JP3077563B2 - Article processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an article processing apparatus for transferring an article from a conveyor to another position using a robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an article processing apparatus, there has been known an article processing apparatus in which an article conveyed by a conveyor is held by a robot and the held article is transferred from the conveyor to another position. In such a conventional article processing apparatus, one robot is provided for each transport conveyor, and the delivery of containers is performed.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, when the number of articles conveyed by the conveyor increases and exceeds the processing capacity of one robot, the conveyor is temporarily stopped. Needed. In other words, there is a limit in processing a large number of articles on the transport conveyor by one robot without stopping the transport conveyor, and thus there is a disadvantage that the processing capacity is low. In order to solve such a disadvantage, a plurality of transport conveyors may be arranged in parallel, and one robot may be provided for each of the transport conveyors. However, adopting such a configuration has the disadvantage that the installation space increases and the cost increases.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a conveyor for conveying articles, a robot provided along the conveying process of the conveyor, and a state of placing articles on the conveyor. And a control device for controlling the operation of the robot based on the image of the article photographed by the camera, the robot holds the article at the article holding position on the conveyor, and holds the article. the article processing apparatus that transfers the articles to another position, provided with a plurality of said robot along the conveying process of the conveyor, the camera is disposed at the each robot, also to the control device The upstream robot in advance
Set the number of items to be passed without holding in
The control device is based on the image of the article photographed by each camera, the upstream robot holds a part of the article conveyed by the conveyor , based on the setting , the downstream robot is It is configured to control so as to hold the article that has passed without being held by the upstream robot.

[0005]

According to such a configuration, even if the number of articles conveyed by the conveyor increases, the articles can be held on the conveyor and transferred to other positions by a plurality of robots. That is, even if the number of articles supplied on the transport conveyor increases, the articles can be held and transferred by the robots without stopping the transport conveyor. Therefore, there is no need to arrange a plurality of transport conveyors. Therefore, it is possible to provide an article processing apparatus having a high processing capability while suppressing an increase in installation space.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiment. In FIG.
At the same time, the containers 3 in the rolled state are erected by the straightening means 5 so as to be lined up in a vertical line. The container 3 in this embodiment is a flat plastic container having a substantially elliptical cross section, and has a mouth 3a protruding at the center of the upper end thereof, and a bottom 3b serving as a lower end having a flat surface. A gentle arc surface 3c is formed before and after the outer periphery of the container 3. A large number of containers 3 stored in the hopper 6 are sequentially carried out of the hopper 6 to the outside by the circulating inclined feeder 7, and then fall onto a chute 8 provided at the upstream side of the conveyor 2. It is supposed to. A conventionally known engaging brush 9 is rotatably provided at the center of the chute 8.

Therefore, the container 3 sequentially taken out of the hopper 6 by the inclined feeder 7 and dropped onto the chute 8 slides on the chute 8 toward the downstream side (right side), and then slides on the engagement brush 9. Is supplied onto the conveyor 2 (FIG. 2). As described above, since the container 3 of the present embodiment is flat, the container 3 supplied onto the conveyor 2 is placed on the conveyor 2 in a rolled state, and is transported downstream in that state. Is done. In addition, when the plurality of containers 3 that have fallen on the chute 8 are in a state of being folded up and down temporarily, the container 3 located on the upper side is engaged with the engagement brush 9 to prevent the polymerization state. You. Therefore, each of the containers 3 is supplied onto the transport conveyor 2 in a further rolled state.
The transport conveyor 2 of the present embodiment travels in a direction indicated by an arrow at a predetermined transport speed.

In this embodiment, the first robot 12 and the second robot 12 move along one side of the conveying process of the conveyor 2.
The robots 12 'and 12' are operated in sequence.
The control is performed by control devices 13 and 13 ′ provided for each of them. Further, on the opposite side of the two robots 12 and 12 ′ with the transport conveyor 2 interposed therebetween, an upstream end of the discharge conveyor 4 is located, and a correction unit 5 described in detail later is provided. A CCD camera 14 as a detecting means is disposed above the transporting process of the transporting conveyor 2 which is on the upstream side of the first robot 12 disposed on the upstream side. The CCD camera 14 captures the mounting status of each container 3 transported by the transport conveyor 2, that is, the direction and the falling position of each container 3 that is falling, and inputs the image to the control device 13 on the upstream side. It has become. Also, the second robot
12 'upstream from, i.e. both robots 12, 12'
Above the transfer process of the transfer conveyor 2 between
A D camera 14 'is arranged. This CCD camera 1
Similarly to the CCD camera 14 on the upstream side, 4 'also captures the mounting status of each container 3 transported by the transport conveyor 2, and inputs the image to the control device 13' on the downstream side.

A rotary encoder 15 is connected to the downstream end of the conveyor 2 and the correcting means 5 is connected to the rotary encoder 15.
A rotary encoder 15 'is also connected to the drive source of the above. The pulse signals detected by the rotary encoders 15 and 15' are input to the control devices 13 and 13 '. The control device 13 on the upstream side
The first robot 12 is reciprocated between a first holding position A and a first release position B based on an image of the container 3 input from the D camera 14 and pulse signals from the rotary encoders 15 and 15 ′. , The downstream control device 13 ′
Moves the second robot 12 ′ between the second holding position A ′ and the second release position B ′ based on the image of the container 3 input from the CCD camera 14 ′ and the pulse signals from the rotary encoders 15 and 15 ′. It is designed to move back and forth. The robots 12 and 12 'hold the container 3 at the first holding position A (second holding position A') and release the container 3 at the first releasing position B (second releasing position B '). It has become.

As shown in FIG. 2, both the robots 12 and 12 'of the present embodiment have a first drive shaft 1 having a large diameter directed vertically.
And a base of a first arm 17 oriented in the horizontal direction is connected to the upper end of the first drive shaft 16. A second drive shaft 18 oriented vertically is rotatably provided at the tip of the first arm 17. The base of a second arm 21 oriented horizontally is connected to the second drive shaft 18. I have. A small-diameter third drive shaft 22 is rotatably provided at the end of the second arm 21, and a processing head 23 is attached to the lower end of the third drive shaft 22. As shown in FIG. 3, the processing head 23 includes a rectangular plate-like support member 24, and the support member 24 has a longitudinal central portion connected to a lower end portion of the third drive shaft 22. Supported horizontally. Therefore, the third drive shaft 2
When 2 rotates, the support member 24 can rotate forward and backward on the horizontal plane.

On the bottom surface of the support member 24, at a position on the center line C in the longitudinal direction thereof, at a center portion of the center line C, that is, at two places which are equidistant from the connecting position of the third drive shaft 22. , Air cylinders 25 and 26 are respectively attached. A vacuum pad 27 as a holding member is attached to the lower end of the piston of each of the air cylinders 25 and 26 facing vertically downward. In this embodiment, the vacuum pad 27 is used to suck and hold a position slightly shifted toward the bottom 3b from the center in the longitudinal direction of the container 3. Each air cylinder 25, 2
6 is operated by the control unit 13A of the control device 13 (13 ').
(13A '), and when each of the air cylinders 25 and 26 is in the non-operating state, each of the vacuum pads 27 is located at the rising end, and each of the air cylinders 2
When the buttons 5 and 26 are operated, each vacuum pad 27 is lowered to the lower end position.

The operation of supplying / discharging the negative pressure to / from each vacuum pad 27 is also performed by the controller 13A of the controller 13 (13 ').
(13A ′), and the controller 13A (13A ′) moves each vacuum pad 27 from the first holding position A (second holding position A ′) to the first release position B.
The negative pressure is introduced until the vacuum pad 27 moves to the (second release position B ′). When the negative pressure is applied to the first release position B (second release position B ′), the negative pressure is applied to each vacuum pad 27. The introduction has been stopped. Therefore, each container 3 in the rolled state held on each vacuum pad 27
At the first release position B (second release position B ′), falls on the discharge conveyor 4 below the first release position B (second release position B ′).

Further, the control device 13 (1
3 ') includes a data storage unit 13B (13B') (FIG. 1), and the data storage unit 13B (13B ') includes:
Vacuum pad 27 of each air cylinder 25, 26
At the first holding position A (the second holding position A ′).
Is stored in advance so that the longitudinal direction of the container 3 in the overturned state coincides with the longitudinal direction of the support member 24 and the opening 3a holds the container 3 in the same direction. The data storage unit 13B (13B ') also indicates in advance that the suction location of the container 3 by the vacuum pad 27 of each of the air cylinders 25, 26 is shifted to the bottom 3a side from the center in the longitudinal direction. It is remembered. Also,
In the present embodiment, the control unit 13A of the upstream control device 13
When the operation of the first robot 12 is controlled, first, the first container 3 and the second container 3 are held at the first holding position A by the first robot 12 on the upstream side. The third and fourth containers 3 pass through the first holding position A. On the other hand, the downstream control device 13 ′ controls the third and fourth containers 3, which have passed through the first holding position A and reached the second holding position A ′.
I try to hold. Thus, each robot 1
2, 12 'alternately holds and delivers two containers 3 at a time.

Here, the operation in the above configuration will be described. When the transport conveyor 2 is driven, the control units 13A (13A ') of both the control devices 13, 13' operate at the first position.
First robot 12 up to holding position A (second holding position A ′)
The processing head 23 of the (second robot 12 ') is moved in advance. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3, when the image of the top container 3 'in the overturned state taken by the upstream CCD camera 14 is input to the upstream control device 13, the image and data of the top container 3' are obtained. Compare the direction stored in the storage unit 13B,
The processing head 2 of the first robot 12 in the first holding position
3 is rotated by a required amount, and the leading container 3 'is held by the vacuum pad 27 so as to be in the same direction as the longitudinal direction of the support member 24 (FIG. 4).

Next, at this time, since the images of the second and subsequent containers 3 captured by the CCD camera 14 have already been input to the control unit 13, the control unit 13A
Is moved by a required amount, and the second container 3 is sucked and held in the same direction as the support member 24 by the vacuum pad 27 on the other air cylinder 26 side of the processing head 23 of the first robot 12 (FIG. 5). As described above, in the present embodiment, the containers 3 ′ and 3 are held by the processing head 23 so that the opening 3 a of the first container 3 ′ and the mouth 3 a of the second container 3 face the same direction ( (Fig. 5). As described above, when the first container 3 ′ and the second container 3 are held at the first holding position A by the two vacuum pads 27 of the processing head 23 included in the first robot 12, as shown in FIG. The controller 13A moves the processing head 23 of the first robot 12 to the first release position B. At this time, the support member 24 is arranged parallel to the transport direction of the discharge conveyor 4 and at a central position above the discharge conveyor 4.

As described above, when the control unit 13A of the upstream controller 13 positions the processing head 23 of the first robot 12 at the first release position B, the two containers 3 ', 3 is supported in the longitudinal direction thereof in the same direction as the transport direction of the discharge conveyor 4. Thus, the containers 3 ′ and 3 are supported at a position above the bucket 28 of the correcting means 5. Thereafter, the control unit 13A
Stops the introduction of the negative pressure to the vacuum pad 27 at the first release position B, so that the containers 3 are simultaneously released from the holding state. Thereby, both containers 3 'and 3 fall,
By being engaged with the bucket 28 of the straightening means 5, it is turned upright so that the arc surface 3 c is in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the discharge conveyor 4, is stored in the bucket 28, and is stored in the bucket 28. Placed on top.

By the way, as described above, the first robot 1
While the second processing head 23 is processing the container 3, the control unit 13 of the control device 13 uses the images of the third and fourth containers 3 captured by the CCD camera 14 on the upstream side.
A passes the third and fourth containers 3 through the first holding position A by the first robot 12 (the imaginary line in FIG. 5). The third and fourth containers 3 that have passed the first holding position A are the downstream CCD camera 1.
The mounted state is photographed by 4 ', and those images are input to the downstream control device 13'. Thereafter, the third and fourth containers 3 reach the second holding position A 'by the processing head 23 of the second robot 12' by being transported by the transport conveyor 2. Then, when the third and fourth containers 3 reach the second holding position A ′,
The control unit 13A 'of the control device 13' controls the operation of the second robot 12 'in the same manner as the operation of the first robot 12, and the processing head 23 of the second robot 12' sequentially operates the vacuum pads 25 and 26. The third and fourth containers 3 are held. Thereafter, the control unit 13A 'of the control device 13' moves the processing head 23 of the second robot 12 'to the second release position B', and then releases the holding state of the third and fourth containers 3. .

On the other hand, in this way, the second robot 12 '
Are in the second release position B 'and the third and fourth containers 3
By the time the processing head 2 of the first robot 12 is released.
Reference numeral 3 denotes the fifth and sixth containers 3 which have returned from the first open position B to the first holding position A and are to be processed next.
Has already been input to the control device 13 on the upstream side.
Then, in the same manner as the above-described operation, the fifth and sixth containers 3 are moved to the first robot 12 at the first holding position A.
And then transferred to the first release position B to release the holding state. The released containers 3 fall onto the discharge conveyor 4 and are raised from the rolled state to the upright state by the bucket 28 of the straightening means 5. At this time, the second robot 1
The processing head 23 of 2 ′ has returned to the second holding position A ′, and the images of the seventh and eighth containers 3 have already been input to the control device 13, and the control unit 13A of the control device 13 Are passing the seventh and eighth containers 3 through the first holding position A. And these 7th
When the eighth and eighth containers 3 pass through the first holding position A, the mounted state of the containers 3 is photographed by the CCD camera 14 ′ on the downstream side and input to the control device 13 ′ on the downstream side. After this, the seventh and eighth containers 3
Are transported to the second holding position A ′, and are sequentially sucked and held by the processing head 23 of the second robot 12 ′ in the same manner as described above. Thereafter, the processing head 23 of the second robot 12 ' is moved to the second release position B', and then releases the holding state of the seventh and eighth containers 3.
The released containers 3 fall onto the discharge conveyor 4 and are raised from the rolled state to the upright state by the bucket 28 of the straightening means 5.

As described above, the control devices 13 and 13 'of this embodiment control the operation of both robots 12 and 12', and each of the two robots 12 and 12 '
The individual containers 3 are alternately transferred from the first holding position A (second holding position A ′) to the first release position B (second release position B ′). Next, the correcting means 5 for raising the container 3 from the rolled state to the upright state will be described. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 8, the mounting surface of the discharge conveyor 4 at the first release position B and the second release position B ′ is lower than the mounting surface of the transport conveyor 2. A straightening means 5 is provided to cover the upstream end of the discharge conveyor 4.

As shown in FIG. 6 to FIG.
Is provided with a pair of upper and lower chains 31, 31 circulating and running along the discharge conveyor 4 in the direction of the arrow, and a plurality of buckets 28 having a U-shaped cross section are attached at equal intervals in the running direction. . The guide portion 28A on the front side in the moving direction of the bucket 28 has an upper portion inclined in an arc shape toward the front side in the moving direction. The guide portion 28B on the rear side in the moving direction of the bucket 28 has an upper portion inclined in an arc shape toward the rear side in the moving direction, and the upper end of the guide portion 28B on the rear side is connected to the front side guide portion. The height is higher than 28A. The distance between the lower portions of the guide portions 28A and 28B is set to a size that can accommodate the upright container 3 without any trouble. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the first release position B
In the (second release position B '), each robot 12, 12'
Containers 3, 3 supported by the processing head 23 of FIG.
Are such that their longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the guide portion 28B on the rear side of every other bucket 28, and their bottom portions 3b, 3b are located above between the two guide portions 28A, 28B. .

In this state, the containers 3, 3 are simultaneously released from the holding state, so that the arc surfaces 3a on the side of the mouths 3a, 3a are formed.
c and 3c come into contact with the upper end portion of the guide portion 28B on the rear side of the bucket 28 so as to be turned over.
b, 3b and falls between the guide portions 28A, 28B. Accordingly, the containers 3, which have been rolled over, are erected so that their mouths 3 a, 3 a face upward and the arc surface 3 c is in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the discharge conveyor 4. Then, when the buckets 28 storing the upright containers 3 and 3 move to the downstream side, and the empty buckets 28 which are adjacent upstream of the buckets 28 have moved to the second release position B ′, the above-described operation is performed. The third container 4 and the fourth container 3 are moved to the second release position B 'by the processing head 23 of the second robot 12' , and the holding state of the containers 3 is released. As a result, the third container 3 and the fourth container 3 are erected in the respective buckets 28 adjacent to the buckets 28 storing the first container 3 and the second container 3 and then stored. And placed on the discharge conveyor 4. Thus, each bucket 2 is released at each release position B, B '.
The containers 3 housed in the container 8 and conveyed by the discharge conveyor 4 are arranged such that each bucket 28 retreats from above the discharge conveyor 4 so that the arc surface 3c on the discharge conveyor 4 is vertically aligned in a line perpendicular to the conveyance direction. They are arranged and conveyed downstream.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
A plate-shaped drop guide 32 extending from a substantially central portion of the discharge conveyor 4 to the outside of the discharge conveyor 4 is provided, and the container 3 which falls between the two guide portions 28A, 28B of the bucket 28 as described above. Each container 3 is reliably erected by guiding the falling of the bottom 3b.

According to the above-described embodiment, the operation of inverting and erecting the flat container 3 in the overturned state,
The operation of aligning the long axis in the horizontal section of the upright container 3 in the direction orthogonal to the discharge conveyor 4 can be processed by a single device. Therefore, those 2
Without having to perform each task on a separate processor.
Moreover, even if the size of the container 3 to be processed is changed, it is not necessary to change the type of each component. In this embodiment, two robots 12, 12 'are provided along the transporting process of the transport conveyor 2, and the two robots 12, 1' are provided.
By 2 ', two containers 3 on the conveyor 2 are alternately delivered. In other words, the upstream first
The robot 12 passes the third and fourth containers 3 toward the downstream side without holding them, and the containers 3 are transferred by the second robot 12 ′ on the downstream side. . Therefore, the processing capability per unit time can be improved as compared with the case where the delivery is performed by a single robot. Also, the conveyor 2
Even if the number of containers 3 transported by
Since the processing of the container 3 is performed by the two robots 12 and 12 ′, the container 3 can be smoothly transferred by both the robots 12 and 12 ′ without stopping the transport conveyor 2. Therefore, there is no need to add the transport conveyor 2. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, an increase in installation space can be suppressed, and a container processing apparatus having a high processing capacity can be provided.

In the above embodiment, each of the robots 12 and
Although 12 ′ is configured to hold two containers 3 each, the following processing may be performed. In other words, three vacuum pads are provided for each of the robots 12 and 12 ', and the upstream robot 12 holds three containers 3 in order from the first container, while only the fourth container 3 is placed upstream. The first robot 12 may pass through the first holding position A of the first robot 12 and hold only the fourth container 3 at the second holding position A ′ by the second robot 12 ′. Further, as described above, three vacuum pads are respectively arranged on both robots 12 and 12 ', and the first robot 12 on the upstream side holds the maximum number of three containers 3 that can be held, and the downstream robot 1 holds the three containers 3 on the downstream side. The second robot 12 ′ on the side may hold two containers 3. Then, in these cases, if the first robot 12 on the upstream side
If only one container 3 can be held, the first
Including the container 3 that could not be held by the robot 12, a total of two (or 3)
) Containers 3 may be held. By performing such processing, the processing capacity of the container alignment device 1 can be further improved. In the above embodiment, the first container 3 and the second container 3 are held by the first robot 12 on the upstream side, and the third and fourth containers 3 are held by the second robot 12 ′ on the downstream side. Are sequentially held, but if the article to be held is a soft and easily breakable food or the like, the following processing may be performed. That is, the first robot 1 on the upstream side
2 holds the first article and the third article, and the second robot 12 ′ on the downstream side
The fourth item may be held. With such a configuration, when a soft article is held by the robots 12 and 12 ′, the article can be prevented from being damaged, and can be reliably held with sufficient time. Also,
In the above embodiment, the transfer conveyor 2 is moved along the transfer direction.
Although two robots 12 and 12 'are provided, three or more robots are provided along the transfer direction of the transfer conveyor 2, and each robot performs the delivery of articles by the robots in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment. May be. Further, the discharge conveyor 4 and the straightening means 5 in the above embodiment are omitted, and a case conveyor is provided in place of the discharge conveyor 4 and the straightening means 5, and both robots 1 are disposed at the two release positions B and B 'in a box carried by the case conveyor.
The articles may be stored by 2 and 12 '.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an article processing apparatus having a high processing capability while suppressing an increase in installation space.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a process diagram showing a holding state of a container by a robot.

FIG. 5 is a process diagram showing a holding state of the container by the robot.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container alignment apparatus (article processing apparatus) 2 Conveyor 3 Container 12 First robot 12 'Second robot 13 Control device 14 CCD camera 14' CCD
camera

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B25J 9/16 B25J 13/00 G06T 7/00 G06T 7/60

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transport conveyor for transporting articles, and the transport conveyor
A robot installed along the transport process of the conveyor
A camera for photographing the placement of articles on the conveyor,
The robot's work is based on the image of the article taken by the camera.
A control device for controlling the movement, and the robot
An article is held at an article holding position on the conveyor, and the holding is performed.
Article processing device for transferring a finished article to another location
In the above, a plurality of robots are provided along the transfer process of the transfer conveyor.
And the above cameras are installed for each robot
AndAlso, the above control device is stored in advance by the robot on the upstream side.
Set the number of items that should be passed without being carried,  The control device displays the image of the article taken by each of the cameras.
The robot on the upstream side is
A part of the conveyed goodsBased on the above settingsRetention
And the downstream robot is held by the upstream robot
Control to keep items that have passed without being
An article processing apparatus comprising: 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control device is provided for each robot, and each control device controls an operation of each robot based on an image of an article taken by each camera. An article processing apparatus according to claim 1.