JP3185357B2 - Work storage state detector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work storage state detecting device which has a plurality of work storage sections on a pallet and detects whether or not a work is arranged in each of the work storage sections.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a robot system in which a pallet containing a work is transported to a position of a work robot, and the work robot picks up the work from the transferred pallet and performs work such as assembly. Each work storage part of the pallet is formed of, for example, a groove having substantially the same shape as the work. Then, a large number of works are put on the pallet, and the work other than the work stored in the work storage unit is removed from the pallet, thereby automatically or simply storing the work.

Therefore, not all the work storage sections of the pallet contain the work, and the work robot goes to pick up the work, and when it detects that there is no work at that position, the work robot moves the work to the next position. I was going to get it. For this reason, the tact time is required, and the time required for one assembling operation or the like also varies, resulting in poor work efficiency.

For this purpose, there is provided a work storage state detecting device for detecting in advance which position of the work is stored in the work storage section of the pallet, and a work robot is operated based on this information to improve work efficiency. It has been proposed.

The conventional work storage state detecting device has a camera, and is configured to detect the presence or absence of a work by performing image processing on an image taken by the camera. Further, a work presence / absence detection sensor is provided at a position corresponding to all the work storage portions of the pallet, and the presence / absence of a work is detected from the output of these work presence / absence detection sensors.

[0006]

However, in the former device, a camera and an image processing circuit are required, and in the latter device, the number of the work presence / absence detection sensors and the like is equal to the number of the work storage units. There is a disadvantage that the cost is very high because it is necessary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a work storage state detecting device which can be manufactured at a low cost with a small number of sensors.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a work storage state detecting apparatus for solving the above-mentioned problems, which comprises n pieces of horizontal (n ≧ n) pieces.
2) × vertical m pieces (m ≧ 2) pallet having a workpiece storage unit is transported vertically, whether the workpiece is housed in each of the workpiece storage unit of the pallet to be the transport <br In the work storage state detection device for detecting, the pallet is provided with m detection mark portions which indicate the position of each work storage portion in the vertical direction in the vertical direction, and each of the mark in the horizontal direction of the pallet being conveyed. It is provided at a position corresponding to the work storage section,
N number of workpiece presence detection sensor, wherein the transverse said each workpiece storage unit work to detect whether it is housed is provided, the number of columns detecting sensor for detecting a detection target mark portion of the pallet during transport Provided, the output of this row number detection sensor
M by the count value of the column number counter operated by
The number of rows is determined, and the output of the
Ri said is obtained so as to store the workpiece presence data into the data memory at all workpiece storage unit for each work whether each column to determine the data acquisition timing of the detection sensor.

[0009]

[Action] A row number counter operated by an output of a row number detection sensor.
Determines the number of columns based on the count value and detects the number of columns
Acquires data from each workpiece presence / absence detection sensor based on the sensor output.
The loading timing is determined and the work presence / absence data in all the work storage units is stored in the data memory .

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a robot system. In FIG. 1, a pallet 1 is transported from a work input section (not shown) to a work robot 7 position by pallet transport means (not shown). The upper surface of the pallet 1 is provided with five (5) by eight (8) work storage sections 2, each of which has a groove shape substantially the same as that of the work. Detected mark portions 3 are provided on the lower surface of the pallet 1 at positions corresponding to the respective work storage portions 2 in the vertical direction (pallet transport direction), and the detected mark portions 3 are configured as light reflecting surfaces. .

The detection sensor group 4 is located at a point in the middle of the conveyance of the pallet 1. The detection sensor group 4 includes the pallet detection sensor S _a , the row number detection sensor _Sb, and the five work presence / absence detection sensors S _{1 to} S _5. These sensors are composed of, for example, an optical sensor having a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit. The pallet detection sensor _Sa is located upstream of the other sensors in the pallet transport direction, and uses the side surface 1a of the pallet 1 configured as a light reflection surface as a detection surface. Then, the H signal when the pallet detection sensor S _a detects pallet 1, and outputs an L signal otherwise.

[0013] Column number detection sensor S _b are located at the same position as the workpiece presence detection sensor S ₁ to S ₅ with respect to the pallet conveying direction, and the detection surface of the detection mark 3. Then, the H signal when the train speed sensor S _b for detecting the detected mark unit 3, and outputs the L signal otherwise.

The five mark presence / absence detection sensors S _{1 to} S ₅ are arranged side by side at regular intervals in the vertical direction with respect to the pallet conveyance direction, and each of the five work storage sections 2 in the horizontal direction serves as a detection surface. Each of the work presence / absence detection sensors S _{1 to} S ₅
The the H signal when the workpiece is housed in workpiece storage unit 2, when the work is otherwise including when not accommodated outputs an L signal.

The sequencer 5 has various sensors S _a ,
S _b, the output of S ₁ to S ₅ are guided. The sequencer 5 has a column number counter, a data memory, and the like, and executes the flowchart shown in FIG. This flowchart will be described together with the operation. The column number counter is composed of a down counter, and is set to a binary number corresponding to “7” by clearing. Data memory has a data area of the horizontal 5 × 8 vertical corresponding to the workpiece storage unit 2 as shown in FIG. 4, for this each data area based on the data of the workpiece presence detection sensor S ₁ to S ₅ "1", “0” is stored. The sequencer 5 transfers the work presence data stored in the data memory to the robot controller 6 in response to a request signal from the robot controller 6 .

The robot controller 6 controls the work robot 7 based on the work presence / absence data, and the work robot 7 picks up the work on the pallet 1 and performs work such as assembly.

Hereinafter, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. The pallet 1 in which the work is stored in the work input section (not shown) is transferred to the position of the work robot 7 by pallet transfer means (not shown). When the pallet 1 comes to the position of the detection sensor group 4 during this conveyance, FIG.
As shown in, first pallet detection sensor S _a is switched to H signal. Then, the sequencer 5 clears the column number counter, and the column number counter becomes “7”. Then, the output sequence number detection sensor S _b detects the first detection target mark section 3 is switched to H signal. Then, the sequencer 5 has five work presence / absence detection sensors S _{1 at the} rising point.
Tokomu a predetermined position of the sequential data memory detection output to S _5. Then, the column number detection sensor S _b is switched to the H signal each for detecting a second subsequent of the detected mark section 3, five work presence detecting sensors S ₁ ~ in the rising point
Tokomu the data memory detection output of the S ₅ in the same manner as described above.

Further, five work presence / absence detection sensors S ₁ to S ₁
The count value of the column counter for each capture the detection output of the S ₅ to 1 by one down. Then, the count value of the column counter is checked whether the "0" at the falling point of the detection output of the pallet detection sensor S _a, so that the end of the normal workpiece storage state detecting if zero. If it is not zero, there is an abnormality in the detection of the work storage state, and a measure such as a retest is taken.

On the other hand, when using the transported pallet 1, the robot controller 6 outputs a request signal to the sequencer 5 and takes in the work presence data transferred from the sequencer 5. Then, this in order to control the robot 7 on the basis of the workpiece presence data, so going to pick up the work only the workpiece storage unit 2 which workpiece is housed, it is possible to perform operations such as assembling with minimal tact time.

In this embodiment, the pallet 1 has a width of 5 × 5.
Although the case where eight vertical work storage sections 2 are provided has been described, the present invention can be applied if both the horizontal and vertical work storage sections 2 are two or more.

In this embodiment, the pallet detection sensor S
detecting the position of the pallet 1 at _a, but have such determined data capture point by AND condition of the output of the pallet detection sensor S _a and the output of the row number detection sensor S _b, provided pallet detection sensor S _a Without the number of rows detection sensor S _b
It is also possible to provide only one.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, a detected mark portion indicating the position of each work storage portion in the vertical direction is provided on the pallet, and the detected mark portion is provided on the pallet to be conveyed. A row number detection sensor for detecting the number of rows to be detected and a plurality of workpiece presence / absence detection sensors for detecting the presence / absence of a workpiece in each work storage unit in the lateral direction are provided.
Depending on the count value of the column number counter activated by
Judge the number of columns and use the output of the
The data capture timing of each workpiece presence / absence detection sensor
To determine the work presence / absence data for all work storage sections in each row.
Since the data is stored in the data memory, the presence / absence data of the work can be known by the number of detection sensors obtained by adding 1 to the number of the work storage sections in the horizontal direction, so that there is an effect that the cost can be reduced. Also, the count value of the column number counter
Is set to zero, for example, to detect the workpiece storage state
Turns out to have completed normally.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram (example) of a robot system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart (example).

FIG. 3 is a time chart (example).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing storage contents of a data memory (embodiment);

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... pallet 2 ... workpiece storage unit 3 ... detection target mark section S _b ... number string detection sensor S ₁ to S ₅ ... mark presence detecting sensor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B23Q 17/00 B25J 19/02

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pallet provided with n (n ≧ 2) × m (m ≧ 2) work storage sections in a horizontal direction is conveyed in a vertical direction, and the pallet is transferred to each of the work storage sections of the pallet to be conveyed. In the work storage state detection device for detecting whether or not a work is stored, m pallets are provided in the pallet with m detection marks indicating the positions of the respective work storage units in the vertical direction. N work presence / absence detection sensors are provided at positions corresponding to the respective work storage sections in the lateral direction of the pallet and detect whether or not the work is stored in the respective work storage sections in the horizontal direction. A number-of-rows detection sensor for detecting the detected mark portion of the pallet inside, and a number-of-rows counter operated by an output of the number-of-rows detection sensor
The number of columns is determined based on the count value of
The data capture timing of each of the work presence / absence detection sensors is determined based on the output of the row number detection sensor, and the work presence / absence data in all the work storage units of each row is stored in the data memory.
A work storage state detection device characterized in that: