective support members 21 of the work hand 20. At the retreat position of the moving body 13,
As the elevating body 15 moves up, the arm 17 rotates clockwise around the first shaft 16 in FIG. 2, and the hand 20 and the workpieces W, W,... When the second shaft 23 is in the upright state in the vertical direction, the arm 17
The rotation stops, and in the upright state of the second shaft 23, each work W of the work hand 20 changes to a vertical posture along the vertical direction at a position directly above the processing carriage 6.
Thereafter, the driving member 24 moves the support member 21 of the work hand 20 around the second axis 23 (vertical axis in the vertical direction) by about 9 degrees.
When the work W is rotated by 0 °, the vertical posture of each work W on the hand 20 changes in the front-rear direction Y corresponding to the facing direction of the side wall having the concave grooves 6a, 6a,. In this state, the elevating body 15 moves down, the work hand 20 is inserted into the processing carriage 6 from above, and the outer peripheral edge of each work W supported by each support member 21 of the hand 20 is moved. The carriage 6 is fitted between the concave grooves 6a, 6a. After that, the claws 21a, 21a, 21b of the support members 21 of the hand 20 are loosened, and the engagement and holding of the work W by the support member 21 is released, whereby all the works W, W,. It is transferred to the carriage 6.

After the transfer of the workpieces W, W,.
5 moves upward and the work hand 20 comes out of the processing carriage 6. The work hand 20 in the empty state is moved by the movement of the carriage 11 so that the adjacent work storage carriage 5 is moved.
Are transferred from the work storage carriage 5 to the corresponding processing carriage 6 in the same manner as described above. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated for each processing carriage 6.

The processing carriage 6 containing the works W, W,... Is supplied to a processing device, which processes the works W, W,. The processed workpieces W, W,... And the processing carriage 6 are arranged and placed on the processing receiver 3 in the same manner as before the processing. The workpieces W, W,... In the processing carriages 6 are taken out by the transfer robot 10 in an operation reverse to the above, and then returned to the workpiece storage carriage 5.

In addition, unlike the state shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG.
Are placed with their respective openings facing upward and the side walls having the concave grooves 6a, 6a,... Facing each other in the left-right direction X, the following operation is performed. That is, the workpieces W, W,... Pulled out from the workpiece storage carriage 5 by the workpiece hand 20 are turned together with the hand 20 by the rotation of the arm 17 around the first axis 16, and the work W is directly above the processing carriage 6. Until the position changes to the vertical posture along the up-down direction at the position, the operation in the case of FIG. 2 described above is the same.
In this state, the workpieces W, W,
Are oriented along the left-right direction X corresponding to the facing direction of the side wall portions having the concave grooves 6a, 6a,... Of the processing carriage 6, so that the work hand 20
The work hand 20 may be inserted from above into the processing carriage 6 by lowering the elevating body 15 without rotating the support member 21 about 90 ° about the second axis 23.

That is, in this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
On the other hand, the second shaft 23 extending along a plane orthogonal to the first shaft 16 for arm rotation is connected and supported.
Since the axis L2 of the shaft 23 does not intersect with the axis L1 of the first shaft 16, if the elevating position of the elevating body 15 is adjusted simultaneously with the rotation of the arm 17 around the first shaft 16, the second shaft 23 will move up and down. The respective workpieces W are positioned vertically in the vertical direction along the second axis 23. Then, by rotating the hand 20 around the second axis 23, the vertical posture of each work W can be arbitrarily adjusted around the vertical axis.
FIG. 4B shows the conventional example in comparison (note that the same parts as those in FIG. 4A are denoted by the same reference numerals). Since the work 23 'is in the horizontal direction, even if the work hand 20 is rotated around the second axis 23', the vertical posture of the work W cannot be adjusted about the vertical axis.

Therefore, in the case of this embodiment, the second shaft 2 that connects and supports the work hand 20 to the arm 17 is used.
Since the vertical posture of the workpiece W is adjusted around the vertical axis using the motion of 3, the vertical axis of the workpiece W need not be added separately, and the reliability and cost reduction of the robot 10 can be maintained. Can be.

Since the lifting body 15 is provided with a carriage hand 27 for gripping the work storage carriage 5, the carriage 5 is easily gripped and moved by the carriage hand 27 of the lifting body 15. Can be done.

Although the above embodiment is applied to a clean robot for manufacturing semiconductors, the present invention can be applied to clean robots other than those for manufacturing semiconductors. In addition, the elevating body 15 may have one guide column, and the arm 17 may be one in which a box-shaped connecting member 19 is integrated with the tip of one long box-shaped arm member 18.

[0029]

As described above, according to the clean robot of the first aspect of the present invention, the moving body that moves in the horizontal direction is provided with the elevating body, and the arm is attached to the elevating body in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving body. The arm is provided with a hand for gripping a workpiece on a second axis having an axis extending along a plane orthogonal to the first axis and not intersecting with the axis of the first axis. By using the movement of the second axis that connects and supports the hand to the arm, the robot can maintain the number of axes and reduce the robot's reliability and cost while maintaining the number of axes. , It is possible to easily adjust the posture about the vertical axis.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the carriage hand is provided on the elevating body, so that the transfer of the work storage carriage can be facilitated while utilizing the clean robot.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a vertical posture of a work at 90 ° around a vertical axis.
FIG. 3 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 2, showing a state of being transferred to a processing carriage instead.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a work in a vertical position is changed to a vertical position by rotation of an arm.

[Explanation of symbols]

 R Clean room 5 Work storage carriage 6 Processing carriage 10 Transfer robot (clean robot) 13 Moving body 15 Lifting body 16 First axis L1 Axis 17 Arm 20 Work hand 23 Second axis L2 Axis 27 Carriage hand W Work X Horizontal left-right direction Y Horizontal front-rear direction Z Vertical direction

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A moving body that moves in a horizontal direction, an elevating body provided on the moving body so as to move in a vertical direction, and the elevating body extends in a horizontal direction orthogonal to a moving direction of the moving body. An arm provided to rotate about a first axis; and a second axis having an axis extending along a plane orthogonal to the first axis and not intersecting with the axis of the first axis. A clean robot, comprising: a work hand that is provided so as to rotate around a workpiece and that grips a work. 2. The clean robot according to claim 1, further comprising a carriage hand for holding the work storage carriage on the elevating body.