JP6462171B1 - Food supply apparatus and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a food supply device and a control program capable of recognizing the presence of a customer when the customer stands in front of the device and starting food arrangement and handing the finished food directly to the customer. A food supply device 100 of a food supply system 1 for automatically providing and providing food in a semi-solid state using a robot arm includes a supply server 110, a detection unit 120, a robot arm 130, and a cone storage unit. 140, an alarm output unit 150, and a control unit 160. The supply server 110 includes a status display display 114 b that displays the status of the supply server 110. The detection unit 120 detects a customer and detects the state of the soft ice cream in the supply server 110. The robot arm 130 takes out the serving container from the cone container 140, injects soft cream from the supply server 110, and provides it to the customer. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present disclosure relates to a food supply apparatus and a control program that serve and provide semi-solid food such as soft cream.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a system that provides various services is known, such as an unattended soft cream cooking providing system that cooks soft cream according to an order (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The unmanned soft ice cream cooking and providing system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is composed of a vertical articulated robot having two arms, takes out a soft ice cream cone in response to a customer's order, moves it to a soft ice cream server, and softens it. It is a device that dispenses cream, forms it, and provides it to customers.

JP 2012-018661 A

  By the way, such an unattended soft ice cream cooking provision system has the effect of reducing the labor of providing soft ice cream by hand, but also has a large entertainment factor due to the rareness that a robot provides soft ice cream. To that end, it is possible to further entertain the customer by recognizing the presence of the customer, starting to serve the soft ice cream, and handing the completed soft ice cream directly to the customer.

  Therefore, in the present disclosure, when the customer stands in front of the apparatus, it recognizes the presence of the customer and starts serving foods such as soft ice cream, and the operation of handing the completed soft ice cream directly to the customer by the robot arm is possible. A food supply apparatus and a control program capable of enhancing entertainment and interaction of a robot arm will be described.

A food supply apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure is a food supply apparatus that provides and provides a semi-solid state food to a customer, the server supplying the food, the customer being detected, and the state of the food in the server Based on the detection result of the detection unit and the detection unit, take out the serving container to serve food, move the serving container to the server position and hold the serving container, and when the server operates, food is placed in the serving container, a robot arm to provide a dishing container food was dished the customer, determines the detection result of the detecting unit, e Bei a control unit for controlling the operation of the robot arm, the robot arm holds the dishing container holding The holding unit is provided with a load sensor for detecting the load of the serving container and the food, and the control unit is configured to detect the load sensor at a predetermined time interval. Based on the detection result of detecting a load of goods, to predict the flow rate of the food to control the operation of the robot arm.

A control program according to an aspect of the present disclosure is a control program for controlling a food supply apparatus that operates a robot arm and provides food in a semi-solid state to a customer, and detects the customer. And a food detection step for detecting the state of the food in the server that supplies the food, a robot arm is operated, a moving step for removing the serving container for placing the food is moved to the server position, the robot arm is operated, and the server is operated. , The food is placed in the serving container, and the flow rate of the food is determined based on the detection result detected at a predetermined time interval by the serving container provided in the holding unit that holds the serving container and the load sensor that detects the load of the food. a step-Eat that controls the operation of the robot arm to predict, the robot arm To work, to be executed and providing step to provide a container Serve the food was dished to the customer, to the computer.

  According to the present disclosure, a serving container that includes a detection unit that detects a customer and on which food is served by the operation of a robot arm is provided to the customer. Therefore, when the customer stands in front of the apparatus, it is possible to detect the presence of the customer and automatically operate the robot arm to provide food. Thereby, the entertainment property of the robot arm can be enhanced, and the interaction property can be enhanced.

It is a functional block block diagram which shows the food supply system 1 which concerns on one Embodiment of this indication. It is a perspective view which shows the example of the external appearance of the food supply apparatus 100 of FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing an example of an operation panel 114 of FIG. 2 and an AR marker 115 arranged in the vicinity thereof. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of the customer's image detected by the detection part 120 of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the example of the detection part 120 and the eyeball 137 attached to the forearm part 134 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the wrist part 135 and the holding | maintenance part 138 of FIG. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the load detected by the load sensor 139 of FIG. 6, and elapsed time. It is a perspective view which shows the example of the external appearance of the mounting part 142 of FIG. It is a front view which shows the example of operation | movement of the mounting part 142 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the food supply process which the food supply apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 performs. FIG. 3 is a functional block configuration diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of a computer 300 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiments described below do not unduly limit the content of the present disclosure described in the claims. In addition, all the components shown in the embodiments are not necessarily essential components of the present disclosure.

(Embodiment 1)
<Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a functional block configuration diagram illustrating a food supply system 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure. This food supply system 1 is a system that provides and provides a semi-solid food such as soft cream, for example, and shows a soft cream supply system that automatically provides soft cream and provides it to customers.

  The food supply system 1 includes a food supply device 100, a server device 200, and a network NW. The food supply apparatus 100 and the server apparatus 200 are connected via a network NW. The network NW is configured by the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), or the like.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the food supply apparatus 100 of FIG. The food supply device 100 is a device that provides food in a semi-solid state such as soft cream in a serving container such as a cone using a robot arm, and is placed on a mounting table T such as a table. Are configured to operate. As shown in FIG. 1, the food supply apparatus 100 includes a supply server (server) 110, a detection unit 120, a robot arm 130, a cone storage unit (measuring container storage unit) 140, an alarm output unit 150, and a control. Unit 160, and are connected to each other by, for example, USB (registered trademark) or LAN so as to be able to communicate with each other. Although the serving container is described as a cone here, it may be a container such as a paper cup or glass, or a plate that already has other foods.

  The supply server 110 is a device that is filled with a semi-solid food such as soft cream, is extruded at a predetermined flow rate by an external operation under the control of the control unit 160, and is injected into a serving container. As shown in FIG. 2, the supply server 110 includes a main body 111, an extruding unit 112, an extruding operation unit 113, and an operation panel 114.

  The main body 111 is the main body of the supply server 110, filled with dairy products and sugar as raw materials for soft cream from the upper surface or the rear surface (not shown), and stirred in a semi-solid state while cooling at a predetermined temperature. Soft ice cream is manufactured and kept in this state. In addition, a mechanism for pushing out the soft cream from the pushing portion 112 by operating the pushing operation portion 113 is provided inside the main body portion 111.

  The extruding part 112 is a place where the soft cream filled in the main body part 111 is extruded. For example, a round or star-shaped hole is provided, and the soft cream is pressed by a mechanism for extruding the soft cream in the main body part 111. Extruded.

  The extrusion operation part 113 is a part for operating to inject the soft cream into the serving container, and is provided in a lever shape, for example. By pulling the extrusion operation portion 113, the soft cream is pushed out and flows downward from the extrusion portion 112. The extrusion operation unit 113 is controlled by the control unit 160 and is automatically pulled when the serving container is moved below the extrusion unit 112.

  The operation panel 114 is provided for causing the supply server 110 to produce soft ice cream and for adjusting the temperature. In such a supply server 110, since the raw material of soft cream is filled at room temperature and soft ice cream is manufactured while cooling in the supply server 110, it is necessary to manufacture soft ice cream regularly. An operation panel for operation is provided.

  FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing an example of the operation panel 114 of FIG. 2 and the AR marker 115 arranged in the vicinity thereof. The operation panel 114 is provided with an operation button 114a and a status display display 114b. The operation button 114a is a button for performing various operations of the supply server 110, and includes, for example, a power button for turning on / off the power of the supply server 110, a temperature adjustment button for raising and lowering a set temperature, and the like. The status display 114b is a location for displaying the operating status of the supply server 110, and is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display. On the status display 114b, for example, a display indicating that the soft cream can be supplied, a display indicating that the soft cream is insufficient and filling is necessary, and the soft cream is being manufactured. Is displayed.

  In the detection unit 120 described later, the state display 114b is referred to detect the state of the soft ice cream in the supply server 110. At this time, since the detection unit 120 is attached to a movable part of the robot arm 130 as will be described later, it is difficult to recognize which direction the object currently detected is. Therefore, the AR marker 115 that is a mark for calculating the position and orientation in the three-dimensional space is provided in the vicinity of the state display 114b, for example, at a position adjacent to the operation panel 114. From the relative position of the state display display 114b with respect to the AR marker 115, the position and orientation of the state display display 114b are obtained. The AR marker 115 is a device that displays a camera or the like as if there is something that does not actually exist, and is used for the purpose of displaying information that is desired to be noticed.

  The detection unit 120 detects the presence of the customer when the customer stands in front of the food supply device 100 under the control of the control unit 160, and refers to the status display 114b using the AR marker 115 as a mark as described above, and supplies the supply server. 110 is a device for detecting the state of soft cream in 110. The detection unit 120 includes, for example, a digital camera including a photographing device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and a conversion device that converts a photographed image into image data. Conversion to data is performed. The detection unit 120 is arranged, for example, on the forearm portion of the robot arm 130 in order to be able to detect a wide range of directions.

  As described above, the detection unit 120 detects the state of the soft ice cream in the supply server 110 with reference to the state display 114b using the AR marker 115 as a mark. Specifically, for example, when “STANDBY” is displayed on the status display 114b, the supply server 110 detects that the soft ice cream can be supplied, and “MIX OUT” is displayed on the status display 114b. If it is displayed, the supply server 110 detects that the soft ice cream is insufficient in the supply server 110 and needs to be filled, and “FREEZING” is displayed on the status display 114b. It is detected that the soft ice cream is being manufactured.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a customer image detected by the detection unit 120 of FIG. The detection unit 120 initially captures the forward direction of the food supply apparatus 100 and is set to capture the customer when the customer stands in front of the food supply apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. 4, when the customer H is photographed by the imaging F, the imaging data is analyzed and image recognition is performed, and the face position of the customer H is calculated. At that time, the imaging data is transmitted to the server apparatus 200, and the face is recognized based on the learned model analyzed from the imaging data stored in the server apparatus 200. At this time, the age, sex and facial expression of the customer H may be recognized, and the operation of the robot arm 130 and the like may be changed based on the determination result of the age, sex and facial expression.

  The robot arm 130 is a device that performs various operations such as a human arm with a joint as a fulcrum, and holds and transports a soft ice cream container under the control of the control unit 160. For example, a serving container such as a corn is removed from the corn container 140, moved to the position of the supply server 110, infused with soft ice cream, moved to the position of the customer and provided to the customer. Are provided to perform the operation.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the robot arm 130 is disposed on the base D, and includes a rotating part 131, an upper arm part 132, a joint part 133, a forearm part 134, and a wrist part 135. Yes.

  The rotating part 131 is a place where the robot arm 130 is rotatably mounted on the base D, and one end of the upper arm part 132 is connected to change the angle with the rotating part 131. The rotation unit 131 has a built-in servo motor. The servo motor is driven by the control of the control unit 160 to rotate the rotation unit 131 to change the angle between the rotation unit 131 and the upper arm unit 132. It is configured as follows.

  The joint portion 133 is a portion that rotatably connects the other end of the upper arm portion 132 and one end of the forearm portion 134. The joint portion 133 has a built-in servo motor, and is configured such that the servo motor is driven by the control of the control portion 160 to rotate the forearm portion 134.

  The wrist part 135 is connected to the other end part of the forearm part 134, and is a place that can rotate freely. The wrist part 135 has a built-in servo motor, and is configured so that the servo motor is driven by the control of the control part 160 to rotate the angle with the forearm part 134 in a freely changeable manner.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of the detection unit 120 and the eyeball 137 attached to the forearm portion 134 of FIG. The above-described detection unit 120 and an eyeball 137 that performs a predetermined operation toward the customer are attached to the forearm unit 134 illustrated in FIG. As described above, the detection unit 120 is attached to the forearm portion 134 in this way in order to detect the tip direction of the robot arm 130 that performs operations such as placing soft cream in order to be able to detect a wide range of directions. It has been.

  The eyeball 137 is a device for making the user feel as if he / she is interacting with the customer by looking at the customer's direction, and is provided to improve the entertainment and interaction properties of the robot arm 130. The eyeball 137 looks at a predetermined operation, for example, one point in the space (for example, the position of the customer's face standing in front of the food supply device 100) while the robot arm 130 is stationary and operating under the control of the control unit 160. Perform the correct operation. This is because the eyes may stare at one point even if the face of the eyeball of an actual organism moves or the face moves, and this makes it appear as if the customer is paying attention. Therefore, one point of the customer's face detected by the detection unit 120 is calculated in three-dimensional coordinates, and a direction vector from the eyeball 137 to one point of the customer's face is always calculated even if the position of the eyeball 137 changes. Control is performed so as to face the direction.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the wrist part 135 and the holding part 138 in FIG. 2, and is an enlarged perspective view (a) and a cross-sectional side view (b) showing the wrist part 135 and the holding part 138. A holding part 138 as shown in FIG. 6A is provided on the tip side of the wrist part 135 shown in FIG. The holding portion 138 is a portion that is provided at the tip of the robot arm 130 and holds the serving container. For example, the retaining portion 138 has a conical shape that spreads upward so as to hold a cone as a serving container. It is the provided cylinder shape, the upper part is the conical shape which spreads upwards, and the lower part is formed in the column shape.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, a load sensor 139 is provided between the wrist part 135 and the holding part 138 in the robot arm 130. The load sensor 139 is a sensor that detects a change in the load in the holding unit 138, and that the cone is held in the holding unit 138, the soft ice cream is injected into the cone, and the customer takes out the completed soft cream. This is a device for detecting this. The load sensor 139 is configured by, for example, a load cell that converts a load into an electric signal.

  For example, when the cone is placed on the holding unit 138, the load sensor 139 detects an increase in load. Then, the operation of the entire robot arm 130 is controlled to move the holding unit 138 and move below the pushing unit 112 of the supply server 110.

  Further, when soft cream is injected into the cone in the holding unit 138, the load sensor 139 detects an increase in load. When the soft ice cream is placed for a predetermined time and the load sensor detects an increase in the predetermined load, and the soft ice cream is injected inside the cone, it is spirally wound above the cone and projected in a conical shape. First, the movement of the robot arm 130 is controlled and moved so that the holding portion 138 is rotated in the directions of arrows A and B (horizontal direction) shown in FIG. Then, since the soft cream gradually rises upward, the holding portion 138 is moved in the direction of arrow C (vertical direction). Thereafter, when the weight of the soft ice cream reaches a predetermined value indicating the weight at the time of completion, the soft ice cream injection by the supply server 110 is terminated. Thereby, soft ice cream is beautifully arranged above the cone.

  FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the load detected by the load sensor 139 in FIG. 6 and the elapsed time. The vertical axis shows the numerical value of the detected load, and the horizontal axis shows the change in time. The supply server 110 is a device that pushes out the soft cream at a predetermined flow rate, but there may be a difference in the flow rate for a predetermined time depending on the pressure of the remaining soft cream, the temperature and viscosity of the soft cream. As shown in FIG. 7, when changes in the load by the load sensor 139 when soft ice cream was injected under different conditions, differences such as broken lines L1 and L2 were observed.

  Differences such as the polygonal lines L1 and L2 have an effect when the soft ice cream is beautifully placed on the cone as described above. Therefore, the load sensor 139 periodically detects the load, fits the polygonal lines L1 and L2 as the measurement results using the least square method, and obtains a linear approximation expression such as the straight lines L3 and L4. The flow rate of soft ice cream for a predetermined time is calculated. This method predicts the flow rate of soft ice cream for a predetermined time and controls the robot arm 130 to change the moving speed when moving in the directions of arrows A to C, thereby enabling the soft ice cream to be beautifully arranged. Yes.

  Further, when the customer takes out the soft cream placed on the holding unit 138, the load sensor 139 detects a decrease in the load. Then, the operation of the entire robot arm 130 is controlled to move the holding unit 138 to the initial state.

  The cone storage unit 140 is a device in which a plurality of cones as serving containers are stacked, and the cones can be taken out one by one from the lower part under the control of the control unit 160. For example, when the holding unit 138 of the robot arm 130 moves below the cone storage unit 140, the cone is dropped by one and held by the holding unit 138. The cone housing part 140 is provided with a side part 141 and a mounting part 142. The serving container that can be stacked on the cone storage unit 140 is not limited to a cone, and may be a paper cup or the like.

  The side surface portion 141 is a member for supporting the plurality of placement portions 142, and is formed so that two plate-like members stand upright in parallel.

  FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an example of the appearance of the mounting portion 142 of FIG. The placement part 142 is a place where the cone is placed. The placement part 142 is formed in a circular shape as shown in FIG. 8 in accordance with the circular shape of the cone in the horizontal direction, and is perpendicular to the side part 141. One or a plurality of cones are provided so as to be provided in the direction. The mounting portion 142 is arranged such that semicircular portions 142 a and 142 b formed in a semicircular annular shape are symmetrically provided from the substantially central position so that they face each other, and are controlled by the control portion 160. The placement unit 142 is opened by moving in a separating direction, and the cone is configured to fall downward.

  FIG. 9 is a front view showing an example of the operation of the mounting portion 142 in FIG. 8, and shows the state in which the cone is dropped from the mounting portion 142 and placed on the holding portion 138. ). As shown in FIG. 9A, in a state where, for example, five cones CO are mounted on the mounting portion 142, the holding portion 138 moves below the mounting portion 142, and the cylindrical shape of the mounting portion 142. The cone CO is inserted into the member (FIG. 9B). In this state, when the semicircular portions 142a and 142b are opened in a direction away from each other (FIG. 9C), the cones CO are dropped (FIG. 9D).

  When the semi-circular portions 142a and 142b are closed in a state where exactly one cone CO has fallen, only one cone CO is placed on the holding portion 138, and the cone CO one above this cone CO is placed. Is held by the mounting portion 142 (FIG. 9D). In this state, the robot arm 130 operates to move the holding portion 138, whereby the cone CO is taken out (FIGS. 9 (f) and 9 (g)).

  The alarm output unit 150 is a device that outputs an alarm by voice or the like under the control of the control unit 160 when, for example, the food supply device 100 cannot operate, and is configured by a buzzer or the like. The state where the food supply apparatus 100 cannot operate is, for example, a case where the detection result of the state of the soft cream in the supply server 110 by the detection unit 120 is a state where the soft cream is insufficient and needs to be filled. In this case, an operator who performs maintenance of the food supply apparatus 100 in accordance with an alarm of the alarm output unit 150 fills the raw material of the soft cream and manufactures the soft cream.

  Further, as an example of a state where the food supply apparatus 100 cannot operate, there is a possibility that the customer may reach out and touch the robot arm 130. As described above, a plurality of detection units 120 may be installed in addition to the forearm portion 134 of the robot arm 130 in order to detect that the customer has reached out.

  The control unit 160 is a device that controls the operations of the supply server 110, the detection unit 120, the robot arm 130, the cone storage unit 140, and the alarm output unit 150, and is configured by a PC (Personal Computer) or the like. Specifically, the soft ice cream is pushed out by the supply server 110, the customer detection by the detection unit 120 and the soft ice cream state detection by referring to the status display display 114b are controlled, and the operation of the robot arm 130 and the eyeball 137 are controlled. The operation is controlled, the removal (falling) of the cone by the cone storage unit 140 is controlled, and the alarm output by the alarm output unit 150 is controlled.

  In addition, the control unit 160 calculates the position of the customer's face based on the customer's imaging data detected by the detection unit 120. As described above, the age, sex, and facial expression of the customer may be recognized, and the operation of the eyeball 137 may be changed based on the determination result of the age, sex, and facial expression.

  The server device 200 is a server device that analyzes customer imaging, and includes a storage unit 210 and a control unit 220.

  The storage unit 210 stores programs for executing various control processes and functions in the control unit 220, input data, and the like, and includes a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. . The storage unit 210 stores a learned model of a shape and color for recognizing the position of the face of the customer H, which is analyzed and trained by an analysis unit 221 described later.

  The control unit 220 controls the overall operation of the server device 200 by executing a program stored in the storage unit 210, and includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like. An analysis unit 221 is provided as a function of the control unit 220. The analysis unit 221 is activated and executed by a program stored in the storage unit 210.

  For example, the analysis unit 221 acquires a large amount of imaging data of the customer H standing in front of the food supply apparatus 100, learning is performed by, for example, deep learning, and a learned model for determining an individual image is constructed. Is called. The customer's face can be recognized by training for recognizing the position of eyes mainly on the face from the customer's imaging data.

<Process flow>
Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 10, an example of a soft cream serving process (food supply process) performed by the food supply apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a food supply process performed by the food supply apparatus 100 of FIG.

  Before the soft ice cream processing, the supply server 110 is filled with dairy products and sugar as raw materials for the soft cream, and is stirred while cooling at a predetermined temperature to produce a semi-solid soft ice cream. 110. In addition, one or a plurality of cones are placed on the placement unit 142 of the cone storage unit 140. The detection unit 120 and the eyeball 137 attached to the robot arm 130 face the direction in which the customer receives the soft cream (for example, the front direction of the robot arm 130 shown in FIG. 2).

  As a process in step S101, when the customer stands in front of the food supply apparatus 100, the presence of the customer is detected by the detection unit 120, and the customer's face is recognized based on the learned model analyzed from the imaging data.

  As a process in step S102, a predetermined operation by the eyeball 137 attached to the forearm portion 134 of the robot arm 130, for example, an operation of gazing at the position of the customer's face detected by the detection unit 120 under the control of the control unit 160. Is done.

  In step S103, the control unit 160 controls the rotation unit 131 of the robot arm 130, the joint unit 133, and the servo motor of the wrist unit 135 to detect the detection unit 120 attached to the forearm unit 134. The direction to be moved is moved in the direction of the status display 114b using the AR marker 115 of the supply server 110 as a mark.

  As a process of step S104, the state display display 114b of the supply server 110 is referred to by the detection unit 120, and the state of the soft ice cream in the supply server 110 is detected. When supply server 110 is in a state where soft ice cream can be supplied, the process proceeds to step S105. When soft ice is insufficient in the supply server 110 and filling is required, an alarm is output by voice or the like by the alarm output unit 150, and when filling is completed and soft ice cream can be supplied, the process proceeds to step S105. move on.

  As a process of step S105, the control unit 160 controls the rotation unit 131 of the robot arm 130, the joint unit 133, and the servo motor of the wrist unit 135 to drive the holding unit 138 of the mounting unit 142 of the cone storage unit 140. Moved down.

  As a process of step S <b> 106, under the control of the control unit 160, the mounting unit 142 of the cone storage unit 140 opens to the left and right, and the cone drops downward and is mounted on the holding unit 138.

  In step S107, when the load sensor 139 of the robot arm 130 detects that the cone is placed on the holding unit 138, the control unit 160 controls the rotation unit 131, the joint unit 133, and the robot arm 130. The servo motor of the wrist part 135 is driven, and the holding part 138 in a state where the cone is placed is moved below the pushing part 112 of the supply server 110.

  As a process of step S108, the extrusion operation unit 113 of the supply server 110 is operated by the control of the control unit 160, and the soft ice cream flows down from the extrusion unit 112 downward. Thereby, the injection of the soft cream into the corn is started.

  As a process of step S109, the load sensor 139 of the robot arm 130 detects that the soft cream is injected into the cone of the holding unit 138 and the load is increased, and the flow rate of the soft cream is calculated by the control unit 160 and the inside of the cone is calculated. If the soft cream is determined to have been injected, the control unit 160 controls to drive the servo motors of the rotating unit 131, the joint unit 133, and the wrist unit 135 of the robot arm 130, and the holding unit 138 rotates in the horizontal direction. To be moved. When the soft cream gradually rises upward, the holding unit 138 moves in the vertical direction.

  In step S110, the load sensor 139 of the robot arm 130 determines whether or not the weight of the soft cream injected into the cone of the holding unit 138 has reached a predetermined value indicating the weight at the time of completion. If it is determined that it has been reached, the process proceeds to step S111. If it is determined that it has not been reached, the soft cream injection is continued.

  As a process of step S111, the extrusion operation part 113 of the supply server 110 is operated by control of the control part 160, and extrusion of soft ice cream is complete | finished. Thereby, the injection of the soft cream into the corn is finished.

  As a process of step S112, the control unit 160 controls the rotation unit 131 of the robot arm 130, the joint unit 133, and the servo motor of the wrist unit 135 to place the cone on which the soft ice cream is placed. The state holding unit 138 is moved in the direction in which the customer stands.

  As the processing of step S113, in the load sensor 139 of the robot arm 130, the weight of the cone on which the soft cream of the holding unit 138 is placed is reduced, and whether or not the customer has taken out the soft cream placed on the holding unit 138. Is determined. If it is determined that the product has been taken out, the process proceeds to step S114. If it is determined that the product has not been taken out, the holding unit 138 is stopped at the position where the customer is standing.

  As a process of step S114, under the control of the control unit 160, the rotation motor 131 of the robot arm 130, the joint 133, and the servo motors of the wrist 135 are driven and moved to the initial state.

  As described above, the food supply device according to the present embodiment includes a detection unit that detects a customer standing in front of the food supply device, and provides the detected customer with soft ice cream. Moreover, an eyeball is attached to the robot arm, and it can be seen as if looking at the customer's direction. Therefore, it is possible to feel as if soft ice cream is being offered while talking with customers. Thereby, the entertainment property of the robot arm can be enhanced, and the interaction property can be enhanced.

  Further, the state of the supply server is detected by the detection unit with reference to the status display display of the supply server. As a result, it is possible to determine whether or not the supply server is in a state in which soft ice cream can be supplied. When the soft ice cream is not available, such as when soft ice cream is insufficient, an alarm is issued. It is possible to output.

  Further, a mounting portion is provided which includes a cone storage portion and is formed in a circular ring shape on which a plurality of cones are mounted. Thereby, it becomes possible to take out cones one by one by automatic control.

  In addition, a load sensor is provided in the robot arm, and a change in load at the holding portion of the robot arm can be detected. Therefore, it is possible to detect that the cone is held in the holding unit, that soft ice cream is injected into the cone, and that the customer takes out the completed soft ice cream. As a result, it is possible to inject soft ice cream while holding the cone securely, and since the robot arm is operated according to the flow rate of soft ice cream, it is possible to arrange soft ice cream beautifully, and customers can soft ice cream It is possible to return the robot arm to the initial state after removing the robot.

(Embodiment 2 (program))
FIG. 11 is a functional block configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of the computer 300. The computer 300 includes a CPU 301, a main storage device 302, an auxiliary storage device 303, and an interface 304.

  Here, details of a control program for realizing each function constituting the control unit 160 according to the embodiment will be described. The control unit 160 is mounted on a computer 300 as an electronic computer. The operation of each component of the control unit 160 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 303 in the form of a program. The CPU 301 reads a program from the auxiliary storage device 303 and develops it in the main storage device 302, and executes the above processing according to the program. Further, the CPU 301 secures a storage area corresponding to the above-described storage unit in the main storage device 302 according to the program.

  Specifically, in the computer 300, a customer detection step for detecting a customer, a food detection step for detecting a state of food in a server that supplies food, and a food container for serving food by operating a robot arm. And moving the robot to the position of the server, operating the robot arm, placing the food on the serving container when the server operates, and operating the robot arm to provide the serving container with the food And a providing program that realizes the providing step by a computer.

  The auxiliary storage device 303 is an example of a tangible medium that is not temporary. Other examples of the tangible medium that is not temporary include a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, and a semiconductor memory connected via the interface 304. When this program is distributed to the computer 300 via a network, the computer 300 that has received the distribution may develop the program in the main storage device 302 and execute the above-described processing.

Further, the program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Further, the program realizes the above-described function in combination with another program already stored in the auxiliary storage device 303, a so-called difference file (difference program).
It may be.

  While the embodiments according to the disclosure have been described above, these can be implemented in various other forms, and can be implemented with various omissions, substitutions, and changes. These embodiments and modifications, as well as modifications, omissions, substitutions, and modifications are included in the technical scope of the claims and their equivalents.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Food supply system, 100 Food supply apparatus, 110 Supply server, 111 Main body part, 112 Extrusion part, 113 Extrusion operation part, 114 Operation panel, 114a Operation button, 114b Status display display, 115 AR marker, 120 detection part, 130 Robot Arm, 131 Rotating part, 132 Upper arm part, 133 Joint part, 134 Forearm part, 135 Wrist part, 136 Support part, 137 Eyeball, 138 Holding part, 139 Load sensor, 140 Cone accommodating part, 141 Side part, 142 Unit, 150 alarm output unit, 160 control unit, 200 server device, 210 storage unit, 220 control unit, 221 analysis unit, 300 computer, NW network

Claims (13)

A food supply device for serving and providing semi-solid food to customers,
A server for supplying the food;
A detection unit for detecting the customer and detecting the state of the food in the server;
Based on the detection result of the detection unit, the serving container for picking up the food is taken out, the serving container is moved to the position of the server to hold the serving container, and when the server is operated, the food is placed in the serving container. A robot arm for providing the customer with the serving container with the food,
Determining a detection result of said detecting portion, Bei example a control unit for controlling the operation of said robot arm,
The robot arm includes a holding unit for holding the serving container,
The holding unit is provided with a load sensor for detecting the load of the serving container and the food,
The food supply device , wherein the control unit predicts a flow rate of the food based on a detection result of the load sensor detecting a load of the food at a predetermined time interval and controls the operation of the robot arm . The load sensor detects the load of the serving container and the food at the position of the server,
Wherein the control unit, the are dishing the food container dishing is, if the dishing container and load of the food is determined to have increased, said robot arm is operated to move the position of the dishing container, according to claim 1 The food supply apparatus described in 1. When the control unit determines that the food is placed in the serving container and the load of the serving container and the food is increased, the robot arm is operated to move the position of the serving container in a horizontal direction, the food moves the position of the vessel dishing said and is dished predetermined time in the vertical direction, the food supply device according to claim 2. The load sensor detects the load of the serving container and the food at the customer's location;
The control unit moves the position of the initial state by operating the robot arm when it is determined that the load of the serving container and the food has decreased due to the customer taking out the serving container and the food. The food supply apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . A plurality of the serving containers are stacked, and a serving container storage unit capable of taking out the serving containers one by one from the bottom is provided,
Wherein, when providing the food product, said dished to remove the container and the robot arm is moved to below the dishing container holder, according to any one of claims 1 to 4 Food supply equipment. The serving container storage portion is provided with a mounting portion that is formed in an annular shape in accordance with a horizontal cross-sectional shape of the serving container and places the serving container, and is an abbreviation of the mounting portion described above under the control of the control unit. Open horizontally from the center position,
The food supply according to claim 5 , wherein when the control unit moves the robot arm to a position below the serving container storage unit, the placement unit opens to drop the serving container and hold the food by the robot arm. apparatus. The detection unit detects the customer's face,
The food supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the control unit determines that the customer is present when the detection unit detects the face of the customer. The control unit performs image recognition from imaging of the detection unit to calculate the position of the customer's face, and causes the eyeball attached to the robot arm to perform a predetermined operation toward the customer. Item 8. The food supply apparatus according to Item 7 . An alarm output unit that outputs an alarm when the food cannot be supplied,
The control unit causes the alarm output unit to output an alarm when the detection result of the detection unit determines that the food in the server is insufficient. The food supply apparatus according to Item. An AR marker that is a mark for calculating a position and orientation in a three-dimensional space is disposed in the vicinity of the status display of the server,
When the detection unit detects the AR marker in the server, the control unit reads the server status display display from the position and orientation thereof and the relative position of the server status display display from the AR marker. The food supply apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein The food supply according to any one of claims 1 to 10 , wherein when the serving container moves downward by the operation of the robot arm, the server starts supplying the food under the control of the control unit. apparatus. The food detection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11 , wherein the detection unit includes one or more cameras. A control program for controlling a food supply device that operates a robot arm to a customer to serve and provide semi-solid food.
A customer detection step of detecting the customer;
A food detection step of detecting a state of the food in a server supplying the food;
Moving the robot arm to move and take out the serving container to serve the food and move it to the server;
When the robot arm is operated and the server is operated, the food is placed in the serving container, and the serving container provided in the holding unit for holding the serving container and a load sensor for detecting the load of the food are used to determine a predetermined value. based on the detection result detected by the time interval, the steps to predict the flow rate of the food dishing that controls the operation of the robot arm,
A control program for causing an electronic computer to execute the providing step of operating the robot arm and providing the customer with the serving container on which the food is served.

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