The present disclosure relates to a teaching device for a robot.
Generally, there is a direct teaching method as a method of teaching a robot an operation. In this direct teaching method, an operator holds a tip end of the robot, moves the robot to a desired location or makes the robot take a desired posture, and causes the robot to store this location or posture to teach the robot the operation. The operator needs to operate a teaching pendant in addition to the direct movement of the robot to the instructed location. The teaching pendant has an inching mode in which the robot is moved in a desired direction by a remote operation. In the inching mode, the operator must watch the teaching pendant while watching the robot because he/she uses operation keys of the teaching pendant.
In recent years, in order to reduce the operator's burden, teaching devices for robots which perform the inching by an audio input have been proposed (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). However, these documents have deficiencies.
The present disclosure improves a speech-recognition accuracy of an audio input in an inching mode of a robot.
In order to solve the described issue, a teaching device for a robot according to one aspect of the present disclosure is provided, which is configured to teach the robot an operation and includes a voice input part configured to accept an input of voice of an operator, a voice recognition part configured to recognize the voice of the operator inputted into the voice input part, a memory part configured to store beforehand a specific word associated with operation of the robot, a specific-word extraction part configured to extract from the memory part the specific word matching with a word recognized by the voice recognition part, and an operation command generation part configured to generate an operation command for the robot based on operational information associated with the specific word extracted by the specific-word extraction part. The specific word includes a first word for specifying a pitch corresponding to a moving distance when the robot is moved in a given direction from a specified location, and a second word for specifying a moving direction of the robot. When the pitch specified by the first word is not updated and the moving direction of the robot is specified by the second word, the operation command generation part generates the operation command so that the robot is moved in the specified direction at the specified pitch.
According to this configuration, when the operator utters to the voice input part (e.g., microphone) in an inching mode, the voice recognition part recognizes the voice of the operator inputted into the voice input part, and the specific-word extraction part extracts from the memory part the specific word matching with the word recognized by the voice recognition part. The operation command generation part generates the operation command for the robot based on the operational information (specify command) associated with the specific word extracted by the specific-word extraction part. Here, the specific word includes a word for specifying a pitch when the robot is moved in a given direction from a specified location by a direct teaching etc., and a word for specifying the moving direction of the robot. Thus, when the specific-word extraction part extracts the second word followed by the first word, the pitch specified by the first word is not updated and the moving direction of the robot is specified by the second word. In this case, the operation command is generated so that the robot is moved in the specified direction at the specified pitch. Therefore, the moving pitch can be specified by the audio input (e.g., the operator utters “PITCH 2 MM”), and then, the moving direction of the robot can be specified (e.g., the operator utters “RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT, DOWN”). Since the utterance by the operator each time becomes shorter, the precision of the speech recognition improves.
The specific word may further include a third word easy to utter for moving the robot forward or backward in the specified direction at the specified pitch. When the pitch specified by the first word is not updated and the moving direction of the robot is specified by the second word, the operation command generation part may generate the operation command so that the robot is moved forward or backward by the third word in the specified direction at the specified pitch.
According to this configuration, since the specific word includes the third word easy to utter, the robot can be moved forward or backward in the specified direction at the specified pitch by this word easy to utter after the moving direction of the robot is specified. For example, suppose that “2 MM” is specified as the pitch and “30 DEGREES UPPER RIGHT” is specified as the direction. Then, without the pitch and the direction being updated, when the operator speaks once “GO,” the robot moves upward and rightward by 2 mm. Further, without the pitch and the direction being updated, when the operator speaks once “BACK,” the robot moves upward and rightward by −2 mm. That is, it moves 30 degrees downward and leftward by 2 mm. Further, without the pitch and the direction being updated, when the operator speaks “GO, GO, GO,” the robot moves upward and rightward by the total of 6 mm. Thus, since the robot is moved forward or backward with the easy-to-utter word, the precision of the speech recognition improves.
The first word may include an ambiguous expression for specifying a pitch when the robot is moved in a given direction from a specified location. The memory part may store beforehand a numeric value and a unit thereof corresponding to the ambiguous expression so as to be associated with the ambiguous expression. When the moving direction specified by the second word is not updated and the pitch of the robot is specified by the numeric value and the unit corresponding to the ambiguous expression, the operation command generation part may generate the operation command so that the robot is moved in the specified moving direction at the specified pitch.
The robot may have a plurality of robotic arms. The specific word may further include a word for specifying a robotic arm to be used as a target of movement among the plurality of robotic arms.
According to this configuration, one robotic arm to be used as the target of movement among the plurality of robotic arms can be specified by the utterance (e.g., “UPPER ARM,” “LOWER ARM,” “BOTH ARMS”).
The teaching device may teach the robot the operation by the direct teaching.
The present disclosure has the configuration described above so that a speech-recognition accuracy of an audio input in an inching mode of a robot can be improved.
Hereinafter, a desirable embodiment is described with reference to the drawings. Note that, below, the same reference characters are assigned to the same or corresponding components throughout the drawings to omit redundant description. Moreover, the drawings are to schematically illustrate the components to facilitate understandings.
The teaching device 1 includes a voice recognition part or circuitry 11 which recognizes the voice of the operator inputted into the microphone 2, a memory or memory part 12 which stores beforehand specific word(s) associated with operation of the robot 3, a specific-word extraction part or circuitry 13 which extracts from the memory part 12 the specific word which matches with the word recognized by the voice recognition part 11, and an operation command generation part or circuitry 14 which creates an operation command for the robot based on operational information (specify command) associated with the specific word extracted by the specific-word extraction part 13. Here, the teaching device 1 is a computer provided with, for example, one or more processors, a memory, an input/output interface, and a communication interface. The voice recognition part 11, the specific-word extraction part 13, and the operation command generation part 14 are functional blocks implemented by the processor executing a given program.
The memory part 12 stores beforehand the specific words to be extracted by a speech recognition, various data, such as the commands, related to the robot operation associated with the respective specific words, and other speech recognition processing programs.
The specific-word extraction part 13 extracts from the memory part 12 the specific word which matches with the word recognized by the voice recognition part 11. The operation command generation part 14 generates the operation command for the robot based on the operational information (specify command) associated with the specific word extracted by the specific-word extraction part 13, and outputs it to the control device 4.
The robot 3 uses one of the teaching mode for teaching the operation based on the operation command from the control device 4 and the playback mode for automatically performing the taught operation. The robot 3 is connected to the control device 4. The control device 4 is a robot controller provided with, for example, an arithmetic processor, a servo amplifier, a memory, an input/output interface, and a communication interface. The control device 4 includes a direct teaching part or circuitry 21, an operation command generation part or circuitry 22, and a memory part or memory 23. The direct teaching part 21 detects a location or a posture of the robot which is led by the operator 50 in the teaching mode, and stores in the memory part 23 teaching information, such as a teaching point. The operation command generation part 22 transmits to the robot 3 a signal commanding operation of the robot 3 based on the operation command from the teaching device 1 in the teaching mode. In the playback mode, a signal for commanding operation of the robot 3 in order to perform a playback of the taught operation program etc.
is transmitted to the robot 3. The memory part 23 stores teaching information, such as the operation program generated in the teaching mode.
Next, the direct teaching of the robot 3 by the teaching device 1 is described.
The operator 50 grabs the tip end of the robotic arm 31, and moves the robotic arm 31 to a desired location or changes it to take a desired posture, and this location or posture is stored. Here, when the operator 50 utters the word “RECORD,” the teaching device 1 recognizes the voice of the operator 50 inputted into the microphone 2 by the voice recognition part 11. The specific-word extraction part 13 extracts from the memory part 12 the specific word which matches with the word recognized by the voice recognition part 11 (see
Moreover, the teaching device 1 of this embodiment can perform by the audio input the inching mode in which the robot is moved to a given direction from the location and posture of the robot which are registered by the direct teaching. The memory part 12 stores a word which specifies a pitch when moving the robot in the given direction from the location specified by the direct teaching, and a word which specifies the moving direction of the robot. As illustrated in
Next, when the operator 50 utters the word “RIGHT,” “RIGHT,” “RIGHT,” and “DOWN,” the teaching device 1 recognizes the voice of the operator 50 inputted into the microphone 2 by the voice recognition part 11. The specific-word extraction part 13 extracts from the memory part 12 the specific word which matches with the word recognized by the voice recognition part 11 (see
The operation command generation part 14 generates the operation command for the robot based on the three “specify commands to the right in the moving direction” and one “specify command to downward in the moving direction,” and outputs it to the control device 4. The control device 4 receives the operation command, refers to the pitch (2 mm) stored in the memory part 23 based on the received operation command, and moves the robot to 6 mm to the right and 2 mm to downward in the inching mode. Thus, when the moving direction of the robot is specified without the specified pitch (2 mm) being updated, the operation command generation part 14 generates the operation command so that the robot is moved in the specified direction at the specified pitch.
Therefore, according to this embodiment, since the utterance by the operator 50 each time becomes shorter in the inching mode using the audio input, the recognition precision of the speech recognition improves.
Note that, in this embodiment, once the pitch is specified, when only the word indicative of the direction is uttered without the pitch being updated, the robot is moved in the uttered direction by a distance corresponding to the pitch. However, it is sometimes difficult to repeatedly utter the word indicative of the direction. For example, “RIGHT” is not so difficult to utter repeatedly, but the words “30 DEGREES UPPER RIGHT” are difficult to utter repeatedly.
Thus, the specific word further includes a word easy to utter for moving the robot forward or backward in the specified direction at the specified pitch, and after the moving direction of the robot is specified, the robot may be moved in the specified direction at the given pitch by the easy-to-utter word.
That is, when the operator utters the word “GO” and the teaching device recognizes it, the operation command for moving the robot in the direction already specified by a distance corresponding to the pitch already specified is generated. Moreover, when the operator utters the word “BACK” and the teaching device 1 (voice recognition part 11) recognizes it, the operation command for moving the robot in the direction opposite to the direction already specified by a distance corresponding to the pitch already specified is generated. Thus, since the robot is moved forward or backward with the easy-to-utter word, the recognition precision of the speech recognition improves.
Note that although in this embodiment the robot is moved in the specified direction at the specified pitch when the moving direction of the robot is specified without the specified pitch being updated, the robot may be moved in the specified moving direction at the specified pitch, when the pitch is specified without the specified moving direction being updated. For example, when the right is specified as the moving direction, and the operator utters the word “2 MM” without the moving direction being updated, the operation command for moving the robot rightward by 2 mm may be generated. Further, when the operator utters the word “0.2 MM” without the moving direction being changed, the operation command for moving the robot rightward by 0.2 mm may be generated.
The word for specifying the pitch may be “2 MM” and “0.2 MM” which include a concrete numeric value, and as illustrated in
Note that since the robot 3 is the dual-arm robot having the two robotic arms 31, one robotic arm may be specified by the audio input in the inching mode as a moving target. For example, the operator 50 can specify the robotic arm 31 which becomes the inching target by uttering either the “UPPER ARM,” the “LOWER ARM” or “BOTH ARMS.”
Note that although in this embodiment the teaching device 1 is to teach the robot the operation by the direct teaching, it may be to teach the robot operation by other teaching.
The functionality of the elements disclosed herein may be implemented using circuitry or processing circuitry which includes general purpose processors, special purpose processors, integrated circuits, ASICs (“Application Specific Integrated Circuits”), conventional circuitry and/or combinations thereof which are configured or programmed to perform the disclosed functionality. Processors are considered processing circuitry or circuitry as they include transistors and other circuitry therein. In the disclosure, the circuitry, units, or means are hardware that carry out or are programmed to perform the recited functionality. The hardware may be any hardware disclosed herein or otherwise known which is programmed or configured to carry out the recited functionality. When the hardware is a processor which may be considered a type of circuitry, the circuitry, means, or units are a combination of hardware and software, the software being used to configure the hardware and/or processor.
It is apparent for the person skilled in the art that many improvements and other embodiments of the present disclosure are possible from the above description. Therefore, the above description is to be interpreted only as illustration, and it is provided in order to teach the person skilled in the art the best mode that implements the present disclosure. The details of the configuration and/or the function may be changed substantially without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.
The present disclosure is useful for teaching robots.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2018-010445 | Jan 2018 | JP | national |
2018-097118 | May 2018 | JP | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2019/001825 | Jan 2019 | US |
Child | 16939496 | US |