CN111434482A

CN111434482A - 3D printing device, pickup device and method, control device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN111434482A
Application number: CN201811601362.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马永洲; 唐辉; 于清晓
Original assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Current assignee: Shanghai Union Technology Corp
Priority date: 2018-12-26
Filing date: 2018-12-26
Publication date: 2020-07-21

Abstract

A3D printing device, a pickup device and method, a control device and a storage medium, wherein the 3D printing device comprises: otter board, first actuating mechanism and ejection mechanism, wherein: the first driving mechanism is connected with the ejection mechanism and is suitable for driving the ejection mechanism to move; the ejection mechanism is suitable for moving under the driving of the first driving mechanism, and separating the workpiece to be taken and placed on the screen plate from the screen plate. By adopting the scheme, the convenience of the piece taking operation can be improved.

Description

3D printing device, pickup device and method, control device and storage medium

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of 3D printing, in particular to a 3D printing device, a pickup device and method, a control device and a storage medium.

Background

3D printing is one of rapid prototyping technologies, and is based on a digital model file, and an object is constructed by using a special adhesive material such as wax, powdered metal or plastic and the like in a layer-by-layer printing mode.

And after 3D printing is finished, a finished product obtained by printing is stuck on the screen plate. When taking the piece, the finished product needs to be separated from the net plate manually. However, the operation flow of the conventional pickup method is complicated.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention solves the technical problem of how to improve the convenience of the workpiece taking operation.

To solve the above technical problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides a 3D printing apparatus, including: otter board, first actuating mechanism and ejection mechanism, wherein: the first driving mechanism is connected with the ejection mechanism and is suitable for driving the ejection mechanism to move; the ejection mechanism is suitable for moving under the driving of the first driving mechanism, and separating the workpiece to be taken and placed on the screen plate from the screen plate.

Optionally, the ejection mechanism comprises: a bracket arm and an ejection pin; one end of the supporting arm is connected with the first driving mechanism; the other end of the supporting arm is connected with the ejection pin; the ejection pins move relative to meshes on the screen plate under the drive of the first drive mechanism.

Optionally, the ejection mechanism is located below the mesh plate.

Optionally, the 3D printing apparatus further comprises: shovel a mechanism and second actuating mechanism, wherein: the second driving mechanism is connected with the shoveling member mechanism and is suitable for driving the shoveling member mechanism to move; the shovel component mechanism is suitable for moving under the driving of the second driving mechanism to remove the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate.

Optionally, the 3D printing apparatus further comprises: the shovel component mechanism comprises a support and a guide rail, wherein the guide rail is fixed on the support, and the shovel component mechanism is suitable for moving along the guide rail.

Optionally, the shovel member mechanism comprises: the connecting part is respectively connected with the guide rail and the shovel part, and the connecting part moves along the guide rail when driven by the second driving mechanism.

Optionally, the shovel member mechanism further comprises: a connecting rod connected with the connecting portion and the shovel portion respectively.

Optionally, the scoop section comprises: the device comprises a pushing part and a bending part, wherein the bending part is arranged at least one end of the pushing part.

Optionally, the ejection mechanism is located above the mesh plate.

Optionally, the 3D printing apparatus further comprises: and the fixing table is used for fixing the screen plate.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a pickup device, which comprises: first actuating mechanism and ejection mechanism, wherein: the first driving mechanism is connected with the ejection mechanism and is suitable for driving the ejection mechanism to move; the ejection mechanism is located above the screen plate and is suitable for moving under the driving of the first driving mechanism to separate the workpiece to be taken, which is placed on the screen plate, from the screen plate.

Optionally, the ejection mechanism comprises: bracket and ejector pin, wherein: one end of the supporting arm is connected with the first driving mechanism; the other end of the supporting arm is connected with the ejection pin; one end of the supporting arm is connected with the first driving mechanism; the other end of the supporting arm is connected with the ejection pin;

the embodiment of the present invention further provides a pickup method, which is suitable for picking up an article printed by any one of the above 3D printing apparatuses, and includes: receiving a pickup instruction; and controlling the first driving mechanism to drive the ejection mechanism to move according to the workpiece taking instruction, so that the ejection mechanism separates the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate.

Optionally, the pickup method further includes: receiving a shovel piece instruction; and controlling a second driving mechanism to drive the shoveling member mechanism to move according to the shoveling member instruction, and removing the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a control device, which includes a memory and a processor, where the memory stores computer instructions executable on the processor, and the processor executes any of the steps of the above-mentioned pickup method when executing the computer instructions.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium is a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transitory storage medium, and has computer instructions stored thereon, and when the computer instructions are executed, the computer instructions perform any of the steps of the pickup method.

Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention has the following beneficial effects:

the ejection mechanism is driven by the first driving mechanism to move to eject the workpiece to be taken, so that the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate.

Furthermore, the second driving mechanism can drive the shovel piece mechanism to move the workpiece to be taken away from the screen plate, so that the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate, the manual piece taking operation is not needed, and the piece taking operation can be automatically completed through the shovel piece mechanism, so that the convenience of taking the piece can be further improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 to 2 are schematic structural diagrams of a 3D printing apparatus at different viewing angles according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3-4 are schematic structural diagrams of another 3D printing device in different viewing angles according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 in the direction A-A;

fig. 6 to 7 are schematic structural views of a pickup device according to an embodiment of the present invention at different viewing angles;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 in the direction B-B;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a pickup method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of another pickup method in an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

As described above, after the 3D printing is completed, the printed finished product is stuck on the screen plate. When taking the piece, the finished product needs to be separated from the net plate manually. However, the operation flow of the existing manual pickup mode is complex.

In the embodiment of the invention, the first driving mechanism drives the ejection mechanism, the ejection mechanism moves under the driving of the first driving mechanism, and the workpiece to be taken is ejected, so that the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate.

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more comprehensible, specific embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 1 to 2, schematic structural diagrams of a 3D printing apparatus at different viewing angles in an embodiment of the present invention are shown. Fig. 3 to 4 are schematic structural diagrams of another 3D printing apparatus in the embodiment of the present invention at different viewing angles. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view in the direction a-a of fig. 4. Fig. 6 to 7 are schematic structural views of a pickup device in different viewing angles according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of fig. 7 in the direction B-B. The structure of the 3D printing apparatus will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 8.

In a specific implementation, the 3D printing apparatus may include: a screen plate 11, a first driving mechanism 12 and an ejection mechanism 13.

In a specific implementation, after the 3D printing apparatus finishes printing the workpiece, the printed workpiece is adhered to the screen 11, and the printed workpiece needs to be taken out of the screen 11.

In a specific implementation, the first driving mechanism 12 is connected to the ejection mechanism 13, and can drive the ejection mechanism 13 to move. The ejection mechanism 13 moves under the driving of the first driving mechanism 12 to eject the workpiece to be picked adhered to the screen plate 11, so that the workpiece to be picked placed on the screen plate 11 can be separated from the screen plate 11.

In a specific implementation, the first driving mechanism 12 may be a servo motor, a stepping motor, or another device that can drive the ejection mechanism 13 to move, and details are not repeated here.

According to the above, the first driving mechanism drives the ejection mechanism, the ejection mechanism is driven by the first driving mechanism to move, and the workpiece to be taken is ejected, so that the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate.

In a specific implementation, the ejection mechanism 13 may include: bracket arm 131 and ejector pin 132. One end of the bracket arm 131 is connected to the first driving mechanism 12, and the other end of the bracket arm 131 is connected to the ejector pin 132. The number of the ejector pins 132 may be plural, and the shape may be a needle shape. The arrangement of each ejection pin 132 is matched with the arrangement of the meshes 111 on the screen plate 11, so that when the first driving mechanism 12 works, the supporting arm 131 can be driven to drive the ejection pins 132 to move, and the ejection pins 132 can move relative to the meshes 111 on the screen plate 11 under the driving of the first driving mechanism 12, so as to penetrate through the meshes 111 to jack up the workpiece to be taken, and thus the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate 11. In order to ensure that the ejector pin 132 can eject the workpiece to be taken, the ejector pin 132 is made of a material having certain strength and being rustproof.

In a specific implementation, the number of the ejection pins 132 is plural. The length of each ejector pin 132 may be the same or different. When the lengths of the respective ejector pins 132 are different, the ejection stress concentration point may be increased.

In specific implementation, according to different 3D printing modes, the relative positions of the printed workpiece and the screen plate 11 are different, that is, the relative positions of the workpiece to be taken and the screen plate 11 are different. The relative positions of the workpiece 11 to be taken and the screen plate are mainly two, wherein one workpiece to be taken is positioned above the screen plate 11, and the other workpiece to be taken is positioned below the screen plate 11.

The 3D printing device shown in FIGS. 1-2 prints a workpiece on a screen. The workpieces printed by the 3D printing device shown in the figures 3-8 are positioned below the screen plate.

Referring to fig. 1 to 2, when the workpiece to be taken is located above the screen plate, the ejection mechanism 13 is located below the screen plate. The first driving mechanism 12 may be located on a Z-axis linear module 60 of the 3D printing apparatus, and the supporting arm 131 of the ejection mechanism 13 may be disposed along the Z-axis linear module 60 and connected to the first driving mechanism 12.

The 3D printing apparatus may further include: a shovel mechanism 14, and a second drive mechanism 15. The second driving mechanism 15 is connected to the shovel mechanism 14, and can drive the shovel mechanism 14 to move. When the shovel member mechanism 14 is driven by the second driving mechanism 15 to move, the workpiece to be taken on the screen plate 11 can be removed. The workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate 11 through the ejection mechanism 13, and then is moved away from the screen plate through the shovel member mechanism 14, so that automatic taking is realized, and convenience in taking is further improved.

In a specific implementation, the position of the second driving mechanism 15 may be as shown in the figure, or may be set at another part of the 3D printing apparatus according to the position of the shovel mechanism 14, and specifically may be set according to an actual application scenario, which is not limited herein.

In specific implementation, the shovel component mechanism 14 can move the workpiece to be taken to the end of the screen plate 11, and push the workpiece to be taken into the trolley tray 20 for storing and taking the workpiece through the guide groove 50, so as to realize full-automatic workpiece taking.

When the shovel mechanism 14 finishes the shovel operation, the shovel mechanism can be automatically reset under the driving of the second driving mechanism 15. The second driving mechanism 15 may be an automatic driving mechanism such as a driving motor and a servo motor, or may be a manual driving mechanism such as a wrench.

In a specific implementation, the first driving mechanism 12 and the second driving mechanism 15 may be automatically controlled by a control device, or may be manually controlled.

In a specific implementation, the 3D printing apparatus may further include a bracket 17 and a guide rail 16. The guide rail 16 is fixed to the bracket 17, and the blade mechanism 14 is movable along the guide rail 16.

The shovel mechanism 14 may include a connecting portion 141 and a shovel portion 142, and the connecting portion 141 may be connected to the rail 16 and the shovel portion 142, respectively. The connecting portion 141 is movable along the guide rail 16 when driven by the second driving mechanism 15.

In a specific implementation, the shovel member mechanism may further include: a connecting rod 143. The connecting rod 143 may be connected to the connecting portion 141 and the shovel portion 142, respectively. The connecting rod 143 can reinforce the strength of the shovel part 142, and can prevent the shovel part 142 from being deformed when the workpiece to be taken is large or heavy.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in order to prevent the workpiece to be taken from sliding off the side of the screen plate 11 during the workpiece taking process, the shovel component 142 may include a pushing part 1421 and a bending part 1422, and the bending part 1422 is disposed at least one end of the pushing part 1421. For example, one bending portion 1422 may be disposed on one side of the pushing stop portion 1421, or bending portions 1422 may be disposed on both sides of the pushing stop portion 1421.

In a specific implementation, in order to reasonably utilize the space, the shovel member mechanism 14 may also be located above the mesh plate 11, and when the shovel member mechanism 14 does not work, the shovel member mechanism is suspended above the mesh plate 11 and does not contact the mesh plate 11. When the shovel component mechanism 14 works, namely when the shovel component is needed, the shovel component mechanism drops from the suspended area, falls on the screen plate 11, contacts with the screen plate 11, and separates a workpiece to be taken from the screen plate 11 under the driving of the second driving mechanism 15.

Referring to fig. 3 to 8, the workpiece to be taken is located below the screen plate 11, and the ejection mechanism 13 is located above the screen plate 11.

The ejection mechanism 13 can penetrate through the screen plate 11 to separate the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate 11, and specifically, the ejection pins 131 on the ejection mechanism 13 penetrate through the meshes 111 to be inserted onto the workpiece to be taken, and as the ejection mechanism 13 continues to move, the workpiece to be taken can be separated from the screen plate 11.

In a specific implementation, the 3D printing apparatus may further include: a fixing stage 30, the fixing stage 30 being used for fixing the mesh plate 11. The fixing table 30 and the mesh plate 11 may be connected by a connection plate 40.

In a specific implementation, when the first driving mechanism 12 is a manual driving device, such as a wrench, an elastic connection portion 19 is disposed between the first driving mechanism 12 and the ejection mechanism 13, and after the ejection mechanism 13 separates the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate 11, the elastic connection portion 19 can drive the ejection mechanism 13 to return to the initial position. The elastic connection 19 may be a spring.

In a specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 3 to 5, after the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen 11 by the ejector mechanism 13, a tray 70 is provided at the bottom of the workpiece in order to prevent the workpiece to be taken from falling into the resin tank after falling. Further, to avoid dropping the workpiece and damaging, the tray 70 may be made of a soft material to provide a cushioning effect.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a pickup device, as shown in fig. 6 to 8. The pickup device may include: a first driving mechanism 12 and an ejection mechanism 13, wherein: the first driving mechanism 12 is connected with the ejection mechanism 13 and can drive the ejection mechanism 13 to move; the ejection mechanism 13 is located above the screen plate 11 and is adapted to move under the driving of the first driving mechanism to separate the workpiece to be taken, which is placed on the screen plate 11, from the screen plate 11.

In specific implementation, the pickup device is made into an independent module, and the pickup device can be installed on the 3D printing device according to application requirements for pickup.

The ejection mechanism 13 includes: bracket arm 131 and ejector pin 132, wherein: one end of the supporting arm 131 is connected with the first driving mechanism 12; the other end of the bracket arm 131 is connected with the ejection pin 132; the ejector pins 132 are driven by the first driving mechanism 12 to move relative to the meshes of the screen plate 11.

The pickup device may also include a fixing table 30, a connecting plate 40 and the like. The fixing table 30 may be used to fix the first driving mechanism 12 and the screen plate 11, and the connection plate 40 may be used to connect the fixing table 30 and the screen plate 11.

In a specific implementation, the first driving mechanism 12 may be an automatic driving mechanism such as a driving motor and a servo motor, or may be a manual driving mechanism such as a wrench. When the first driving mechanism 12 is a manual driving device, such as a wrench, an elastic connection portion 19 is disposed between the first driving mechanism 12 and the ejection mechanism 13, and after the ejection mechanism 13 separates the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate 11, the elastic connection portion 19 can drive the ejection mechanism 13 to return to the initial position. The elastic connection 19 may be a spring.

In the concrete implementation, in the process of taking the workpiece, in order to avoid the damage of the workpiece to be taken after the workpiece is separated from the screen plate and falls, a buffer part 80 is arranged at the tray to buffer the falling workpiece.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a pickup method, which can pick up workpieces printed by the 3D printing device provided by the embodiment of the invention. The following describes the pickup process in detail with reference to a flowchart of a pickup method shown in fig. 9.

Step 91, receiving a pickup instruction.

In a specific implementation, after the workpiece is printed, the printed workpiece is stuck on the screen. The received pickup command can be used for controlling the first driving mechanism to drive the ejection mechanism to move.

And step 92, controlling the first driving mechanism to drive the ejection mechanism to move according to the workpiece taking instruction, so that the ejection mechanism separates the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate.

In a specific implementation, after the workpiece fetching instruction is received, the first driving mechanism can be controlled to drive the ejection mechanism, and the ejection mechanism moves under the driving of the first driving mechanism, so that the workpiece to be fetched can be separated from the screen plate.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first driving mechanism is a driving motor, the ejection mechanism includes an ejection pin and a supporting arm, the driving motor is connected with the supporting arm, and the supporting arm can be arranged along a Z-axis linear module of the 3D printing device. The circumferential rotation of the driving motor can be converted into linear motion, so that the ejection mechanism can be driven to move up and down.

In a specific implementation, the first driving motor and the ejection mechanism may also be connected through a switching portion, and the switching portion may convert a rotational motion of the driving motor into a linear motion, so that the ejection mechanism may move up and down under the driving of the first driving motor.

When the ejection mechanism is positioned below the screen plate, the driving motor drives the supporting arm to move, the supporting arm drives the ejection pin to move upwards to penetrate through the mesh openings on the screen plate, and the ejection pin can be inserted into the workpiece to be taken to eject the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate, so that the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the first driving mechanism is a driving motor, the ejection mechanism is located above the screen plate, the first driving mechanism can drive the ejection mechanism to move downward, and the ejection pins of the ejection mechanism penetrate through the meshes of the screen plate to eject the workpiece to be taken out from the screen plate.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the first driving mechanism is a manual driving device, for example, the first driving mechanism is a wrench, and the wrench is connected to the supporting arm of the ejection mechanism. When the wrench is wrenched, the supporting arm of the ejection mechanism can be driven to move up and down, so that the ejection pin is driven to move up and down.

In a specific implementation, when the ejection mechanism is located below the screen plate, the ejection pins may penetrate through the meshes of the screen plate and be inserted to the bottom of the workpiece to be taken when the ejection mechanism is operated, and when the ejection mechanism continues to move, the workpiece to be taken may be separated from the screen plate. When the ejection mechanism moves for a certain distance and the workpiece to be taken is separated from the screen plate, the ejection mechanism is restored to the original position, and the ejection pin is pulled out of the workpiece to be taken.

In order to more quickly remove the workpiece to be removed, referring to fig. 10, the workpiece removing method may further include the following steps based on fig. 9.

Step 93, receiving a shovel instruction.

After the ejection mechanism is restored to the original position, a blade command may be received. The shovel member instructions may be used to control movement of a shovel member mechanism to move the workpiece to be fetched.

And step 94, controlling a second driving mechanism to drive the shovel component mechanism to move according to the shovel component instruction.

In a specific implementation, the second driving mechanism can be controlled to work according to the shovel member command. The second driving mechanism can drive the shoveling mechanism to move, and when the shoveling mechanism moves, the workpiece to be taken can be removed from the screen plate.

In practice, the integrity requirement for the outer surface of the printed workpiece is generally high, while the integrity requirement for the bottom surface of the workpiece is low, and in order to avoid damaging the outer surface of the workpiece during the workpiece taking process, the ejection mechanism acts on the bottom of the workpiece. It can be understood that, in practical application, the requirement on the integrity of the bottom of the workpiece is higher, and the requirement on other parts except the bottom of the workpiece is lower, at this time, the relative position of the ejection mechanism and the screen plate can be adjusted according to the requirement on the integrity of the workpiece in combination with the practical application scene, which is not described herein again.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a control device, which includes a memory and a processor, where the memory stores computer instructions capable of being executed on the processor, and the processor executes the steps of the pickup method provided in the above embodiment of the present invention when executing the computer instructions.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium is a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transitory storage medium, and has computer instructions stored thereon, and when the computer instructions are executed, the steps of the pickup method provided by the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention are executed.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the steps in the methods of the above embodiments may be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a program, which may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the storage medium may include: ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks, and the like.

Although the present invention is disclosed above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A3D printing device, comprising: otter board, first actuating mechanism and ejection mechanism, wherein:

the first driving mechanism is connected with the ejection mechanism and is suitable for driving the ejection mechanism to move;

the ejection mechanism is suitable for moving under the driving of the first driving mechanism, and separating the workpiece to be taken and placed on the screen plate from the screen plate.

2. The 3D printing device according to claim 1, wherein the ejection mechanism comprises: a bracket arm and an ejection pin;

one end of the supporting arm is connected with the first driving mechanism; the other end of the supporting arm is connected with the ejection pin;

the ejection pins move relative to meshes on the screen plate under the drive of the first drive mechanism.

3. The 3D printing device according to claim 1, wherein the ejection mechanism is located below the screen.

4. The 3D printing device according to claim 3, further comprising: shovel a mechanism and second actuating mechanism, wherein:

the second driving mechanism is connected with the shoveling member mechanism and is suitable for driving the shoveling member mechanism to move;

the shovel component mechanism is suitable for moving under the driving of the second driving mechanism to remove the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate.

5. The 3D printing device according to claim 4, further comprising: the shovel component mechanism comprises a support and a guide rail, wherein the guide rail is fixed on the support, and the shovel component mechanism is suitable for moving along the guide rail.

6. The 3D printing device according to claim 5, wherein the shoveling mechanism comprises: the connecting part is respectively connected with the guide rail and the shovel part, and the connecting part moves along the guide rail when driven by the second driving mechanism.

7. The 3D printing device of claim 6, wherein the shoveling mechanism further comprises: a connecting rod connected with the connecting portion and the shovel portion respectively.

8. The 3D printing device according to claim 6, wherein the blade portion comprises: the device comprises a pushing part and a bending part, wherein the bending part is arranged at least one end of the pushing part.

9. The 3D printing device according to claim 1, wherein the ejection mechanism is located above the screen.

10. The 3D printing device according to claim 9, further comprising: and the fixing table is used for fixing the screen plate.

11. A pickup device, comprising: first actuating mechanism and ejection mechanism, wherein:

the ejection mechanism is located above the screen plate and is suitable for moving under the driving of the first driving mechanism to separate the workpiece to be taken, which is placed on the screen plate, from the screen plate.

12. The pickup apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said ejection mechanism comprises: bracket and ejector pin, wherein:

13. A pick-up method suitable for picking up an article printed by the 3D printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising:

receiving a pickup instruction;

and controlling the first driving mechanism to drive the ejection mechanism to move according to the workpiece taking instruction, so that the ejection mechanism separates the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate.

14. The pickup method according to claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a shovel piece instruction;

and controlling a second driving mechanism to drive the shoveling member mechanism to move according to the shoveling member instruction, and removing the workpiece to be taken from the screen plate.

15. A control apparatus comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored thereon computer instructions executable on the processor, wherein the processor, when executing the computer instructions, performs the steps of the pick-up method of claim 13 or 14.

16. A computer readable storage medium, which is a non-volatile storage medium or a non-transitory storage medium, having computer instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer instructions are operable to perform the steps of the pickup method of claim 13 or 14.