JP5952136B2 - Method and apparatus for automatically detecting edge of cloth, and cloth unfolding and feeding apparatus having the apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is directed to, for example, a rectangular cloth piece that is in an indefinite state such as being rolled up and piled up, and the outer peripheral edges of each piece of cloth (in particular, two corners at both ends of one side). The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for automatically detecting the position of a workpiece), and further relates to an apparatus that picks up a cloth piece and puts it into a processing apparatus in the next process with the spreading direction aligned.

  In the linen supply industry, which supplies towels, sheets, and other cloths to hotels, restaurants, medical facilities, etc., a large number of cloths collected from the customer's facility are washed and dried, and each piece of cloth is folded. It is supplied to the facility of the business partner again. The cloth pieces are towels, sheets, etc. as described above except for clothing, and the sizes are various, but each of them often has a square shape, that is, a square or a rectangle.

  In a series of work steps in which a large number of collected fabric pieces are washed, dried and individually folded, an apparatus for automation is introduced. Currently, such automation is not a single large-scale device that covers the entire process, but is generally divided into washing devices, drying devices, folding devices, etc. in terms of equipment cost and compactness. Is.

In the process of introducing the washing apparatus, the drying apparatus, and the folding apparatus as described above, an operator is interposed between these apparatuses.
For example, when the cloth pieces are towels, a large amount of cloth pieces are transferred from the washing device to the drying device as a lump, but the cloth pieces are once piled up in a container for transportation from the drying device to the folding machine. In this state, the operator takes out each piece of cloth one by one, and pinches the corners (120, 130) at both ends of one side 110 of the cloth piece 100 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8 (b), in a specific direction, put it on a belt conveyor 200 provided as a cloth piece receiving portion at the entrance of the folding device, and in the device as shown by the arrow Do the work to send.
In addition, when the cloth pieces are sheets, the washed and dehydrated cloth pieces (before drying) are piled up, and the operator takes out each piece of cloth one by one, and dries and stretches the wrinkles. The device is sent to a device that performs ironing (a device that also has an ironing function called an ironer). Sheets are very large compared to towels, so how to spread both arms is different, but each sheet is handled in the same way as towels, and pinches the corners on one side of the cloth. It is then spread and hung, and in a specific direction, it is sent to a belt conveyor which is a cloth piece receiving portion at the entrance of the ironer. Sheets are aligned in a specific direction one by one by this operation, so the sheets are automatically sent one by one in the same direction from the ironer to the next folding device.

As described above, the process varies slightly depending on the type of cloth, but in any case, the worker may be [indefinite state (in plain terms, it is crumpled, folded randomly, elongated, A piece of cloth in a state of being bent) is picked up, spread as shown in FIG. 8 (a), aligned in a specific direction, and sent to the processing apparatus in the next process.
Such work can be performed very easily by humans, but if it is attempted to automate this, for example, as in the configuration described in Patent Document 1, a very large number of operation steps and at that time It is necessary to determine the state of the cloth piece and to perform many correction steps associated therewith. Therefore, the apparatus required for each process becomes large and the cost of the apparatus becomes high, and after a piece of cloth is picked up, it is spread and suspended as shown in FIG. It takes a long time to reach a state in which a human hand is replaced with a gripping device.

JP 2010-273732 A

  It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to more easily detect an edge of a cloth piece (preferably, a side or a corner of a square cloth piece) and to automatically grip the edge of the cloth piece. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new detection method and apparatus for enabling the above.

As a result of diligent research to solve the above problems, the present inventors have made it possible for the gripping device to perform the operation of automatically gripping the cloth piece in a specific direction. It has been found that it is important to grip part of the edge (preferably the corner). For example, when the outer shape of the cloth piece is rectangular, it is the most preferable operation to detect the corner of the cloth piece from the beginning and grip the corner without an extra step. If it can be done, it becomes possible to find the corner along the edge from that point. Even when the outer shape of the cloth piece is other than a square shape, if the edge is gripped, the subsequent operation can be processed relatively easily with the gripped edge as the center.
And, as a result of further study of the method for identifying the edge of the cloth, the present inventors have taken a part of the cloth and suspended it, and taken an image when viewed from below. The present invention has been completed by finding that the edges appear to be distinguishable by drawing a line in the image.
That is, the main configuration of the present invention is as follows.

(1) An imaging step of capturing an image of a piece of cloth that is partially held and suspended by the first gripping device as viewed from below with an imaging device, and obtaining the image;
A detection step of processing the image by a computer and detecting a line of an edge of the cloth piece viewed from below by the computer;
A method for automatically detecting an edge of a cloth piece, comprising:
(2) In the detection step, three-dimensional shape measurement is further performed on the edge line of the suspended cloth piece, and the edge line of the cloth piece viewed from below is three-dimensionally recognized. 1) The method described.
(3) The cloth piece has a rectangular outer shape,
Based on the three-dimensional recognition of the edge line of the cloth piece, one or both of the following (a) and (b) are detected from the edge line: Method.
(A) One of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.
(B) Corners at both ends of one side of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.
(4) Based on the detection of the line of the edge of the cloth piece as viewed from below, two portions of the line of the edge are automatically held by the second holding device and the third holding device, respectively. The method according to (1) or (2) above, further comprising an edge gripping step.
(5) Based on the detection of (a) above, an edge that automatically grips two of one of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape by the second gripping device and the third gripping device, respectively. The method according to (3), further comprising a part gripping step.
(6) Based on the detection of (b) above, the corners at both ends of one of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape are automatically set by the second gripping device and the third gripping device, respectively. The method according to (3) above, further comprising an edge gripping step for gripping.
(7) In the above imaging step, the transparent plate is disposed in an inclined state under the suspended fabric piece, and an image obtained by viewing the cloth piece from below through the transparent plate is captured by the imaging device. With a configuration to
In the detection step, when it is determined that the suspended state of the cloth piece is unfavorable for the detection of the edge line, the gripping by the first gripping device is released, and the cloth is Drop the piece onto the transparent plate and slide down on the transparent plate to eliminate it,
The method according to any one of (1) to (6) above.
(8) In the imaging step, the mirror plate is arranged in an inclined state so that an image of the cloth piece seen from below is reflected below the cloth piece in a suspended state, and is reflected on the mirror plate. It is configured to capture the image with an imaging device,
In the detection step, when it is determined that the suspended state of the cloth piece is unfavorable for the detection of the edge line, the gripping by the first gripping device is released, and the cloth is Drop the piece onto the end plate and slide down on the end plate to eliminate it,
The method according to any one of (1) to (7) above.
(9) The method further includes a first gripping step before the imaging step,
In the first gripping step, a piece of cloth placed in an indefinite state in a predetermined region is suspended by holding a part of the cloth piece by the first gripping device. ) Any one of the methods.
(10) The method further includes a separation step before the first gripping step,
The method according to (9) above, wherein, in the separation step, the nodule in which the plurality of pieces of cloth are in an indefinite state are disassembled, and the pieces of cloth are separated from each other on the surface.
(11) In the separation step, a plurality of belt conveyors are connected in series, and the conveying speed of the subsequent belt conveyor is set to be higher than that of the preceding belt conveyor, whereby the cloth pieces on the preceding belt conveyor are set. The method according to (10) above, wherein when the baby boom is moved onto the subsequent belt conveyor, the cloth piece is separated from the baby boom due to a difference in speed between the two, and then moved onto the subsequent belt conveyor.
(12) a first gripping device for gripping and hanging a piece of cloth;
An imaging device configured to capture an image of a cloth piece that is suspended by the first gripping device as viewed from below;
A computer configured to process an image obtained by the imaging device and detect a line of an edge of the cloth piece viewed from below;
A device for automatically detecting an edge of a cloth piece, comprising:
(13) A three-dimensional shape measuring device for performing three-dimensional shape measurement on the line of the edge of the suspended cloth piece,
The apparatus according to (12), wherein the computer is configured to recognize a three-dimensional state of a line of an edge of the cloth piece viewed from below with reference to the three-dimensional shape measurement.
(14) The cloth piece has a rectangular outer shape,
The computer detects one or both of the following (a) and (b) from the edge line based on the recognition of the three-dimensional state of the edge line of the cloth piece. The apparatus according to (13), which is configured as follows.
(A) One of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.
(B) Corners at both ends of one side of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.
(15) A second grip controlled by the computer so as to automatically grip two portions of the edge line based on detection of the edge line of the cloth piece as viewed from below. The apparatus according to (12) or (13) above, further comprising an apparatus and a third gripping apparatus.
(16) Based on the detection in (a) above, the second gripping device and the third gripping controlled by the computer so as to grip two of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape The device according to (14), further comprising a device.
(17) Based on the detection of (b) above, the second gripping device and the third gripping controlled by the computer so as to grip two of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape The device according to (14), further comprising a device.
(18) The image processing apparatus further includes a transparent plate arranged in an inclined state below the cloth piece that is suspended by the first gripping device, and captures an image of the cloth piece viewed from below through the transparent plate. Configured to image with the device,
If the computer determines that the suspended state of the cloth piece is unfavorable for the detection of the edge line, the grasping by the first grasping device is released and the cloth piece is placed on the transparent plate. The apparatus according to any one of the above (12) to (17), wherein the apparatus is configured to be dropped and removed on the transparent plate by sliding down.
(19) The imaging device is configured to capture an image of the cloth piece viewed from below through a mirror, and the mirror is placed below the cloth piece that is suspended by the first gripping device. The end plate for imaging through is arranged in an inclined state,
When the computer determines that the suspended state of the cloth is not preferable for the detection of the edge line, the grip by the first gripping device is released and the cloth is placed on the end plate. The apparatus according to any one of (12) to (17), wherein the apparatus is configured to drop and slide down on the end plate to eliminate.
(20) The first gripping device is configured to grip and lift a piece of cloth placed in an indefinite state within a predetermined region and hang it above the imaging device. The apparatus according to any one of (12) to (19) above.
(21) further having a separation device;
The separation device disassembles a baby boom in which a plurality of cloth pieces are in an indefinite state, and causes the cloth pieces to be present on the surface in a state where the cloth pieces are separated from each other. The apparatus according to (20), wherein the apparatus is configured to assist.
(22) The separation device includes a plurality of belt conveyors connected in series, and the plurality of belt conveyors are set such that the conveyance speed of the subsequent belt conveyor is faster than the preceding belt conveyor, As a result, when the bundle of cloth pieces on the previous belt conveyor moves on the subsequent belt conveyor, the cloth pieces move on the subsequent belt conveyor while being separated from the bundle due to the speed difference between them. The device according to (21) above.
(23) having the automatic detection device according to any one of (12) to (22),
An unfolded cloth piece is taken up, spread, aligned in a predetermined direction, and deployed to the cloth piece receiving part of the processing device of the next process,
The unfolding and delivering apparatus, wherein the automatic detection apparatus detects a line of an edge of the cloth piece to be used when the cloth piece picked up is one sheet.

One of the important features of the present invention is that, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), an image of a suspended cloth piece viewed from below is taken. Of the edges of the entire outer periphery of the cloth piece, even if the edge hanging down is seen as a single line when observed from the side, if the cloth piece is imaged so as to look into the upper part from below, As shown in FIG. 1B, it is often found that a curved line such as a U shape or a V shape is drawn.
Therefore, let the computer recognize the outline of the line drawn in the horizontal plane (XY plane) by the edge existing under the cloth piece from the image obtained by imaging the suspended cloth piece from below. The edge portion can be automatically gripped by the gripping device.

In the present invention, a piece of cloth in a state where a part thereof is held and suspended is set as an object of initial detection. In this case, the cloth piece is hung with its edge held as shown in FIGS. 2 (b) and 2 (c), rather than being held and hung near the center as shown in FIG. 2 (a). In this state, it becomes easier to detect two corners at both ends of one side. This is because the edge line appears on the lower side (ie, in the image taken from below) as a relatively simple curve.
On the other hand, in the present invention, it is relatively easy to grip even a piece of cloth having a central portion as shown in FIG. It is. That is, the present invention is also useful as a technique for gripping one point on the edge of the cloth piece.
Therefore, the present invention is applied to a cloth piece suspended in an indeterminate gripping state as shown in FIG. 2 (a), and where the edge of the cloth piece is located as shown in FIGS. 2 (b) and 2 (c). The first imaging step of the present invention may be performed again after conversion to a state in which such one point is held.

With only imaging from below, the detected edge line is two-dimensional as shown in FIG. 1B, and the depth of the edge line in the vertical direction (Z direction) is unknown. However, if the gripping device is approached from the lower side of the cloth piece to the selected part of the edge line in the Z direction, the edge line is reached only by the determination of the touch sensor or the proximity sensor even if the depth is unknown. It is possible.
If the three-dimensional shape measurement is supplementarily added, the depth in the vertical direction (Z direction) of the edge of the cloth piece viewed from below (the three-dimensional position of each part of the edge line) can be recognized. become.
Therefore, when the outer shape of the cloth piece is a square shape, two points on one side included in the edge of the cloth piece viewed from below, and corners at both ends thereof (two adjacent to each other at the four corners of the square). The position of the corner portion can be specified, and the portion can be automatically gripped by computer control.

In the present invention, since the cloth piece is viewed from below, the line of the edge of the cloth piece viewed from below serves as a boundary line between the front and back of the cloth piece, and therefore the front and back of the cloth piece can be easily recognized. Therefore, it is possible to align the gripping directions of the second and third gripping devices for gripping and developing two points on one side of the cloth piece.
For example, if two gripping devices each have a pair of gripping claws (A) and (B), according to the conventional method, the two gripping devices are in an indefinite state. Even if it is recognized that both corners are gripped with good hands, when the piece of cloth is unfolded, one gripping device is actually gripped with the other hand, and the piece of cloth wraps around the one gripping device. There are cases (not shown).
On the other hand, in the present invention, since the image is taken to look up from below the suspended cloth piece, both sides of the recognized edge line are directly on the front and back of the cloth piece, and the edge of the edge is detected by two gripping devices. When grabbing two points, for example, both gripping devices can put the same nail (A) on the front (front) surface side, and can be changed later or the arm of the gripping part can be rotated. There is no need to eliminate tangles.

  Furthermore, in the conventional observation from the side, if a fabric portion that is not an edge overlaps behind the edge as a background, the computer can identify both on the image even if the fabric portion is separated backward. Is not easy. On the other hand, since the cloth piece is imaged from below in the present invention, the edge portion and the fabric portion appear to be separated from each other as they are, so that the edge portion can be recognized stably. Become.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an outline of an automatic detection method and apparatus for an edge of a cloth piece according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a state of a suspended cloth piece to be detected in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how the second and third gripping devices grip two portions of one side of the cloth piece included in the edge of the cloth piece according to the present invention. . FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a mode in which a transparent plate is arranged between the suspended cloth piece and the imaging device as a preferred mode of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a state in which one piece of cloth is lifted by gripping a part of the piece of cloth from the nodule of the piece of cloth and moved upward of the imaging apparatus in the present invention. FIG. 6 is a view showing a configuration for loosening a piece of cloth pieces and separating them into individual piece pieces in the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration and results of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which a cloth piece that has been washed and dried is spread and lifted, and a state in which the cloth piece is directed in a specific direction and sent to a subsequent apparatus such as a folding apparatus.

The cloth edge automatic detecting device according to the present invention is for preferably carrying out the automatic detecting method according to the present invention. Further, the unfolding / delivery device according to the present invention is configured to include the automatic detection device according to the present invention, picks up the cloth piece in an indefinite state, detects the line of the edge of the cloth piece by the automatic detection device, The cloth piece is spread using the line, aligned in a predetermined direction, and sent to a cloth piece receiving portion provided in a processing apparatus for the next process.
Hereinafter, the method will be described at the same time while showing and explaining examples of the configuration of the automatic detection device and the deployment and delivery device using the automatic detection device.
In addition, the present invention will be described by taking as an example a case where a piece of cloth having a rectangular outer shape where the usefulness of the present invention is most remarkable is taken as an object. In the case of a cloth piece having a circular shape or other shapes, the configuration and method for detecting and gripping the edge of the present invention may be similarly applied so as to appropriately match the outer shapes.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a configuration of a main part of an automatic detection device for an edge of a cloth piece according to the present invention, and is also a view for explaining a method of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the apparatus includes at least a first gripping apparatus 1, an imaging apparatus 10, and a computer 20 connected to the imaging apparatus 10. The first gripping device 1 is a device for gripping a part of the cloth piece A and suspending it, and has a gripping mechanism such as an openable / closable gripping claw at the tip. The outer shape of the cloth piece is a square shape as seen in towels and sheets.
The imaging apparatus 10 is an apparatus that captures an image (hereinafter, also referred to as an elevation image) of the cloth piece A viewed from below when the cloth A is suspended by the first gripping apparatus. In order to capture an elevation image of the cloth piece A, as shown in FIG. 1A, an imaging device 10 is arranged below the cloth piece A, and the upper cloth piece is directly imaged by the imaging device. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4B, a mirror or the like is arranged below the cloth piece A, the optical path from the cloth piece to the imaging device is changed as appropriate, and an elevation image of the cloth piece is taken at an arbitrary position. It is good also as a structure imaged with an apparatus. The imaging device 10 is connected to a computer 20 so that the acquired image data can be output to the computer.
The program executed by the computer 20 processes an image (an image including an elevation image of the cloth piece A) transmitted from the imaging device 10 as shown in FIG. It is configured to detect the line A1 of the edge of the cloth piece as seen.

The method of the present invention is implemented using the above-described configuration. First, in the imaging step, the cloth piece A that is partly grasped and suspended as shown in FIG. The image is picked up by the image pickup device 1 to obtain an image as shown in FIG. 1B. Next, in the detection step, the image is processed by the computer 20 to perform image recognition, and the cloth piece as viewed from below. A line A1 at the edge of A is detected.
By the steps as described above, it is possible to recognize the state of the line of the edge portion unique to the elevation image, which cannot be discriminated from the side, and at least the edge line of the second and third gripping devices Can be automatically gripped.

In the present invention, “an image of a cloth piece viewed from below” means that the cloth piece is looked up directly from a position immediately below the suspended cloth piece (position moved downward along the vertical line). In addition to the visible image, the cloth piece is looked up from obliquely below the cloth piece within a range where the effect of the present invention of recognizing the line drawn by the edge hanging down below the edge of the cloth piece is obtained. It also includes images that can be seen when hitting.
Assuming that the elevation angle of the central axis of the optical path of the imaging device when the fabric piece is looked up by an imaging device (including a case through a mirror) is θ, the closer the elevation angle θ is to 90 degrees, The edge line] is preferable because the shape can be imaged without being obscured by other parts of the cloth piece, and conversely, the closer the elevation angle θ is to 0 degrees, the closer to the observation method from the side in the prior art, [The line of the edge of the cloth viewed from below] is not preferable because it is hidden behind the other part of the cloth and cannot be seen.
Even when the cloth piece is imaged through the mirror, the elevation angle θ is determined with respect to the central axis of the optical path of the imaging device (in this case, the central axis that is bent at the mirror surface and faces the cloth piece). For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 4B, the elevation angle θ is 90 degrees.
In view of the above points, the preferred range of the elevation angle θ at which the effects of the present invention can be obtained is about 45 ° to 90 °, and the more preferred range of the elevation angle θ is about 60 ° to 90 °, the most preferred elevation angle. θ is 90 degrees as described above.
Note that the suspended cloth piece takes various forms depending on the gripping position and gripping state. For the sake of convenience, the above-described “directly below the suspended cloth piece” means that the gripping device grips the cloth piece. It may be understood that it is directly under the part.

  The shape and dimensions of the cloth pieces to be detected by the present invention are not particularly limited, but towels (such as towels, face towels, towels, bath towels) handled in the linen supply industry, sheets, A cloth piece having a square shape, such as a pillow cover or a table cloth, contributes to automation of the work, and the usefulness of the present invention becomes remarkable.

The 1st holding | gripping apparatus should just be comprised so that a part of cloth piece can be hold | gripped and the whole cloth piece can be suspended. The form of the gripping mechanism at the tip of the gripping device (configuration for gripping the cloth piece) is not particularly limited. For example, a configuration for opening and closing a pair of relatively thin gripping nails such as tweezers and pliers is provided. A configuration that opens and closes a relatively flat and wide gripping nail, a configuration of three nails, a configuration that imitates a human hand, and the like may be selected according to the size of the object.
The gripping device 1 shown in FIG. 1 (a) suggests a state in which the distal end portion of a gripping mechanism configured to sandwich a piece of cloth with two claws as shown in FIG. 3 (a) is viewed from the side. Yes.
The first gripping device not only has a mode of processing a large number of cloth pieces by one, but also suspends the next piece of cloth and stands by while imaging one piece of cloth from below. It is sufficient to make the number necessary according to necessity, such as the second device of No. 3 and the third device for taking a piece of cloth into the baby boom.
The gripping device may be such that, for example, a human participates in an operation of sandwiching a part of a piece of cloth, such as a hanging clothespin. It is preferable that the operation to be taken out and the operation in cooperation with the second and third gripping devices can be automatically performed after the detection step. From this point, a robot arm having a gripping mechanism at the tip is a preferable mode. is there.

  The control of the gripping device such as the robot arm is preferably a unified control by the computer 20 described above. In the following description, for the sake of convenience, it will be described that the computer 20 performs control, determination, and detection of all the devices constituting the present invention. However, the control device is not limited, and a plurality of computers are linked. Alternatively, an external drive device controlled by the computer may be interposed.

In the detection step, image processing for causing the computer to analyze an image including an elevation image of the piece of cloth and for recognizing the edge line included in the image as depicted by a thick line in FIG. As the image recognition technique itself, a conventionally known technique may be used.
For example, by illuminating the cloth piece from below, the reflected light from the cloth piece becomes brighter as it is closer to the light source of the illumination. Since the line of the edge of the cloth piece that is in the suspended state is a line in which the dots at the lower end are connected, it is always imaged brighter than the part above it. Therefore, the edge line A1 can be recognized in the image by this luminance information.
Further, if necessary, the edge line may be emphasized by irradiating light from one side and illuminating only the front surface of the cloth piece.

Although the image of FIG. 1B obtained by the imaging device 10 includes luminance information, it is a planar image, so that the computer recognizes the depth in the Z direction of the line A1 at the edge of the cloth A. Preferably, a three-dimensional shape measuring device is further added, and the line A1 of the edge of the cloth piece viewed from below is three-dimensionally recognized while referring to the computer the result of the three-dimensional shape measurement in the detection step.
By this mode, it becomes possible to detect the positions of two points on one side of the four sides of the cloth included in the edge line, and further the positions of the corners at both ends of the one side. As described above, the second and third gripping devices can easily grip two points on one side and corners at both ends of the one side.
The three-dimensional shape measurement by the three-dimensional shape measurement apparatus may refer to the prior art. For example, a three-dimensional shape is obtained from a light cutting method performed by irradiating laser light obliquely from below or a plurality of images on which a fringe pattern is projected. Any technique can be used as long as it can obtain position data in the three-dimensional space of the line of the edge of the cloth, such as a phase shift method in which measurement is performed, or a technique in which scanning is performed with a laser displacement meter.
The imaging device used for the three-dimensional shape measuring device is disposed at the same position as the imaging device 10 (a position where an image of a cloth piece viewed from below can be taken). The imaging device used for the three-dimensional shape measuring device may also be used as the imaging device 10. Alternatively, the imaging device 10 itself may be an imaging device capable of 3D imaging, and the image obtained by the imaging device 10 may be analyzed as a stereoscopic image by a computer.

In the detection step by the computer, as shown in FIGS. 1B and 2A, if the line A1 at the edge of the cloth piece A is detected, at least the edge can be gripped. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, if corners A11 and A12 at both ends of one side A10 included in the edge line are detected, the next step is immediately performed. It is more preferable because these corners can be gripped.
In the state shown in FIG. 2 (c), since the corner portion of the cloth piece is gripped, the corner portion A12 exists at the lowermost end of the suspended cloth piece, and the two sides A10, A20 are directed upward from there. It extends. In such a case, detection of the lowermost corner A12 is particularly easy. For the two adjacent corners A11 and A22, one of them is selected as appropriate based on the positional relationship with the second and third gripping devices described later, the distance between the sides A10 and A20, and the like. The computer program may be configured as described above.

In the mode shown in FIG. 3A, in addition to the first gripping device 1, a second gripping device 2 and a third gripping device 3 are further provided, and the computer 20 shown in FIG. The program is configured to function as the control device of these gripping devices 1 to 3 as follows.
The computer 20 executes an edge gripping step based on the three-dimensional detection result of the edge line in the detection step, and more than two locations on one side A10 of the cloth included in the edge. Preferably, corners A11 and A12 at both ends of one side A10 are automatically gripped by the second and third gripping devices, respectively. At this time, the first gripping device described above may release the gripping of the cloth piece, or may hold the cloth piece if it does not hinder the suspension by the second and third gripping devices. Good.
As shown in FIG. 3 (b), the cloth piece A is hung by gripping two portions of the side A10 (more preferably, the corners A11 and A12 at both ends of the side A10) as shown in FIG. It will be in the extended state, i.e., the expanded state. The state shown in FIG. 3B corresponds to the state where the human hand in FIG. 8A pinches the corner.

In the state of FIG. 3 (b), the second and third gripping devices grip not the corners A11 and A12 of the cloth piece but the vicinity thereof. When feeding into a processing device for the next process such as a folding device, if there is no problem that the corner portion is free to move and bends due to not holding the corner portion, gripping in the vicinity of the corner portion will not occur. It may be left as it is.
Also, the gripping force of the gripping device may be slightly relaxed while the vicinity of the corner is gripped, and the gripping position may be slid to the corner along the edge to correct the corner. .

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
In the example of FIG. 4A, the transparent plate 30 is arranged in an inclined state below the cloth piece A that is in a suspended state, and an imaging device that captures an elevation image of the cloth piece through the transparent plate 30. 10 is configured to capture an image. When the computer executes the detection step and determines that the suspended state of the cloth piece A is not preferable for detection (for example, as shown in FIG. The gripping by the first gripping device is released when a clear determination result cannot be obtained (for example, when the gripping method is such that the line does not clearly appear below).
With the configuration described above, the cloth piece A is transparent as shown by the one-dot chain line arrow in FIG. The board 30 is slid down and easily eliminated. Moreover, it does not fall on the imaging device.
The material of the transparent plate is not particularly limited, but may be any material that is transparent and has an appropriate mechanical strength, such as acrylic resin and glass.
In addition, if the surroundings of the space between the imaging device and the transparent plate are surrounded by an appropriate plate material so that light does not enter the lower surface of the transparent plate from the surroundings and hinder the imaging, the dust of the imaging device can be reduced. It ’s also good.
4A, in this example, the imaging device 10 is arranged in a posture in which the cloth piece A is looked up directly below the transparent plate 30, but the cloth piece is looked up by interposing a mirror in front of the imaging device. Any configuration that can capture an image through a transparent plate may be used.

  On the other hand, in the example of FIG. 4B, the imaging device 10 is disposed below the cloth piece A suspended by the first gripping device 1 in a state where the end plate 31 is inclined and is disposed on the side. The cloth image is reflected on the end plate 31. As described above, the optical path may be changed by further interposing a mirror. Then, similarly to the example of FIG. 4A, when the computer executes the detection step and determines that the suspended state of the cloth piece A is not preferable for detection, the first gripping is performed. It is configured to release the grip by the device. As a result, the cloth piece A slides down on the end plate 31 and is easily removed, as indicated by the one-dot chain line arrow in FIG.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the first gripping device 1 includes, as the first gripping step, a set of towels and a baby boom after washing / drying, a set of sheets before being put into the ironer after washing / drying, A piece of cloth A, such as a baby boom, placed in an indefinite state in an indefinite state is grasped and lifted, moved to above the image pickup apparatus 10, and is configured to stand still in a suspended state. Has been. As described above, as such a gripping device, a robot arm is a preferable mode, and a gripper conveyor having a large number of gripping portions may be used.

The unfolding / delivery device according to the present invention automatically picks up and spreads a piece of cloth in an indefinite state as shown in FIG. 5 and aligns it in a predetermined direction as shown in FIG. An apparatus configured to deliver the cloth piece to the cloth piece receiving portion of the processing apparatus, and the line of the edge of the cloth piece that is required when the picked up cloth piece is automatically spread by the automatic detection device. It is configured to detect.
For example, in the unfolding / delivery device, first, as shown in FIG. 5, the first gripping device is controlled to pick up one piece of cloth that is in an indeterminate state and suspend it. . Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the automatic detection device of the present invention detects the line of the edge of the cloth piece viewed from below with respect to the cloth piece in the suspended state. Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the second and third gripping devices are controlled to spread the cloth piece by gripping and lifting two portions of the line A10 at the edge. State. Finally, as shown in FIG. 8 (b), the second and third gripping devices are controlled so that the cloth piece is directed in a predetermined direction and delivered to the cloth piece receiving portion of the processing apparatus in the next process. The
The above configuration is an example, and a piece of cloth that is in an indefinite state is picked up and suspended, and the detected piece of cloth is used for the cloth piece. A conventionally known technique may be used as a technique for widening.

Although it does not specifically limit as a processing apparatus of a next process, As mentioned in the said background art, a folding apparatus, an ironer, etc. are mentioned as a useful apparatus. In addition, the configuration of the cloth piece receiving portion of the processing device in the next process varies depending on the processing device, but generally there are many configurations in which the end of the belt conveyor as shown in FIG. However, it is only necessary to spread the cloth piece and simply place it on the belt conveyor.
The operation in which the second and third gripping devices deliver the cloth pieces to the cloth piece receiving portion of the processing apparatus in the next process may be set and controlled according to the mechanism of each cloth piece receiving portion. For example, if the mechanism of the cloth piece receiving portion is a belt conveyor as shown in FIG. 8B, the second and third gripping devices lay the cloth pieces spread by hanging on the belt conveyor as they are. Thus, the delivery is completed. In that case, as shown in FIG. 8, it is closer to human work to control the cloth piece so that the gripping side is positioned at the head side in the feeding direction, and it is possible to suppress bending of the cloth piece, which is preferable delivery. is there. In addition, if the mechanism of the cloth piece receiving portion is two rollers or slots configured to draw in the cloth piece, the second and third gripping devices are free of cloth pieces that are spread by hanging. A mode in which the cloth piece is fed in such a manner that the cloth piece is drawn into the roller or the slot with the end as the head is a preferable delivery.

When the first gripping device 1 picks up a piece of cloth in the first gripping step, prior to that, a group of cloth pieces and a baby boom are dispersed on the individual cloth pieces and exist on the surface. It is preferable that a separation step is provided so that the gripping device 1 can easily pick up one piece of cloth.
This separation step does not necessarily have to be controlled by the computer, and may be configured to be distributed independently into a predetermined area and supplied independently by a conventionally known feeder or separation device.

  FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of a separation device for preferably separating the cloth pieces in the separation step. In the apparatus shown in the figure, a plurality of belt conveyors (three conveyors 51, 52, and 53 are drawn in the example in the figure) are connected in series, and these conveyors become faster as the subsequent conveyors. ing. With this speed setting, as shown in the figure, when the bundle of cloth pieces on the previous belt conveyor 51 moves onto the next conveyor 52 and further onto the next conveyor 53, the speed of both of them is increased. Due to the difference, the effect that the piece of cloth is separated from the baby boom is obtained, and separation of the baby boom progresses every time it moves to the subsequent conveyor.

The separation device may be configured to detect the cloth piece that is most separated on the last conveyor and cause the gripping device 1 to grip the cloth piece. Alternatively, a slope is provided at the final end of the last conveyor so that the cloth piece slides down under its own weight. While the cloth piece slides down the slope, the passage of the cloth piece is detected by a photoelectric switch, etc. Accordingly, the gripping device 1 may be configured to grip.
In addition, the cloth piece that has passed through the last end of the last conveyor and the above-mentioned slope is returned to the first lowest speed conveyor, returned to the nodule state, and again, the conveyor is advanced and separated again. Also good.

Example 1
In the present example, an elevation image of the cloth piece was taken, and it was confirmed whether or not the computer could detect the line of the edge of the cloth piece viewed from below.
First, as schematically shown in FIG. 7A, a towel is hung from the gripping device 1 as the cloth piece A, the imaging device 10 is disposed immediately below, and the towel is illuminated obliquely from below by the lighting device 11. While taking this image, a towel image of the towel was taken.
FIG. 7B is a captured image including an elevation image of the towel.
Next, the computer 20 executes a detection step on the obtained captured image, processes the image, and recognizes the edge based on the luminance information from the elevation image of the cloth piece. The edge line shown in FIG. 7C could be detected.
The edge line in the image of FIG. 7 (c) is planar, but two of the edge lines are gripped by the computer-controlled second and third gripping devices. Is possible.
In addition, if a three-dimensional shape measurement is further added to the edge line of the cloth piece, the depth of the edge line shown in FIG. It has been found that it is possible to recognize one of the four sides and to recognize corners at both ends of the one side.

According to the present invention, an operation of picking up a cloth piece in an indefinite state, spreading it, aligning it in a specific direction, and feeding it to a processing apparatus in the next process can be performed with a simpler configuration.
Therefore, the present invention is used in the process as an automatic loading device for a folding device or an ironer, for example, in the work process of the linen supply industry, and the corners of individual cloth pieces that are in an indefinite state in a group. It is effectively used to detect, grasp, spread, and send to the next stage device in a specific direction.

A Cloth piece 1 First gripping device 10 Imaging device 20 Computer

Claims (13)

An imaging step of capturing an image of the cloth piece that is partly gripped and suspended by the first gripping device, as viewed from below, and obtaining the image;
A detection step of processing the image by a computer and detecting a line of an edge of the cloth piece viewed from below by the computer;
A method for automatically detecting an edge of a cloth piece, comprising:   The said detection step WHEREIN: Three-dimensional shape measurement is further added with respect to the line of the edge of the suspended cloth piece, The line of the edge part of the cloth piece seen from the bottom is recognized in three dimensions. Method. The cloth piece has a rectangular outer shape,
The method according to claim 2, wherein one or both of the following (a) and (b) are detected from the edge line based on the three-dimensional recognition of the edge line of the cloth piece. .
(A) One of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.
(B) Corners at both ends of one side of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.   Based on the detection of the line of the edge of the cloth piece viewed from below, the edge gripping that automatically grips two of the edge lines by the second gripping device and the third gripping device, respectively. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step.   An edge gripping step for automatically gripping two locations of one of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape by the second gripping device and the third gripping device, respectively, based on the detection of (a) above. The method of claim 3 further comprising:   Based on the detection of (b) above, an edge that automatically grips corners at both ends of one of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape by the second gripping device and the third gripping device, respectively. The method according to claim 3, further comprising a part gripping step. A first gripping device for gripping and hanging a piece of cloth;
An imaging device configured to capture an image of a cloth piece that is suspended by the first gripping device as viewed from below;
A computer configured to process an image obtained by the imaging device and detect a line of an edge of the cloth piece viewed from below;
A device for automatically detecting an edge of a cloth piece, comprising: A three-dimensional shape measuring device for performing three-dimensional shape measurement on the line of the edge of the suspended cloth piece;
The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the computer is configured to recognize a three-dimensional state of a line of an edge of the cloth piece viewed from below with reference to the three-dimensional shape measurement. The cloth piece has a rectangular outer shape,
The computer detects one or both of the following (a) and (b) from the edge line based on the recognition of the three-dimensional state of the edge line of the cloth piece. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus is configured as follows.
(A) One of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.
(B) Corners at both ends of one side of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape.   Based on the detection of the line at the edge of the cloth piece as viewed from below, the second gripping device and the second controlled by the computer so as to automatically grip two of the lines of the edge respectively. The apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising three gripping devices.   Based on the detection in (a) above, the second gripping device and the third gripping device controlled by the computer are gripped so as to grip two of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:   Based on the detection of (b) above, the second gripping device and the third gripping device controlled by the computer are gripped so as to grip one of the four sides of the rectangular outer shape. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: It has an automatic detection device given in any 1 paragraph of Claims 7-12,
An unfolded cloth piece is taken up, spread, aligned in a predetermined direction, and deployed to the cloth piece receiving part of the processing device of the next process,
The unfolding and delivering apparatus, wherein the automatic detection apparatus detects a line of an edge of the cloth piece to be used when the cloth piece picked up is one sheet.