JP2010005722A - Workpiece feeder for use in picking bulk items - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a workpiece feeder for use in picking bulk items, which can store a plurality of workpieces in bulk, can control a posture and an operation of a robot without considering elements other than the workpiece (an outer peripheral wall of a container for example) when the robot picks the workpiece, can take out the workpiece without interfering with anything (the outer peripheral wall for example) other than the workpiece, and has a simple structure and small power consumption. <P>SOLUTION: The workpiece feeder includes an upper-opening container body 12 surrounding, across a gap, a workpiece take-out region A where the workpiece 1 to be taken out is located and a hand working region B where a robot hand is located when taking out and capable of storing the plurality of workpieces in bulk on its upper part, and a workpiece carrier 14 (tilt member 15) located below the hand working region B across a gap for moving the workpiece to the workpiece take-out region A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a workpiece feeding device used when feeding unaligned workpieces in a bulk picking device.

The bulk picking device refers to a device that individually recognizes the position / posture of a workpiece from loosely stacked components placed in a messy manner and takes out the workpieces one by one by a robot.
For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 have been proposed as a component supply device to be applied to such a bulk picking device.

Patent Document 1 aims to provide a component supply device that allows the recognition means to efficiently recognize the posture of a component and to operate an embedded robot efficiently.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, this apparatus swings a component hopper 50 that houses a large number of built-in components around a horizontal support shaft 51, and stores a recess that is recessed at the bottom of the component hopper 50. After taking the parts into 52, the parts in the storage recess 52 are taken out using the discharging means 54. As a result, an optimal amount of components can always be taken out from the component hopper 50 and supplied onto the recognition table 56 of the recognizing means 55, so that the recognizing means 55 recognizes the posture of the components by overlapping the components. Not only can it be prevented, but also the picking of parts by the built-in robot 57 can be performed efficiently.

Patent Document 2 aims to provide a component supply apparatus that can supply parts in bulk and pick a number of types of parts to one robot.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, this apparatus supplies parts from the hopper 65 into the recognition container 63 and scatters them. The visual recognition device 64 recognizes the posture of the component in the recognition container 63, and the robot 66 picks the component based on the result. A driving means 67 is attached to the recognition container 63. When it is difficult to recognize the part, the recognition container 63 is swung to change the posture of the part. When the visual recognition device 64 recognizes that the part has entered too much, the recognition container 63 recognizes it. The container 63 is tilted to return the parts to the hopper 65.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-108957, “Parts supply device” Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-170657, “Part Supply Device”

Conventional component supply devices can be broadly divided into the following two types.
(1) When workpieces that are not aligned cannot be recognized (for example, Patent Document 1).
Before performing the picking operation, work for aligning the workpieces by some method has been performed. In this case, there is a problem that a mechanism for performing work for aligning the workpieces so that a picking operation can be performed is required, and time for aligning is required.

(2) When the position of unaligned workpieces can be recognized (for example, Patent Document 2).
The workpiece was only surrounded by a wall so that it would not spill from a specific position. In this case, when taking a work along the wall of the outer peripheral portion, the posture of the robot and the movement must be taken into consideration so that the wall does not get in the way and the work cannot be taken out.

  The present invention has been developed to solve the above-described conventional problems. That is, the object of the present invention can accommodate a plurality of workpieces stacked, can control the posture and operation without taking into account other than the workpiece (for example, the outer peripheral wall of the container) when picking the workpiece with a robot, An object of the present invention is to provide a bulk picking work supply apparatus that can take out a work without interfering with other than the work (for example, an outer peripheral wall), has a simple structure, and consumes less power.

According to the present invention, there is provided a workpiece picking device for bulk picking for picking up workpieces one by one with a robot hand attached to a robot,
A container main body having an open upper portion that allows a plurality of workpieces to be stacked together, surrounding a workpiece extraction region where a workpiece to be extracted is located and a hand working region where a robot hand is positioned at the time of extraction with a gap therebetween,
There is provided a workpiece feeding device for bulk picking, comprising: a workpiece moving device that is located below the handworking region with a gap and moves a workpiece to the workpiece picking region.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the workpiece moving device comprises an inclined member that is located below the handworking region and is formed low on the workpiece take-out region side, and the inclined member is a slippery gradient at which the workpiece is lowered by its own weight. Have

  It is preferable that the inclined member has an inverted pyramid shape or an inverted prefix cone shape.

  Moreover, it is preferable to provide the vibration excitation device which gives a vibration to the said inclination member.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, the container body that is open at the top is configured so that a plurality of workpieces can be stacked thereon, so that a plurality of workpieces can be stacked and accommodated.
In addition, the container body and the workpiece moving device are spaced from the workpiece removal area and the handworking area, and the workpieces stacked by the workpiece movement device are moved to the workpiece removal area. Therefore, when picking a workpiece with a robot, The posture and operation can be controlled without considering other than the workpiece (container main body and workpiece moving device), and the workpiece can be taken out from the workpiece extraction area without interfering with other workpieces (container main body and workpiece moving device).

  In addition, with the above-described configuration, the work placed on the inclined member acts to move to the center of the container (work removal area) by its own weight, so the structure of the work moving device can be simplified and the power consumption can be reduced. Can be eliminated.

  In addition, by providing a vibrating device that applies vibration to the inclined member, it is possible to smoothly move the workpieces stacked in a small amount of power consumption to the workpiece removal area.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the common part in each figure, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a bulk picking apparatus including a workpiece supply apparatus according to the present invention.

  This bulk picking device includes a distance sensor 20, a robot 22, a robot hand 24, and a three-dimensional object recognition device 26.

The distance sensor 20 is controlled by the distance sensor control device 21 and measures the three-dimensional shape of the workpiece 1 stacked in the workpiece supply device 10 of the present invention.
The robot 22 is controlled by the robot control device 28, takes out the target workpiece 1 from the workpiece supply device 10, and arranges it in an alignment tray (not shown).
The robot hand 24 is attached to the hand of the robot 22 to hold the workpiece 1 and is controlled by the hand control device 25.
The three-dimensional object recognition device 26 communicates distance information and position information with the distance sensor control device 21 and the robot control device 28, and recognizes the three-dimensional position and posture of the target workpiece 1.
Furthermore, the robot controller 28 receives a gripping state from the hand controller 25 and transmits a gripping command.

In this example, the robot 22 is an articulated robot. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other types may be used as long as the workpiece can be taken out from above the workpiece supply apparatus 10.
In this example, the distance sensor 20 is a laser radar that performs measurement based on the principle of triangulation using laser light. The distance sensor 20 can obtain the three-dimensional shape information of the object by scanning the laser beam two-dimensionally.

  The above-described bulk picking device measures the three-dimensionally measured workpiece 1 with the distance sensor 20 and collates the obtained measurement result with the 3D CAD model of the workpiece, whereby the three-dimensional position and posture of each workpiece are collated. Recognize

  This bulk picking apparatus can handle (1) a complex shape as a work compared to an image processing type bulk picking apparatus using a camera. In this case, it is possible to take out stably even when foreign matter is mixed.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the workpiece supply device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between the workpiece supply device of the present invention and a robot hand.

  The workpiece supply device 10 according to the present invention is a bulk picking workpiece supply device for taking out workpieces 1 one by one with a robot hand 24 attached to a robot 22.

The workpiece 1 is a small fan made of plastic, for example, and may have a complicated shape.
In this example, the robot hand 24 is an air suction type having a suction pad at the lower end, and picks up the work by picking up the central flat portion of the work 1. The robot hand 24 is not limited to this example, and may be an electromagnetic type or a mechanical clamping device as long as the workpieces 1 can be taken out one by one.

In FIG. 3, A is a work removal area, and B is a handworking area.
The workpiece removal area A is a space area where the workpiece 1 to be removed is located when the workpiece 1 is removed by the robot hand 24. The handworking area B is a space area in which the robot hand 24 is located at the time of taking out. In this figure, the lower ends and the outer peripheral positions of both areas A and B are schematically shown. These areas A and B are set in advance in the storage device of the robot control device 28 based on the configurations and functions of the robot 22 and the robot hand 24 of the bulk picking device.

  The workpiece supply device 10 of the present invention includes a container body 12 and a workpiece moving device 14.

The container main body 12 is an open container that surrounds both the workpiece take-out area A and the handworking area B with a gap therebetween, and a plurality of works 1 are stacked in bulk above the container main body 12.
As long as the outer wall 12a of the container body 12 is spaced from the handworking region B, the outer wall 12a is set to a height at which a large amount of workpieces can be stacked.
The container body 12 is a rectangular container in this example, but may be a cylindrical container. In addition, the upper part of the container is open in this example, but a lid may be provided only on the outer periphery of the handworking area B if necessary.
Furthermore, the workpiece may be supplied to the inside continuously or intermittently from a range that does not interfere with both the workpiece removal area A and the handworking area B by a conveyor device (not shown).

  The workpiece moving device 14 is located below the handworking area B with a gap, and has a function of moving the workpieces 1 stacked above the workpiece 1 toward the workpiece extraction area A.

In this example, the workpiece moving device 14 includes an inclined member 15 that is positioned below the handworking region B and has a workpiece removal region A (inner side) formed low.
The inclined member 15 is made of a material that allows the workpiece 1 to slip, for example, a resin having a low coefficient of friction (Teflon (registered trademark), nylon, or the like). The inclined member 15 has a slidable gradient in which the work 1 is lowered by its own weight. This gradient is preferably set according to the friction coefficient of the inclined member 15.

  In this example, the inclined member 15 has an inverted pyramid shape, but may have an inverted prefix cone shape. Alternatively, the container body 12 and the inclined member 15 may be integrally formed, and a slippery plate material (for example, a resin having a low friction coefficient) may be attached to a part thereof.

2 and 3, the workpiece supply device 10 of the present invention further includes a vibration device 16 that applies vibration to the inclined member 15, and smoothly moves the stacked workpieces 1 to the workpiece extraction area A. ing.
In this example, the vibration device 16 is attached to the bottom plate 12 b of the container body 12, but may be attached to the inclined member 15 or the outer surface of the container body 12.

  Note that air may be blown from the outer peripheral portion of the container to collect the work at the center of the container. Further, a fluid may be allowed to flow from the outer periphery of the container to the center of the container, thereby collecting the work at the center of the container. If the work is magnetized, the work may be collected at the center of the container using magnetic force.

According to the configuration of the present invention described above, the container body 12 opened upward is configured so that a plurality of workpieces 1 can be stacked thereon, so that a plurality of workpieces can be stacked and accommodated.
Further, the container body 12 and the workpiece moving device 14 are spaced from the workpiece picking area A and the handworking region B, and the workpieces stacked by the workpiece moving device 14 are moved to the workpiece picking area A. Therefore, the robot 22 When picking a workpiece, the posture and operation can be controlled without considering other than the workpiece (container body and workpiece moving device), and the workpiece unloading area A can be performed without interfering with other workpieces (container body and workpiece moving device). The workpiece can be taken out from.

  In addition, with the above-described configuration, the workpiece 1 placed on the inclined member 15 has an action of moving to the center portion (work extraction area A) of the container by its own weight, so that the structure of the workpiece moving device 14 can be simplified. And no power consumption.

  Further, by providing the vibration exciter 16 that applies vibration to the inclined member 15, it is possible to smoothly move the workpieces piled up with less power consumption to the workpiece extraction area A.

Therefore, the present invention has the following effects.
(1) When picking a workpiece in the container body, the workpiece can be taken out without being obstructed by the outer peripheral wall of the container body.
(2) The posture and picking motion of the robot hand can be determined without considering the outer peripheral wall of the container body, so that complicated control of the robot motion is not required and development time can be shortened.
(3) It is not necessary for the robot to perform useless operations, and the picking time can be shortened.
(4) It is not necessary for the robot to perform a useless operation, and the power consumption of the mechanism can be suppressed.
(5) When the position of the workpiece needs to be measured, the measurement range can be limited, and the measurement time can be shortened.
(6) The range for calculating the position of the workpiece can be limited, and the processing time for calculating the workpiece position can be shortened.
(7) There is no need to use electric power, or it can be greatly reduced and an energy saving effect can be obtained.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, Of course, a various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

It is a whole block diagram of the bulk picking apparatus provided with the workpiece | work supply apparatus of this invention. It is a block diagram of the workpiece | work supply apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the workpiece | work supply apparatus of this invention, and a robot hand. It is a schematic diagram of the apparatus of patent document 1. FIG. It is a schematic diagram of the apparatus of patent document 2. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 work, 10 work supply device,
12 container body, 12a outer wall, 12b bottom plate,
14 workpiece moving device, 15 inclined member, 16 vibration device,
20 distance sensor, 21 distance sensor control device,
22 robots, 24 robot hands, 25 hand control devices,
26 3D object recognition device, 28 Robot control device

Claims (4)

A picking work supply device for picking up bulks for picking up works one by one with a robot hand attached to the robot,
A container main body having an open upper portion that allows a plurality of workpieces to be stacked together, surrounding a workpiece extraction region where a workpiece to be extracted is located and a hand working region where a robot hand is positioned at the time of extraction with a gap therebetween,
A workpiece feeding device for bulk picking, comprising: a workpiece moving device that is located below the handworking region with a gap and moves a workpiece to the workpiece picking region. The workpiece moving device is composed of an inclined member that is positioned below the handworking region and formed with a low workpiece removal region side,
The workpiece supply device for bulk picking according to claim 1, wherein the inclined member has a slippery gradient in which the workpiece is lowered by its own weight.   The workpiece supply device for bulk picking according to claim 2, wherein the inclined member has an inverted pyramid shape or an inverted prefix cone shape.   The workpiece feeding device for bulk picking according to claim 2, further comprising a vibration device that applies vibration to the inclined member.

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