A laser processing apparatus includes a six-axis robot operating by robot
axes controlled by a robot control device and a processing tool mounted
on the end of the arm of the robot. A processing head is provided on a
horizontal movement mechanism provided on a horizontal movement mechanism
support base, which is in turn supported by a carrier able to move on a
vertical movement mechanism. The vertical movement mechanism and the
horizontal movement mechanism are driven by additional axes controlled by
the robot control device. In a non-processing section of the workpiece
etc., only the additional axes are operated to move the processing head
at a high speed and shorten the cycle time. When operating the additional
axes to move, the data of the relative position of the control point
(tool end point) with respect to a fixed point on the arm forward end is
corrected each time.