JP7145360B1 - unmanned carrier system - Google Patents

Abstract

Kind Code: A1 An unmanned transport system comprising an unmanned transport vehicle that transports workpieces by way of work positions set in advance for each of a work stocker and a processing cell, and a robot mounted on the unmanned transport vehicle, To prevent a decrease in work transfer efficiency due to the occurrence of irregular situations. SOLUTION: An automatic guided vehicle 30 is stopped at work positions P1 to P6 of a work stocker 5 based on a job generated by a job generating section, and an AGV robot 20 attempts to execute a predetermined operation. It is determined whether or not an irregular situation that hinders the predetermined operation occurs when the operation is performed, and if it is determined that an irregular situation has occurred, the operation is performed at the work positions P7 to P10 of the processing cell 100 from the current time. It is predicted whether or not there will be room for work for the AGV robot 20 within a predetermined time, and when it is predicted that there will be room for work, the automatic guided vehicle 30 is processed before the job for the work is generated by the job generation unit. The cell 100 is started to move toward the work positions P7 to P10.

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle system including an automatic guided vehicle and a robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle and capable of gripping a workpiece.

Conventionally, an unmanned guided vehicle system disclosed in International Publication No. 2018/092222 (Patent Document 1 below) is known as an example of the above-described unmanned guided system.

This unmanned transport system is applied to a production system that includes a machine tool, a material storage that stocks material works to be supplied to the machine tool, and a product storage that stocks the work processed by the machine tool. The automatic guided vehicle system further includes a self-propelled robot controller that controls the automatic guided vehicle and the robot. Under the control of the self-propelled robot controller, the AGV travels through preset working positions with respect to the machine tool, material storage, and product storage. Specifically, the self-propelled robot control unit receives a work request sent from a machine tool control unit provided in a machine tool, and executes a job (work plan) for an automatic guided vehicle and a robot according to the received work request. to generate Here, the work request sent from the machine tool control unit includes a request for causing the automatic guided vehicle and the robot to carry out the work transfer work.

The work transfer operation includes a material transfer operation of transferring a work to be machined from a material storage to a machine tool, and a finished product transfer operation of transferring a processed work from the machine tool to a product storage. In the material transport operation, the robot moves the workpiece from the material storage to the carriage of the automatic guided vehicle, and when the automatic guided vehicle arrives at the working position of the machine tool, it mounts the workpiece on the machine tool. On the other hand, in the finished product transport work, the robot removes the work from the machine tool, moves it to the carriage of the automatic guided vehicle, and moves the work to the product storage when the automatic guided vehicle reaches the work position in the product storage.

WO2018/092222

In the unmanned guided vehicle system disclosed in Patent Document 1, the unmanned guided vehicle and the robot execute predetermined work based on the job generated by the self-propelled robot control unit (job generation unit). If an interfering irregular situation occurs, the problem is that the automatic guided vehicle and the robot must stand by until the situation is rectified by the operator.

That is, in the automatic guided vehicle system disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example, when the automatic guided vehicle and the robot move the material work from the material storage to the machine tool (processing machine), it is present in the material storage (work stocker). If the material work that should be taken does not exist, the robot cannot carry out the task of taking out the material work from the work stocker. For this reason, the robot and the automatic guided vehicle must stand by on the spot. Further, for example, when an automatic guided vehicle and a robot move a finished work from a machine tool to a product storage (work stocker), if the finished work is fully stored in the product storage, the robot cannot complete the work. It is not possible to carry out the work of storing the finished work in the work stocker. For this reason, the robot and the automatic guided vehicle must stand by on the spot.

While the robot and the automatic guided vehicle are on standby in this manner, the automatic guided vehicle completely loses its ability to transport a workpiece, and the problem is that the workpiece transport efficiency of the system as a whole decreases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when a robot attempts to execute a predetermined operation based on a job while an automatic guided vehicle is stopped at a work position of a work stocker, the predetermined operation is performed. It is an object of the present invention to improve the workpiece transfer efficiency of the entire system by minimizing the amount of time that the automatic guided vehicle and the robot operation continue to wait on the spot when an irregular situation disturbing occurs.

In one aspect of the invention,
An unmanned guided vehicle that transports a work by traveling through work positions preset for each of a work stocker for stocking the work and a processing cell that includes a processing machine for processing the work. and an unmanned guided vehicle system comprising a robot mounted on the unmanned guided vehicle and capable of gripping a workpiece,
a stock situation recognition unit that recognizes the stock situation of the works in the work stocker;
a job generation unit that generates a job to be executed by the automatic guided vehicle and the robot based on the work stock status recognized by the stock status recognition unit;
an operation control unit that operates the automatic guided vehicle and the robot based on the job generated by the job generation unit;
a cell status acquisition unit that acquires information about the process progress status in the processing cell;
Under the control of the motion control unit, when the robot attempts to perform a predetermined motion based on the job while the automatic guided vehicle is stopped at the work position of the work stocker, the predetermined motion is prevented from being prevented. a situation determination unit that determines whether a rule situation has occurred;
When the situation determination unit determines that the irregular situation is occurring, based on the information about the process progress of the processing cell acquired by the cell status acquisition unit, the work position of the processing cell predicts whether or not there will be work space for the robot within a predetermined time from the current time, and when it is predicted that there will be work space, before the job generation unit generates a job related to the work, the unmanned and an irregular handling unit that starts moving the guided vehicle toward the working position of the processing cell, and makes the unmanned guided vehicle stand by at a predetermined position when it is predicted that there will be no room for work.

According to this automatic guided vehicle system, the job generator generates a job to be executed by the automatic guided vehicle and the robot, and the operation controller controls the automatic guided vehicle and the robot based on the job. During the operation of the robot, it is determined whether or not an irregular situation has occurred by the irregularity judging section. The irregular situation is a situation in which the robot is prevented from performing a predetermined action at the working position of the work stocker based on the job generated by the job generating unit. When the situation determination section determines that an irregular situation has occurred, the irregularity handling section predicts whether or not there will be room for robot work at the work position of the processing cell within a predetermined time from the current time. This prediction is performed based on the information about the process progress of the processing cell acquired by the cell status acquisition unit. Then, when the irregular handling unit predicts that there will be room for robot work within a predetermined time from the current time at the work position of the processing cell, the job generation unit generates a job for the work. While starting to move the automatic guided vehicle toward the working position of the processing cell, if it is predicted that there is no room for the robot to work at the working position of the processing cell, the automatic guided vehicle is made to wait at a predetermined position.

According to this, when the robot tries to execute a predetermined operation based on the job generated by the job generation unit, even if the operation is hindered by the occurrence of an irregular situation, there is still room for work in the processing cell. If it is predicted that there will be, the automatic guided vehicle can start moving toward the processing cell without waiting for the job related to the work to be generated by the job generation unit. Therefore, when an irregular situation occurs during the operation of the robot, the time for which the automatic guided vehicle is kept on standby can be reduced as much as possible, and the work transfer efficiency of the entire system can be improved.

The irregular situation is defined by the operation control unit, based on the job generated by the job generation unit, in a state in which the automatic guided vehicle is parked at the work position of the work stocker. It is preferable that when the operation of taking out a workpiece from a predetermined location is to be executed as the predetermined operation, the workpiece that should be present at the predetermined location does not exist.

According to this, for example, when the robot attempts to take out a workpiece from a workpiece stocker for stocking material workpieces under the control of the motion control unit, the workpiece is present at a predetermined location in the workpiece stocker. Even if a situation (irregular situation) does not occur, if the irregular handling unit predicts that there will be room for robot work at the working position of the processing cell within a predetermined time from the current time, job generation is performed. Before the job related to the work is generated by the department, the automatic guided vehicle starts moving toward the work position of the processing cell. According to this, for example, when the worker forgets to fill the workpiece stocker with workpieces and the robot cannot perform the work picking operation, the waiting time of the automatic guided vehicle is reduced as much as possible. As a result, the work transfer efficiency of the entire system can be improved.

The irregular situation is defined by the operation control unit, based on the job generated by the job generation unit, in a state in which the automatic guided vehicle is parked at the work position of the work stocker. It is preferable that the work is already present at the predetermined location when the operation of storing the work in the predetermined location is to be executed as the predetermined operation.

According to this, for example, when the robot attempts to store a workpiece in a workpiece stocker for stocking finished workpieces under the control of the motion control unit, the workpiece is already in the location where the workpiece is to be stored. Even if there is, if it is predicted that there will be room for robot work at the work position of the processing cell due to the irregular handling unit, the automatic guided vehicle is moved to the work position of the processing cell. can cause the robot to perform the work. According to this, for example, when the robot cannot execute the work storage operation because the worker forgot to collect the work from the work stocker, the time for which the automatic guided vehicle continues to wait on the spot is reduced as much as possible, Work transfer efficiency of the entire system can be improved.

The irregularity handling unit, when the situation determination unit determines that the irregular situation has occurred, based on the information on the process progress of the processing cell acquired by the cell status acquisition unit determines whether or not there exists a work whose last process in the processing cell is completed within a predetermined time from the current time, and if it is determined that the work exists, the working position of the processing cell is used as the work space. predicts that there will be room for work for the robot to discharge the work from the processing cell, and moves the automatic guided vehicle to the work position of the processing cell before the job generation unit generates a job related to the work. , and when it is determined that there is no work for which the final process in the processing cell is completed within the predetermined time, the automatic guided vehicle is moved to the predetermined position assuming that there is no room for work. is preferably configured to wait at

According to this configuration, when the irregular situation occurs, if the irregularity handling unit determines that there is a work whose last process in the processing cell will be completed within a predetermined time from the current time, the unmanned transport is performed. It is estimated that there is room to move the car to the work position of the processing cell and have the robot execute the work dispensing work. Then, the irregularity handling section causes the automatic guided vehicle to start moving toward the work position of the processing cell before the job generation section generates a job for the discharge operation of the work. Therefore, even if an irregular situation occurs, if it is predicted that there will soon be room for unloading work in the processing cell, the automatic guided vehicle can be directed to the work position in the processing cell and the robot can pick up the work. By executing the dispensing work, the work transfer efficiency of the entire system can be improved as much as possible.

It is preferable that the predetermined position is the working position of the work stocker, or a charging position set at a location different from the working position and capable of charging a power storage unit mounted on the automatic guided vehicle. .

According to this configuration, when the irregularity handling section predicts that there will be room for the robot to work at the working position of the processing cell within a predetermined time from the current time, under the control of the irregularity handling section, The automatic guided vehicle waits at the working position of the work stocker or at the charging position where the electric storage unit of the automatic guided vehicle can be charged. As in the former case, by keeping the automatic guided vehicle on standby at the working position of the work stocker, the robot can resume the interrupted predetermined operation immediately after the operator resolves the irregular situation. can. In addition, by keeping the automated guided vehicle on standby at the charging position as in the latter case, the time until the operator resolves the irregular situation is used to charge the power storage unit mounted on the automated guided vehicle. can do.

Preferably, the unmanned guided vehicle system further includes an alarm unit that issues an alarm when the situation determination unit determines that the irregular situation is occurring.

According to this configuration, when the situation determination section determines that the irregular situation is occurring, the warning section issues a warning. Therefore, based on the warning from the warning unit, the worker can notice that the irregular situation has occurred, and can quickly start work to eliminate the irregular situation.

The processing cell includes the processing machine, an input/discharge device for inputting and outputting workpieces to and from the processing machine, and an input stocker for temporarily stocking the workpieces to be input to the processing machine by the input/output device. and a supply stocker for temporarily stocking the workpieces discharged from the processing machine by the input/discharge device, wherein working positions are set in advance for each of the input stocker and the supply stocker, It is preferable that the work position of the input stocker or the work position of the discharge stocker functions as the work position of the processing cell.

According to this configuration, the workpiece loading/unloading operation to/from the machining cell is performed by the loading/unloading device provided in the machining cell. Therefore, the time during which the automatic guided vehicle is stopped at the working position of the processing cell can be significantly reduced, compared with the case where the robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle loads and unloads workpieces. As a result, the work transfer efficiency of the entire system can be increased as much as possible.

As described above, according to the automatic guided vehicle system according to the present invention, based on the job generated by the job generator, the robot executes a predetermined operation while the automatic guided vehicle is stopped at the work position of the work stocker. When an irregular situation occurs that interferes with the predetermined operation, it is predicted whether there will be room for the robot to work at the working position of the processing cell within a predetermined time from the current time. When it is predicted that the irregular situation will occur, the unmanned guided vehicle is started to move toward the work position of the processing cell before the job generation unit generates the job related to the work. It is possible to minimize the amount of time that the automatic guided vehicle remains on standby when an accident occurs, thereby increasing the work transfer efficiency of the entire system.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a production system to which an unmanned carrier system according to an embodiment of the invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a work stocker used in the production system. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of the work stocker. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) used in the automatic guided vehicle system according to the embodiment and an AGV robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle. FIG. 5 is a side view of the hand of the AGV robot as seen from the hand width direction. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of the entire production system to which the automatic guided vehicle system according to the embodiment is applied. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the first half of the unmanned carrier control executed by the unmanned carrier system according to the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the second half of the unmanned carrier control executed by the unmanned carrier system according to the embodiment.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a production system S to which an unmanned carrier system 1 of the embodiment is applied. This production system S is installed in a factory building 2. On the floor of this building 2, there is a main passage 3 extending vertically in FIG. A sub-passage 4 extending in the left-right direction is set. The production system S includes two processing cells 100 arranged on the left side along the main passage 3, a plurality of work stockers 5 for stocking the works W, and processing cells controlling the processing cells 100. and a control device 80 (see FIG. 6, which will be described later).

The automatic guided vehicle system 1 includes an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) 30, a robot 20 (hereinafter referred to as an AGV robot) mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 30, and an overall transportation control device fixedly arranged at a predetermined position in the building 2. 60 and an AGV control device 70 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 30 . The unmanned guided vehicle 30 conveys the work W via work positions P1 to P10 preset for each work stocker 5 under the control of the overall conveyance control device 60 and the AGV control device 70 . Further, the automatic guided vehicle 30 receives power supply from the power supply station 6 by stopping at the charging position P0 set at the left end of the sub-passage 4 in FIG. conduct. Although the power supply station 6 of this example adopts a non-contact power supply system, it is not limited to this, and may adopt a contact power supply system. Also, the configuration of the production system S provided in the building 2 is merely an example and is not limited to this, and can include all devices used industrially, and its layout is also not limited to this example. do not have.

The plurality of work stockers 5 include three material stockers 5s for stocking material works W, three finished product stockers 5k for stocking finished product works W, and one for each processing cell 100. It consists of an input stocker 5t for temporarily stocking the material works W to be input to the cell 100 and a delivery stocker 5h for temporarily stocking the finished product works W delivered from the processing cell 100. - 特許庁The three material stockers 5s are arranged above the sub-passage 4 (on the side opposite to the processing cell 100 side) and to the left of the main passage 3 in FIG. The three finished product stockers 5k are arranged above the sub-passage 4 (on the side opposite to the processing cell 100 side) and on the extension of the main passage 3 and on the right side in FIG. In the following description, regarding the "work stocker", the material stocker 5s, the finished product stocker 5k, the input stocker 5t, and the output stocker 5h are simply referred to as the work stocker 5 when there is no particular need to distinguish them. Further, regarding the "work", the symbol W is used, and when there is no particular need to distinguish between the material work W and the finished product work W, the work W will simply be used.

The work stocker 5 is a double drawer type stocker, and as will be described later, the work stocker 5 can be operated from both sides in the depth direction of the stocker. The work stocker 5 has an operation panel 53 (see FIG. 2) as will be described later. defines the opposite side as the "other side".

In each work stocker 5, the subject of work differs between one side and the other side in the depth direction of the stocker. That is, with regard to the material stocker 5s and the finished product stocker 5k, the subject of work on one side in the stocker depth direction (the upper side in FIG. 1) is a person (worker), whereas the other side in the stocker depth direction (the upper side in FIG. 1) bottom) is the AGV robot 20 .

Regarding the input stocker 5t and the output stocker 5h, the AGV robot 20 is the work subject on one side in the stocker depth direction (the right side in FIG. 1), whereas the work subject on the other side in the stocker depth direction (the left side in FIG. 1) is is a cell robot 11 provided in the processing cell 100, which will be described later. It should be noted that the work subject on the one side (the right side in FIG. 1) of the input stocker 5t and the output stocker 5h is basically the AGV robot 20 as described above, but for example, the automatic guided vehicle 30 cannot travel for some reason. In such a case, there is a possibility that the AGV robot 20 will be replaced by a person (operator) as the main subject of the work.

[Configuration of processing cell]
The processing cell 100 includes a machine tool 10 (an example of a processing machine) for processing a workpiece W, a cell robot 11 (an example of a loading/unloading device) for loading and unloading the workpiece W to/from the machine tool 10, and a processing unit. It has a washing machine 14 for washing the work W after washing and a dryer 15 for drying the work W after washing. That is, the processing cell 100 has three production processes: a process of machining the work W by the machine tool 10, a process of cleaning the work W by the washer 14, and a process of drying the work W by the dryer 15. there is

Here, various known machine tools are applied to the machine tool 10. For example, a work spindle on which a chuck for gripping the work W is mounted, a turret on which a turning tool or the like is arranged, a rotating tool, or the like. A so-called compound machining type NC (numerical control) machine tool having a tool rest with a tool spindle to be held is exemplified.

The machine tool 10 automatically processes the workpiece W based on the NC program under the control of the control device 10a (see FIG. 6). An opening 10b that can be opened and closed by a door is formed in the front of the machine tool 10, and a fence 12 that partitions the working area R of the cell robot 11 is connected to the opening 10b. The cell robot 11 is an articulated robot and is arranged in the center of the work area R. As shown in FIG. The cell robot 11 includes a hand 11a for gripping a workpiece W, an arm 11b for supporting the hand 11a at its tip, a rotating portion 11c to which the base end of the arm 11b is fixed and capable of rotating about a vertical axis, and a rotating portion 11c. It has a base 11d for fixing the portion 11c to the floor surface. At the right end of the work area R in FIG. At the left end of the work area R in FIG. 1, a temporary placement table 13 for temporarily placing the work W, the washing machine 14, and the drying machine 15 are arranged side by side in the direction along the main passage 3. It is

During automatic operation, the cell robot 11 repeats predetermined cycle operations under the control of a processing cell control device 80, which will be described later. In this cycle operation, the cell robot 11 takes out the processed work W from the machine tool 10 and temporarily places it on the temporary placement table 13, then takes out the unprocessed work W stocked in the input stocker 5t, and places it on the machine tool. Put in 10. While the machine tool 10 is executing the machining process of the work W, the cell robot 11 grips the work W temporarily placed on the temporary placement table 13 and passes it through the washer 14 and the dryer 15. After that, it is paid out to the payout stocker 5h.

[Work Stocker Configuration]
Next, the construction of the work stocker 5 will be described with reference to FIG. The work stocker 5 has a rectangular box-shaped housing frame 51 that opens on both sides in the depth direction, and four work setting plates 52 that are vertically spaced apart from each other. On the upper surface of the work set plate 52, a total of six cylindrical stock holes 52a are formed in two rows and three columns to surround and support the lower end of the work W. As shown in FIG. Each work setting plate 52 is slidable from a predetermined storage position in the housing frame 51 to both sides in the depth direction of the stocker. The predetermined storage position is, for example, a position where the entire work setting plate 52 can be accommodated within the housing frame 51. In FIG. is shown.

Cylindrical holes 52b are formed in both side end surfaces of the work setting plate 52 in the sliding direction (stocker depth direction). Each cylindrical hole 52b is formed in the center of the work set plate 52 in the width direction (the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction), and is used by the AGV robot 20 to slide the work set plate 52 (to be described later). (See FIG. 5).

An operation panel 53 that can be operated by a worker is fixed to one corner of the upper surface of the housing frame 51 in the depth direction of the stocker. A control device 54 for the work stocker 5 is fixed to the central portion of the upper surface of the housing frame 51 .

As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 54 of the work stocker 5 is composed of a microcomputer having a CPU, a ROM and a RAM. It is electrically connected to the alarm device 57 as a unit.

The operation panel 53 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal touch panel. On this touch panel, a filling completion button 53a to be operated when the worker completes filling the work set plate 52 with the work W, and the work set plate 52 that has filled the work W are positioned on which stage. a collection completion button 53c to be operated when the collection of the work W from the work set plate 52 is completed; and the work set plate 52 from which the work W has been collected. A second input box 53d is provided for inputting whether it is positioned in the row.

The operation panel 53 transmits to the control device 54 of the work stocker 5 operation signals of the filling completion button 53a and collection completion button 53c and input information of the input boxes 53b and 53d. Note that the completion buttons 53a and 53c and the input boxes 53b and 53d are not limited to being displayed in software on the touch panel as in this example, and may be composed of physical hard keys.

The lock mechanism part 55 is a mechanism part for locking the work set plate 52 at the predetermined storage position (fixing it so that it cannot be pulled out). A locking mechanism 55 is provided for each work setting plate 52 . The lock mechanism portion 55 is composed of a lock pin and a drive actuator (such as a solenoid) that drives the lock pin between a lock position and an unlock position. The control device 54 of the work stocker 5 switches the work setting plate 52 between the locked state and the unlocked state by switching the lock member between the locked position and the unlocked position via the drive actuator.

A storage position sensor 56 is provided for each of the four work setting plates 52 and detects that each work setting plate 52 is at a predetermined storage position. When the storage position sensor 56 detects that the work set plate 52 is at the predetermined storage position, it sends a detection signal to the control device 54 of the work stocker 5 .

The alarm device 57 issues an alarm to the surroundings when the AGV robot 20 cannot execute the operation command specified in the job due to the occurrence of an irregular situation, which will be described later. As the alarm device 57, a device that gives an alarm by sound (for example, an alarm speaker) or a device that gives an alarm by sight (for example, a warning lamp) can be adopted.

The control device 54 of the work stocker 5 executes lock control processing based on signals from the operation panel 53 and the storage position sensor 56 . Specifically, when the control device 54 of the work stocker 5 receives a filling completion signal indicating that the filling completion button 53a has been pressed from the operation panel 53, the input entered from the first input box 53b is Based on the information, the work setting plate 52 that has been filled with the works W is specified. Similarly, when the control device 54 receives a recovery completion signal indicating that the recovery completion button 53c has been pressed from the operation panel 53, the control device 54 collects the work W based on the input information entered from the second input box 53d. to specify the work set plate 52 that has been completely collected. Then, the control device 54 determines whether or not the specified work set plate 52 is at the storage position based on the detection signal from the storage position sensor 56, and when it is determined that it is at the storage position, the lock plate 52 is locked. The mechanism section 55 is caused to perform the locking operation of the work setting plate 52 .

Further, when the control device 54 of the work stocker 5 receives the filling completion signal of the works W, the information capable of specifying the work set plate 52 that has been filled with the works W (what stage of which work stocker 5 position) is output as filling completion information. Further, when the control device 54 receives the collection completion signal of the work W, the control device 54 outputs the fact and the information capable of specifying the work set plate 52 whose collection of the work W has been completed as the collection completion information. The output destination of the filling completion information and collection completion information differs depending on the type of work stocker 5 provided with the control device 54 . That is, each control device 54 of the material stocker 5s and the finished product stocker 5k outputs filling completion information and recovery completion information to the overall transport control device 60 (see FIG. 6), which will be described later. On the other hand, the control devices 54 of the input stocker 5t and the discharge stocker 5h output filling completion information and collection completion information to the processing cell control device 80, which will be described later.

[Configuration of automatic guided vehicle]
Next, the configuration of the automatic guided vehicle 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The unmanned guided vehicle 30 has the AGV robot 20 mounted on the upper surface of a rectangular parallelepiped housing 31 and is provided with an operation panel 33 that can be carried by a worker. The operation panel 33 has an operation unit for manually operating the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 during teaching operations, etc., and a display capable of displaying a screen. Left and right driving wheels (not shown) are provided on the bottom surface of the housing 31 . The unmanned guided vehicle 30 is configured to move straight by rotating the left and right drive wheels at the same rotation speed, and to turn left and right by varying the rotation speed of the left and right drive wheels. A distance sensor is provided on the front side surface of the housing 31 to detect the distance to surrounding obstacles while the automatic guided vehicle 30 is traveling. Further, the housing 31 is provided with an alarm device (not shown) that issues an alarm to the surroundings in the event of a failure or the like. As the alarm device, a device that gives an alarm by sound (for example, an alarm speaker) or a device that gives an alarm by sight (for example, a warning light) can be adopted.

The AGV robot 20 is mounted on the front end of the upper surface of the automatic guided vehicle 30 . The AGV robot 20 is an articulated robot having three arms, a first arm 21, a second arm 22 and a third arm 23. A hand 24 as an end effector is provided at the tip of the third arm 23. is installed.

The hand 24 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped body 24a and a pair of gripping claws 24b projecting downward from the body 24a and facing each other in the width direction of the hand. The hand 24 grips the work W by sandwiching the work W between the pair of gripping claws 24b in the width direction of the hand. A pair of cameras 25 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 4) are mounted on the upper part of the hand 24 with a support bar 26 interposed therebetween. The pair of cameras 25 are provided, for example, to recognize the position and orientation of the work W when the AGV robot 20 grips the work W. As shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the hand 24 viewed from its width direction. A cylindrical connecting rod 27 that can be inserted into a cylindrical hole 52b (see FIG. 2) formed in the work setting plate 52 projects from the side surface of the body 24a on the camera 25 side. The connecting rod 27 is formed to extend horizontally toward the front side (right side in FIG. 5) of the hand 24 with the gripping claws 24b of the hand 24 facing vertically downward. An engaging groove 27a slightly recessed radially inward is formed along the entire periphery of the connecting rod 27 at its distal end. The connecting rod 27 is inserted into a cylindrical hole 52b formed in the work setting plate 52 when the AGV robot 20 pulls out the work setting plate 52 from the work stocker 5. As shown in FIG. An engagement projection (not shown) that engages with the engagement groove 27a of the connecting rod 27 is formed inside the cylindrical hole 52b. The connecting rod 27 and the work setting plate 52 are connected. After this connection is completed, the work set plate 52 is pulled out from the housing frame 51 of the work stocker 5 by moving the hand 24 to the front side in the sliding direction of the work set plate 52 (see FIG. 2). When the work setting plate 52 is pulled out to the fully open position, a shock absorber (not shown) provided on the work setting plate 52 contacts a stopper plate (not shown) provided inside the housing frame 51 . After this abutment, when the hand 24 is further moved to the front side of the work setting plate 52, the engagement between the engagement groove 27a of the connecting rod 27 and the engagement protrusion in the cylindrical hole 52b is disengaged. , the connecting rod 27 is pulled out from the cylindrical hole 52b of the work setting plate 52. As shown in FIG. When returning the drawn work setting plate 52 to the storage position, the hand 24 is moved to the predetermined storage position while pressing the front end surface of the work setting plate 52 without using the connecting rod 27. Let it be.

A loading surface portion 34 for loading the workpiece W is provided on the rear side of the AGV robot 20 on the upper surface of the automatic guided vehicle 30 . In this example, a plurality of cylindrical works W (16 in the example shown in the figure) are stacked on the loading surface portion 34 while being held by the pallet 7 . The pallet 7 has a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has a plurality of upwardly opening cylindrical holes 7a on its upper surface. A plurality of workpieces W are vertically erected and arranged in such a manner that their base ends are fitted into the cylindrical holes 7 a of the pallet 7 .

The AGV robot 20 is configured to be able to perform the work of moving the work W picked up from the work set plate 52 to the pallet 7 and the work of moving the work W picked up from the pallet 7 to the work set plate 52 .

The automatic guided vehicle 30 is configured to run without a track in the building 2 under the control of an AGV control device 70, which will be described later. Charging position P0, P1 to P3 set for the three material stockers 5s, P4 to P6 set for the three finished product stockers 5k, and input stocker 5t and output stocker 5h of each processing cell 100. work positions P7 to P10 set for The work positions P7 to P10 function as work positions for the AGV robot 20 to perform work W loading/unloading work to the processing cell 100. As shown in FIG. That is, the working positions P7 to P10 are working positions for the input stocker 5t and the discharging stocker 5h, and are also working positions for the processing cell 100. As shown in FIG.

[Configuration of control system of unmanned carrier system]
As shown in FIG. 6, the control system of the unmanned transport system 1 has an overall transport control device 60 and an AGV control device 70. The overall transport control device 60 controls the production process of the processing cell 100. Communication with the cell control device 80 is possible. Solid arrows in the figure indicate transmission/reception of signals (information) by wired communication, and dashed arrows indicate transmission/reception of signals (information) by wireless communication. The form of signal transmission/reception may be either wired communication or wireless communication, and is not limited to the form shown in FIG.

The overall transfer control device 60, the AGV control device 70, and the processing cell control device 80 are composed of a computer including a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc. Each functional unit realizes its function by a computer program, and each storage unit is a RAM or the like. appropriate storage medium.

First, the machining cell control device 80 will be described. The processing cell control device 80 is fixedly arranged in the building 2 of the factory. The processing cell control device 80 comprises a cell robot control section 81, an equipment control section 82, an information storage section 83, a stock situation recognition section 84, an input/output interface 85, and the like. The processing cell control device 80 is connected to the control device 10a of the machine tool 10, the control device 54 of the input stocker 5t, and the control device 54 of the delivery stocker 5h in each processing cell 100 via an input/output interface 85. , and the overall transport control device 60 can be wirelessly communicated. The control device 10a of the machine tool 10 and the control device 54 of the work stocker 5 are composed of computers including CPU, RAM, ROM and the like.

The cell robot controller 81 causes the cell robot 11 to perform the cycle operation based on a sequence program stored in advance in the ROM.

The device control unit 82 communicates with the cell robot control unit 81 to control the cleaning machine 14 and the drying machine 15 while recognizing the setup status of the work W to the cleaning machine 14 and the drying machine 15 by the cell robot 11 . Operate at the specified timing.

The information storage unit 83 stores motion postures to be taken by the cell robot 11 when executing the cycle motions, operating conditions of peripheral devices such as the washer 14 and the dryer 15, and the like. The motion posture is set by a teaching operation of the cell robot 11 performed by an operator.

The stock status recognizing unit 84 receives filling completion information and collection completion information of the works W received from the respective controllers 54 of the input stocker 5t and the discharge stocker 5h installed in each processing cell 100, and the cell robot 11 Based on the number of works W on each work set plate 52 increased or decreased by the operation of , the work stock status of the input stocker 5t and the output stocker 5h in each processing cell 100 is recognized (calculated).

For example, when the stock status recognition unit 84 receives filling completion information indicating that the work set plate 52 in the second stage from the upper side of the input stocker 5t is filled with works W, the work set plate 52 currently has six When it is determined that there are two works W, and then it is recognized that the cell robot 11 has taken out two works W from the work setting plate 52 based on the operation contents executed by the cell robot 11, the work setting is performed. It is recognized that the stock number of works W on the plate 52 is four (=6-2). The stock status recognition unit 84 further identifies the stock hole 52a from which the cell robot 11 has taken out the work W among the three rows and two columns of stock holes 52a formed in the work setting plate 52, thereby recognizing the work. Not only the number of workpieces W on the set plate 52 but also the arrangement positions can be recognized. The stock hole 52a from which the cell robot 11 takes out the workpiece W can be specified, for example, based on a predetermined take-out rule (for example, the rule that the work is taken out row by row from the left side to the right side of the front row).

In this example, when the stock status recognizing unit 84 receives the filling completion information of the work W from the control device 54 of the input stocker 5t and the discharge stocker 5h, the work setting plate 52 specified by the filling completion information is used to load the work W. Although it is determined that W is fully filled, it is not limited to this. For example, the operator can input the number of works W filled in the work setting plate 52 from the operation panel 53, and based on the input number of works W, the work on the work setting plate 52 after the filling operation can be counted. The number of W may be determined.

The overall transport control device 60 is fixedly arranged in the building 2 of the factory. The overall transport control device 60 includes a stock situation recognition section 61, a cell situation acquisition section 62, an information storage section 63, a job generation section 64, a situation determination section 65, an irregular handling section 66, an operator notification section 67, and an input/output interface. 68, etc. The overall transport control device 60 is connected to the operator terminal 8, the control device 54 of the material stocker 5s, and the control device 54 of the finished product stocker 5k via the input/output interface 68, and is also connected to the AGV control device. It is capable of wireless communication with device 70 and processing cell control device 80 . The worker terminal 8 is configured by, for example, a computer installed in the worker's permanent space or a portable terminal held by the worker.

The stock status recognition unit 61 recognizes the work W filling completion information and collection completion information received from the respective control devices 54 of the material stocker 5s and the finished product stocker 5k, and the operation (storage operation or extraction operation) of the AGV robot 20 up to the present time. ), the work stock status of each of the material stocker 5s and the finished product stocker 5k is recognized (calculated) based on the number of works W on each work set plate 52 increased or decreased. The work stock status includes not only the stock number of works W on each work set plate 52 but also information on the locations where the works W are arranged. A specific procedure for recognizing the work stock status regarding the material stocker 5s and the finished product stocker 5k is the recognition of the work stock status regarding the input stocker 5t and the output stocker 5h executed by the stock status recognition unit 84 of the processing cell control device 80 described above. Since it is the same as the procedure, its detailed description is omitted.

The cell status acquisition unit 62 acquires information about the process progress status in the machining cell 100 (hereinafter referred to as process progress information) from the machining cell control device 80 . The process progress information acquired by the processing cell control device 80 is, for example, which of the three processes (processing process, cleaning process, and drying process) is being executed in each processing cell 100, and which process is being executed. It consists of information indicating how far the progress has been made. The process progress information preferably includes information that can specify the end time of the last process (drying process in this example) in the processing cell 100 . Further, the process progress information preferably includes information capable of specifying the end time of the first process (in this example, the process of machining the workpiece W by the machine tool 10) in the machining cell 100. FIG.

The information storage unit 63 stores a plurality of job candidates that serve as a basis for determining jobs to be executed by the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 . The plurality of job candidates include, for example, a job of transporting the work W from each material stocker 5s to the input stocker 5t of each processing cell 100, and a job of transporting the work W from the discharge stocker 5h of each processing cell 100 to each finished product stocker 5k. and a job of transporting Each job consists of a transport command for the automatic guided vehicle 30 and an operation command for the AGV robot 20, as will be described later.

Based on the stock status of works W in each work stocker 5 recognized by the stock status recognition part 61, the job generation part 64 executes a transportation simulation of the work W according to the job candidates stored in the information storage part 63, and carries out unmanned transportation. A job candidate that minimizes the traveling distance from the current position of the vehicle 30 is generated (determined) as a job to be executed by the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 . To give an example of a job generated by the job generation unit 64, (i) the automatic guided vehicle 30 is moved to and stopped at the work position P2 of the stocker 5s located in the center of the three material stockers 5s, ( ii) The AGV robot 20 pulls out the second stage work setting plate 52 from the top to take out the three works W, and loads the taken out three works W on the pallet 7 of the automatic guided vehicle 30, and then (iii) , the automatic guided vehicle 30 is moved to the working position P7 of the input stocker 5t of the processing cell 100 located on the side of the sub passage 4 (upper side in FIG. 1), and (iV) the AGV robot 20 moves the input stocker 5t. A job of pulling out the work setting plate 52 in the second row from the top and setting the three works W already loaded on the pallet 7 on the work setting plate 52 is exemplified. In this example job, commands (i) and (iii) correspond to transport commands for the automatic guided vehicle 30 , and commands (ii) and (iV) correspond to operation commands for the AGV robot 20 .

Based on the job generated by the job generation unit 64, the situation determination unit 65 detects when the AGV robot 20 attempts to execute a predetermined operation while the automatic guided vehicle 30 is stopped at the work positions P1 to P10 of the work stocker 5. First, determine if an irregular situation exists that prevents these actions.

In this example, the situation determination unit 65 is configured to be able to determine two situations as the irregular situation. The first irregular situation is that in the material stocker 5s, when the AGV robot 20 attempts to take out the material work W from a predetermined stock hole 52a (predetermined location) of the work setting plate 52, the stock hole 52a This is a situation in which the workpiece W cannot be taken out because the workpiece W that should be present at (predetermined location) does not exist. The second irregular situation is that when the AGV robot 20 tries to store the finished product work W in a predetermined stock hole 52a (predetermined location) of the work set plate 52 in the finished product stocker 5k, the stock hole Since another work W that should not exist at 52a (predetermined location) is stored, the storage operation of the work W cannot be executed. The situation determination unit 65 determines whether or not these irregular situations occur based on the captured image of the camera 25 attached to the AGV robot 20 .

If the situation determination unit 65 determines that an irregular situation has occurred, the irregularity handling unit 66 adjusts the process progress information of the processing cell 100 acquired by the cell status acquisition unit 62 from the current time point. It is predicted whether or not there will be room for the AGV robot 20 to work at the work positions P7 to P10 of the processing cell 100 within a predetermined period of time.

More specifically, based on the process progress information of the processing cell 100 acquired from the cell status acquisition unit 62, the irregularity handling unit 66 predicts the end time of the drying process, which is the last process, and determines the predicted end time. Based on the timing, it is predicted whether or not there will be room (an example of the above-mentioned work room) for performing work W delivery work at the work positions P8 and P10 of the delivery stocker 5h of each processing cell 100 within a predetermined time from the current time. do. That is, when the drying process (last process) by the dryer 15 is completed, the cell robot 11 discharges the dried work W to the pay-out stocker 5h. As a result, the AGV robot 20 will have a working space for dispensing the workpiece W from the workpiece setting plate 52 of the dispensing stocker 5h.

In addition, the irregularity handling unit 66 recognizes the end time of the machining process by the machine tool 10, which is the first process, based on the process progress information of the machining cell 100 acquired from the cell status acquisition unit 62, and recognizes the end time Based on this, it is predicted whether or not there will be a room (an example of the above-mentioned work room) for the work W to be loaded at the work positions P7 and P9 of the loading stocker 5t of each processing cell 100 within a predetermined time from the current time. . That is, when the machining process by the machine tool 10 is completed, one workpiece W is taken out from the workpiece setting plate 52 of the input stocker 5t by the cell robot 11 and mounted on the machine tool 10 . As a result, when all the works W are removed from the work setting plate 52, there is room for the AGV robot 20 to load the work W onto the work setting plate 52 of the loading stocker 5t.

It should be noted that it is preferable that the predetermined time is sufficiently short compared to the time required for the operator to complete the work of resolving the irregular situation. When the predetermined time is long, in other words, it is the same as the time until a work space is generated at the work positions P7 to P10 of the processing cell 100 is long. , wait for the operator to resolve the irregularity, and then start moving the automatic guided vehicle 30 toward the work positions P7 to P10 of the processing cell 100. This reduces the time loss. This is because there is no need to advance the movement start time of the automatic guided vehicle 30 based on the prediction.

Then, when the irregularity handling unit 66 predicts that there will be room for work, the processing cell in which it is predicted that there will be room for work by the AGV robot 20 before the job generation unit 64 generates a job related to the work. The unmanned guided vehicle 30 is started to move toward the work positions P7 to P10 of 100. On the other hand, when the irregularity handling section 66 predicts that there will be no room for work within a predetermined time from the present time in either of the two processing cells 100, the unmanned guided vehicle 30 stands by on the spot.

Based on the stock status of the works W recognized by the stock status recognition part 61, the worker notification unit 67 determines whether there is a work set plate 52 that needs to be replenished with the work W in the material stocker 5s (for example, the work W number of 0 exists). Then, when the worker notification unit 67 determines that there is a work set plate 52 that needs to be replenished with works W, the worker notification unit 67 provides specific information of the work set plate 52 (for example, out of the three material stockers 5s in FIG. 1). Information that can specify which of the left and right center stockers 5 s is located and which stage of the work set plate 52 is located in the stocker 5 s) is transmitted to the operator terminal 8 .

Based on the stock status of the works W recognized by the stock status recognition part 61, the worker notification unit 67 determines whether there is a work set plate 52 that requires collection of the works W in the finished product stocker 5k (for example, , whether or not there is a workpiece set plate 52 whose stock number of workpieces W has reached the maximum number. Then, when determining that there is a work set plate 52 whose work W needs to be collected, the worker notification unit 67 transmits specific information of the work set plate 52 to the worker terminal 8 .

The AGV control device 70 is housed inside the housing 31 of the automatic guided vehicle 30 . The AGV control device 70 is composed of a travel control unit 71, a robot control unit 72, a charging control unit 73, an action posture storage unit 74, a movement position storage unit 75, an input/output interface 76, and the like. The AGV control device 70 is connected to the automatic guided vehicle 30, the AGV robot 20, and the camera 25 via the input/output interface 76, and is wirelessly communicable with the overall transfer control device 60.

The travel control unit 71 controls travel of the unmanned guided vehicle 30 from the current position to the target destination based on the transport command (job) for the unmanned guided vehicle 30 received from the overall transport control device 60 . The travel control unit 71 executes travel control of the automatic guided vehicle 30 based on, for example, a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) algorithm. In the SLAM algorithm, map generation processing for generating a map of the building 2 from distance data detected by a distance sensor attached to the front side of the automatic guided vehicle 30 and self-position estimation processing on the map are performed simultaneously. Then, the traveling control unit 71 causes the automatic guided vehicle 30 to independently travel to the target destination based on the created map so as not to collide with obstacles. For example, when a plurality of automatic guided vehicles 30 are used, another host server is caused to execute the above-described map generation processing and self-position estimation processing. Guidance control may be performed to the target destination so as not to collide. Further, the traveling control method of the automatic guided vehicle 30 is not limited to the trackless method such as the SLAM algorithm. It is also possible to employ a tracked system in which the transport vehicle 30 travels to the target destination.

The robot control unit 72 controls the operation based on the operation command (job) of the AGV robot 20 received from the overall transfer control device 60 . The travel control unit 71 and the robot control unit 72 function as an operation control unit that operates the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 based on the job generated by the job generation unit 64 .

The charging control unit 73 causes the automatic guided vehicle 30 to move to the charging position P0 set in front of the power supply station 6 (right side in FIG. 1), and the power receiving unit 32 provided on the side surface of the automatic guided vehicle 30 moves to the power supply station. 6, and if it is determined that they face the power supply unit 6a of the automatic guided vehicle 30, the power receiving unit 32 of the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the battery 35 (an example of the power storage unit) housed in the housing 31 switch the power supply path from the cut-off state to the on state. As a result, power supply (charging) from the power supply unit 6 a of the power supply station 6 to the battery 35 via the power receiving unit 32 starts. Whether the power receiving unit 32 of the automatic guided vehicle 30 faces the power feeding unit 6a is determined by This is performed based on whether or not infrared communication has been established with an infrared receiving unit provided in the device.

The motion posture storage unit 74 stores motion postures when the AGV robot 20 is operated based on motion commands transmitted from the overall transfer control device 60 (for example, a posture for pulling out the work set plate 52 to the front, a posture for each work set The attitude of setting the work W in each stock hole 52a of the plate 52 or the attitude of taking out the work W) is stored. Each of these motion postures is set by the operator performing a teaching operation of the AGV robot 20 via the operation panel 33 before starting automatic hand control.

The movement position storage unit 75 is a functional unit that stores a movement position as a specific target position to which the automatic guided vehicle 30 moves. included. The charging position P0 and the working positions P1 to P10 are obtained by manually operating the unmanned guided vehicle 30 using the operation panel 33 to move it to each target position, and converting each position into position information on a map. It is set by an operation (teaching operation) for storing in the movement position storage unit 75 .

[Details of unmanned transport control]
7 and 8 are flow charts showing the details of the unmanned transport control executed by the unmanned transport system 1 of this example.

In this unmanned transportation system, first, the work stock status of each material stocker 5s and each finished product stocker 5k recognized by the stock status recognition unit 61, and each processing cell 100 received from the stock status recognition unit 84 of the processing cell control device 80 The jobs to be executed by the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 are generated by the job generator 64 based on the work stock status of the input stocker 5t and the output stocker 5h (step S1). The job generated by the job generation unit 64 includes transport instructions for the automatic guided vehicle 30 (commands related to starting work positions P1 to P10 and arrival point work positions P1 to P10 of the automatic guided vehicle 30, etc.) and AGV It contains motion commands for the robot 20 , and these commands are sent to the AGV controller 70 . In the AGV control device 70, based on the transport command received from the overall transport control device 60 by the traveling control unit 71, the automatic guided vehicle 30 is routed to the work positions P1 to P10 of the work stocker 5, which is the target destination, and robot control is performed. The unit 72 causes the AGV robot 20 to perform a predetermined action based on the action command received from the overall transfer control device 60 (step S2).

The job generation unit 64 monitors the job execution status (transport command and motion command execution status) by the travel control unit 71 and the robot control unit 72 from the AGV control device 70, and determines whether or not the generated job has been completed. (Step S3). When the job generation unit 64 determines that the running control unit 71 and the robot control unit 72 have completed the execution of the job (YES in step S3), the process returns to step S1. Then, the job generation unit 64 newly generates a job to be executed by the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 based on the work stock status of each work stocker 5 newly recognized by the stock status recognition units 61 and 84. do.

On the other hand, if the job generation unit 64 determines that the running control unit 71 and the robot control unit 72 have not completed the execution of the job (NO in step S3), the job execution is interrupted. If it is determined that the job execution has not been interrupted (NO in step S4), the determination process is repeated until the job execution is completed. On the other hand, when the job generation unit 64 determines that the execution of the job by the travel control unit 71 and the robot control unit 72 is interrupted (YES in step S4), the situation determination unit 65 determines whether the material stocker 5s or the finished product It is determined whether or not an irregular situation that hinders the operation of the AGV robot 20 occurs in the stocker 5k (step S5).

If the situation determination unit 65 determines that an irregular situation has not occurred (NO in step S5), the failure of the automatic guided vehicle 30 or the AGV robot 20 itself prevents the execution of the job. After determination, an alarm device (not shown) provided on the automatic guided vehicle 30 issues an alarm (step S10), and the automatic guided vehicle 30 is made to stand by on the spot (step S11).

On the other hand, if the situation determination unit 65 determines that the above-described irregular situation is occurring (YES in step S5), the irregularity handling unit 66 activates the alarm device 57 of the work stocker 5 (see FIG. 6). ) to the control device 54 of the work stocker 5 (step S6). Next, the job generation unit 64 attempts to generate a new job that can be executed by the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 at the present time, other than the job that has been interrupted due to the irregular situation (step S7). Then, the job generation unit 64 determines whether or not a new executable job has been generated (step S8). If it is determined that a new job has been generated (YES in step S8), A transport command for the unmanned guided vehicle 30 and an operation command for the AGV robot 20 are transmitted to the AGV control device 70, and the job is executed by the travel control unit 71 and the robot control unit 72 (step S9).

On the other hand, when the job generation unit 64 determines that a new job cannot be generated (NO in step S8), the cell status acquisition unit 62 acquires process progress information in each processing cell 100 (step S12). Then, based on the process progress information in each processing cell 100 acquired by the cell status acquisition unit 62, the irregularity handling unit 66 determines whether the automatic guided vehicle 30 and the AGV robot 20 will operate in the processing cell 100 within a predetermined time from the current time. Predict whether or not there will be room for work (step S13). In this example, as an example of the work space, is there a work space for putting out the work W in the pay-out stocker 5h of each processing cell 100, or a work room for throwing in the work W in the throw-in stocker 5t of each processing cell 100? predict no.

When the irregularity handling unit 66 predicts that there will be no room for work within a predetermined time from the current time (NO in step S13), the operation of the AGV robot 20 is stopped and the unmanned guided vehicle 30 is moved on the spot. A command to wait is sent to the AGV control device 70 (step S15), and then the process returns.

On the other hand, if the irregular handling unit 66 predicts that there will be room for work within a predetermined period of time from the current time (YES in step S13), the job related to the work will be canceled by the job generation unit 66 because there will be room for work after that. 64, the AGV controller 70 is instructed to start moving the automatic guided vehicle 30 toward the work position of the processing cell 100 (step S14), and then returns.

A specific example of the traveling pattern of the automatic guided vehicle 30 when an irregular situation actually occurs in the automatic guided vehicle system 1 configured as described above will be described. Here, two running patterns will be described as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, when the situation determining unit 65 determines that the AGV robot 20 cannot take out the work W from the work set plate 52 of the material stocker 5s (the first irregular situation), , the irregular handling unit 66 predicts that there will be room for the work W to be delivered at the work positions P8 and P10 of the delivery stocker 5h of the processing cell 100 within a predetermined time from the current time, the job generating unit 64 Under the control of the irregular handling unit 66, the automatic guided vehicle 30 starts moving toward the work positions P8 and P10 of the payout stocker 5h of the processing cell 100 before the job related to the work is generated by .

Further, for example, the situation determination unit 65 determines that the AGV robot 20 is in a situation (the second irregular situation) in which the workpiece W cannot be stored on the work setting plate 52 of the finished product stocker 5k. In this case, when it is predicted by the irregularity handling unit 66 that there will be room for the loading operation of the workpiece W at the work positions P7 and P9 of the loading stocker 5t of the processing cell 100 within a predetermined time from the present time, Before the job related to the work is generated by the job generation unit 64, under the control of the irregular handling unit 66, the unmanned guided vehicle 30 is generated by the AGV robot 20 via the work positions P1 to P3 of the material stocker 5s. After loading the material work W on the pallet 7, it starts to move toward the work positions P7 and P9 of the input stocker 5t of the processing cell 100. As shown in FIG. In this case, the work W that the AGV robot 20 could not store in the finished product stocker 5k due to the occurrence of an irregular situation is moved to the pallet 7 and stored in the finished product stocker 5k after the irregular situation is resolved. Just do it. In the present invention, when such an irregular situation occurs, the automatic guided vehicle 30 is temporarily routed to the work position of another work stocker 5 (in this example, work positions P1 to P3 of the material stocker 5s), Also included is a configuration for initiating movement of the processing cell 100 to a working position.

[Effect]
As described above, according to the automatic guided vehicle system 1 of the present embodiment, the AGV robot 20 moves the workpiece W while the automatic guided vehicle 30 is stopped at the work positions P1 to P6 of the material stocker 5s or the finished product stocker 5k. When an attempt is made to perform a pick-up work or a storage work (predetermined action), if an irregular situation that hinders the action occurs, the working position of the work stocker 5 provided in the processing cell 100 will be changed within a predetermined time from the current time. At P7 to P10, the irregular handling unit 66 predicts whether or not there will be room for work for the AGV robot 20. If the irregular handling unit 66 predicts that there will be room for work, the job generating unit 64 Before the job related to the work is generated, the automatic guided vehicle 30 starts moving toward the work positions P7 to P10 of the work stocker 5 provided in the processing cell 100. FIG.

As a result, even if an irregular situation occurs during the work of the AGV robot 20, if it is predicted that there will be room for work in the processing cell 100 in the near future, the job generator will generate a job related to the work. is generated (that is, without having the automatic guided vehicle 30 stand by on the spot), the automatic guided vehicle 30 is directed to the work positions P7 to P10 of the work stocker 5 provided in the processing cell 100 to start moving. Therefore, the time during which the automatic guided vehicle 30 continues to stand by on the spot can be reduced as much as possible, and the workpiece transfer efficiency of the entire automatic guided vehicle system 1 can be improved.

On the other hand, when the irregular situation occurs, the irregularity handling unit 66 predicts that there will be no room for work at the work positions P7 to P10 of the work stocker 5 provided in the processing cell 100 within a predetermined time from the current time. If so, the automatic guided vehicle 30 stands by under the control of the irregular handling unit 66 .

Therefore, when there is no room for work in the work stocker 5 of the processing cell 100, the automatic guided vehicle 30 is placed on the spot (that is, the work positions P1 to P3 of the material stocker 5s or the work positions P4 to 6 of the finished product stocker 5). By making the robot stand by, it is possible to resume the predetermined operation of the AGV robot 20 (the operation of picking up or storing the workpiece W) that has been interrupted due to the irregular situation immediately after the operator resolves the irregular situation.

The unmanned guided vehicle system 1 also includes an alarm device 57 that issues an alarm when the situation determination unit 65 determines that an irregular situation has occurred.

According to this, based on the warning from the alarm device 57, the worker can easily notice that the above-described irregular situation has occurred, and perform work (to the work set plate 52) to eliminate the irregular situation. filling of the workpieces W or recovering the workpieces W from the workpiece setting plate 52) can be started quickly.

Moreover, the situation determination unit 65 can determine two situations as the irregular situation. The first irregular situation is that when the AGV robot 20 attempts to take out a work W from a predetermined stock hole 52a of the work setting plate 52 in the material stocker 5s, the stock hole 52a should be in the work W. This is a situation in which the workpiece W does not exist.

According to this, for example, when a situation arises in which the AGV robot 20 cannot perform the operation of picking up the work W because the worker has forgotten to fill the material stocker 5s with the work W, the unmanned guided vehicle 30 can be placed on the spot. It is possible to reduce the time spent waiting uselessly.

The second irregular situation is when the AGV robot 20 attempts to store the work W in the predetermined stock hole 52a of the work setting plate 52 in the finished product stocker 5k. This is a situation in which the workpiece W already exists at .

According to this, for example, when a situation arises in which the AGV robot 20 cannot execute the work of storing the finished work W in the finished product stocker 5k because the worker has forgotten to collect the work W from the finished product stocker 5k, It is possible to minimize the time during which the automatic guided vehicle 30 waits wastefully on the spot.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, when the irregularity handling unit 66 predicts that there will be no room for work in the processing cell 100 within a predetermined time from the current time (NO in step S13), the unmanned guided vehicle 30 stands by on the spot. However, it is not limited to this, and for example, the automatic guided vehicle 30 may be made to wait at the charging position P0 (an example of the predetermined position). By making the automatic guided vehicle 30 stand by at the charging position P0 in this way, the battery 35 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 30 can be charged by using the time until the irregular situation is resolved by the operator. can be done.

In the above-described embodiment, the processing cell 100 includes, in addition to the machine tool 10, the cell robot 11, the washer 14, the dryer 15, the input stocker 5t, and the output stocker 5h. Instead, for example, the machining cell 100 may be composed only of the machine tool 10 . In this case, the AGV robot 20 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 30 may be used to load and unload the work W to the machine tool 10 .

In the above-described embodiment, the situation judgment section 65 judges whether or not an irregular situation occurs based on the image of the work set plate 52 captured by the camera 25. However, the situation is not limited to this. do not have. For example, based on the output signal of a force sensor provided in the hand 24, the load acting on the gripping claws 24b of the hand 24 is detected, and based on the detected load, it is determined whether the workpiece W is normally gripped or stored. It may be determined whether or not the irregular situation has occurred by determining whether or not the routine has been executed.

Although the machine tool 10 was described as an example of the processing machine in the above embodiment, it is not limited to this. The processing machine may be a machine employing a processing method other than cutting, such as a press machine, a rolling machine, and a laser lamination machine.

It should be noted that the above description of the embodiment is illustrative in all respects and is not restrictive. Modifications and modifications are possible for those skilled in the art. The scope of the invention is indicated by the claims rather than the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention includes modifications from the embodiments within the scope of claims and equivalents.

P0 Charging position P1 Work position of material stocker (work position of work stocker)
P2 Work position of material stocker (work position of work stocker)
P3 Work position of material stocker (work position of work stocker)
P4 Work position of finished product stocker (work position of work stocker)
P5 Work position of finished product stocker (work position of work stocker)
P6 Work position of finished product stocker (work position of work stocker)
P7 Working position of input stocker (Working position of processing cell)
P8 Working position of payout stocker (Working position of machining cell)
P9 Working position of input stocker (Working position of processing cell)
P10 Working position of delivery stocker (Working position of processing cell)
W Work 1 Unmanned transport system 5 Work stocker 5s Material stocker (work stocker)
5k finished product stocker (work stocker)
5h Payout stocker (work stocker)
5t input stocker (work stocker)
10 machine tools (processing machines)
20 AGV robot (robot)
30 automatic guided vehicle 57 alarm device (alarm unit)
62 Cell status acquisition unit 64 Job generation unit 65 Status determination unit 66 Irregular handling unit 71 Travel control unit (operation control unit)
72 robot control unit (motion control unit)
84 stock status recognition unit 100 processing cell

Claims (7)

An unmanned guided vehicle that transports workpieces by traveling through work positions preset with respect to each of a work stocker for stocking workpieces and a processing cell that includes a processing machine that processes the workpieces. , an automated guided vehicle system comprising a robot mounted on the automated guided vehicle and capable of gripping a workpiece,
a stock situation recognition unit that recognizes the stock situation of the works in the work stocker;
a job generation unit that generates a job to be executed by the automatic guided vehicle and the robot based on the work stock status recognized by the stock status recognition unit;
an operation control unit that operates the automatic guided vehicle and the robot based on the job generated by the job generation unit;
a cell status acquisition unit that acquires information about the process progress status in the processing cell;
Under the control of the motion control unit, when the robot attempts to perform a predetermined motion based on the job while the automatic guided vehicle is stopped at the work position of the work stocker, the predetermined motion is prevented from being prevented. a situation determination unit that determines whether a rule situation has occurred;
When the situation determination unit determines that the irregular situation is occurring, based on the information about the process progress of the processing cell acquired by the cell status acquisition unit, the work position of the processing cell predicts whether or not there will be work space for the robot within a predetermined time from the current time, and when it is predicted that there will be work space, before the job generation unit generates a job related to the work, the unmanned an irregular handling unit that starts moving the guided vehicle toward the work position of the processing cell, and makes the unmanned guided vehicle stand by at a predetermined position when it is predicted that there will be no room for work. Characterized unmanned transport system. The irregular situation is defined by the operation control unit, based on the job generated by the job generation unit, in a state in which the automatic guided vehicle is parked at the work position of the work stocker. 2. The unmanned transport system according to claim 1, wherein when an operation of picking up a workpiece from a predetermined location is to be executed as the predetermined operation, the workpiece that should be present at the predetermined location does not exist. The irregular situation is defined by the operation control unit, based on the job generated by the job generation unit, in a state in which the automatic guided vehicle is parked at the work position of the work stocker. 2. The unmanned transport system according to claim 1, wherein when an operation of storing a workpiece in the predetermined location is to be executed as the predetermined operation, the workpiece already exists in the predetermined location. The irregularity handling unit, when the situation determination unit determines that the irregular situation has occurred, based on the information on the process progress of the processing cell acquired by the cell status acquisition unit determines whether or not there exists a work whose last process in the processing cell is completed within a predetermined time from the current time, and if it is determined that the work exists, the working position of the processing cell is used as the work space. the robot predicts that there is room for work to discharge the work from the processing cell, and before the job generation unit generates a job related to the work, the automatic guided vehicle is set to work in the processing cell. When it is determined that there is no work for which the last process in the processing cell is completed within the predetermined time while starting to move toward the position, the automatic guided vehicle is moved to the predetermined position assuming that there is no room for work. 4. The automatic guided vehicle system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the automatic guided vehicle system is configured to wait at a position. The predetermined position is the work position of the work stocker, or a charging position set at a location different from the work position and capable of charging a power storage unit mounted on the automatic guided vehicle. The automatic guided vehicle system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The unmanned carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising an alarm unit that issues an alarm when the situation determination unit determines that the irregular situation is occurring. system. The processing cell includes the processing machine, an input/discharge device for inputting and outputting workpieces to and from the processing machine, and an input stocker for temporarily stocking the workpieces to be input to the processing machine by the input/output device. and a delivery stocker for temporarily stocking the workpieces delivered from the processing machine by the loading and unloading device,
Working positions are set in advance for each of the input stocker and the output stocker,
7. The unmanned transport system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the work position of the input stocker or the work position of the discharge stocker functions as the work position of the processing cell.

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