Gripper for a door and a control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12409548-B2
Application number	US-202318511310-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2023
Priority date	Jun 15, 2023
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

A gripper mounted on a robot is used in a smart factory to pick a door loaded on a pallet. The gripper includes: a frame mounted on a tool changer of the robot; a picking unit mounted on a front of the frame and applying pressure to and regulating each of upper and lower points of an opening formed in an inner panel of the door through a bundle pin locator; and a pressure control valve adjusting the pressure of guide air cylinders. The gripper further includes: a side clamping unit mounted on the frame and holding a side point of the opening by a fixing locator and a clamper operating with a driving force of a clamping cylinder; and a control unit adjusting a moving distance of the robot based on a distance difference between the side clamping unit and the inner panel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gripper mounted on a robot to pick a door loaded on a pallet, the gripper comprising:
a frame mounted on a tool changer of the robot;
a picking unit mounted on a front of the frame and configured to apply pressure to and regulate each of an upper point and a lower point of an opening formed in an inner panel of the door through a bundle pin locator;
a pressure control valve configured to adjust a pressure of guide air cylinders each applied to the picking unit;
a side clamping unit mounted on the front of the frame and configured to hold a side point of the opening using a fixing locator and a clamper operated with a driving force of a clamping cylinder; and
a control unit configured to adjust a moving distance of the robot by measuring a distance difference between the side clamping unit and the inner panel.

2. The gripper for the door of claim 1 , wherein the frame comprises:
a first vertical frame installed on the front and mounting the picking unit thereon; and
a second vertical frame disposed at a position parallel to the first vertical frame and mounting the side clamping unit thereon.

3. The gripper for the door of claim 1 , wherein the picking unit comprises:
an upper picking unit configured to regulate the upper point of the inner panel through the bundle pin locator transferring a force in an upward direction using the pressure of the guide air cylinder; and
a lower picking unit configured to regulate the lower point of the inner panel through the bundle pin locator transferring the force in a falling direction by using the pressure of the guide air cylinder.

4. The gripper for the door of claim 3 , wherein the bundle pin locator comprises:
a plurality of hexagon pin locators arranged in a bundle structure at a part in contact with the inner panel;
a support rod configured to extend in a longitudinal direction from lower portions of the plurality of hexagon pin locators and configured to penetrate a horizontal plate configured inside a housing;
a spring installed around the support rod and configured to support the lower portions of the plurality of hexagon pin locators;
a locking plate installed at a lowest end of the support rod and locked on a lower surface of the horizontal plate; and
a laser beam sensor installed in a horizontal direction in a lower portion of the housing and configured to sense falling positions of the plurality of hexagon pin locators in contact with the inner panel.

5. The gripper for the door of claim 4 , wherein each hexagon pin locator of the plurality of hexagon pin locators is a pin having a regular hexagonal cross-sectional shape, and the plurality of hexagon pin locators forms an anti-slip pattern in a comb pattern shape on an upper surface thereof in contact with the inner panel.

6. The gripper for the door of claim 5 , wherein:
the plurality of hexagon pin locators are densely arranged, with adjacent regular hexagonal cross-sections facing each other, and
each of the plurality of hexagon pin locators is configured to move up and down by a weight of the inner panel in contact with the upper surface thereof and an elastic force of the spring supporting a lower portion of the inner panel.

7. The gripper for the door of claim 4 , wherein:
the laser beam sensor comprises a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and
the laser beam sensor is configured to sense that a falling position of the locking plate reaches a reference position by using a laser beam transmitted from the light emitting unit and received by the light receiving unit and further configured to transmit a falling sensing signal to the pressure control valve.

8. The gripper for the door of claim 7 , wherein:
the pressure control valve includes an upper pressure control valve and a lower pressure control valve respectively configured to correspond to the upper picking unit and the lower picking unit, and
the upper pressure control valve and the lower pressure control valve set the pressure of the guide air cylinder to a low pressure lower than a critical pressure during initial operations of the upper picking unit and the lower picking unit to prevent damage to the inner panel.

9. The gripper for the door of claim 8 , wherein:
the upper pressure control valve and the lower pressure control valve maintain a low pressure lower than a critical pressure until receiving the falling sensing signal from the laser beam sensor, and
when receiving the falling sensing signal, the upper pressure control valve and the lower pressure control valve increase the pressure of the guide air cylinder by a certain amount to strengthen a regulatory force of the inner panel.

10. The gripper for the door of claim 1 , wherein the side clamping unit is configured to hold an inner surface of the side point with a clamper rotating around a hinge axis by a forward operation of the clamping cylinder while the fixing locator is placed on an outer surface of the side point.

11. The gripper for the door of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the upper point and the lower point to be controlled by using the picking unit after completing clamping of the side point by using the side clamping unit.

12. The gripper for the door of claim 1 , wherein the control unit comprises:
a robot controller configured to measure an actual measurement distance from the inner panel through a laser sensor and derive a distance difference between the actual measurement distance and a reference distance set based on robot teaching; and
a gripper controller configured to interoperate with the robot controller and control operations of the picking unit and the side clamping unit.

13. The gripper for the door of claim 12 , wherein the gripper controller is configured to control a pressing force of the bundle pin locator formed at a tip of the picking unit in stages through the pressure control valve.

14. A control method of a gripper mounted on a robot to pick a door loaded on a pallet, the control method comprising:
moving the gripper to a set picking position of the door through motion control of the robot;
adjusting a moving distance of the robot by measuring a distance difference between a side clamping unit and an inner panel by using a laser sensor mounted on the side clamping unit of the gripper;
holding a side point of the inner panel by using the side clamping unit; and
applying pressure to and regulating an upper point and a lower point of the inner panel through a bundle pin locator configured in a picking unit of the gripper.

15. The control method of claim 14 , wherein adjusting the moving distance of the robot comprises:
measuring an actual measurement distance from the inner panel by using the laser sensor; and
deriving the distance difference by subtracting a reference distance set based on robot teaching from the actual measurement distance.

16. The control method of claim 14 , wherein adjusting the moving distance of the robot comprises:
comparing the distance difference with an allowable value for a clamping operation of the side clamping unit; and
adjusting a position of the gripper in a forward/backward direction based on the distance difference when the distance difference exceeds the allowable value.

17. The control method of claim 14 , wherein regulating the upper point and the lower point comprises:
controlling each guide air cylinder to a low pressure by setting a pressure control valve in an initial operation step of the picking unit;
maintaining the low pressure while the bundle pin locator is in cont

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Lee Seung Ho
• Kim Beomjun
• Lee Seongsul
• Lee Moonhee

Classifications

• B25J9/1633

  compliant, force, torque control, e.g. combined with position control · CPC title

• B25J13/088

  with position, velocity or acceleration sensors · CPC title

• B25J9/1664

  characterised by motion, path, trajectory planning · CPC title

• B25J19/022

  using lasers · CPC title

• B25J15/0061 Primary

  mounted on a modular gripping structure · CPC title