EP0363178B1 - Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Handhaben von blattförmigem Material - Google Patents

Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Handhaben von blattförmigem Material Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0363178B1
EP0363178B1 EP19890310153 EP89310153A EP0363178B1 EP 0363178 B1 EP0363178 B1 EP 0363178B1 EP 19890310153 EP19890310153 EP 19890310153 EP 89310153 A EP89310153 A EP 89310153A EP 0363178 B1 EP0363178 B1 EP 0363178B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
gripper
fabric
piece
outline
seams
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19890310153
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0363178A1 (de
Inventor
Jeremy Gilliat
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
GE Power Resources Management Ltd
Original Assignee
Cegelec Controls Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from GB888823214A external-priority patent/GB8823214D0/en
Priority claimed from GB898909126A external-priority patent/GB8909126D0/en
Application filed by Cegelec Controls Ltd filed Critical Cegelec Controls Ltd
Publication of EP0363178A1 publication Critical patent/EP0363178A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0363178B1 publication Critical patent/EP0363178B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D05—SEWING; EMBROIDERING; TUFTING
    • D05B—SEWING
    • D05B19/00—Programme-controlled sewing machines
    • D05B19/02—Sewing machines having electronic memory or microprocessor control unit
    • D05B19/04—Sewing machines having electronic memory or microprocessor control unit characterised by memory aspects
    • D05B19/08—Arrangements for inputting stitch or pattern data to memory ; Editing stitch or pattern data

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a method and apparatus for handling flexible sheets, and particularly for moving pieces of fabric over a work table in a garment manufacturing system.
  • Garments such as underclothes and blouses, have previously been manufactured by passing suitably-shaped pieces of fabric ("cut parts") to a machinist, who then overlays and/or folds them as required, and passes them manually through a sewing machine.
  • the machinist forms seams, binds the edges of the cut parts and adds lace and elasticated waistbands, where necessary.
  • the accuracy of the positioning of the seams relies on the machinist's skill, and nominally-identical garments can finish up having quite a wide range of different sizes and shapes.
  • GB-A-2 106 272 discloses a programming device for an automatic sewing machine in which sewing instructions corresponding to a required curved stitch line are stored. The fabric is clamped between two frames which are moved as an assembly relative to the sewing needle. No provision is made for the accurate positioning of a gripper on a fabric workpiece.
  • a method of positioning a gripper on a piece of fabric which is to be fed subsequently to one or more sewing machines for sewing a plurality of seams at different positions on said piece of fabric comprising storing data representing a pattern of coordinates which accurately defines the required positions of all of said seams; viewing the outline of said piece of fabric on which the gripper is to be located and generating data relating to said outline; determining from the outline data and the pattern data a notional acceptable location for the pattern of coordinates relative to said outline so that accurate sewing of all of said seams can be achieved; and locating the gripper on said piece of fabric at a position determined in dependence upon said notional location.
  • the piece of fabric is rejected if a satisfactory notional location relative to the outline cannot be determined.
  • apparatus for positioning a gripper on a piece of fabric which is to be fed subsequently to one or more sewing machines for sewing a plurality of seams at different positions on said piece of fabric; the apparatus comprising means to store data representing a pattern of coordinates which accurately defines the required positions of all of said seams; means to view the outline of said piece of fabric on which the gripper is to be positioned and to generate data relating to said outline; means responsive to the outline data and the pattern data to determine a notional acceptable location for the pattern of coordinates relative to said outline so that accurate sewing of all of said seams can be subsequently achieved; and robot means for locating the gripper on said piece of fabric at a position determined in dependence upon said notional location.
  • a garment manufacturing system includes a smooth flat work table 1, over which cut parts are to be moved between work stations, such as a manipulator 2 and a sewing machine 3, by a robot 4.
  • the robot is of the gantry type, i.e. it is suspended over the table 1 from rails 5, 6 along which it moves in x and y directions.
  • An output shaft 7 of the robot can move upwards and downwards (z motion) and can rotate about its vertical axis ( ⁇ motion).
  • Cut parts are produced in batches, and such a batch 8 is shown positioned alongside the table so that a ply separator and feeder 9 can pick the top cut part off the pile and feed it on to the table.
  • a cut part 10 is shown on the table after it has been placed there by the device 9.
  • the cut part on the table 1 is viewed by a video camera 11, which may be mounted above the table or may be built into the surface of the table.
  • a video camera 11 which may be mounted above the table or may be built into the surface of the table.
  • the camera is shown in the latter position for clarity of the figures.
  • the camera may comprise an array of pixels (e.g. 512 x 512), but is preferably a line scan camera, in which case relative movement between the camera and the cut part is necessary so that the whole of the cut part is scanned.
  • a line scan camera arrangement is capable of giving better resolution than a matrix camera, and takes up less space, but means for producing the relative movement must be provided.
  • the output of the camera is fed to an image processing system 12.
  • a gripper 13 is mounted on the bottom of the robot shaft for moving the cut part to the manipulator 2, where the cut part is folded, or to the sewing machine 3.
  • the gripper is a flat plate of suitable shape, which bears down on the cut part so that the cut part can be slid over the table with a speed, orientation and direction of movement which are continuously determined by a robot controller 14 which controls the movements of the robot 4.
  • the image processing system 12 includes a data store into which is entered an ideal theoretical "template” of co-ordinates which define all of the seam lines for the garment which is to be made from a cut part 10 of Figure 3.
  • the template 15 is shown in Figure 4. From the information given by the camera, the image processing system determines an acceptable position for the template, orientated where necessary, to fit on to the cut part with the amount of material required for each seam extending beyond the template at the respective side. For some seams, such as those where binding is necessary, the template must be notionally located on the cut part 10 such that the amount of material extending beyond it at that edge lies between predetermined accurate maximum and minimum values. At other seams, such as those where excess material is automatically cut off during sewing, the amount of material must lie between an accurate minimum and a maximum which does not have to be so accurate.
  • the image processing system determines that it is not possible to fit the template to the particular cut part which has been scanned, the cut part cannot be used satisfactorily and is discarded. Otherwise, the template is notionally "fitted” in the required position and the robot is moved in accordance with that template position, by the robot controller, so that the gripper comes down on to the cut part in its correct position relative to the template for the first manufacturing operation to be carried out. For example, if the first operation involves binding of an edge, the gripper will be placed the required distance in from that edge so that the sewing machine 3 to which the robot 4 feeds the edge sews the binding in the correct position.
  • the controller can control all future operations, assuming that the cut part has not been allowed to slip relative to the gripper 13 or a subsequent gripper or manipulator, so that every fold and seam is made in exactly the right position in accordance with the initial seam pattern.
  • An accurately-dimensioned garment therefore results from every cycle of operation of the system.
  • the template location routine uses a thresholded image to produce the cut part edge outline.
  • the outline is stored as an array of coordinates corresponding to the cut part edge position for each line of the image.
  • the corners 16-21 of the cut part are located by calculating the second order differential, i.e. the rate of change of gradient, for each point on the outline. At a corner the gradient passes through a discontinuity, and each corner can therefore be recognised. This technique produces spurious corner data which can be eliminated by matching the found corners with previously defined expected corner positions.
  • the seam tolerance bands 22-27 are found for respective edges of the cut part, between pairs of corners, using previously defined margins.
  • an equation for the cut part edge is calculated using a best fit line through several outline points. This is shifted by the maximum and minimum seam distances from the cut part edge, to give equations defining the boundaries of the seam tolerance band.
  • the best fit line is calculated using several points in the vicinity of the corner.
  • pairs of seam tolerance bands intersect forming critical regions 28-33. If the corners 34-39 of the ideal seam template 15 can all be located within critical regions, then it follows that the cut part seams can be sewn within the tolerance distances from the edges of the cut part, and the template will therefore be in an acceptable position.
  • the template corner (for example the corner 35) corresponding to the smallest critical region (for example the region 29) is located at the centre of that region.
  • the minimum and maximum distances between the centre of the smallest critical region and the other critical region boundaries are calculated.
  • the fixed distances between seam template corners must lie within these calculated minimum and maximum distances, for the centre of the smallest critical region to be a valid position for the corresponding template corner. If the centre of the smallest critical region is not acceptable, then the validity of the boundary corners of the smallest critical region is considered. If none of these are valid, then it is not possible to fit the seam template on the cut part and it is rejected.
  • the minimum and maximum rotations required about the smallest critical region template corner, to rotate the other template corners into their corresponding critical regions are calculated. If the largest minimum rotation is greater than the smallest maximum rotation, then it is not possible to fit the seam template on the cut part and it is rejected. Otherwise the seam template is rotated by a mid value between the largest minimum rotation and the smallest maximum rotation.
  • This template location routine allows easy location relative to curved edges of a cut part.
  • the routine locates a number of points on the cut part. These points can either be corners, or specific points such as the midpoint between two corners, the centroid, or the intersection of two centre lines.
  • Each edge (or seam) is assigned a weighting function, which is dependent on the accuracy required for that edge, and the associated point will thus have a weighting factor determined by the adjacent edges.
  • a point or edge which has a very small tolerance will in subsequent operations be assigned a high weighting function.
  • an angle ⁇ and a distance S1 are derived from the sewing tolerances for each edge or centre line.
  • Each edge such as edges 40 and 41 in Figure 7, has a minimum tolerance and a maximum tolerance for sewing operations, and an average tolerance is calculated for each edge (midway between the minimum and maximum tolerances).
  • the values S1 and ⁇ refer to the intercept 43 of the average tolerances for the two adjacent edges 40, 41. (This will be defined as the average tolerance intercept).
  • S1 is the displacement from the corner to the intercept and ⁇ is the angle of a line 44 joining the corner 42 and the intercept 43, referred to the cut part centroid.
  • the x and y translation and the rotation relative to the centroid to move from the theoretical position of the average intercept on the template (x′ ave , y′ ave ) to (x ave ,y ave ) is calculated. This will depend on the actual orientation and shape of the cut part and is equivalent to the required centroid translation/rotation to match the template to that point on the cut part.
  • the weighted average of the centroid translation/rotation found for each point is then calculated to yield the desired gripper centroid location. From these values the translation/rotation of the gripper attachment point can be calculated.
  • Location of a corner may be performed by a variety of methods, dependent on the type of corner. One method is to find the intersection of several lines with the edge of the fabric near the corner, and then extrapolate the corner position. Centre lines can be found by interpolation from two edges.
  • a corner may be found directly by using a convolution. Corners can be found by convolving the image of the cut part with specified corner shapes and searching for the best fits. For an ideal cut part, this method is not infallible and typically only one or two corners can be found. However, the gripper location algorithm still gives an acceptable match between the template and the cut part. In practice, the corners of the cut parts are not perfect and so errors could occur in the matching.
  • edges For components with straight edges, the edges can be found by locating a number of points on each edge and fitting a line to the points. The corner location can then be calculated using the intercept of two adjacent edges.
  • a number of points can be located on the edge and a predefined curve fitted to the points.
  • the corner location can then be calculated using the intercept of two adjacent edges.
  • the location of each point used by the gripper location algorithm is identified and stored in the image processing system.
  • the required translation of the gripper centroid to move each point separately to its ideal position is then calculated using S1 and 0.
  • the image processing system calculates the weighted average of these values to produce the desired gripper centroid translation.
  • the robot controller 14 ( Figure 2) requires a translation/rotation for the gripper attachment point, which can be a different position from the gripper centroid.
  • the image processing system 12 therefore calculates the required translation/rotation for the gripper attachment point from the values for the centroid and offsets for the gripper attachment point.
  • the vision processing system is required to find the offset of the actual gripper centroid position from the theoretical template centroid position.
  • the routine initially calculates the offset of the actual average tolerance intercept (x ave , y ave ) from the cut-part point (x act ,y act ) using the equations derived below.
  • the optimum location for the gripper centroid at this point will be the offset from the theoretical intercept position (x′ ave , y′ ave ) to the actual intercept position (x ave ,y ave ).
  • the change in rotation between the theoretical gripper centroid orientation and the actual orientation of the gripper centroid can be found by taking the weighted average of 0 ⁇ for each point. From the gripper centroid translation and rotation offsets, the offsets for the gripper attachment point can be calculated.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Textile Engineering (AREA)
  • Sewing Machines And Sewing (AREA)

Claims (6)

  1. Verfahren zum Positionieren eines Greifers (13) auf einem Stück Stoff (10), das anschließend einer oder mehreren Nähmaschinen (3) zum Nähen einer Vielzahl Nähte (22 bis 27) bei verschiedenen Positionen auf dem Stück Stoff zuzuführen ist,
    gekennzeichnet durch:
    Abspeichern von Daten, die ein Muster von Koordinaten darstellen, das die erforderlichen Positionen von all den Nähten genau definiert; Betrachten des Umrisses des Stückes Stoff, auf dem der Greifer zu lokalisieren ist, und Erzeugen von Daten, die auf den Umriß bezogen sind; Bestimmen aus den Umrißdaten und den Musterdaten eines gedachten annehmbaren Ortes (15) für das Muster von Koordinaten in bezug auf den Umriß, so daß ein genaues Nähen all der Nähte erreicht werden kann; und Lokalisieren des Greifers auf dem Stück Stoff bei einer Position, die in Abhängigkeit von dem gedachten Ort festgelegt ist.
  2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet,
    daß, falls ein solcher annehmbarer Ort (15) nicht bestimmt werden kann, das Lokalisieren des Greifers unterbunden wird und das Stück Stoff (10) verworfen wird.
  3. Gerät zum Positionieren eines Greifers (13) auf einem Stück Stoff (10), das anschließend einer oder mehreren Nähmaschinen (3) zum Nähen einer Vielzahl Nähte (22 bis 27) bei verschiedenen Positionen auf dem Stück Stoff zuzuführen ist,
    gekennzeichnet durch:
    eine Einrichtung (12) zum Speichern von Daten, die ein Muster von Koordinaten darstellen, das die erforderlichen Positionen von all den Nähten genau definiert; eine Einrichtung (11) zum Betrachten des Umrisses des Stückes Stoff, auf dem der Greifer zu positionieren ist, und zum Erzeugen von Daten, die auf den Umriß bezogen sind; eine auf die Umrißdaten und die Musterdaten ansprechende Einrichtung zum Bestimmen eines gedachten annehmbaren Ortes (15) für das Muster von Koordinaten in bezug auf den Umriß, so daß ein genaues Nähen von all den Nähten anschließend durchgeführt werden kann; und eine Robotereinrichtung (4) zum Lokalisieren des Greifers auf dem Stück Stoff bei einer Position, die in Abhängigkeit von dem gedachten Ort festgelegt ist.
  4. Gerät nach Anspruch 3,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet,
    daß die Einrichtung zum Betrachten des Umrisses eine Videokamera (11) enthält.
  5. Gerät nach Anspruch 3,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet,
    daß die Einrichtung zum Betrachten des Umrisses eine Zeilenabtastkamera (11) enthält und daß eine Einrichtung vorgesehen ist, die eine Relativbewegung zwischen der Zeilenabtastkamera und dem Stück Stoff (10) veranlaßt, so daß das gesamte Stück Stoff betrachtet werden kann.
  6. Gerät nach irgendeinem der Ansprüche 3 bis 5,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet,
    daß die Robotereinrichtung (4) einen Portalroboter mit einer im wesentlichen senkrechten Ausgangswelle (7) enthält, an der der Greifer (13) angebracht ist.
EP19890310153 1988-10-04 1989-10-04 Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Handhaben von blattförmigem Material Expired - Lifetime EP0363178B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB888823214A GB8823214D0 (en) 1988-10-04 1988-10-04 Sheet handling method & apparatus
GB8823214 1988-10-04
GB898909126A GB8909126D0 (en) 1989-04-21 1989-04-21 Sheet handling method and apparatus
GB8909126 1989-04-21

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0363178A1 EP0363178A1 (de) 1990-04-11
EP0363178B1 true EP0363178B1 (de) 1993-06-16

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19890310153 Expired - Lifetime EP0363178B1 (de) 1988-10-04 1989-10-04 Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Handhaben von blattförmigem Material

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0363178B1 (de)
DE (1) DE68907169T2 (de)
GB (1) GB2224865B (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7426302B2 (en) 2003-11-28 2008-09-16 John Amico System and method for digitizing a pattern

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH02284885A (ja) * 1989-04-27 1990-11-22 Nissan Motor Co Ltd ワーク位置決め装置の位置教示方法
IL92916A0 (en) * 1989-12-28 1990-09-17 Beta Eng & Dev Ltd Sewing apparatus with correctable sewing path
GB9019091D0 (en) * 1990-09-01 1990-10-17 British United Shoe Machinery Automatic sewing machine system
IL99757A (en) * 1991-10-15 1995-06-29 Orisol Original Solutions Ltd Apparatus and method for automatic preparation of a sewing program
US11331812B2 (en) 2019-10-09 2022-05-17 Michel St-Amand Robotic manipulation of fabric pieces using a dropping-roller-type picker

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3459145A (en) * 1966-12-27 1969-08-05 Her Majesty Ind Inc Self-programmed automatic embroidery system
JPS5840620A (ja) * 1981-09-03 1983-03-09 Brother Ind Ltd ミシンのためのプログラミング装置
DE3138364A1 (de) * 1981-09-26 1983-04-07 Männel, Friedrich, 7527 Kraichtal "verfahren zur steuerung eines stickautomaten"
GB2128772A (en) * 1982-10-18 1984-05-02 Philips Electronic Associated Automatic assembly apparatus
FR2540263B1 (fr) * 1983-01-31 1988-05-20 Commissariat Energie Atomique Procede de reconnaissance automatique d'une image a partir d'une image correspondante de reference
GB2151350A (en) * 1983-11-25 1985-07-17 Vs Eng Ltd Sensing arrangement
JPS60200376A (ja) * 1984-03-26 1985-10-09 Hitachi Ltd 部分パタ−ンマツチング方式
JPS6173684A (ja) * 1984-09-20 1986-04-15 ブラザー工業株式会社 縫製機械の被縫製物移動装置
JPS61199892A (ja) * 1985-02-28 1986-09-04 ジューキ株式会社 縫製パタ−ン入力装置
US4707647A (en) * 1986-05-19 1987-11-17 Gmf Robotics Corporation Gray scale vision method and system utilizing same
DE309069T1 (de) * 1987-09-25 1990-11-08 Yaacov Rechovot Makover Naehmaschine mit computer.

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7426302B2 (en) 2003-11-28 2008-09-16 John Amico System and method for digitizing a pattern

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0363178A1 (de) 1990-04-11
GB8922321D0 (en) 1989-11-22
GB2224865A (en) 1990-05-16
DE68907169D1 (de) 1993-07-22
GB2224865B (en) 1992-09-30
DE68907169T2 (de) 1994-01-05

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