CN212238247U

CN212238247U - Robot sorting system with flexible feeding mechanism

Info

Publication number: CN212238247U
Application number: CN202021799885.3U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周佳骥
Original assignee: Star Ape Philosophy Technology Shanghai Co ltd
Current assignee: Star Ape Philosophy Technology Shanghai Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-25
Filing date: 2020-08-25
Publication date: 2020-12-29
Anticipated expiration: 2030-08-25

Abstract

The utility model provides a robot sorting system with a flexible feeding mechanism, which utilizes the flexible feeding mechanism to reorder the positions, postures and the like of the parts which are randomly and disorderly accumulated together, thereby converting 3D into 2D/2.5D with limited postures and facilitating sorting; the visual system can be used for accurately and quickly acquiring information such as the position and the posture of the part, and the robot automatically replaces a suitable tail end clamp according to the acquired information without waiting and finishes the sorting with high efficiency; and a grating system can be attached to the material receiving box, so that whether the parts are accurately placed in the material receiving box according to requirements can be detected.

Description

Robot sorting system with flexible feeding mechanism

Technical Field

The utility model relates to an intelligent robot technical field especially relates to a take flexible feeding mechanism's robot letter sorting system.

Background

In the suit product letter sorting system, the suit product kind is many and corresponding part is little and miscellaneous, selects to rely on manual work or semi-automatization to accomplish completely to the part of different suit products at present, and the link is loaded down with trivial details, and the operation is simple and repeated, consumes a large amount of manpower resources.

The package product sorting is to collect the same parts (the same parts of a plurality of products) into a batch, and sort and select the parts in different batches according to the quantity and the types of the parts required by the package product. The method is characterized in that: 1. the products are different, and the quantity and the types of the requirements on the parts are also different. 2. The parts are dense and various. 3. The operation is complex and the difficulty coefficient is large.

Under the basis that mechanical automation is mature day by day, suit product letter sorting draws close to the automation gradually, on the basis that reduces manual work, promotes letter sorting efficiency and rate of accuracy. At present, all large manufacturers and enterprises turn the traditional manual operation and semi-automatic operation into full-automatic operation. However, package sorting has its inherent difficulties and limitations: firstly, the packaged products need a plurality of types of parts with different quantities, the sorting processing difficulty is high, the labor intensity is high, and due to the difference between the packaged products, in order to complete the operation, the operation personnel can be very tired due to frequent switching between material frames at different positions, so the whole operation difficulty of the sorting process is high; secondly, in the process of full automation, parts are different in shape rules and large in quantity, batch parts from upstream to downstream are often stacked and staggered together, the requirements on mechanical equipment are very strict and complex, the operation technical requirements on operators are high, the subsequent detection links are also high, and the sorting is very difficult.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a robot sorting system with flexible feeding mechanism for solving the above problems in the background art.

In order to achieve the above object, the utility model provides a take flexible feeding mechanism's robot letter sorting system, include: the flexible feeding mechanism is used for rearranging the accumulated part materials; the vision system is used for acquiring images of the part materials in the flexible feeding mechanism, extracting part material vision information from the images, judging whether each part material meets the sorting requirement or not according to the part material vision information and determining the type of an end effector of the robot system; the robot system comprises an end effector and a quick change system; the robot system establishes communication connection with the vision system; the robot system selects the part materials in the flexible feeding mechanism after replacing the corresponding end effector by using a quick-change system; the material receiving mechanism is arranged in the operation range of the robot system and used for storing the part materials picked by the robot system; and the conveying system is used for bearing the material receiving mechanism and conveying the material receiving mechanism to an appointed position.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the flexible feeding mechanism comprises any one or more of a vibrating mechanism, a differential mechanism, a slope circulating mechanism, and a shaking mechanism.

The utility model discloses an in some embodiments, robot letter sorting system still includes suggestion device, is used for grating detection device detects send the suggestion when the part material that inaccurate as required placed appears in the receiving mechanism.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the prompting device comprises one or more of an indicator light, a speaker, and a display; the prompting action type comprises any one or more of the combination of indicator light on and off, sound and sound, and pattern display.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the vision system comprises: the image acquisition module is used for acquiring images of the part materials in the flexible feeding mechanism; the image processing module extracts visual information of the part materials from the image, judges whether each part material meets the sorting requirement or not according to the visual information of the part materials and determines the type of an end effector of the robot system; and the communication module is used for transmitting the visual information of the part materials and the type information of the end effector to the outside.

In some embodiments of the invention, the end effector comprises a suction cup or a pneumatic finger; the quick-change system comprises a robot tool quick-change device.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the receiving mechanism includes any one or combination of multiple storage containers in a material frame, a material box, and a storage bag.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the robotic sorting system further comprises: and the 3D camera is used for acquiring the 3D pose of the accumulated part materials and the shielding relation for grabbing.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the part material comprises homogeneous material and/or heterogeneous material; the same materials are sorted according to the number of the materials, and the mixed materials are sorted according to the material types.

As above, the utility model relates to a take flexible feeding mechanism's robot letter sorting system has following beneficial effect:

(1) the utility model discloses utilize flexible feed mechanism to pile up part material position, gesture reordering such as together unordered to trun into 2D 2.5D limited kind gesture by 3D, conveniently select.

(2) The utility model discloses utilize information such as the accurate quick acquisition part position of visual system, gesture, according to the information that obtains, the terminal anchor clamps that the robot is automatic to be changed and is fit for need not to wait for, and the high efficiency is accomplished and is selected.

(3) The utility model discloses can take grating system additional, can detect whether the part is accurate to be placed in connecing the material box as required.

Drawings

Fig. 1A is a perspective view of a robotic sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 1B is a top view of the robotic sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 1C is a side view of a robotic sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating that the picking requirement is not met according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating that the sorting requirement is not met according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2C is a schematic diagram illustrating that the picking requirement is not met according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2D is a schematic diagram of the present invention according to the sorting requirement.

Detailed Description

The following description is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description.

It should be understood that the structure, ratio, size and the like shown in the drawings attached to the present specification are only used for matching with the content disclosed in the specification, so as to be known and read by those skilled in the art, and are not used for limiting the limit conditions that the present invention can be implemented, so that the present invention has no technical essential meaning, and any structure modification, ratio relationship change or size adjustment should still fall within the scope that the technical content disclosed in the present invention can cover without affecting the function that the present invention can produce and the purpose that the present invention can achieve. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments of the present application is defined only by the claims of the issued patent. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. Spatially relative terms, such as "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "lower," "below," "lower," "above," "upper," and the like, may be used herein to facilitate describing one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," "retained," and the like are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific situations by those skilled in the art.

Also, as used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, operations, elements, components, items, species, and/or groups, but do not preclude the presence, or addition of one or more other features, operations, elements, components, items, species, and/or groups thereof. The terms "or" and/or "as used herein are to be construed as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Thus, "A, B or C" or "A, B and/or C" means "any of the following: a; b; c; a and B; a and C; b and C; A. b and C ". An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions or operations are inherently mutually exclusive in some way.

Package sorting has its inherent difficulties and limitations: firstly, the packaged products need a plurality of types of parts with different quantities, the sorting processing difficulty is high, the labor intensity is high, and due to the difference between the packaged products, in order to complete the operation, the operation personnel can be very tired due to frequent switching between material frames at different positions, so the whole operation difficulty of the sorting process is high; secondly, in the process of full automation, parts are different in shape rules and large in quantity, batch parts from upstream to downstream are often stacked and staggered together, the requirements on mechanical equipment are very strict and complex, the operation technical requirements on operators are high, the subsequent detection links are also high, and the sorting is very difficult.

In view of this, the utility model provides a take flexible feeding mechanism's robot letter sorting system can realize that the automatic warehouse-out of part goes up the line in the warehouse, and the part is automatic to be chosen in the storage container, replaces artifical letter sorting.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly apparent, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail through the following embodiments in combination with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

As shown in fig. 1A to 1C, a schematic structural diagram of a robot sorting system with a flexible feeding mechanism in an embodiment of the present invention is shown. FIG. 1A illustrates a perspective view of a robotic sorting system; FIG. 1B illustrates a top view of the robotic sorting system; fig. 1C illustrates a side view of the robotic sorting system. The robotic sorting system of the present embodiment includes a robotic system 11, a flexible feeding mechanism 12, a material receiving mechanism 13, a vision system 14, a conveying system 15, and a grasping and quick-changing system (not shown), and the detailed explanation of each mechanism and system in the robotic sorting system will be provided below.

In some examples, the flexible feed mechanism 12 is used to rearrange parts materials stacked together from upstream equipment from a 3D pose to a limited number of poses, 2D or 2.5D. The flexible feeding mechanism 12 in this embodiment may be a vibrating mechanism, a differential mechanism, a slope circulating flow mechanism, a shaking mechanism, etc.; the vibration mechanism (such as a jolting table for vibrating materials) drives the stacked part materials to change the posture and the layout after vibrating through self vibration; the differential mechanism (such as a differential) relieves the stacking of part materials by setting speed difference at two sides, and then changes the posture and the layout; a slope circulating flow mechanism (such as a circulating slope conveyor) relieves the stacking of part materials in the circulating conveying process, and then changes the posture and the layout; the shaking mechanism (such as a swinging machine or a shaking machine) shakes by itself to drive the parts stacked together to change the posture and the layout after shaking.

In some examples, vision system 14 includes an image acquisition module, an image processing module, and a communication module; the image acquisition module is used for acquiring images of the part materials in the flexible feeding mechanism 12; the image processing module is used for extracting visual information of the part materials from the image, judging whether each part material meets the sorting requirement or not according to the visual information of the part materials and determining the type of an end effector of the robot system; the communication module is used for transmitting the visual information of the part materials and the type information of the end effector to the outside. The part material visual information includes, but is not limited to, position information, attitude information, specification information, dimension information, etc. of the part material.

The image acquisition module related to the embodiment can be a camera module, and the camera module comprises a camera device, a storage device and a processing device; the image capturing device includes but is not limited to: cameras, video cameras, camera modules integrated with optical systems or CCD chips, camera modules integrated with optical systems and CMOS chips, and the like. In order to increase the size of the visual scanning area, the visual system can also select a wide-angle lens or a fisheye lens. The image processing module can be an ARM (advanced RISC machines) controller, an FPGA (field Programmable Gate array) controller, an SoC (System on chip) controller, a DSP (digital Signal processing) controller, or an MCU (micro controller Unit) controller. The communication module may be a Wi-FI module, a ZigBee module, a bluetooth module, an NB-IoT module, a LoRA module, an eMTC module, or the like, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Optionally, the condition that the part materials meet the sorting requirement includes, but is not limited to, no stacking between the part materials, independent separation of the part materials, specific face of the part materials facing a pre-designated direction, and the like, which may be set according to an actual application scenario, and this embodiment is not limited. In order to facilitate understanding of those skilled in the art, the following describes whether the part material meets the sorting requirement with reference to fig. 2A to 2D; the part materials in FIG. 2A are stacked and therefore do not meet the picking requirements; although the part materials in FIG. 2B are not stacked, the parts are not separated from each other independently, so that the picking requirement is not met; in the parts material of FIG. 2C, a part A that is not turned upside down, i.e., has not been oriented with a particular face in a pre-designated direction, is not eligible for picking; the parts in fig. 2D are not stacked and are separated individually and oriented in a desired direction, so that the picking requirement is met and the next picking operation can be performed by the robotic system. It should be noted that the above examples are provided for illustrative purposes and should not be construed as limiting.

It should be noted that the present invention provides a set of hardware devices, which can be used alone or in combination with some existing software or programs to implement the following functions: after the images of the part materials are obtained, target detection can be carried out on each part material in the images by using a target detection model, and a target frame is marked; if an overlapping area exists between the marked target frames, the stacked part materials in the image can be judged; if no overlapping area exists between the marked target frames and no gap exists, the part materials in the image can be judged not to be separated independently; if the shape and the size of the marked target frame are not consistent with the preset shape and size, part materials and the like with specific surfaces not facing the preset direction can be judged to appear in the image. It should be understood that the above determination method is only one of the embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention does not limit the specific determination rule that the part material meets the sorting requirement.

Alternatively, the type of robotic system end effector includes, but is not limited to, a suction cup or a pneumatic finger, etc. The type of the end effector can be determined according to the size information of the part materials, for example, the small-size part materials adopt a small-size sucker/pneumatic finger, and the large-size part materials adopt a large-size sucker/pneumatic finger or a combination of a plurality of suckers and a plurality of pneumatic fingers. The type of the end effector can be determined according to the posture information of the part materials, for example, the part materials with regular and flat postures are sucked by a sucker, the part materials with irregular and flat postures are grabbed by a pneumatic finger, and the like.

In some examples, the robotic system 11 is communicatively coupled to the vision system 14 for receiving attribute information of the parts items from the vision system 14 and sorting the parts items meeting the picking requirements after rapidly exchanging the end effectors according to the currently determined end effector type of the robotic system. After the picking, for the rest part materials which do not reach the picking degree, the flexible feeding mechanism 12 continuously rearranges the part materials, and then the part materials are supplied to the end effector of the robot system 11 for secondary picking; these operations are repeated until all of the parts materials have been sorted.

Optionally, the robot system 11 may select a multi-axis robot such as a six-axis robot, a four-axis robot, an eight-axis robot, an XYZ three-axis robot, a parallel robot, or may also select a Scara robot having 3 rotational joints and capable of being applied to assembly operation, or a Delta robot capable of realizing high-precision material picking, or the like. It is worth explaining, in the practical application scene, any automation equipment that can realize snatching and the function of transporting can both be applied to the technical scheme of the utility model.

In some examples, the material receiving mechanism 13 is used for receiving materials, and the robot system 11 picks up the part materials from the flexible material supplying mechanism 12 and then puts the part materials into the material receiving mechanism 13. The receiving mechanism 13 according to this embodiment includes, but is not limited to, a material frame, a material box, a plastic bag, and other storage containers.

Optionally, a grating detection device (not shown) is arranged in the material receiving mechanism 13, and is used for detecting whether the part material is accurately placed in the material receiving mechanism 13 as required; if the part materials which are not accurately placed according to the requirements are detected, the part materials can be taken out of the material receiving mechanism 13 through the robot system 11 or manually. The grating detection device related to the embodiment can select a grating sensor, can perform precision measurement of length and angle, position detection of a numerical control system and the like, and has the characteristics of high measurement precision, strong anti-interference capability, suitability for dynamic measurement, automatic measurement, digital display and the like. The grating sensor may be a physical grating, a measurement grating, a transmissive grating, a reflective grating, or the like, and the embodiment is not limited.

Optionally, the robot division system further comprises a prompting device, and the prompting device is used for prompting that the grating detection device detects that the parts and materials which are not accurately placed according to needs appear in the material receiving mechanism. Optionally, the prompting device may be one or more of a combination of an indicator light, a speaker, and a display, and the type of the indicating action includes any one or more of a light on/off, a sound beep, and a pattern display.

In some examples, the conveying system 15 is used to convey the receiving mechanism 13 to a downstream or upstream mechanism on command. The conveying system 15 according to the present embodiment includes, but is not limited to, a belt conveyor, a drum conveyor, a chain conveyor, a slide rail conveyor, and the like.

In some examples, a grasping and quick-change system is provided on the robotic system 11, including the end effectors and the quick-change system, and the types of end effectors include, but are not limited to, suction cups, pneumatic fingers, and the like. The quick-change system can select a robot Tool quick-change device (robot Tool Changer) to automatically change different end effectors by using a robot, so that the application of the robot is more flexible and flexible. The end effector of the grabbing and quick-changing system is matched with the quick-changing system, and according to information such as the size and the posture of the part material detected by the vision system 14, the end effector is quickly, accurately and automatically replaced, and grabbing and picking are carried out.

Therefore, the robot sorting system with the flexible feeding mechanism provided by the embodiment can utilize the flexible feeding mechanism to reorder the positions, postures and the like of the parts which are randomly and disorderly stacked together, so that the limited postures of 2D/2.5D are converted from 3D, and the sorting is convenient; the visual system can be used for accurately and quickly acquiring information such as the position and the posture of the part, and the robot automatically replaces a suitable tail end clamp according to the acquired information without waiting to finish the picking with high efficiency; and a grating system can be attached to the material receiving box, so that whether the parts are accurately placed in the material receiving box according to requirements can be detected.

In some examples, the robotic sorting system further includes a 3D camera to acquire a 3D pose and an occlusion relationship of the accumulated parts material for grasping. It should be noted that the 3D camera provided in this embodiment is to directly capture an object by determining a 3D pose and a shielding relationship in the case of proper stacking, and does not need a flexible feeding mechanism to re-arrange a part material, which is more efficient. It is to be understood that the present embodiment defines, as appropriate stacking, a state in which the stacking degree is not high, i.e., the 3D pose and the occlusion relationship can be acquired by the 3D camera. The principle that the 3D camera acquires the 3D pose and the shielding relation is already the existing principle, so the description is omitted.

In some examples, the vision system determines the quantity and graspable pose of the part material based on the captured images of the part material within the flexible feeding mechanism to determine whether to continue feeding and whether to re-arrange the part material. Specifically, the vision system can judge the number of the materials, and if the number of the materials is not enough (if the number of the materials is lower than a preset threshold value), the flexible feeding mechanism is enabled to provide more part materials; if the grabbing posture cannot be determined, the flexible feeding mechanism changes the layout (such as through shaking, vibration, differential speed, shaking and the like). It should be noted that the present invention only protects the hardware system of the robotic picking system, and does not involve any updates on the software technology itself.

In some examples, the part material includes homogeneous material and/or heterogeneous material; the same materials are sorted according to the number of the materials, and the mixed materials are sorted according to the material types. Specifically, the parts of the same kind of materials can be sorted according to the number, and the mixed materials such as injection molding parts, metal parts and the like can be sorted and sorted according to the categories.

To sum up, the utility model provides a robot sorting system with a flexible feeding mechanism, which utilizes the flexible feeding mechanism to reorder the positions, postures and the like of the parts which are randomly and disorderly stacked together, thereby converting 3D into 2D/2.5D limited postures and facilitating sorting; the utility model can accurately and rapidly obtain the position, posture and other information of the part by utilizing the vision system, and the robot automatically changes the suitable end clamp according to the obtained information without waiting and finishes the sorting with high efficiency; the utility model discloses can take grating system additional, can detect whether the part is accurate to be placed in connecing the material box as required. Therefore, the utility model effectively overcomes various defects in the prior art and has high industrial utilization value.

The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and effects of the present invention, and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Modifications and variations can be made to the above-described embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical spirit of the present invention be covered by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A take flexible feeding mechanism's robot letter sorting system which characterized in that includes:

the flexible feeding mechanism is used for rearranging the accumulated part materials;

the vision system is used for acquiring images of the part materials in the flexible feeding mechanism;

the robot system comprises an end effector and a quick change system; the robot system establishes communication connection with the vision system; the robot system selects the part materials in the flexible feeding mechanism after replacing the corresponding end effector by using a quick-change system;

the material receiving mechanism is arranged in the operation range of the robot system and used for storing the part materials picked by the robot system;

and the conveying system is used for bearing the material receiving mechanism and conveying the material receiving mechanism to an appointed position.

2. The robotic sortation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible feed mechanism includes any one or a combination of a vibrating mechanism, a differential mechanism, a ramped circulating flow mechanism, a shaking mechanism.

3. The robotic sorting system according to claim 1 wherein a raster detection device is provided in the receiving mechanism for detecting whether the parts in the receiving mechanism are accurately placed as desired.

4. The robotic sorting system according to claim 3, further comprising:

and the prompting device is used for sending a prompt when the grating detection device detects that the part materials which are not accurately placed according to the requirements appear in the material receiving mechanism.

5. The robotic sortation system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the prompting device includes one or more combinations of indicator lights, speakers, and displays; the prompting action type comprises any one or more of the combination of indicator light on and off, sound and sound, and pattern display.

6. The robotic sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the vision system comprises:

the image acquisition module is used for acquiring images of the part materials in the flexible feeding mechanism;

the image processing module extracts visual information of the part materials from the image, judges whether each part material meets the sorting requirement or not according to the visual information of the part materials and determines the type of an end effector of the robot system;

and the communication module is used for transmitting the visual information of the part materials and the type information of the end effector to the outside.

7. The robotic sortation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end effector comprises a suction cup or a pneumatic finger; the quick-change system comprises a robot tool quick-change device.

8. The robotic sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the receiving mechanism comprises any one or a combination of a plurality of storage containers in a material frame, a material box, and a receiving bag.

9. The robotic sortation system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

and the 3D camera is used for acquiring the 3D pose of the accumulated part materials and the shielding relation for grabbing.

10. The robotic sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the parts materials include homogeneous materials and/or heterogeneous materials; the same materials are sorted according to the number of the materials, and the mixed materials are sorted according to the material types.