CN114056899A - Conveying system - Google Patents

Abstract

The conveying system of the invention is expected to realize the rapidity and the simplification of the operation form adjustment operation of the conveying object posture changing unit; the conveying system of the present invention comprises: a conveying device which conveys a conveyed object along a conveying path and has a posture changing part for changing the posture of the conveyed object in the middle of the conveying path; an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the transported object; a conveyed article identification unit that obtains conveyed article identification information relating to the posture of the conveyed article by performing image processing on an image portion of the conveyed article in a determination region set on an upstream side of the posture change portion; a transport object posture changing unit that changes the posture of the transport object at the posture changing portion when the transport object identification information indicates that the posture of the transport object needs to be changed; and a conveyed article confirmation unit that performs image processing on the image portion of the conveyed article whose posture has been changed by the conveyed article posture changing unit to obtain conveyed article confirmation information relating to the posture of the conveyed article.

Description

Conveying system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a conveying system.

Background

Conventionally, in various conveying systems, counting of conveyed objects, determination of quality, posture determination, detection of conveying states (speed, density, interval, and the like), and the like are performed by processing images generated by imaging the conveyed objects. Examples of the above-described conveying system include apparatuses described in patent documents 1 and 2 below. Further, the following patent documents 3 and 4 disclose the following methods: in the above-described conveyance system, the attitude of the conveyance object is changed by blowing an air flow to the conveyance object in order to change the attitude of the conveyance object on the conveyance path, and the conveyance object is supplied in order and uniform.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2017-121995

Patent document 2: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2019-16901979

Patent document 3: japanese patent laid-open No. Hei 11-240615

Patent document 4: japanese patent laid-open No. 2000-264430

Disclosure of Invention

However, in the above-described conveyance system, when the blowing pressure or the blowing timing of the air flow is not appropriate when the posture of the conveyance object is changed, the posture after the change may be inappropriate or the posture after the change may become irregular. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the blowing pressure or the blowing timing of the air flow according to the type of the transported object, and there is a problem as follows: it takes time to perform the adjustment operation every time the posture of the conveyed object is changed, and a skilled person is required to perform the adjustment appropriately.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a conveyance system capable of quickly and easily adjusting the operation mode of a conveyance object posture changing unit.

In order to solve the above problem, a conveyance system according to the present invention includes: a conveying device which conveys a conveyed object along a conveying path and has a posture changing part for changing the posture of the conveyed object in the middle of the conveying path; an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the transported object; a conveyed article identification unit that obtains conveyed article identification information relating to the posture of the conveyed article by performing image processing on an image portion of the conveyed article in a determination region set on an upstream side of the posture change portion; a transport object posture changing unit that changes the posture of the transport object at the posture changing portion when the transport object identification information indicates that the posture of the transport object needs to be changed; and a conveyed article confirmation unit that obtains conveyed article confirmation information relating to the posture of the conveyed article by performing image processing on the image portion of the conveyed article after the posture of the conveyed article has been changed by the conveyed article posture changing unit.

According to the present invention, since the state of the transport object after the posture change of the transport object caused by the operation of the transport object posture changing unit can be confirmed by obtaining the transport object confirmation information on the posture of the transport object, the adjustment of the operation form of the transport object posture changing unit can be performed while confirming the information, the operation of adjusting the operation form of the transport object posture changing unit is facilitated, and the posture changing form of the transport object at the posture changing position is highly accurate.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the transport object posture change determination unit further includes transport object posture change information that indicates a relationship between the transport object identification information and the transport object confirmation information. According to the present invention, by obtaining the transport object posture changing information indicating the relationship between the discrimination information before the posture of the transport object is changed and the confirmation information after the posture of the transport object is changed, it is possible to more easily confirm the relationship between the operation form of the transport object posture changing means and the posture changing state of the transport object caused by the operation of the transport object posture changing means.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the transported object confirmation unit obtains the transported object confirmation information by performing image processing on an image portion of a confirmation area set in a position or a range where the transported object is arranged after the posture of the transported object is changed at the posture change portion by the transported object posture changing unit. In this case, it is preferable that the confirmation area is set in an image portion having a predetermined positional relationship with the posture change portion in another image captured at or after a time point when a predetermined time has elapsed with respect to the image portion including the determination area. Preferably, the image processing apparatus further includes a confirmation area prediction unit configured to predict a position or a range of the confirmation area for each of the images or each of the transported objects. The confirmation area may be provided at a predetermined fixed position or within a predetermined range.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the transport device further includes a posture change control unit for controlling an operation mode of the transport posture changing unit; the posture change control unit automatically sets the operation mode of the transported object posture changing unit based on the transported object confirmation information or the transported object posture changing information output by the transported object posture changing determination unit. According to the present invention, since the operation mode of the transport object posture changing unit can be automatically adjusted based on the transport object confirmation information or the transport object posture changing information, the trouble of the adjustment work can be reduced and the accuracy of the posture change can be improved.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the conveyance object posture changing means changes the posture of the conveyance object by blowing an air flow to the conveyance object. Here, the operation mode is preferably at least one of a blowing timing and a blowing pressure of the air flow. The transport object posture changing means is not limited to the device using the air flow, and may be a mechanical device such as a robot arm, or a device using the shape or structure of the transport path, for example, a device that rotates the transport object by forming a step or the like in a part of the transport path.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the determination region and the confirmation region are both regions included in the image. According to the present invention, since the two areas used in the transported object discrimination processing and the transported object confirmation processing can be set in a single image, setting of the positional relationship between the two areas can be facilitated, and it is expected that the imaging system such as a camera can be simplified.

(effect of the invention)

According to the present invention, the adjustment work for the operation mode of the transport object posture changing unit can be speeded up and simplified in the transport system.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart showing a general flow of a conveyed object posture change control processing unit in the embodiment of the conveying system according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 (a) is a schematic flowchart showing a general flow of the transported object checking process 101 according to the embodiment, and (b) is a schematic flowchart showing a general flow of the transported object posture change setting process 102.

Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the conveying system according to this embodiment.

Fig. 4 (a) to (d) are explanatory diagrams for explaining the conveyance object discrimination processing used in the conveyance object posture change control according to the embodiment.

Fig. 5 (e) to (h) are explanatory views for explaining the conveyance object confirmation processing used in the conveyance object posture change control according to the embodiment.

Fig. 6 (a) and (b) are explanatory views showing an example of the correspondence relationship between the transport item identification information and the transport item identification information according to the embodiment, and (c) and (d) are explanatory views showing other examples.

Fig. 7 (a) is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the conveyance object posture change setting means in the embodiment, (b) is a correspondence table showing a correspondence between a combination of the conveyance object identification information Bi and the conveyance object confirmation information Ej and the conveyance object posture change information Gij corresponding thereto, and a relationship between these and the adjustment and setting contents of the operation form of the conveyance object posture change means, and (c) is a diagram showing a configuration example of a plurality of posture change portions for unifying the plurality of conveyance postures of the conveyance objects CN1 to CN4 into one CN 1.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure of the operation program 10P in the present embodiment.

(symbol description)

A 10 … transport system, a 10P … operation program, a 11 … feeder, a 110 … transport body, a 111 … transport path, a 12 … linear feeder, a 120 … transport body, a 121 … transport path, an OP … air vent, a CA … transport body, CN1 to CN4 … transport postures, a CM1, a CM2 … camera, a CL11, a CL12 … controller, a DTU … inspection processing unit, a DP1, a DP2 … display device, a GP1, a GP2 … image processing device, a GM1, a GM2 … image processing memory, a GPX … captured image, a GPY … image area, an MPU … arithmetic processing device, an MM … main storage device, an SP … operation input device, a RAM … arithmetic processing memory, a θ … reference inclination angle, a 100 … transport posture change control processing unit, a … transport subject confirmation processing process, a 102 transport posture change setting process, a … image acquisition unit, a … image recognition unit, a … B, a … recognition process, a … B, and a … recognition process, Bi … transport item discrimination information, C … transport item posture changing means, Ci … transport item discrimination result, D … confirmation region predicting means, DA … judgment region, DB … confirmation region, E … transport item confirming means, Ej … transport item confirmation information, G … transport item posture changing judgment means, Gij … transport item posture changing information, H … transport item posture changing setting means

Detailed Description

Next, an embodiment of the conveyance system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of an embodiment of a conveyance system according to the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 3. Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart showing a process flow of a conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100, which is a part of an operation program 10P executed by a computer of a conveying system 10 according to the present embodiment. Fig. 2 (a) is a schematic flowchart showing a process flow of a conveyed material confirmation process 101 which is a part of the conveyed material posture change control process section 100, and (b) is a schematic flowchart showing a process flow of a conveyed material posture change setting process 102. Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of the embodiment of the conveyance system 10.

First, the overall configuration of the conveyance system 10 will be described with reference to fig. 3. As shown in fig. 3, the conveying system 10 is a conveying system that conveys a conveyed article CA along a predetermined conveying path. The conveyor system 10 constitutes a vibrating conveyor device including a feeder 11 and a linear feeder 12, wherein the feeder 11 includes a bowl-shaped conveyor body 110 having a spiral conveyor path 111, the linear feeder 12 includes a conveyor body 120 having a linear conveyor path 121, and the linear conveyor path 121 includes an inlet configured to receive a conveyed article from an outlet of the conveyor path 111 of the feeder 11. The transport device has a transport management function of checking and determining a transport CA as a transport on the transport path 121 of the transport body 120 of the linear feeder 12 based on the captured image GPX. In the present invention, the configuration of the conveying device is not limited to the vibration type, and the conveying device can be used for various conveying devices for conveying the conveyed object CA along the conveying path. Further, the vibrating type conveying device is not limited to the combination of the feeder 11 and the linear feeder 12, and may be used in other types of conveying devices such as a circulating type feeder. Further, in the above combination, the inspection of the conveyed object CA on the conveyance path 111 of the feeder 11 is not limited to the inspection of the conveyed object CA on the conveyance path 121 of the linear feeder 12.

The feeder 11 is driven and controlled by a controller CL 11. The linear feeder 12 is driven and controlled by the controller CL 12. The controllers CL11 and CL12 drive the feeder 11 and the vibration mechanism (including an electromagnetic drive body, a piezoelectric drive body, or the like) of the linear feeder 12 in an alternating current manner, and vibrate the conveyance bodies 110 and 120 so that the conveyance objects (conveyance objects CA) on the conveyance paths 111 and 121 move in the predetermined conveyance direction F. The controllers CL11 and CL12 are connected to an inspection processing unit DTU having an image processing function as a main body of the conveyance management system via an input/output circuit (I/O).

When a predetermined operation input (debug operation) is performed to the arithmetic processing unit MPU that executes the transport object posture changing control processing unit 100 via an operation input device SP1, SP2, or the like, which will be described later, such as a mouse, the controllers CL11, CL12 stop driving of the transport device of the transport system 10 in accordance with the operation program 10P. At this time, for example, the image measurement process in the inspection processing unit DTU is also stopped according to the above-described operation program 10P. The debugging operation and the operation of each part corresponding to the debugging operation will be described in detail later.

The inspection processing unit DTU is mainly configured by an arithmetic processing unit MPU (micro processor unit) of a personal computer or the like. In the illustrated example, the arithmetic processing unit MPU is configured by a CPU1, a CPU2, a cache memory CCM, a memory controller MCL, a chipset CHS, and the like. In addition, the inspection processing unit DTU is provided therein with image processing circuits GP1, GP2, which GP1, GP2 are connected to cameras CM1, CM2 as photographing devices, respectively, and are used to perform image processing. The image processing circuits GP1, GP2 are connected to image processing memories GM1, GM2, respectively. The outputs of the image processing circuits GP1 and GP2 are also connected to the arithmetic processing unit MPU, and process image data of the captured image GPX obtained from the cameras CM1 and CM2, and transmit an appropriate processed image (for example, image data in an image area GPY described later) to the arithmetic processing unit MPU. The main memory MM stores an operation program 10P of the conveyance management system in advance. When the inspection processing unit DTU is started, the operation program 10P is read out and executed by the arithmetic processing unit MPU. In addition, the main memory MM stores image data of a captured image GPX or an image area GPY to be subjected to image measurement processing described later by the arithmetic processing unit MPU.

The inspection processing unit DTU is connected to display devices DP1 and DP2 such as a liquid crystal monitor or operation input devices SP1 and SP2 via an input/output circuit (I/O). The display devices DP1 and DP2 display the image data of the captured image GPX or the image area GPY processed by the arithmetic processing unit MPU, the result of the image measurement processing, that is, the result of the conveyed object discrimination processing or the conveyance behavior detection processing, and the like in a predetermined display mode. The display function is not limited to the function of actually conveying the transport object CA, but also functions when reading and reproducing past data as described later. Further, by operating the operation input devices SP1 and SP2 while viewing the screens of the display devices DP1 and DP2, processing conditions such as various operation commands and setting values can be input to the arithmetic processing unit MPU.

In the present embodiment, the cameras CM1 and CM2 continuously take images at predetermined imaging intervals, and perform image measurement processing on image data in a measurement area having a range in the conveyance direction F set in advance so that at least the discrimination target portion of all the conveyance objects CA passing through the conveyance path is always included in any one image in accordance with the relationship between the conveyance speed Vs and the imaging interval Ts of the conveyance objects. Thus, all the transported objects CA can be detected in the captured image of any one of the measurement areas without necessity, and therefore, there is no need to generate a trigger signal for detecting the position of each transported object as in the related art. Further, by processing the image data of the transport CA included in the image, it is possible to reliably extract information necessary for the transport identification process, the transport detection process, the transport behavior detection process, and the like. In the conveying system of the present invention, instead of the above-described trigger-less imaging method, an image may be acquired at an imaging timing corresponding to a detection timing at which the conveyed object is detected by a sensor or the like in general. In the present embodiment, the discrimination target portion is the entirety of the transport CA, but a portion of the transport CA, for example, a portion where a discrimination mark or the like marked on a side surface of the transport CA appears, may be the discrimination target portion.

In the conveyance system 10, the conveyance device is controlled based on the discrimination result of the conveyance device while the conveyance object discrimination process is executed by the conveyance object posture change control processing unit 100 shown in fig. 1 included in the operation program 10P (see fig. 8) described later executed by the arithmetic processing unit MPU. In the transport object posture change control processing unit 100, the transport object CA is generally identified by performing image processing on the transport object CA in the measurement area of the image. When the transport object CA is proper, it can be transported on the transport path as it is, and therefore, there is no need to perform any special processing, and when it is found that the transport object CA is improper, it is necessary to perform various processing such as removal from the transport path, changing the posture on the transport path, or returning to the upstream side. In the present embodiment, the transport object posture changing control processing unit 100 includes a part for executing a process of determining the posture of the transport object CA (transport object determination process), and performs the posture changing process of the transport object CA based on the determination result Ci of the posture of the part.

Here, in the present specification, the inversion of the conveyance object CA is included as one of various modes of changing the posture of the conveyance object CA. The "posture change" includes not only inversion in the sense of turning the conveyance object CA upside down, but also various ways of finally changing the posture of the conveyance object CA, for example, turning the conveyance object CA by an arbitrary angle (e.g., 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, etc.) around an arbitrary axis, and the like. In addition, in the transport object posture change control processing unit 100 of the present embodiment, in addition to the processing of determining the posture of the transport object CA, other determination processing such as processing of determining whether or not the transport object CA is good may be executed, and other transport processing such as processing of excluding the transport object CA other than the transport processing of changing the posture of the transport object CA may be executed. In the following description, the above-described other discrimination processing and other conveyance processing are not described except for the conveyance object sorting processing shown in fig. 8.

As shown in fig. 1, in the transport posture change control processing section 100, various setting values such as initial values are first read, and then a plurality of images Ai are sequentially acquired by the image acquisition unit a constituted by the inspection processing unit DTU. These images Ai may be basically the image data itself of the captured image GPX or the image area GPY generated by the inspection processing unit DTU, or may be composed of a part of these image data. When these images Ai are obtained, image processing of the determination area DA set in the image Ai and image processing of the confirmation area DB are performed.

Fig. 4 (a) - (d) and fig. 5 (e) - (h) are explanatory diagrams showing examples of the conveyance mode of the conveyance object on the conveyance path 121 of the conveyance system 10. The conveyance object CA advances in the conveyance direction F on the conveyance path 121. At this time, in the image Ai obtained by the image acquisition unit a, a determination area DA formed as the above-described measurement area is provided. The determination region DA is provided on the conveyance path 121 in a region defined upstream of the position change portion having the gas ejection ports OP.

As shown in fig. 1, the transport posture change control processing unit 100 includes: an image acquisition unit a that sequentially acquires a plurality of images Ai including a measurement area where the conveyance object CA may exist; a conveyed article discrimination unit B that performs image processing of the determination area DA in the images Ai; a conveyed object posture changing unit C which operates at the posture changing position based on the discrimination result Ci of the conveyed object CA to change the conveying posture of the conveyed object CA, wherein the conveyed object discrimination information Bi is obtained based on the conveyed object discrimination information Bi obtained by the conveyed object discrimination unit B; and a conveyed article confirmation unit E for confirming the posture of the conveyed article CA whose posture has been changed by the conveyed article posture changing unit C and obtaining conveyed article confirmation information Ej. Here, i is a natural number and represents a plurality of numbers from 1 to n (n is a natural number of 2 or more). Preferably, the transport object posture change determination means G determines transport object posture change information Gij from the transport object discrimination result Ci for a certain transport object CA and the transport object confirmation result Ej. The transport object checking unit E is not particularly limited, and as shown in fig. 4 and 5, the posture of the transport object CA after the posture change is checked by performing image processing on the checking area DB. In the present embodiment, the confirmation area DB is set on the conveyance path 122 different from the conveyance path 121 and at a position downstream of the determination area DA.

The conveyed article discrimination information Bi includes at least information relating to the posture of the conveyed article CA. Further, it is preferable to include a conveyance object detection range (position information) indicating the arrangement of the conveyance object CA. Further, the information about the type and appearance of the transported object CA, the presence or absence of defects or the type of defects, the quality of the transported object CA, and the like may be included. Here, when the conveyance object CA is in a cube shape, for example, it is preferable to capture at least two surfaces of the conveyance object CA in the image Ai so as to favorably acquire information on the posture of the conveyance object CA as the conveyance object identification information Bi. It is more appropriate to recognize the posture of the transport CA because the image data includes information on as many faces as possible of the six faces of the transport CA. Therefore, it is preferable to photograph at least two faces in a cube shape as shown in fig. 4 and 5. In the present embodiment, in the posture changing portion used in the description, only four conveying postures (CN 1 to CN4 described later) in which four side surfaces other than the front and rear end surfaces (the portions where the electrodes are provided in the drawing) of the conveyed article CA surround the axis along the conveying direction F are described as objects, but a total of eight conveying postures in which the front and rear direction is reversed may be used as objects, and a total of 16 conveying postures in which the front and rear end surfaces are directed to the sides orthogonal to the conveying direction may be used as objects.

The transport object discrimination result Ci is a discrimination result regarding the posture of the transport object CA obtained by the image processing of the determination area DA in the current image Ai, and indicates, for example, whether the posture is good (OK) or bad (NG) based on a preset posture reference. Of course, three or more discrimination results may be obtained as the transport object discrimination result Ci based on the information for discriminating a plurality of postures of the transport object CA as the transport object discrimination information Bi. For example, it may be a result that a plurality of transport postures of the transported object CA can be discriminated.

As an example of the transported object checking means E, as shown in fig. 2 (a), a checking area prediction means D that predicts a checking area DB may be provided. In general, the confirmation area DB may be set at a fixed position in the image ai (aj) as shown in fig. 4 and 5, and in this case, the confirmation area prediction unit D is not necessary. When the confirmation area prediction unit D is used, the position and the range of the confirmation area DBj of the image Aj for deriving the conveyance object confirmation information Ej are predicted from the conveyance state of the conveyance object CA. In this case, the conveyance state may be information such as the conveyance speed of the conveyance object CA, the position on the conveyance path 122 after the posture of the past conveyance object has been changed, the blowing timing and the blowing pressure of the air flow supplied from the air jet port OP at the posture change position. The confirmation area prediction means D derives the position and the range (imaging range) of the confirmation area DBj in the image Aj and the image Aj in which the confirmation area DBj is set (or corresponds to the imaging timing (imaging time) of the image Aj), and thereby performs image processing of the conveyed object confirmation means E on the set confirmation area DBj. The prediction of the confirmation area DB is performed for each image Aj or each transport CA whose posture has been changed.

Further, in the examples shown in fig. 4 and 5, the confirmation area DB is set to a fixed range at a fixed position, but even in this case, it is possible to discriminate whether or not the conveyed material confirmation processing needs to be executed in the confirmation area DB for each obtained image Ai as shown in fig. 1, and execute the image processing in the confirmation area DB only for the necessary image Aj. The transport object posture changing means C changes the posture of the transport object CA depending on whether or not the transport object recognition result Ci in the previous image Ai requires the posture change processing. If the posture is not changed, the transported object checking process is not required. When the posture is changed by the conveyance object discrimination processing in the previous image Ai, it is sufficient to perform image processing in the confirmation area DB in the image Aj (j > i, in the case where there is a single image or a plurality of images) and confirm whether or not the conveyance object CA is detected, and when the conveyance object CA is detected and the conveyance object confirmation information Ej concerning the posture of the conveyance object CA is obtained, it is considered that the posture change is not performed by resetting the posture change.

Further, since the confirmation area prediction unit D predicts the position and range of the confirmation area DBj and the shooting time, it is sufficient to determine whether or not the image Aj is an image that needs to be confirmed based on the prediction content. However, in consideration of the prediction accuracy, the determination as to whether or not the one or more images Aj are images that need to be confirmed may also be made by checking the result of the image processing by the conveyed object confirmation unit E separately from the prediction content and depending on whether or not the conveyed object CA is detected within the confirmation area DBj. That is, in this case, although the position and the range of the confirmation area DBj are used, the prediction result of the image Aj corresponding to the predicted shooting time is not actually used. In either case, if the transport object CA is detected in any of the images Aj, the information relating to the posture of the transport object CA is the transport object confirmation information Ej. Further, as described later, since there is a case where the transport CA is not confirmed in the confirmation area db (dbj) due to the return operation of the transport CA or the like (there is no transport CA), when the transport CA is not detected in the image Aj (all images in the case of a plurality of images Aj) in which the transport confirmation information corresponding to a certain posture change may exist, the transport confirmation information includes the result of "not detected", and the above-described resetting is also performed.

The determination areas DB and DBj may be set as the measurement areas in the same manner as the determination area DA. This is because the conveyance object CA conveyed on the conveyance path 122 with the changed posture has substantially the same conveyance speed as that when conveyed on the conveyance path 121 in many cases. In this case, the confirmation area DB may be set at a position downstream of the position where the conveyance object CA having the changed posture may be arranged. In the illustrated example, the conveyance path 122 extends downstream in parallel with the conveyance path 121, and finally merges with the conveyance path 121. Here, the structure is generally: when the conveyance object CA on the conveyance path 122 merges into the conveyance path 121, the conveyance path 121 assumes a normal conveyance posture. Here, the setting positions of the confirmation areas DB and DBj are not limited to the conveyance path 122 different from the conveyance path 121, and the conveyance object CA whose posture is changed may be disposed on the conveyance path 121.

The confirmation areas DB and DBj are set to be limited areas. However, it is preferable to set the area to have a margin so as to have a range larger than at least the discrimination target portion (or the whole) of the transport CA. This enables the transported object confirmation process to be executed more reliably. Although it is preferable that the check areas DB and DBj have a large range in terms of being able to reliably detect the transport object CA after the posture change, the load on the image processing increases as the range increases. Therefore, it is preferable to determine the expansion rate of the confirmation areas DB and DBj based on the movement characteristics of the transported object CA in the transport apparatus. For example, when the position of the transport object CA after the posture change is largely deviated, the expansion ratio needs to be increased, and when the deviation is small, the expansion ratio may be decreased. When a plurality of moving states in which the postures of the objects CA have been actually changed in the past can be obtained, it is preferable to increase or decrease the expansion rate in accordance with a deviation (for example, a standard deviation) of a set of the moving states (so as to have a positive correlation with the deviation). In this way, the confirmation processing after the posture of the transport object CA is changed can be reliably executed by the image processing in the confirmation areas DB and DBj while reducing the load of the image processing.

Next, a conveying method of the present embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 1 and 2 and fig. 4 and 5. As shown in fig. 4 (a), the conveyance object CA is conveyed on the conveyance path 121 in the conveyance direction F. Here, another auxiliary conveyance path 122 is formed in parallel above (actually, to the side of) the conveyance path 121 in the figure. A posture changing portion where the air ejection port OP opens on the conveying surface is provided in the middle of the conveying path 121. In addition, a determination area DA is provided in a range adjacent to the upstream side of the posture changing portion. The determination area DA is included in the image Ai. As shown in fig. 1, a plurality of images Ai are obtained in sequence. In the illustrated example, the first image a1 is similar to the next image a2 in that the conveyance object CA is not detected in the determination area DA. The conveyance object CA is not detected in the determination area DA until the next image a 3. Further, the determination area DA is set so that the relationship between the length range Lda in the conveying direction F and the conveying speed Vs and the shooting interval Ts of the conveyed objects CA satisfies Lda > Vs · Ts as described above, so that (at least the discrimination target portion of) all the conveyed objects CA passing through the conveying path 121 can be detected in any one of the images Ai without fail. However, in practice, the margin Δ L is preferably set so that Lda ≧ Vs · Ts + Δ L, and Lda ≧ 2Vs · Ts is more preferable if possible. The upper limit of the range Lda is preferably 2Vs · Ts or more and 3Vs · Ts or less. The width of the determination area DA in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction F is preferably larger than the width of at least the discrimination target portion of the conveyance object CA, but in the present embodiment, since the conveyance object CA is conveyed by vibration, the conveyance object CA also swings to some extent in the width direction, and therefore, it is preferable to provide a margin Δ w of about 10% to 80% of the width of the discrimination target portion (or the entire) of the conveyance object CA in the width direction.

The conveyance object CA is configured in a cubic shape in the illustrated example, and is illustrated in a form in which the conveyance object CA is conveyed with its longitudinal direction oriented in the conveyance direction F. In this case, the posture of the conveyed article CA can be detected by the markers M formed on a part of the four side surfaces of the conveyed article CA excluding the front and rear end surfaces. In the illustrated example, the mark M is formed over the entire width and half of the length of one side surface (hatched portion in the figure). Further, the end of the mark M appears at the boundary portion (the vicinity of the ridge line) of the two side surfaces adjacent to the one side surface, and thus, as long as one of the four side surfaces can be confirmed in detail, the conveyance posture of the conveyed object CA about the axis along the conveyance direction F can be determined. However, in the illustrated example, the shooting directions of the cameras CM1 and CM2 are set so that at least two adjacent side surfaces of the conveyed article CA can be seen simultaneously in the image Ai. That is, by setting the angle between the imaging direction of the camera and the conveying surfaces 121a and 121b (surfaces substantially orthogonal to each other) of the conveying path 121, two adjacent side surfaces on both sides of one ridge line of the conveyed object CA are included in the image at the same time so that the ridge line can be seen. In the illustrated example, the mark M is disposed at the upper right portion of the conveyance object CA as a standard conveyance posture. The other conveyance path 122 includes conveyance surfaces 122a and 122 b. The conveying surfaces 122a and 122b are surfaces substantially orthogonal to each other.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 4 (c), when the conveyance object CA is detected in the determination area DA of the image a3, the conveyance object discrimination information B3 is derived by conveyance object discrimination processing performed by image processing using the determination area DA. The conveyance posture of the conveyance object CA corresponding to the position of the marker M is determined from the conveyance object discrimination information B3, and a non-standard conveyance posture determination "NG" is obtained as the conveyance object discrimination result C3. Therefore, when the transport object CA reaches the attitude change portion as shown in fig. 5 (e), an air flow is blown from the air outlet OP as shown in fig. 5 (f), and the transport object CA moves from the transport path 121 to the transport path 122 while rotating. Further, since the air outlet OP is opened so as to apply pressure to a range of the conveyance object CA on the conveyance path 121 that is located above, the conveyance object CA can be simply removed from the conveyance path 121, and the conveyance object CA can be rotated about the axis along the conveyance direction F. As a result, the posture of the conveyance object CA is gradually changed as shown in (f) and (g) in fig. 5, and finally, as shown in (h) in fig. 5, when the conveyance object CA is disposed on the conveyance path 122, the conveyance object CA is changed to a predetermined conveyance posture different from the conveyance posture on the conveyance path 121. In the case of the illustrated example, the conveyance posture of the conveyance object CA when disposed on the conveyance path 122 is the standard conveyance posture described above. In the case of the illustrated example, the posture change of the conveyance object CA at the posture change portion is performed by rotating it by 180 degrees about an axis along the conveyance direction F (an axis about the longitudinal direction).

In the present embodiment, a confirmation area DB for confirming the conveyed article CA on the conveyance path 122 is provided in the image Ai. In the illustrated example, the confirmation area DB is a fixed area having a predetermined position and range in the image Ai in advance. However, as described above, the confirmation area DBj may be set for each image Aj on which the transport object confirmation processing is performed or for each transport object CA. Image processing is also executed in the confirmation area DB, and the conveyed article confirmation information Ej is output. Fig. 1 also shows the following case: the posture of the carrier CA is changed based on the carrier discrimination result Ci based on the carrier discrimination information Bi obtained by performing the carrier discrimination process in the determination area DA of the image Ai, and the carrier confirmation information Ej is obtained by performing the carrier confirmation process on the carrier CA with the posture changed in the confirmation area db (dbj) of the image Aj. As described above, fig. 4 and 5 show the case where the conveyance object confirmation information Ej indicates that the conveyance posture of the conveyance object CA after the posture change is the standard conveyance posture. In contrast, fig. 6 shows the following cases in (b) and (d): as shown in fig. 6 (a) and (c), the posture of the conveyance object CA is changed based on the conveyance object discrimination information Bi derived by the image processing in the determination area DA of the image Ai, and as a result, the conveyance posture of the conveyance object CA after the posture change is a posture other than the standard conveyance posture. Here, fig. 6 (b) shows the case where: the conveyance object CA changes from the conveyance posture shown in fig. 6 (a) to a conveyance posture rotated by 270 degrees around an axis along the conveyance direction F (an axis around the longitudinal direction), and changes to a non-standard conveyance posture beyond the standard conveyance posture due to excessive rotation. In addition, (d) in fig. 6 shows the case where: the conveyance object CA changes from the conveyance posture shown in fig. 6 (c) to a conveyance posture rotated by 90 degrees about an axis along the conveyance direction F (an axis about the longitudinal direction), and changes to a non-standard conveyance posture because the conveyance object CA does not reach the standard conveyance posture due to insufficient rotation.

When the transport object confirmation information Ej is obtained as described above, the transport object posture change determining means G shown in fig. 1 then obtains the transport object posture change information Gij using the transport object identification information Bi and the transport object confirmation information Ej as shown in fig. 2 (b). The transport object posture change information Gij is information indicating the relationship between the transport posture before the posture change in the determination area DA of the transport object CA (see fig. 4 (c), fig. 6 (a), and fig. 6 (c)) and the transport posture after the posture change in the confirmation area DB of the transport object CA (see fig. 5 (h), fig. 6 (b), and fig. 6 (d)). The transport object posture change information Gij may include only two information portions, i.e., an information portion indicating the transport posture before the posture change in the determination area DA of the transport object CA and an information portion indicating the transport posture in the confirmation area DB after the posture change of the transport object CA, or may include only information indicating the relationship between the two information portions. Note that the information may be a symbol or a character indicating a category corresponding to the conveyance posture before and after the posture change, for example, in the examples of fig. 4 and 5, information indicating a conveyance posture (NG) in which the conveyance posture before the posture change is not standard and a conveyance posture (OK) in which the conveyance posture after the posture change is standard.

When the transport object posture change information Gij is derived as described above, the transport object posture change setting processing is executed based on the information by the transport object posture change setting means H shown in fig. 1 as shown in (b) of fig. 2. The conveyance object posture change setting process adjusts and sets the blowing timing or the blowing pressure of the air flow blown from the air jet port OP at the posture changing portion to the conveyance object CA, based on the conveyance object confirmation information Ej or the conveyance object posture change information Gij. In the illustrated example, the posture change control unit is set based on the conveyance object posture change information Gij, but may be set based on only the conveyance object confirmation information Ej as the case may be. For example, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, when the conveyed article confirmation information Ej obtained by the conveyed article confirmation processing is information corresponding to the standard conveyance posture, it is considered that the blowing timing and the blowing pressure are appropriate, and the original set values are maintained. On the other hand, as shown in (a) and (b) and (c) and (d) of fig. 6, when the transport CA is different from the standard transport attitude and the transport confirmation information Ej is not information corresponding to the standard transport attitude, the operation form of the attitude changing section such as the air flow blowing timing or the air flow blowing pressure is changed to adjust the action of the attitude change on the transport CA. In this case, it is preferable that the transport object confirmation information Ej includes detailed information indicating which type of the specific transport posture is, and thus, it is preferable to change the method of adjusting the operation mode for the specific transport posture type. For example, when the rotation angle at the time of changing the posture of the conveyance object CA is too large as shown in fig. 6 (b), the blowing pressure is decreased, and when the rotation angle at the time of changing the posture of the conveyance object CA is too small as shown in fig. 6 (d), the blowing pressure is increased. Further, although not particularly shown, when the conveyed article identification information Ej is the conveyance posture B6' which appears when the blow timing is too late as shown in fig. 5 (f), the blow timing is advanced. On the other hand, in the conveyance posture B7' in which the blowing timing is too early as shown in fig. 5 (g), the blowing timing is delayed.

Fig. 7 (a) is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of an attitude change control system that realizes an operation mode for changing the attitude of the transport object CA at the attitude change portion in the present embodiment. For example, the posture change control unit 103 configured by a part of the controller CL12 controls the pressure setting unit 124a of the regulator 124 to set the supply pressure of the gas to be adjustable, and controls the opening/closing driving unit 125a of the supply valve 125 configured by a solenoid valve or the like connected to the downstream side of the regulator 124 to set the opening/closing operation timing of the supply valve 125, wherein the regulator 124 regulates the pressure of the compressed gas (air or the like) supplied from the compressed gas source 123 such as a compressor or the like. Here, the carrier attitude change control unit 103 may adjust and change the supply pressure and the opening/closing operation timing by the carrier attitude change setting means H.

Fig. 7 (b) is a correspondence diagram showing a relationship between the transport object posture change information Gij indicated by the combination of the transport object identification information Bi and the transport object confirmation information Ej according to the present embodiment and the adjustment content of the operation form of the transport object posture changing unit C at the posture change portion. According to this figure, the above operation mode is not adjusted when the transport object confirmation information Ej is "OK", but when the transport object confirmation information Ej is "NG" and the rotation angle at the time of changing the posture of the transport object CA is too large (in the case shown in fig. 6 (b)), that is, "NG +", the blowing pressure of the air flow is reduced by the predetermined pressure (- Δ p). On the other hand, when the transport object confirmation information Ej is "NG" and the rotation angle at the time of changing the posture of the transport object CA is too small (the case shown in fig. 6 (d)), that is, "NG-", the blowing pressure of the air flow is increased by the predetermined pressure (+ Δ p). In the case where the transport object CA itself is not detected in the confirmation area db (dbj), for example, in the case where the transport object CA is not detected in the confirmation area db (dbj) in any of the one image Aj or the plurality of images Aj in general, it is conceivable that the transport object CA is returned to the transport path 121 without moving from the transport path 121 to the transport path 122 because the blowing pressure of the air stream blown from the air outlet OP is insufficient, or the transport object CA is returned to the transport path 121 by inertia after moving to the transport path 122 because the blowing pressure is excessively large, and therefore, if the set value of the operation mode of the posture change at that time (the blowing pressure) exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the blowing pressure of the air stream is decreased by a predetermined pressure (- Δ p). On the other hand, if the set value is below the prescribed threshold value, the blowing pressure of the air flow is increased by a prescribed pressure (+ Δ p). In addition, although the above-described case where Δ p is the same in all cases has been described, Δ p may be variously changed depending on the case, or Δ p may be increased or decreased by proportional control according to the degree of deviation of the operation form from an appropriate value at the time of posture change.

On the other hand, regardless of the conveyance object confirmation information Ej or the conveyance object posture change information Gij, when the posture of the conveyance object CA at the posture change position has a negative inclination angle with respect to the conveyance direction F as in B6 'of (F) in fig. 5 or has a positive inclination angle with respect to the conveyance direction F as in B7' of (g) in fig. 5, the processing is performed as follows. First, when the inclination angle is smaller than a predetermined reference angle θ, for example, smaller than ± 10 degrees, the operation mode is not adjusted at all. In addition, when the positive inclination angle exceeds the above-described reference angle θ (10 degrees), the blowing timing of the air flow is advanced by Δ t. When the negative inclination angle is smaller than the above-described reference angle θ (10 degrees), the blowing timing of the air flow is delayed by Δ t. In addition, although the above-described case where Δ t is the same in all cases has been described, Δ t may be variously changed depending on the case, or Δ t may be increased or decreased by proportional control according to the degree of deviation of the operation form from the appropriate value (0 degrees) at the time of posture change. As described above, even when a plurality of conveyance postures are provided, the posture of the conveyance object CA can be appropriately changed by the conveyance object posture changing means C by adjusting and setting the operation mode of the conveyance object posture changing means C based on the conveyance object confirmation information Ej or the conveyance object posture changing information Gij obtained by the conveyance object confirmation means E, and thus the conveyance postures of the conveyance objects CA can be efficiently unified (controlled).

Fig. 7 (c) shows a case where three posture changing portions arranged in the conveying direction F of the conveying path 121 are provided as an example when the posture changing control unit 103 adjusted and optimized as described above unifies the plurality of conveying postures CN1 to CN4 of the conveyed object CA into CN 1. Here, when the conveyance posture CN1 to be unified is taken as a reference (0 degree), for example, when the rotation angle at the posture change is +90 degrees, the rotation angles of the conveyed article CA around the axis along the conveyance direction F are exemplified by CN2 of-90 degrees, CN3 of-180 degrees, and CN4 of-270 degrees. In this example, at the first posture changing portion, the transport object CA in the transport posture CN1 passes toward the downstream side as it is, the air flow blown from the air nozzle OP at the posture changing portion by the transport object CA in the transport posture CN2 becomes the transport posture CN1, the air flow blown from the air nozzle OP at the posture changing portion by the transport object CA in the transport posture CN3 becomes the transport posture CN2, and the air flow blown from the air nozzle OP at the posture changing portion by the transport object CA in the transport posture CN4 becomes the transport posture CN 3. Next, at the second posture changing portion, the transport object CA in the transport posture CN1 passes toward the downstream side as it is, the transport object CA in the transport posture CN2 is changed to the transport posture CN1 by the air flow blown from the air nozzle OP at the posture changing portion, and the transport object CA in the transport posture CN3 is changed to the transport posture CN2 by the air flow blown from the air nozzle OP at the posture changing portion. Then, at the third posture changing portion, the transport object CA in the transport posture CN1 passes downstream as it is, and the transport object CA in the transport posture CN2 is changed to the transport posture CN1 by the airflow blown from the air jet port OP at the posture changing portion. In the conveying device including the plurality of posture changing portions as described above, the efficient change of the conveying posture is more effective, and the conveyed objects CA having the uniform conveying posture can be reliably supplied with high conveying efficiency. The above-described configurations of the present embodiment can be effectively employed for each of the plurality of posture-changing portions, and preferably, the above-described configurations are effectively employed for all the posture-changing portions.

< construction of action program 10P >

Next, the flow of the overall operation program 10P according to each embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 8. Fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart showing various processing procedures for conveyance management executed by the arithmetic processing unit MPU of the inspection processing unit DTU according to the operation program 10P. When the operation program 10P is started, the image capturing and image measuring processes described above are started, and the driving of the transport devices (the feeder 11 and the linear feeder 12) is started by the controllers CL11 and CL 12. Then, when the debug setting corresponding to the debug operation is OFF, the image measurement processing is executed on the captured image GPX or the image area GPY, and the conveyance object screening processing, the conveyance object posture change control processing (including the conveyance object discrimination processing and the conveyance object confirmation processing), and the like are performed. Here, if the final determination result of the transport object screening process or the transport object discrimination process is "OK", the image measurement process of the next captured image GPX or the image area GPY is directly performed without performing the debugging operation. For example, the outflow of the air flow from the air outlet OP is stopped at ordinary times at the transport removal portion for the transport sorting process, but the air flow is flown from the air outlet OP when the determination result is "NG" (defective product). This eliminates the defective conveyance object CA from the conveyance path. Further, at the posture changing portion, the outflow of the air flow from the air outlet OP is stopped at ordinary times, but when the determination result is "NG" (bad posture), the posture of the conveyance object CA is changed and reversed or the like while the conveyance object CA is moved from the conveyance path 121 to the conveyance path 122 by the air flow ejected from the air outlet OP. In addition, the air flow may be constantly discharged in contrast to the above, but the air flow may be stopped when the determination result is "OK" (correct posture).

In this way, by discriminating the conveyance object CA as a conveyance object on the conveyance path and performing processing based on the discrimination result, only the conveyance objects CA of good quality or good posture are supplied to the downstream side in an aligned state. In this case, the image measurement processing and the transported object discrimination processing are also directly performed on the next captured image GPX or within the measurement area of the next image area GPY as long as the debugging operation is not performed thereafter. Here, in the transport object discrimination processing performed by the transport object posture change control processing unit 100, although the processing is performed for a certain transport object CA as described above, the same transport object discrimination processing is generally performed for each of a plurality of transport objects CA successively transported into the determination area DA as the measurement area in parallel. The transport confirmation process is performed only on the transport CA whose posture has been changed based on the discrimination result Ci. Further, in order to detect the conveyance behavior of the conveyance object CA when the conveyance object CA is conveyed in the conveyance direction F on the conveyance path, for example, the conveyance behavior detection process of tracking the conveyance object CA on the conveyance path may be performed in parallel with the image measurement process or the conveyance object discrimination process. Further, the driving of the conveying device may be controlled so as to adjust the conveying state based on the detection result of the conveyance behavior detection process. The control of the conveyance drive is performed by controlling the driving conditions of the exciting element of the exciting mechanism of the conveying device, for example, the frequency or voltage of the piezoelectric driver, and thereby adjusting the conveying state to an appropriate one. The conveyance behavior detection process may be executed in parallel with the conveyance object discrimination process of the conveyance object posture change control processing unit 100, or may be executed by a separate image process regardless of the conveyance object discrimination process. For example, by controlling the frequency and amplitude of the vibration in accordance with the magnitude of the positional variation of the conveyance object CA in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction F when moving in the conveyance direction F on the conveyance path 121, it is possible to prevent the conveyance object CA from unnecessarily wobbling on the conveyance path 121.

When the debugging operation is performed in the middle and the debugging setting is turned ON, the program (operation mode) is exited, the driving of the transport apparatus is stopped, and the image measurement processing, the transport object sorting processing, the transport object posture change control processing, the transport behavior detection processing, and the like are also stopped. Then, when an appropriate operation is performed in this state, the image file becomes a state in which the past image file can be selected. At this time, the image file selected for display is an image file including a plurality of captured images GPX or image areas GPY recorded in the previous operation mode. If the image file is directly selected and appropriate operation is performed, the mode is switched to a re-execution mode. In this mode, the display of the image, various processes and controls, and the like can be executed again based on the image file in which the results of the image measurement process, the conveyance object screening process, the conveyance object posture change control process, the conveyance behavior detection process, and the like, which have been executed as described above, are recorded. That is, when a problem occurs in the control (such as elimination or inversion) of the conveyance object CA as the conveyance object of the conveyance device, in order to eliminate the problem, the image processing is executed again based on the past image data, and the problem of each processing or control is detected. If the problem is found, the setting contents (set values) of each process or control can be changed or adjusted accordingly, and the result of the adjustment or improvement work can be confirmed by re-executing the image measurement process again on the past image data. Then, when an appropriate recovery operation is performed, the debug setting is recovered to OFF, the image measurement processing is restarted, and the driving of the conveyance device is restarted.

In the debugging operation, the operation mode of the posture changing portion may be manually adjusted based on the transport confirmation information Ej or the transport posture changing information Gij instead of the transport posture changing setting means H (transport posture changing process). For example, the control mode of the posture change control unit 103 shown in fig. 7 (a) may be adjusted.

In the present embodiment, since the posture change state of the transported object CA caused by the operation of the transported object posture changing unit C can be confirmed by obtaining the transported object confirmation information Ej, the operation mode of the transported object posture changing unit C is adjusted while confirming the information, so that the adjustment work is easy, and the posture change mode of the transported object at the posture change portion is highly accurate.

In particular, by further providing the transport object posture change determination means G for obtaining the transport object posture change information Gij indicating the relationship between the transport object identification information Bi and the transport object confirmation information Ej, it is possible to more easily confirm the relationship between the operation mode of the transport object posture change means C and the posture change state of the transport object CA caused by the operation of the transport object posture change means C.

In the present embodiment, the transport confirmation unit E obtains the transport confirmation information Ej by performing image processing on the image portion of the confirmation area DB arranged after the transport CA having obtained the discrimination result Ci has been changed in posture by the transport posture changing unit C at the posture changing portion, and thereby can reliably and quickly confirm the posture of the transport CA after the posture change while suppressing the load of the image processing. In particular, by setting the confirmation area DB as an image portion having a predetermined positional relationship with the posture change portion in another image Aj (j > i) captured at or after the time when the predetermined time has elapsed with respect to the image Ai including the image portion of the determination area DA, it is possible to achieve a reduction in the load of image processing and processing time and an improvement in the reliability and accuracy of posture confirmation with a higher dimension.

In the present embodiment, the posture change control unit 103 is further provided for controlling the operation mode of the conveyed object posture changing unit C, and the posture change control unit 103 automatically sets the operation mode of the conveyed object posture changing unit C based on the conveyed object confirmation information Ej or the conveyed object posture changing information Gij output from the conveyed object posture change determining unit G, and thereby the operation mode of the conveyed object posture changing unit C can be automatically adjusted based on the conveyed object confirmation information Ej or the conveyed object posture changing information Gij indicating the relationship between the conveyed object identification information Bi and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej, and therefore, the trouble of the adjustment work can be reduced and the accuracy of the posture change can be improved.

In the present embodiment, the carrier attitude changing means C changes the attitude by blowing an air flow to the carrier, but the carrier attitude changing setting means H preferably sets at least one of the blowing timing and the blowing pressure of the air flow as the operation mode. This makes it possible to quickly and appropriately change the operation mode when the posture of the micro conveyance object CA is changed.

In the present embodiment, by further providing the confirmation area prediction means D for predicting the position or range of the confirmation area DB for each image Aj or each transport CA, it is possible to achieve both improvement in reliability of acquiring information relating to the posture of the transport CA after the posture change and reduction in image processing load.

In the present embodiment, since the determination area DA and the confirmation area DB are both areas included in the images Ai and Aj, two areas used for the conveyance object discrimination processing and the conveyance object confirmation processing can be set in a single image, setting of the positional relationship between the two areas can be facilitated, and it is expected that an imaging system such as a camera can be simplified.

The conveying system of the present invention is not limited to the above-described examples, and various modifications may be added without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the determination area DA and the confirmation area DB are set in the same image Ai, Aj, and image processing is performed in these areas, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and an image having the determination area DA and an image having the confirmation area DB may be obtained separately, or images may be captured by different cameras (imaging devices). In the above embodiment, the conveyance object CA having the changed posture is disposed on the conveyance path 122 by operating the conveyance object posture changing unit C with respect to the conveyance object CA on the conveyance path 121, but the conveyance posture of the conveyance object CA may be changed on the same conveyance path 121.

Claims (9)

1. A transport system is characterized by comprising:

a conveying device which conveys a conveyed object along a conveying path and has a posture changing part for changing the posture of the conveyed object in the middle of the conveying path;

an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the transported object;

a conveyed article identification unit that obtains conveyed article identification information relating to the posture of the conveyed article by performing image processing on an image portion of the conveyed article in a determination region set on an upstream side of the posture change portion;

a transport object posture changing unit that changes the posture of the transport object at the posture changing portion when the transport object identification information indicates that the posture of the transport object needs to be changed; and

and a transport confirmation unit that obtains transport confirmation information regarding the posture of the transport by performing image processing on the image portion of the transport after the posture of the transport has been changed by the transport posture changing unit.

2. The delivery system of claim 1,

the transport object posture change determination unit obtains transport object posture change information indicating a relationship between the transport object identification information and the transport object confirmation information.

3. The delivery system of claim 1,

the transport object confirmation unit obtains the transport object confirmation information by performing image processing on an image portion of a confirmation area set in a position or a range where the transport object is arranged after the posture of the transport object is changed at the posture changing portion by the transport object posture changing unit.

4. The delivery system of claim 3,

the confirmation area is set in an image portion having a predetermined positional relationship with the posture change portion in another image captured at or after a time point when a predetermined time has elapsed with respect to the image portion including the determination area.

5. The delivery system of claim 3,

the image processing apparatus further includes a confirmation area prediction unit that predicts a position or a range of the confirmation area for each of the images or each of the transported objects.

6. The delivery system of any of claims 1 to 5,

a posture change control unit for controlling the operation mode of the transport object posture change unit;

the posture change control part automatically sets the operation mode of the conveyed object posture changing unit according to the conveyed object confirmation information.

7. The delivery system of claim 6,

the conveyance object posture changing unit changes the posture of the conveyance object by blowing an air flow to the conveyance object.

8. The delivery system of claim 7,

the action profile is at least one of a blowing timing and a blowing pressure of the air flow.

9. The delivery system of any of claims 3 to 5,

the determination region and the confirmation region are both regions included in the image.

Images