JP2018167342A - Transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a transfer device which can securely transfer an article, which is placed and is being conveyed on a conveyance surface of a conveyer, to a target position other than the conveyance surface of the conveyer.SOLUTION: A transfer device includes: a first conveyer 12; a second conveyer 14 arranged side by side with the first conveyer 12; position information acquisition means which acquires information relating to a position of an article which is being conveyed by the first conveyer 12; and a robot 40 which drives and controls a link body 30 for supporting a hand part 20 having a support part 22 for holding the article so as to move in various directions to transfer to a target position P of the second conveyer 14 by the hand part 20. By drive and control of the link body 30 by the robot 40, a lower end part of the hand part 20 is descended to a position higher than a lower part of the article and lower than an upper part of the article on the first conveyer 12 to surround the article, and the article is dragged and transferred while maintaining the height.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a transfer device for transferring an article that is placed on a transfer surface of a conveyor and is being transferred.

  2. Description of the Related Art A technique is known in which an article placed on a conveyor surface of an endless belt and conveyed is transferred to another conveyor by suction means or gripping means provided in a robot hand. .

  For example, prior art document 1 shows that an article being conveyed is adsorbed and held by an adsorbing means provided in the hand unit, and then the article is lifted and transferred to another conveyor.

Japanese Patent No. 6002494

  However, the transfer device disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above is configured to drop or transfer an article by a hand unit as the robot processing speed is increased in relation to an increase in the conveyor conveyance speed or the processing amount per unit time of the article. There is a problem that the articles inside are likely to fall. This problem occurs particularly when an irregular shaped article such as a rice cracker having irregularities on the article surface is transferred. For this reason, various studies have been made on the structure of the suction means and gripping means corresponding to the article to be transferred. However, the structure of the suction means and gripping means has not been complicated. In addition, there is a limit to reducing the drop of articles during transportation.

  An object of this invention is to provide the transfer apparatus which can transfer reliably the articles currently mounted in the conveyance surface of a conveyor to the target positions other than the conveyance surface of the said conveyor.

In order to achieve the above object, the transfer apparatus of the present invention takes the following means.

  First, the invention of the transfer device according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a conveyor (12) that carries an article (W) on a conveying surface (12T) and conveys the article (W), and the conveyor (12) that is being conveyed. Based on the information on the position of the article (W) obtained by the position information acquisition means (S) for acquiring information on the position of the article (W) and the position information acquisition means (S), the hand unit (20) is moved up and down. The hand portion (30) is driven and controlled to support the rotation support portion (30) that supports the front and rear, the left and right directions, and various directions obtained by synthesizing these directions so as to freely move linearly or curvedly. 20) a robot (40) for transferring each article (W) being conveyed on the conveyor (12) to a target position (P) set at a position deviated from the conveying surface (12T), and the hand unit (20), the hand When the conveyor (12) is lowered by the conveyor (12) toward the article (W) being conveyed, the support section (22) can restrain the article (W) by surrounding the side peripheral surface of the article (W). ), And the robot (40) controls the hand support (20) toward the article (W) being transported by the conveyor (12) by driving control of the rotation support section (30). ) To maintain the relationship between the lower end portion (22A) of the support portion (22) placed at a height higher than the lower portion of the article (W) and lower than the upper portion and the height position of the article (W). However, the article (W) is moved while being dragged toward the target position (P) to transfer the article (W).

  According to the first aspect, the hand unit (20) transfers the article (W) while dragging the article (W) from the conveyor (12) to the target position (P). Then, as in the case of transporting, the article (W) can be reliably transferred without dropping. In particular, when transferring articles (W) of irregular shapes such as rice crackers and rice cakes, that is, articles (W) that are difficult to adsorb and grip, or when performing high-speed processing with a high article processing speed, the effect is remarkable. can get.

  In particular, when the article (W) is transferred while being dragged to the target position (P), the article (W) is surrounded by the support portion (22) provided in the hand portion (20) to surround the side surface of the article (W). ) Is restrained, the article (W) can be reliably transferred to the target position (P). Further, the support part (22) moves toward the target position (P) while maintaining the height position of the lower end part (22A) of the support part (22) higher than the lower part of the article (W) and lower than the upper part. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the conveyance surface (12T) and the like from being damaged by rubbing, and the article (W) is reliably moved.

  In addition, according to the first invention, since it is not essential to dispose the suction device or the gripping device in the hand portion (20), the structure becomes simple when adopting a structure in which these are not disposed, and the hand portion (22) Maintenance work such as cleaning work is simplified.

  Next, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the transfer device according to the first aspect, wherein the second apparatus is arranged in parallel with the conveyor (12) and conveys the article (W) at predetermined intervals. A conveyor (14) is provided, the target position (P) is set in a transport path (14T) in the second conveyor (14), and the robot (40) is connected to the second conveyor (14). The article (W) is transferred to the conveyance path (14T) so that the article (W) is aligned at predetermined intervals along the conveyance direction.

  According to the second aspect, the target position (P) is set in the transport path (14T) in the second conveyor (14), and the robot (40) is along the transport direction in the second conveyor (14). The articles (W) are transferred to the conveyance path (14T) so that the articles (W) are aligned at predetermined intervals.

  Next, a third invention of the present invention is the transfer device according to the first invention or the second invention described above, wherein the support portion (22) is a lower end portion (22A) of the support portion (22). When the height position is maintained higher than the lower part of the article (W) and lower than the upper part, the side peripheral surface at a position away from the side peripheral surface without contacting the entire side peripheral surface of the article (W) It is comprised by the annular wall surface (23) which can enclose.

  According to the third aspect, since the support portion (22) of the hand portion (20) is the annular wall surface (23), when the article (W) is moved while being dragged, the annular wall surface (23) The article (W) can be reliably transferred without the article (W) escaping from the inside.

  Next, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the transfer device according to any one of the first to third aspects described above, the article (W) has directionality, and the hand The portion (20) is supported by the hand portion (20) and the main body (21) so as to be rotatable and has a direction corresponding to the article (W). (22), and corresponding to the direction of the article (W) placed on the transport surface (12T) of the conveyor (12), the main body (20) before the hand unit (20) finishes descending. The article (W) is enclosed after the support portion (22) has finished rotating with respect to (21), and the front and rear articles (W) are aligned at the target position (P). The support portion (22) is rotated with respect to the main body (21).

  According to the fourth aspect, the support portion (22) of the hand portion (20) corresponds to the article (W) even when the article (W) has a directionality such as an oval shape. Since it is configured to have directionality and is supported so as to be able to rotate with respect to the main body (21), the hand portion (20) is placed in the article (W) before it has been lowered to the article (W). The bottom end (22A) of the support part (22) surrounds the article (W) by the support part (22) without contacting the upper part of the article (W) by completing the rotation corresponding to the direction of In addition, at the target position (P) such as the second conveyor (14), the articles (W) can be placed with the front and back articles (W) aligned.

  Next, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the transfer device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects described above, the conveyor (12) is dragged to the target position (P). The transfer path (M) of the moving article (W) is provided with a height difference smaller than the height dimension of the article (W), and the rotation support portion (30) is formed by the height difference. The support portion (22) is moved in the vertical direction according to the height change in the transfer path (16), and the height position of the lower end portion (22A) of the support portion (22) is set to the height of the article (W). It is configured to be maintained higher than the lower portion and lower than the upper portion.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, there is a height difference smaller than the height dimension of the article (W) in the transfer path (M) of the article (W) that is dragged and moved to the conveyor (12) and the target position (P). However, the rotation support part (30) moves the support part (22) up and down in response to the height change in the transfer path (M) due to the height difference, and the lower end part (22A) of the support part (22). ) Is maintained higher than the lower part of the article (W) and lower than the upper part, so that the support part (22) can maintain the state surrounding the article (W) without letting the article (W) escape. .

According to the present invention described above, there is provided a transfer device that can move an article placed on a conveyor surface of a conveyor and being conveyed while being dragged to a target position other than the conveyor surface of the conveyor, thereby reliably transferring the article. can do.

It is a rough body front view showing the transfer device of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a conveyance surface in a movement range of the robot in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing FIG. 2 from the downstream side in the article conveyance direction.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a transfer device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the transfer apparatus of the present embodiment includes a first conveyor 12, a second conveyor 14, a transfer bed 16, a robot 40, and the like.

  The first conveyor 12 and the second conveyor 14 arranged side by side via the transfer bed 16 transfer articles in the transfer direction with the direction indicated by the white arrow in FIGS. Therefore, the upstream side in the transport direction of the first conveyor 12 and the second conveyor 14 is the upper side of the drawing in FIG. 2 (the side opposite to the direction indicated by the white arrow). In FIG. 2, the left-right direction in each conveyor 12, 14 refers to the horizontal direction orthogonal to the transport direction, and the up-down direction refers to the vertical direction (depth direction penetrating the paper surface) orthogonal to the transport direction. Show.

  The first conveyor 12 is a belt conveyor in which a conveying surface 12T is constituted by an endless belt and corresponds to the conveyor of the present invention, and is conveyed at irregular intervals in the front-rear direction (conveying direction) and the left-right direction. Each article placed on 12T is conveyed at a constant speed.

  In addition, since the articles W of the present embodiment are indefinite, the shapes of the articles W are different from each other. In particular, since the front and back surfaces and the side peripheral surfaces of the articles W are uneven, the suction and gripping are performed. It is a rice cracker with a difficult shape. Since the appearance of these rice crackers is a substantially oval shape with different vertical and horizontal length dimensions, each rice cracker itself has directionality, and each article W is placed on the conveying surface 12T at irregular intervals. The article W is placed so that the longitudinal direction of the article W is substantially along the front-rear direction.

  The first conveyor 12 is driven to run by a servo motor 25. An encoder 26 is attached to the servo motor 25. Pulse information output from the encoder 26 is output to a control unit (not shown) of the robot 40.

  Above the first conveyor 12, a camera 18 as an imaging means is disposed. The camera 18 captures a predetermined area of the transport surface 12T on the upstream side in the transport direction of the first conveyor 12 at every predetermined timing so as to include the left and right ends of the transport surface 12T.

  Image data photographed by the camera 18 is sequentially sent to a control unit (not shown) of the robot 40 for each photographing. The control unit performs processing for specifying each of the articles W placed on the conveyance surface 12T in the predetermined area, and performs processing analysis for obtaining the position and orientation of the articles W and the distance between the articles W for each article W. Made. Furthermore, since the position of each article W identified by the process analysis changes every moment by the conveyance by the first conveyor 12, the control unit of the robot 40 determines the position of each article W based on the pulse information obtained from the encoder 26. Processing to track is performed. The process of tracking the position of the article W in this way corresponds to the position information acquisition unit S of the present invention.

  The 2nd conveyor 14 is the belt conveyor which comprised the conveyance surface 14T (conveyance path) with the endless belt, Comprising: The supply conveyor in the horizontal bag making filling machine (packing machine) which is a post-processing process is comprised.

  The second conveyor 14 is driven and driven by a servo motor 27 that receives a drive command from a control unit (not shown) of the packaging machine, and pulse information output from an encoder 28 attached to the servo motor 27 is the packaging machine. And the control unit of the robot 40.

  The speed at which the articles W are transported by the second conveyor 14 is set to a reference speed obtained from the relationship between the packaging length per package and the number of packages per minute (packaging capacity) in the horizontal bag making and filling machine.

  The conveyance speed of the second conveyor 14 varies in relation to the automatic change of the packaging capacity, which is the number of packaging bags per minute. That is, the number of articles W per minute moved from the predetermined area by the first conveyor 12 to the downstream side by the first conveyor 12 is less than the first predetermined value by the number of articles W conveyed by the second conveyor 14 at a reference speed per minute. In the case of a decrease in excess, the control unit of the packaging machine changes the setting so as to reduce the packaging capacity of the packaging machine, thereby lowering the transport speed of the second conveyor 14 from the reference speed, while the second conveyor 14 When the number of articles W transported at a reference speed per minute exceeds the second predetermined value by the number of articles W per minute moved downstream from the predetermined area by the first conveyor 12, Control is performed so that the control unit of the packaging machine changes the setting so as to increase the packaging capacity of the packaging machine, and the conveying speed of the second conveyor 14 is made faster than the reference speed.

  The robot 40 is a well-known parallel link type robot, and is supported by the frame 38 in a suspended posture. The robot main body 42 fixed to the frame 38 and one end of the robot main body 42 have one end. The present invention includes a plurality of link bodies 30 as pivot support sections of the present invention that are pivotably connected, and a hand section 20 that is pivotally supported at the other end of each link body 30. The hand unit 20 can freely move linearly or in a curved line in various directions such as one of a vertical direction, a front-rear direction, and a horizontal direction, or a direction in which a plurality of directions are combined. A control command for rotating each link body 30 is made by the control unit of the robot 40.

  The robot 40 is set so as to move within a movable range (a range indicated by X in FIG. 2) that does not exceed the range in which the hand unit 20 is surrounded by the frame 38, and the transfer surface of the first conveyor 12. 12T, the transfer surface 14T of the second conveyor 14, and the partial areas of the transfer bed 16 are all included.

  The hand portion 20 of the robot 40 includes a main body 21 that is rotatably connected to the other end of each link body 30, and an article that is rotatably supported with respect to the main body 21 and has directivity (direction). The support portion 22 is formed so as to have directionality corresponding to W, and the support portion 22 is a lower portion of the article W in which the position of a lower end portion 22A of the support portion 22 described later is placed on the transfer path M. An annular wall surface 23 that can surround the side peripheral surface at a position away from the side peripheral surface over the entire region of the side peripheral surface including the front and rear and the four side surfaces of the left and right sides of the article W when maintained between the upper and lower sides. It is configured. In FIG. 1, a closing member 24 is fixed to the upper end side of the annular wall surface 23, and the closing member 24 is driven from a servo motor (not shown) as driving means disposed on the main body side of the hand unit 20. It is supported by a rotating shaft 21A that rotates by receiving force. As a result, the hand unit 20 is configured to rotatably support the support unit 22 with respect to the main body 21. As described above, the concave portion 17 that can surround the upper surface and the side peripheral surface of the article W is formed on the lower end side of the hand portion 20 so as to have directionality corresponding to the directional article W. 17 is slightly larger than the article W having a direction, and when the article W is accommodated in the recess 17, the entire annular wall surface 23 is slightly separated from the side peripheral surface of the article W (a little). The size is such that it can be accommodated (to the extent that the gap is open). This gap has a directionality with respect to the annular wall surface 23 so that the rotation around the vertical axis of the article W having the directionality due to the annular wall surface 23 is less than the rotation angle at which the packaging machine does not cause defective packaging. It is comprised so that rotation of the article W which it has can be controlled.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the transfer bed 16 is disposed between the first conveyor 12 and the second conveyor 14. The “transfer path” of the present invention refers to a path trajectory in which the article W is transferred from the transport surface 12T of the conveyor 12 to the target position P. The transfer bed 16, the transfer surface 12 T of the first conveyor 12, and the transfer surface 14 T of the second conveyor 14 are all flat surfaces, and are formed by a flat surface on the surfaces. Between the bed transport bed 16 and each transport surface, there is only a gap enough to drop the waste of the article W from the article W, and the height position of the article W when the article W passes through the gap. The change in can be ignored.

  A control unit (not shown) of the robot 40 communicates with a control unit (not shown) of the packaging machine so that the operation timing of the robot 40 can be achieved. Further, the control unit of the robot 40 directly inputs a pulse from the encoder 28 disposed on the second conveyor 14, and the robot 40 loads the article W when the transport speed of the second conveyor 14 suddenly changes. When the article W is transferred to the second conveyor 14, that is, when the packaging machine is stopped in an emergency, or when the automatic setting of the packaging machine is switched, the article W is transferred to the second conveyor 14. At this time, the positional deviation of the article W due to the response delay can be suppressed.

  Further, instead of the control unit of the packaging machine, the control unit of the robot 40 sequentially receives information on the packaging operation, such as information on the emergency stop about the packaging operation or the change of the packaging capacity, from the control unit of the packaging machine. If drive command information about a drive means such as a servo motor 27 that travels and drives the second conveyor 14 as a supply conveyor is generated, and a drive command for the second conveyor 14 is issued based on the generated drive command information. Since the control unit of the robot 40 generates drive command information for the second conveyor 14 even when the speed of the second conveyor 14 changes excessively in accordance with the change in the packaging operation, The information transmission delay about the change of operation is eliminated, and it becomes possible to prevent the robot 40 from shifting the transfer device of the article W with respect to the second conveyor 14.

  Next, the transfer operation of the transfer device described above will be described in order.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, the article W is placed on the first conveyor 12 in the previous process and is transported in the transport direction. This is imaged by the camera 18 at a predetermined timing on a predetermined area of the transport surface 12T. Then, the control unit of the robot 40 associates pulse information output from the encoder 26 with each imaged information and sequentially updates and acquires the position information of the article W (corresponding to the position information acquisition unit S). In addition, the control unit of the robot 40 searches for the article W for each image data obtained by imaging a predetermined area, and contacts the article W around the article W when the hand unit 20 surrounds the article W. Processing on a plurality of articles W being transported by the first conveyor 12 based on the judgment information about the possibility of or not, information on the supply timing to the second conveyor 14 obtained from the control unit of the packaging machine, etc. The order of priority (priority order) is determined. This order is preferentially determined from the leading article W being conveyed by the first conveyor 12, and is sequentially updated every time the moving process is performed.

  The robot 40 drives and controls the link body (rotation support unit) 30 based on the priority determined by the control unit of the robot 40, and moves the hand unit 20 toward the specific article W having the highest priority. In the movement, specifically, the support unit 22 in the hand unit 20 is completely rotated with respect to the main body 21 until the hand unit 20 is lowered and finished, and the specific article W having directivity. After matching the direction, the descent toward the specific article W is finished, and the side peripheral surface of the article W is surrounded by the support portion 22. At this time, the link body (rotation support section) 30 moves the hand section 20 forward in the transport direction at the same speed as the transport speed of the first conveyor 12, and is placed on the transport surface 12T of the first conveyor 12. Further, contact between the surrounding article W and the hand unit 20 is avoided.

  When the hand unit 20 that has finished descending surrounds the side peripheral surface of the article W by the support part 22, the height position of the lower end part 22 </ b> A at the lowest position of the support part 22 has a conveying surface that supports the specific article W ( Supporting position) It is a position higher than the lower part of the article W at the same height as 12T and lower than the upper part of the article W. The relationship between the height position of the lower portion 22A and the height of the article W is maintained until the article W is transferred to the target position P. During this time, the hand portion 20 is supported by the support portion 22 on the side circumference of the article W. Surrounding the surface.

  Then, the control unit of the robot 40 drives and controls the link body (rotation support unit) 30, and maintains a state where the hand unit 20 is separated upward, while transferring the specific article W from the first conveyor 12 to the transfer bed 16. To move to the target position P set on the transport surface 14T of the second conveyor 14 while dragging. In the present embodiment, the robot 40 supplies the second conveyor 14 with the articles W so as to align the specific articles W at predetermined intervals along the transport direction of the second conveyor 14. The control unit obtains and sets in advance a target position P (a position where the support of the article W is released by the support part 22) on the transport surface 14T for each article W. Therefore, the movement path M for moving the article W placed on the transfer surface 12T of the first conveyor 12 and dragging it to the target position P is not limited to the path shown in FIG. Consists of length, direction, and trajectory.

  Each article W transferred so as to be aligned at a predetermined interval on the transport surface 14T of the second conveyor 14 has a reference extending in parallel with the transport direction of the second conveyor 14 when the second conveyor 14 is viewed in plan view. A support body of the hand unit 20 so that the deviation of the position of the article W in the left-right direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction is within half of the width of the article W in the left-right direction between the front and rear articles W. 22 is configured. As a result, packaging is not hindered in a packaging process such as a horizontal bag making and filling machine in a subsequent process.

  In the above-described embodiment, only one robot 40 and one camera 18 are provided. However, one robot and camera of the same type are provided on the upstream side of the region captured by the camera 18 in the first conveyor 12. It is good also as embodiment to add. Furthermore, it is good also as an embodiment arrange | positioned continuously with the same form upstream. In this case, a part of the articles W being transported on the first conveyor 12 is transferred to the second conveyor 14 by the robot 40 on the upstream side, and the articles W are placed in contact with or close to each other. When it is determined that it is difficult to enclose the article W by the support part 22, the hand part 20 or the support part 22 may be brought into contact with the article W to separate the articles W from each other. In this case, the article W separated by the downstream robot 40 is transferred.

As mentioned above, although specific embodiment of this invention was described, this invention can be implemented with various forms, and the illustration is enumerated below.
The target position P for transferring the articles W from the first conveyor 12 may be, for example, the transfer bed 16 as long as the position is deviated from the transfer surface 12T. When the articles W are placed on the transport bed 16, the hand unit 20 is rotated so that the orientations of the articles W are aligned in the same direction, and the articles W are placed in a state of one row and one column or a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns. It may be placed. The article W placed on the transfer bed 16 is further transferred from the position by other appropriate means.
In addition, the target position P is set on the transport surface 14T of the second conveyor 14 in the above embodiment, and the target position P varies for each article W before and after the transport direction due to the supply timing of the article W and the like. However, the position may be common to all articles W.
The first conveyor 12 may be a conveyor that transports the articles W aligned in a line along the transport direction, or may be a conveyor that transports the articles W aligned in the front-rear and left-right directions in the transport direction.
As the position information acquisition means S, from the article W information obtained from information captured by the camera 18 and the article feed amount in the first conveyor 12 obtained from the pulse of the encoder 26 of the first conveyor 12, etc. Although the position information in the first conveyor 12 is obtained, the article W conveyed by the first conveyor 12 instead of the camera 18 is detected by a passage switch, or by a different type of sensor, etc. Various aspects may be adopted in part.
-As the 2nd conveyor 14, the conveyor employ | adopted as the supply conveyor in the horizontal type bag making filling machine etc. which pushes each article W from back by the pushing body attached to the endless cord at fixed intervals may be sufficient. In this case, the transfer surface itself is fixed and becomes a transfer bed that does not move.
The second conveyor 14 may have a plurality of conveying rows by arranging a conveying surface made of a belt or the like along the conveying direction, and the robot 40 slides the article W in each row. It is good also as a structure which transfers by carrying out.
-The conveyor of the packaging machine is not limited to a belt conveyor, and may be a conveyor that feeds articles by pushing claws, a conveyor that feeds articles by a pair of side belts, and the like. The moving path is the conveyance path of the present invention.
The transfer bed 16 disposed between the first conveyor 12 and the second conveyor 14 is not essential. For example, the transfer surface from the transfer surface 12T of the first conveyor 12 to the transfer surface of the second conveyor 14 without using the transfer bed 16 Adjacent transport surfaces may be juxtaposed so that the article W can slide and move at 14T.
-When the height of the conveyance surfaces 12T and 14T of the 1st conveyor 12 and the 2nd conveyor 14 differs greatly, you may incline the conveyance bed 16 arrange | positioned between them. In this case, it is preferable that the lower end portion of the hand portion 20 is also moved while being inclined so as to correspond to the inclination of the transfer bed 16.
-Although the structure of the support part 22 in the hand part 20 of the said embodiment showed the example which encloses the side peripheral surface of the goods W with the annular wall surface 23, it has trouble in packaging by post-processing processes, such as a horizontal bag making filling machine. It is possible to suppress the change in the direction of the article so as not to occur, and to impart a propulsive force to the article W so that the article W can be slid forward and sideward, or to restrain the article W from escaping from the support portion 22. Anything is possible. For example, a configuration in which a pin is suspended downward from at least 3 to 4 locations of the hand portion 20 to support the article W, or a curved plate is suspended from at least 2 locations of the hand portion 20 respectively. It is good also as a structure which surrounds the article W so that the side peripheral surface of the article W may be enclosed.
When there is a small difference in height between the transfer path M such as between the transfer surface 12T of the first conveyor 12 and the transfer surface 14T of the second conveyor 14 and the transfer bed 16, the height change in the transfer path M Accordingly, the support portion 22 is moved in the vertical direction so that the height position of the lower end portion 22A of the support portion 22 is maintained higher than the lower portion of the article W and lower than the upper portion, that is, the height position relationship is maintained. It is preferable to do this.

12: 1st conveyor (conveyor), 14: 2nd conveyor, 20: Hand part,
22: support part, 22A: lower end part, 30: link body (rotation support part),
40: Robot,
W: article, P: target position, S: position information acquisition means, M: transfer path

Claims (5)

A conveyor for placing and transporting articles on a transport surface;
Position information acquisition means for acquiring information related to the position of the article being conveyed on the conveyor;
Based on the information on the position of the article obtained by the position information acquisition means, the hand unit can move freely in a straight line or a curved line in various directions obtained by combining these directions, up and down, front and rear, and left and right. A robot that drives and controls the rotation support portion that supports the robot, and sequentially transfers each article being conveyed on the conveyor to a target position set at a position off the conveyance surface by the hand portion;
A support portion that is provided in the hand portion and is capable of restraining the article by surrounding the side peripheral surface of the article when the hand portion is lowered toward the article being conveyed by a conveyor. And
The robot is controlled by driving the rotation support unit.
Maintaining the relationship between the lower end of the support part and the height position of the article placed at a height higher than the lower part of the article and lower than the upper part by lowering of the hand part toward the article being conveyed by the conveyor However, the transfer device is configured to transfer the article by moving the article while dragging the article toward the target position. A second conveyor that is arranged in parallel with the conveyor and conveys the article at predetermined intervals;
The target position is set in the transport path of the second conveyor;
2. The transfer according to claim 1, wherein the robot is configured to transfer the article to the conveyance path so that the articles are aligned at predetermined intervals along a conveyance direction of the second conveyor. Mounting device.   The support part is separated from the side peripheral surface without contacting the entire side peripheral surface of the article when the height of the support part is maintained higher than the lower part of the article and lower than the upper part of the article. The transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer device is configured by an annular wall surface that can surround the side peripheral surface at a certain position.   The article has directionality, and the hand part is formed to have a directionality corresponding to the article while being supported rotatably with respect to the hand part body and the body. A support portion is provided, and the support portion has finished rotating with respect to the main body before the hand portion finishes descending, corresponding to the direction of the article placed on the transport surface of the conveyor. The said support part is rotated with respect to the said main body so that the direction of the said articles | goods in front and back may be aligned in the said target position while enclosing the said article | item from any one of Claims 1-3 The transfer device according to claim. The transfer path of the article that is dragged and moved from the conveyor to the target position is provided with a height difference smaller than the height dimension of the article, and the rotation support portion is configured to transfer the transfer path due to the height difference. The support portion is moved in the vertical direction in accordance with a change in height, and the height position of the lower end portion of the support portion is configured to be higher than the lower portion of the article and lower than the upper portion. The transfer apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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