Industrial robots refer to multi-jointed manipulators or multi-degree-of-freedom robots designed for industrial applications. Special-purpose robots, on the other hand, are advanced robots used outside of manufacturing and serving humans, including service robots, underwater robots, entertainment robots, military robots, and agricultural robots. Within special-purpose robots, some branches are developing rapidly and showing a trend towards becoming independent systems, such as service robots, underwater robots, military robots, and micro-manipulation robots.
1. Industrial robots are classified into four types according to the movement pattern of their arms.
The arm of a rectangular coordinate type can move along three rectangular coordinates; the arm of a cylindrical coordinate type can perform lifting, rotation, and extension movements; the arm of a spherical coordinate type can rotate, pitch, and extend; and the arm of an articulated type has multiple rotating joints.
2. Industrial robots can be classified into point-to-point type and continuous trajectory type according to the control function of the actuator movement.
Point-to-point actuators control the precise positioning of the actuator from one point to another, and are suitable for machine tool loading and unloading, spot welding, and general handling and loading/unloading operations; continuous trajectory actuators can control the actuator to move along a given trajectory, and are suitable for continuous welding and painting operations.
3. Industrial robots can be classified into two types according to their program input method: programming input type and teach input type.
The programming input method involves transmitting pre-written job program files from the computer to the robot control cabinet via communication methods such as RS-232 serial port or Ethernet.
There are two teaching input methods: one is for the operator to use a manual controller (teaching control box) to transmit command signals to the drive system, so that the actuator can perform the required action sequence and motion trajectory; the other is for the operator to directly lead the actuator to perform the required action sequence and motion trajectory.
During the teaching process, the work program information is automatically stored in the program memory. When the robot works automatically, the control system retrieves the corresponding information from the program memory and transmits the instruction signals to the drive mechanism, causing the actuator to reproduce the various taught actions. Industrial robots with teach-input programs are called teach-and-playback industrial robots.
