Terminal insertion device and terminal insertion method

1. A terminal insertion method of inserting a terminal into a connector housing by a parallel joint mechanism, the parallel joint mechanism including plural arms connected to a hand member with plural motors and a grasping mechanism, wherein the insertion direction of the terminal into the connector housing, an x-axis perpendicular to the y-axis, and a z-axis perpendicular to both the y-axis and the x-axis, and the plural motors allow for the grasping mechanism to be rotated about the y-axis defining a roll direction, the x-axis defining a pitch direction, and the z-axis defining a yaw direction, the terminal insertion method comprising:

grasping an electric wire which is connected to the terminal at a leading end of the electric wire using the grasping mechanism;

conveying the electric wire grasped by the grasping mechanism toward any one of a plurality of connector housings arranged on a stationary disk using the parallel joint mechanism;

measuring a contour position of the terminal, the contour position of the terminal including widths of the terminal measured with respect to the x-axis and the z-axis;

calculating a roll angle of the terminal in the roll direction based on a diagonal dimension of the terminal and the contour position of the terminal obtained by the measurement;

controlling the parallel joint mechanism to compensate an inclination of the terminal corresponding to the roll angle before the terminal is inserted into a cavity in the connector housing; and

inserting the terminal into the cavity in the connector housing.

2. The terminal insertion method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring positional coordinates of the terminal;

calculating an inclination of the terminal in the pitch direction and the yaw direction; and

controlling the parallel joint mechanism so as to compensate the positional coordinates of the terminal and the inclination of the terminal in the pitch direction and the yaw direction before the terminal is inserted into the cavity.

3. The terminal insertion method according to claim 2 , further comprising:

after the compensation of the inclination of the terminal corresponding to the roll angle and the inclination of the terminal in the pitch direction and the yaw direction is completed and the compensation of the positional coordinates of the terminal is completed, moving the terminal to a primary insertion position where a leading end portion of the terminal abuts on an entrance of the cavity into which the terminal is to be inserted;

moving a position where the electric wire is grasped by the grasping mechanism, so as to rectify the inclination of the electric wire in the pitch direction; and

inserting the terminal into the cavity to a secondary insertion position behind the primary insertion position.

4. The terminal insertion method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

compensating the inclination of the terminal corresponding to the roll angle in a specific rotation direction; and

measuring again the contour position of the terminal and when it is calculated from the measurement result that the roll angle has increased, compensating the inclination of the terminal with respect to a direction opposite to the specific rotation direction.

5. The terminal insertion method according to claim 1 , wherein

in the measuring of the contour position of the terminal, a biaxial sensor portion approaches or separates from the terminal along the y-axis.

6. The terminal insertion method according to claim 1 , wherein

a part of the electric wire is grasped by a grasping unit of the parallel joint mechanism in a state that the terminal is released.