Wrist for rivet-placing robot arm - uses ball joint pincer mounting with springs connecting ball segment to motor crank shaft on slide plate

摘要

The elastic wrist may be used on a robot handling arm which e.g. places a rivet in a chamfer mouth bore. A plate (9), which can slide but is constrainened against rotation, is set in a shallow cylindrical casing (7), having a central window locating a motor (4) driven cam (15). A spherical segment (18) incorporates pincers (19) or similar for gripping the rivet, being connected elastically to the cam, and being seated on the contoured rim of a plate (9) integral sleeve (20). The segment and seat constitute a ball joint mounting with the segment also constrained against rotation. The plate (9) may be centred by three springs (11) and be mounted on ball bearings (10,10a), its rotation being resisted by flexible cantilever blades (12, 12a) engaging casing sockets (13, 13a). A similar mechanism (22, 23) may resist segment (18) rotation, connection to the cam being made by springs (17) to an offset shaft (16).