JP7211078B2 - Conveying device, conveying system and conveying method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a conveying device, a conveying system, and a conveying method, and more particularly to a conveying device, a conveying system, and a conveying method that can hold a plurality of articles in a holding portion during conveyance.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a conveying apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example, has been proposed for conveying various articles. The conveying device of Patent Document 1 includes a table on which articles stacked in a plurality of vertical stages are loaded, an elevating device that raises and lowers the table, and a take-out device that takes out articles from the table. In addition, the conveying apparatus of Patent Document 1 includes a height detector that detects whether or not the uppermost article among the articles placed on the table in a plurality of upper and lower stages is positioned at a predetermined height.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-100003, the lifting device stops lifting and lowering the table when a height detector detects that the uppermost article is positioned at a predetermined height during the lifting and lowering of the table. In this state, the article can be taken out at a constant height position by the take-out device taking out the uppermost article. Further, Patent Document 1 describes a case where the take-out device transfers the uppermost article from the table one by one, and a case where a plurality of uppermost articles are transferred at the same time.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-6510

In the conveying apparatus of Patent Document 1, since the article positioned at the top is taken out, when articles are stacked in different numbers of stages at multiple locations in the horizontal direction, only the article at the location where the number of stages is the largest among the plurality of locations is taken out. It can be taken out. To give a specific example, when articles are placed at three positions in the horizontal direction, three levels are stacked at two positions, and two levels are stacked at the remaining one position, only the uppermost article at the two positions is loaded by the take-out device. It can be taken out. In other words, the article from the remaining one location cannot be taken out until after the articles at the two locations have been taken out, which poses a problem in holding and transporting a plurality of items.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveying device, a conveying system, and a conveying method that are capable of alleviating restrictions when holding a plurality of articles arranged along the bottom of a container. be one of

A conveying apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention holds and loads articles stored in a vertically stacked state in at least one of a plurality of arranging positions while arranging in a direction along the bottom of a container serving as a conveying source. A conveying device for conveying to a placement section, the holding section having a plurality of suction sections arranged side by side corresponding to the arrangement position of the articles in the container and capable of sucking the upper surface of the articles, and the arrangement of the articles in the container. A plurality of height adjustment units arranged in parallel corresponding to positions, and a control unit for controlling the operation of each of the plurality of height adjustment units, wherein the plurality of height adjustment units operate independently of each other. The control unit independently controls the amount of movement of each of the plurality of height adjustment units, and the articles arranged at each of the plurality of alignment positions can be adjusted. It is characterized in that the height of the top article can be arbitrarily adjusted .

A transport system according to one aspect of the present invention includes: the transport device; container transport means for transporting the container to a position where the article can be held by the holding unit; Further, it is characterized by comprising a placed article transfer means for transferring.

A transporting method of one aspect of the present invention holds and loads articles stored in a vertically stacked state in at least one of a plurality of alignment positions while being aligned in a direction along the bottom of a container serving as a transport source. A conveying method for conveying to a storage unit, wherein the articles to be conveyed at each of the plurality of lined positions in the container are independently moved up and down, and the height of the top surface of the top article at each of the plurality of lined positions is determined. After performing the step of adjusting and aligning the height positions to the same height, and after performing the aligning step, the uppermost article at each of the plurality of alignment positions whose upper surface heights are aligned is sucked and placed on the placing section. and a step of conveying.

According to the present invention, it is possible to independently adjust the height position of each of the articles arranged in a plurality of positions along the bottom of the container. Therefore, even if the upper surface heights of the articles are not all the same at the respective lined positions of the articles, it is possible to arbitrarily select the articles of the lined position to be sucked for transport. As a result, it is possible to relax restrictions when holding a plurality of articles, increase the number of articles to be conveyed by one holding, improve the efficiency of conveyance, and increase the degree of freedom in selecting articles to be conveyed. .

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conveying device according to an embodiment; FIG. 2A and 2B are explanatory diagrams of the arrangement position of articles in the product number. It is explanatory drawing of the flow of conveyance by the said conveying apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the flow of conveyance by the said conveying apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the flow of conveyance by the said conveying apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the flow of conveyance by the said conveying apparatus. It is a flowchart of conveyance by the said conveying apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the adsorption|suction height position which concerns on a modification. It is explanatory drawing of the adsorption|suction height position which concerns on another modification. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a suction height position according to still another modification; It is a figure for demonstrating an example of arrangement|positioning of the height adjustment part and adsorption|suction part with respect to product weight.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Below, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and can be modified appropriately without changing the gist of the invention. In the following diagrams, part of the configuration may be omitted for convenience of explanation. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, "up", "down", "left", "right", "front", and "back" are based on directions indicated by arrows in each drawing. However, the orientation of each configuration is merely an example, and can be changed to any orientation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conveying device according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the transport device 1 is configured to transport an article W contained in a product weight (container) T to a shipping weight (not shown) serving as another container. Therefore, in the conveying device 1, the shipping number becomes the placement section (transportation destination), and the product number T becomes the transportation origin.

The product weight T is formed in a box-like shape with an open top, including a bottom portion Ta having a square outer peripheral shape (see FIG. 2A) in a plan view, and side walls Tb standing from the outer peripheral side serving as the four sides of the bottom portion Ta. It is The bottom portion Ta is formed with a large number of openings Tc, and can be exemplified by a configuration in which the openings Tc are evenly formed in a plate-like body, and a configuration in which a plurality of openings Tc are formed in a lattice shape. Although not particularly limited, in the present embodiment, the articles W to be transported are containers containing cooked foods such as boxed lunches and side dishes. It can be accommodated in T.

The conveying device 1 includes a base 2 on which a product number T is placed, a plurality of height adjusting units 3 provided inside the base 2, a holding unit 4 arranged above the base 2, a height A controller 5 that controls each part of the conveying device 1 including the thickness adjuster 3 and the holder 4 , and a memory 6 that is connected to the controller 5 .

A product weight T is transferred onto the base 2 by a transfer device (not shown) or manually. Further, the base 2 is provided with a positioning mechanism (not shown) for the transferred product weight T, and a plurality of height adjusters 3 are arranged side by side below the product weight T positioned by the positioning mechanism. there is

The height adjustment unit 3 is configured to vertically move the plurality of output shafts 31 by driving a ball screw or a timing belt (not shown) in the vertical direction. The output shaft 31 of the height adjuster 3 is arranged at a position corresponding to the opening Tc in the bottom Ta of the product weight T, and the upper end of the output shaft 31 can pass through the opening Tc and contact the lower surface of the article W. (See Fig. 3). Therefore, by raising the output shaft 31 by driving the height adjuster 3, the article W can be moved upward from the bottom Ta of the product weight T. As shown in FIG.

Here, the height adjustment section 3 also has a function as a mass detection section that detects the mass of the article W when the article W is moved upward. The height adjustment section 3 outputs the detection result to the control section 5 .

The holding portion 4 includes a plurality of suction portions 41 arranged side by side, a holder 42 supporting the suction portions 41 , and a support shaft 43 projecting from above the holder 42 . The support shaft 43 of the holding part 4 is attached to a robot arm such as a multi-joint arm (not shown), a two-axis or three-axis moving mechanism, or the like. can be transported to an external shipping number.

The suction unit 41 includes a plurality of suction pads 41a provided below the holder 42 and having a suction cup shape. A hose (none of which is shown) communicating with a suction source such as a vacuum pump is connected to the suction unit 41. Suction through these hoses produces a negative pressure on the suction surface, which is the lower surface of the suction pad 41a, so that the article W is removed. The upper surface can be held by suction. The holding portion 4 is connected to a suction source via an appropriate valve structure, switching structure, or the like so that each of the plurality of suction portions 41 can independently perform suction and release.

The control unit 5 is composed of a central processing unit (CPU) and the like, and controls the entire conveying apparatus 1 through control of each unit. The control unit 5 controls the output shaft 31 of the height adjustment unit 3 and the robot arm or the like that moves the holding unit 4 based on the detection result from the height adjustment unit 3, pre-stored data, information, and calculation results of various programs. drive amount, drive timing, etc. The control unit 5 also controls the timing of adsorption and release of adsorption by each adsorption unit 41 in the holding unit 4 based on the above information and the like.

The storage unit 6 includes a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The RAM is used as a work area for the control unit 5, and stores a transportation plan for the article W and the like via input means (not shown). The ROM stores a program for the control unit 5 to perform various calculations and controls, a program for functioning as an application, data, and the like.

2A and 2B are explanatory diagrams of the arrangement position of articles in the product number. 2A and 2B, the illustration of the opening at the bottom Ta of the product weight T is omitted. As an example of the articles W to be stored in the product number T, as shown in FIG. They may be placed side by side. In this case, there are four lined positions where the articles W are arranged, and the lined positions are positions A1 to A4 in FIG. 2A. Moreover, as another example, as shown in FIG. 2B, there is a case where they are arranged side by side in two rows in the front-rear direction and three rows in the left-right direction. In this case, there are six lined positions where articles W are arranged, and the lined positions are positions B1 to B6 in FIG. 2B.

The adsorption part 41 and the height adjustment part 3 of the present embodiment are arranged side by side corresponding to the alignment position of the article W in the product number weight T. As shown in FIG. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2A, when the articles W are arranged at four positions A1 to A4, the suction unit 41 is arranged so that the upper surface of the single article W placed at the positions A1 to A4 can be suctioned. They are arranged side by side at positions A1 to A4 visually. In addition, the height adjustment units 3 are arranged side by side at positions A1 to A4 in a top view so that the heights of articles W placed at positions A1 to A4 can be adjusted independently.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the articles W are arranged at six positions B1 to B6, the suction unit 41 is arranged so that the upper surface of the single article W placed at the positions B1 to B6 can be suctioned. They are arranged side by side at positions B1 to B6 visually. The height adjustment units 3 are arranged side by side at the positions B1 to B6 when viewed from above so that the heights of the articles W placed at the positions B1 to B6 can be independently adjusted.

Subsequently, a transport method by the transport apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 to 6 as well as a flowchart of FIG. 3 to 6 are explanatory diagrams of the flow of transportation by the transportation device. 3 to 6, illustration of the control unit 5 and the storage unit 6 illustrated in FIG. 1 is omitted.

Here, in the bottom portion Ta of the product weight T in FIG. A description will be given of a case in which the transport plan is to transport both articles W at two locations. At the position A1, two articles W are stacked one above the other, and one article W is placed at the position A2. In addition, the mass of each article W and the transfer plan data for transferring the articles W at both positions A1 and A2 are stored in advance in the storage unit 6, and the product number weight is stored in the position on the base 2 shown in FIG. Suppose T is loaded and positioned.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, by driving all the height adjustment units 3 to raise the output shaft 31, each height adjustment is performed while moving W upward from the bottom Ta of the product weight T. A step (step (hereinafter referred to as “ST”) 01) of detecting the mass of the article W is carried out in the section 3 . In step ST01, in the case of FIG. 3, the height adjuster 3 at position A1 detects the mass of two articles W, and the height adjuster 3 at position A2 detects the mass of one article W. Mass is detected. Further, the amount of movement of the article W in step ST01 is such that the height position of the upper surface of the uppermost article W of the two-tiered articles W is the adsorption height position H where adsorption is performed by the adsorption section 41 described later. is set to Here, the suction height position H is set above the upper end of the side wall Tb of the product number T, and the upper surface of the uppermost article W at the position A1 is set at the suction height position H.

Subsequently, according to the detection result of each height adjustment unit 3 and the mass of the article W stored in the storage unit 6, the stacked article W is calculated from the mass of the article W at each of the positions A1 and A2 by the control unit 5. Step ST02 of calculating the number of stages of is performed. After that, the amount of movement of the article W in the vertical direction is calculated according to the number of steps of the article W at each of the positions A1 and A2 calculated in step ST02, and the output shaft 31 of each height adjustment unit 3 is moved according to the movement amount. Step ST03 for controlling the movement in the vertical direction is carried out. In step ST03, height adjustment is performed so that the height positions of the upper surface of the uppermost article W at each of the positions A1 and A2 are aligned with the same suction height position H. As shown in FIG. Therefore, in the state of FIG. 3, the upper surface of the uppermost article W is set at the suction height position H at the position A1, so that the upper surface of the article W at the position A2 is lifted by driving only the height adjusting section 3 at the position A2. The height is adjusted until the suction height position H is reached. In this manner, the height adjustment unit 3 at the position A1 and the height adjustment unit 3 at the position A2 operate independently of each other to adjust the height of the article W at each of the positions A1 and A2.

After step ST03, step ST04 is performed to move the holding unit 4 by a robot arm or the like (not shown). In step ST04, after placing the suction unit 41 above the articles W at the respective positions A1 and A2, the holding unit 4 is lowered. As shown in FIG. 5, when the suction pad 41a of the suction unit 41 contacts the upper surface of the uppermost article W at each of the positions A1 and A2, the holding unit 4 stops descending and the holding unit 4 is lifted. position.

After step ST04, the control unit 5 controls the suction units 41 at the respective positions A1 and A2 to start sucking, and the two suction units 41 carry out step ST05 in which each of the two suction units 41 sucks and holds a single article W. . In the control of the control unit 5 in step ST05, if the number of articles W to be conveyed is one, the suction unit 41 at either one of the positions A1 and A2 may pick up the article.

After step ST05, step ST06 is performed in which the article W is transported by moving the holding unit 4 by a robot arm or the like (not shown). In step ST06, as shown in FIG. 6, after the holding section 4 and the two articles W adsorbed and held are lifted, the two articles W adsorbed and held are placed on a shipping weight (not shown) serving as a placement section. After accommodating, the suction by the suction portion 41 is released. After execution of step ST06, transportation is repeated in the same manner as described above according to the transportation plan data.

Here, in step ST01, if no articles W are stored at the respective positions A1 and A2 of the product number weight T and the product number weight T is empty, the mass detection results of all the height adjustment units 3 are becomes 0. In this case, the article W is replaced with the product number T containing the articles W on the base 2 via a transfer device (not shown). In addition, when a predetermined number of articles W are accommodated in the shipping number weight (placement section), the shipping number weight is carried out and a new empty shipping number weight is put in a predetermined position.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, the plurality of height adjustment units 3 operate independently of each other, and the heights of the articles W at the corresponding positions A1 and A2 can be arbitrarily adjusted. can. As a result, even if the number of tiers of the articles W stacked at the respective positions A1 and A2 on the bottom portion Ta of the product number weight T is different, the article W at an arbitrary position is elevated to allow the article W to be picked up by the suction section 41. can be selected arbitrarily.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the height adjusters 3 are operated so that the upper surface of the uppermost article W is aligned with the same suction height position H at all positions A1 and A2. controlling. As a result, even if the heights of the uppermost articles W at the respective positions A1 and A2 are not uniform before transportation, the plurality of articles W can be picked up by the plurality of suction units 41 by aligning the height positions on the same plane. Can be adsorbed and held at the same time. As a result, the number of articles W held in the holding section 4 can be increased, thereby increasing the number of articles W to be conveyed in one conveyance, thereby shortening the conveying time and improving the conveying efficiency.

Furthermore, since a plurality of articles W are positioned at the suction height position H each time they are conveyed, it is possible to select among the plurality of articles W not to be picked up by the suction section 41 and not to be conveyed. As a result, it is possible to arbitrarily select the articles W at the alignment positions to be picked up by the suction unit 41 to be conveyed, and to increase the degree of freedom in selecting the articles W to be conveyed. As described above, in the above-described embodiment, the restrictions on holding a plurality of articles W in the holding section 4 can be relaxed for the articles W stored side by side in the direction along the bottom Ta of the product weight T. can.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the suction height position H is set above the upper end of the side wall Tb in the product number weight T, so the article W can be sucked by the suction part 41 above the product number weight T. . As a result, even if the holding part 4 is lowered to attract the article W, the holding part 4 does not need to be inserted into the product weight T, and the size and configuration of the holding part 4 are designed to be relaxed. degree of freedom can be improved.

Moreover, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes, substitutions, and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the technical idea of the present invention. Furthermore, if the technical idea of the present invention can be realized in another way by advances in technology or another derived technology, the method may be used for implementation. Therefore, the claims cover all embodiments that can be included within the scope of the technical concept of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, the article W to be held is a bento box, but there is no limitation as long as the article can be sucked and held by the suction portion 41 . For example, sandwiches, bread, other foods such as boxed lunches, various electric devices, devices, and parts thereof, or packed in boxes or trays other than boxed lunch containers may be used.

Further, the suction height position H of the article W that is suctioned by the suction unit 41 after the height is adjusted by the height adjustment unit 3 is not limited to the position described above. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the suction height position H is lower than the upper end of the side wall Tb in the product weight T, and is higher than the upper surface of the uppermost article W placed on the bottom Ta. It may be above the upper position (upper surface position of the upper article W at position A1 in FIG. 1). In this way, after the article W is lifted by the height adjuster 3 and the mass is detected, the height of the article W at each of the positions A1 and A2 can be adjusted while maintaining the state in which the article W is supported by the height adjuster 3. can be adjusted.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9, the suction height position H is the height of the upper surface of the uppermost article W placed on the bottom Ta, that is, the height of the uppermost article W. It may be the height position before being raised by the adjusting section 3 . As a result, the stroke amount for raising the article W by the height adjusting section 3 can be minimized. In addition, when all the articles W contained in the product number weight T have the same height, the suction height position H is set at the height of the top surface of the highest article W in the lined position stacked in the maximum number of tiers. It will happen.

Further, it is not necessary to adjust the height position of the upper surface of the uppermost article W to the suction height position H at all the lined positions of the articles W in the product number T. FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when the article W at the position A1 is picked up by the suction unit 41 and conveyed, and the article W at the position A2 is not picked up by the suction unit 41 (not conveyed), the top article at the position A1 The height position of the upper surface of W is adjusted to the suction height position H. Then, the height position of the upper surface of the uppermost article W at the position A2 is adjusted to be lower than the suction height position H. At this time, if the article W is placed at a position other than the positions A1 and A2, the position where the article W is picked up and conveyed by the suction unit 41 is the height of the upper surface of the uppermost article W. are arranged at the same suction height position H. On the other hand, as for the position where the article W is not picked up by the suction unit 41 without being transported, the height position of the upper surface of the uppermost article W is adjusted to be lower than the suction height position H, as with the article W at the position A2. . According to such transportation, the suction pad 41a of the suction portion 41 can be made non-contact with the article W at the position not to be transferred.

In addition, the arrangement positions in which the articles W are arranged in the product number T are not limited to the arrangement positions A1 to A4 and B1 to B6 in FIGS. Changes such as increasing the number of columns in the horizontal direction may be performed.

Also, in FIGS. 2A and 2B , one suction unit 41 and one height adjustment unit 3 are arranged side by side at each row position where the articles W are arranged, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, positions B1, B2, B5, and B6, and positions C1 to C4 obtained by further dividing positions B3 and B4 into the front and rear of the six lined positions B1 to B6 divided in FIG. 2B. , the adsorption portion 41 and the height adjustment portion 3 may be arranged side by side. According to the configuration in which the articles W are arranged side by side in this way, by appropriately switching and controlling the sucking section 41 that sucks and the height adjusting section 3 that operates, the article W is arranged at four locations as shown in FIG. It is possible to deal with both the case where articles W are arranged at six locations as in 2B.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, after the article W is adsorbed by the adsorption section 41, the control section 5 may perform control to detect the presence or absence of the adsorption by pressure detection of negative pressure or the like. In this control, if it is not possible to detect the pickup of the article W when it should be picked up in the transfer plan, the transfer plan may be changed in subsequent transfers.

Further, in the product weight T, the case where the bottom Ta is oriented in the horizontal direction was illustrated and described, but it may be inclined with respect to the horizontal direction, and the height adjustment and transportation are performed according to the inclination angle. It may be performed in an angularly displaced state.

Moreover, the holding part 4 is not limited to one in which a plurality of suction parts 41 perform suction on the same plane, and a part of the holding parts 4 may have suction parts 41 having different height positions.

Moreover, if the height adjustment unit 3 can adjust the height of the articles W accommodated in the product number T, various changes are possible. For example, a plate member may be laid on the bottom Ta, and the plate member may be supported from above to move up and down.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the height adjustment unit 3 detects the mass of the article W, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an optical sensor or a proximity sensor for detecting the height of the upper surface of the article W is provided near the product weight T, and the height adjustment unit 3 is operated or stopped according to the output of these sensors. may be controlled.

Also, the case where the product number weight T is used as the container has been described, but the container is not limited to this, and various containers can be used according to the articles to be accommodated.

Moreover, the vertical dimension of the article W at the product number weight T may be different. For example, even when non-stacked articles W of different heights are accommodated side by side in the product number weight T, the height of each article W can be arbitrarily adjusted in the same manner as described above. At this time, the articles W may not be stacked at all the row positions of the product number weight T. Therefore, when the height position of the upper surface of the uppermost article W placed on the bottom Ta as shown in FIG. It is sufficient that the maximum height of the article W is set at the suction height position H.

Further, the transport device 1 described above may be incorporated into various transport systems. Such a transport system includes a container transport means for transporting the product weight T to a position where the goods W can be held by the holding unit 4, and the goods W transported according to the shipping weight to a destination away from the transport device 1. Furthermore, the structure which has the placed goods transfer means to transfer can be illustrated. The container transfer means may be a belt conveyor or the like that transfers the product weight T onto the base 2, and the placed article transfer means may be a separate transfer apparatus that is installed separately from the transfer apparatus 1 and that transfers the articles. good too.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 conveying device 3 height adjustment unit 4 holding unit 41 adsorption unit 5 control unit W article T product number weight (container)
Ta bottom

Claims (7)

A conveying device that holds and conveys articles accommodated in a vertically stacked state in at least one of a plurality of arranging positions while arranging along the bottom of a container serving as a conveying source to a placing section. ,
a holding part having a plurality of suction parts arranged side by side corresponding to the arrangement positions of the articles in the container and capable of sucking the upper surface of the article;
a plurality of height adjustment units arranged in parallel corresponding to the arrangement positions of the articles in the container ;
A control unit that controls the operation of each of the plurality of height adjustment units,
The plurality of height adjustment units are capable of operating independently of each other to adjust the height of the articles in corresponding alignment positions ,
The control unit independently controls the amount of movement of each of the plurality of height adjustment units, and arbitrarily adjusts the height of the uppermost article arranged in each of the plurality of row positions . Conveyor. The control unit controls the operation of each of the plurality of height adjustment units to set the suction height position, which is the height position of the upper surface of the article held by the suction unit, to the same height. The conveying device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the suction height position to be set above the upper end of the container. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller controls the suction height position to be higher than the height position of the top surface of the uppermost article placed on the bottom part. transport equipment. 3. The transport according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls to set the suction height position to a height position of the top surface of the uppermost article placed on the bottom part. Device. a conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 5;
container transfer means for transferring the container to a position where the article can be held by the holding part;
A conveying system, further comprising placed article transfer means for further transferring the article conveyed to the placing section to a conveying destination. A conveying method for holding and conveying articles accommodated in a state of being vertically stacked in at least one of a plurality of arranging positions while arranging in a direction along the bottom of a container serving as a conveying source, and conveying the articles to a placing section. ,
The articles to be conveyed are independently moved up and down at each of the plurality of lined positions in the container, and the height position of the top surface of the top article at each of the plurality of lined positions is adjusted to the same height. an aligning step;
and after the aligning step, sucking and transporting the uppermost article in each of the plurality of aligned positions where the height of the upper surface is aligned and transporting it to the placing section. .

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