JP7246174B2 - Glass bottle sorting equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a glass bottle sorting device.

Conventionally, glass bottle recycling equipment in waste treatment and recycling plants requires that the glass bottles be picked up in three color categories: colorless, brown, and others, and quality according to the permissible value for contamination by foreign matter. .

Conventionally, the present situation is that this sorting work is performed manually. Recently, an apparatus for sorting glass bottles has been developed for the purpose of improving work efficiency. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses transfer means for transferring glass bottles to be sorted, a television camera for photographing the glass bottles being transferred, a monitor installed in a monitoring room, and an extracting device for extracting the glass bottles from the transfer means. A glass bottle sorting apparatus is disclosed comprising means and a controller for remotely operating the extracting means from a monitoring room. In addition, the glass bottle sorting apparatus of Patent Document 2 has a V-shaped holding surface capable of holding glass bottles on the upper surface side, and is arranged so as to be rotatable in a direction perpendicular to the axis in the conveying direction. It is equipped with a plurality of conveying plates with a narrow width smaller than the length dimension, and the identification control unit identifies the color of the glass bottle based on the image signal from the camera, and engages the conveying plate corresponding to the identified color. It is configured to release the locking hook to discharge the glass bottle to the discharge port.

JP-A-6-114343 JP-A-8-24799

However, the conventional manual work involves wearing multiple gloves to protect the hands, and the color selection work and the foreign matter removal work place a heavy burden on the workers.

In addition, in the prior art of Patent Document 1, since a worker in the monitoring room makes a judgment by looking at the monitor, there is a burden on the worker, and there is room for improvement in work efficiency. In the prior art of Patent Document 2, since the upper surface side of each of the plurality of conveying plates is a V-shaped holding surface capable of holding a glass bottle, only one glass bottle can be conveyed. Therefore, there is room for improvement in work efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a glass bottle sorting apparatus capable of efficiently sorting a large number of glass bottles without human intervention.

In order to solve the above problems, a glass bottle sorting apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a conveyor that conveys glass bottles, a camera that photographs the glass bottles on the conveyor, and two surfaces that are arranged to face each other. a first robot arm having an end effector provided at its tip; and a control device for controlling the operation of the first robot arm based on an image captured by the camera, wherein the control device recognizing the position and shape of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and controlling the first robot arm to align the longitudinal direction of the glass bottle along the conveying direction of the conveyor by the two surfaces of the end effector; recognizing the color of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and moving the glass bottle to any one of a plurality of regions partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor by at least one of the two surfaces of the end effector; to control the first robot arm.

According to the above configuration, the control device controls the motion of the first robot arm based on the image of the glass bottle on the conveyor. Specifically, first, the position and shape of the glass bottle on the conveyor are recognized. Then, the two surfaces of the end effector control the first robot arm so as to align the longitudinal direction of the glass bottles along the conveying direction of the conveyor. Next, recognize the color of the glass bottles on the conveyor. Note that the recognition of the color of the glass bottle may be performed at the same time as the recognition of the position and shape of the glass bottle. Also, recognition of the color of the vial or recognition of the position and shape of the vial may be configured to be recognized by a separate camera or sensor (eg attached to the end effector). Then, the first robot arm is controlled by at least one of the two surfaces of the end effector so as to move the glass bottle to a region divided by color in the width direction of the conveyor. As a result, a large number of glass bottles can be sorted efficiently without human intervention.

The end effector may have a U-shape. According to the above configuration, the U-shaped end effector can perform the aligning work and the moving work of the glass bottles without gripping the glass bottles. There is no need to equip the tip of the robot arm with an actuator. It can be realized with a simple configuration.

The glass bottle sorting apparatus may further include a second robot arm arranged upstream of the conveyor from the first robot arm. Then, the control device recognizes the positions and shapes of the plurality of glass bottles on the conveyor, and controls the second robot arm to separate the positions of the plurality of glass bottles conveyed in a dense or overlapping state. It may be something to do.

According to the above configuration, even when a large number of glass bottles are conveyed on the conveyor in a dense or overlapping state, the positions of the plurality of glass bottles are separated from each other by the upstream robot arm. Alignment and movement work of the glass bottles by is facilitated.

The control device may control the first robot arm such that the tip of the first robot arm is synchronized with the conveying speed of the conveyor.

According to the above configuration, the first robot arm is controlled in synchronism with the conveying speed of the conveyor, so that it becomes easier to align and move the glass bottles.

The glass bottle sorting apparatus may further comprise a plurality of outlets located adjacent the terminal end of the conveyor. The plurality of discharge ports may be provided in accordance with each of a plurality of areas partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor.

The conveyor includes a guide member provided at a boundary of a plurality of areas partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor, and the guide member guides the glass bottles on the conveyor to any one of the plurality of discharge ports. It may be configured to lead to one.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a glass bottle sorting device capable of efficiently sorting a large number of glass bottles without human intervention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows the glass bottle sorting apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a robot control device; FIG. It is an explanatory view for explaining operation of a robot. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a processing procedure of a control device; It is a schematic diagram which shows the mode of operation|movement of a robot. It is a figure which shows the structure of the glass bottle sorting apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout all the drawings, and overlapping descriptions are omitted.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a glass bottle sorting apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The glass bottle sorting apparatus of the present embodiment is an apparatus for sorting a large amount of glass bottles into three categories, colorless, brown, and others, in a glass bottle recycling facility. As shown in FIG. 1, the glass bottle sorting apparatus 100 includes a conveyor 1 that conveys glass bottles, a camera 2 that photographs the glass bottles on the conveyor 1, and three robots 3 arranged around the conveyor 1. .

A conveyor 1 is an endless belt conveyor that conveys glass bottles in a predetermined direction (from right to left in the figure). In this embodiment, the conveying path of the conveyor 1 is provided in a straight line, but it is not limited to this. At the terminal end of the conveyor 1, three regions 1a, 1b, and 1c are partitioned for each color in the width direction of the conveyor 1. FIG. In this embodiment, the area 1a corresponds to colorless, the area 1c corresponds to brown, and the area 1b corresponds to other colors. Adjacent to the conveyor chute 10 provided at the end of the conveyor 1 are provided three outlets 6a, 6b, 6c. Three discharge ports 6a, 6b, 6c are provided corresponding to each of the three regions 1a, 1b, 1c partitioned on the conveyor 1. As shown in FIG. Further, in this embodiment, an operator is placed near the terminal end of the conveyor 1 to visually check whether the glass bottles have been discharged to the three discharge ports 6a, 6b, and 6c according to the three color divisions, and make corrections. work, etc.

A camera 2 is a device for photographing glass bottles on the conveyor 1 . In this embodiment, three cameras 2 are installed upstream and downstream. In this embodiment, each camera 2 is attached to the tip of a holding arm installed on the floor, but may be installed in another location such as the ceiling as long as the glass bottles on the conveyor 1 can be photographed.

The robot 3 has, for example, a 6-axis vertical articulated robot arm 30, but may have a horizontal articulated robot arm. Also, the robot 3 may be a parallel link robot or a collaborative robot. End effectors 5 are attached to the tips of the robot arms 30 of the two robots 3 arranged downstream. In this embodiment, the end effector 5 has a U-shaped shape. The end effector 5 has two surfaces 5a, 5b arranged opposite to each other. The robot arm 30 having the end effector 5 corresponds to the "first robot arm" of the present invention. The two robots 3 on the downstream side align and move the glass bottles with the end effector 5 based on the images of the cameras 2 on the upstream side of each robot.

An end effector 5A is attached to the tip of a robot arm 30 of one robot 3 arranged on the upstream side. The end effector 5A is shaped like a spatula. The robot arm 30 having the end effector 5A corresponds to the "second robot arm" of the present invention. Based on the image of the camera 2 on the upstream side, the robot 3 on the upstream side uses the end effector 5A to separate the positions of a plurality of glass bottles conveyed in a dense or overlapping state (hereinafter referred to as "leveling work"). ”).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the controller 4 of the robot 3. As shown in FIG. The control device 4 is, for example, a robot controller equipped with a computer such as a microcontroller. As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 4 includes an arithmetic unit 4a such as a CPU, a storage unit 4b such as ROM and RAM, a servo control unit 4c, an input/output interface and a communication interface (not shown).

The control device 4 is configured to control the robot 3 (movement of the robot arm 30) based on the images captured by the camera 2. FIG. In this embodiment, the control device 4 is connected with the robot 3 and the camera 2 via an interface (not shown).

The storage unit 4b stores information such as a basic program as a robot controller and various fixed data. The image processing unit 4d acquires an image signal (or video signal) captured by the camera 2 and performs image processing. In this embodiment, the image processing unit 4d identifies the position, shape and color of the glass bottles on the conveyor 1 based on the image signal, and outputs data regarding the glass bottles to the calculation unit 4a. A known image recognition technique can be used to identify the position, shape, and color of the glass bottle. The calculation unit 4a controls various operations of the robot 3 by reading and executing software such as a basic program stored in the storage unit 4b. The storage unit 4b stores a basic program of the robot for smoothing the glass bottles and a basic program of the robot for the aligning/moving work. In this embodiment, the calculation unit 4a generates a control command for the robot 3 based on the data regarding the glass bottles on the conveyor 1 from the image processing unit 4d, and outputs this to the servo control unit 4c. The servo control unit 4c is configured to control driving of servo motors corresponding to the joints and the like of the robot arm 30 based on the control command generated by the calculation unit 4a.

Next, the operation of the glass bottle sorting apparatus 100 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. FIG. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, based on the image of the camera 2 on the upstream side, an example of the operation of the robot 3 for aligning and moving the glass bottles G using the end effector 5 will be described. Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 3, the conveyor chute 10 is partially formed of a mesh member 10a. A punching metal may be used for the mesh member 10a. A container 11 is arranged under the conveyor chute 10, and small pieces such as glass powder on the conveyor chute 10 fall into the container 11 through the gaps of the mesh members 10a. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of the processing procedure of the controller 4 of the robot 3. As shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing how the robot 3 operates. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the conveyor 1 as seen from above. 5 shows only the end effector 5 of the robot 3 for the sake of simplicity.

First, the glass bottle G conveyed on the conveyor 1 is photographed by the camera 2 . At this time, the color of the glass bottles G on the conveyor 1 is, for example, brown (hatched lines in FIG. 5A). A brown glass bottle G is moved to the area 1c on the conveyor 1 and discharged to the discharge port 6c.

On the other hand, the control device 4 acquires image data captured by the camera 2 (step S10 in FIG. 4). Next, the control device 4 recognizes the position and shape of the glass bottle G on the conveyor 1 based on the image data (step S11 in FIG. 4). Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the control device 4 moves the robot arm 30 so that the glass bottle G on the conveyor 1 is accommodated between the two opposing surfaces (5a, 5b) of the end effector 5. Control. At this time, the controller 4 controls the robot arm 30 so that the end effector 5 at the tip of the robot arm 30 synchronizes with the conveying speed of the conveyor 1 . That is, the end effector 5 moves in the conveying direction of the conveyor 1 (to the left in FIG. 5) while carrying out the glass bottle accommodation operation.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5(C), the controller 4 causes the two opposing surfaces (5a, 5b) of the end effector 5 to shift the longitudinal direction of the glass bottle G to the conveying direction of the conveyor 1 (white in the figure). The robot arm 30 is controlled to align along the arrow) (step S12 in FIG. 4). The controller 4 also controls the robot arm 30 so that the end effector 5 at the tip of the robot arm 30 synchronizes with the conveying speed of the conveyor 1 . That is, the end effector 5 aligns the glass bottles while moving in the conveying direction of the conveyor 1 (to the left in FIG. 5).

Furthermore, the control device 4 recognizes the color of the glass bottle on the conveyor 1 based on the image data (step S13 in FIG. 4). Then, the control device 4 places the glass bottle in an area (brown) 1c partitioned for each color in the width direction of the conveyor 1 by one of the two opposing surfaces (5a, 5b) of the end effector 5 by one surface 5a. The robot arm 30 is controlled to move G (step S14 in FIG. 4). The controller 4 also controls the robot arm 30 so that the end effector 5 at the tip of the robot arm 30 synchronizes with the conveying speed of the conveyor 1 . That is, the end effector 5 moves the glass bottle while moving in the conveying direction of the conveyor 1 (leftward in FIG. 5). The glass bottles G moved to the area 1c on the conveyor 1 are then discharged to the discharge port 6c provided adjacent to the terminal end of the conveyor 1. As shown in FIG. The control device 4 repeatedly executes the steps S10 to S14, and the robot 3 aligns and moves the glass bottles. In the flowchart of FIG. 4, the step of recognizing the position and shape of the glass bottle (S11) and the step of recognizing the color of the glass bottle (S13) are performed separately. ) Recognition of the position and shape of the glass bottle and recognition of the color may be performed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the end effector 5 has a U-shaped shape, so that the glass bottles G can be aligned and moved without gripping the glass bottles G. Since it is not necessary to provide an actuator at the tip of the robot arm 30, the glass bottle sorting apparatus 100 can be realized with a simple configuration.

In addition, in the glass bottle sorting apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, the leveling robot 30 is arranged upstream of the conveyor 1 from the two robots 3 (see FIG. 1). This robot 30 has a spatula-shaped end effector 5A at the tip of the robot arm 30 . The control device 4 recognizes the positions and shapes of the plurality of glass bottles on the conveyor 1, and controls the robot arm 30 to separate the positions of the plurality of glass bottles conveyed in a dense or piled state. As a result, even when a large number of glass bottles are conveyed on the conveyor 1 in a dense or overlapping state, the positions of the plurality of glass bottles are separated from each other by the upstream robot arm. aligning and moving work becomes easier. A large number of glass bottles can be efficiently sorted by the glass bottle sorting apparatus 100 of the present embodiment.

Further, in this embodiment, since a portion of the conveyor chute 10 provided at the terminal end of the conveyor 1 is formed of the net-like member 10a (see FIG. 3), small pieces such as glass powder on the conveyor chute 10 are removed by the net-like member. The particles fall into the container 11 through the gap 10a and can be separated.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The basic configuration of the glass bottle sorting apparatus of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. Below, the description of the configuration common to the first embodiment will be omitted, and only the configuration that is different will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of a glass bottle sorting apparatus 100A according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the glass bottle sorting apparatus 100A of the present embodiment is characterized in that the conveyor 1A is provided with guide members 7 provided at the boundaries of a plurality of regions partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor. It differs from the configuration of one embodiment (FIG. 1). A glass bottle on the conveyor 1A is guided to one of the outlets 6a and 6b by a guide member 7 provided at the boundary between the areas 1a and 1b on the conveyor 1A. A glass bottle on the conveyor 1A is guided to one of the outlets 6b and 6c by a guide member 7 provided at the boundary between the areas 1b and 1c on the conveyor 1A.

In this embodiment, the guide member 7 ensures that the glass bottles are discharged to the discharge ports 6a, 6b, 6c according to the three color divisions. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, an operator is placed near the terminal end of the conveyor 1 to perform confirmation work and the like. In other words, the work may be performed while coexisting with the worker.

Incidentally, in the above embodiment, the type of robot is not limited. For example, in the present embodiment, one of the two robots for aligning and moving glass bottles is a cooperative double-arm robot 3A equipped with a horizontal articulated robot arm 30A. A link type robot may be included.

In the above embodiment, two robots for arranging and moving glass bottles are arranged on the downstream side, but one robot or three or more robots may be used. Although one leveling robot is arranged on the upstream side, two or more robots may be used.

In the above embodiment, the conveyor 1 is an endless belt conveyor, but it may be a rotary table made up of a roller conveyor as long as it has a function of conveying glass bottles.

From the above description many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the above description is to be construed as illustrative only and is provided for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode of carrying out the invention. Substantial details of construction and/or function may be changed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is useful for a glass bottle recycling facility that sorts a large number of glass bottles.

1 Conveyor 2 Cameras 3, 3A Robot 4 Control Device 5, 5A End Effector 5a First Surface 5b Second Surface 6a, 6b, 6c Discharge Port 7 Guide Member 10 Conveyor Chute 10a Mesh Member 11 Container 30, 30A Robot Arm 100 , 100A Glass bottle sorting device G Glass bottle

Claims (6)

a conveyor for conveying glass bottles;
a camera for photographing the glass bottles on the conveyor;
a first robot arm provided at its tip with an end effector having two surfaces facing each other;
a control device that controls the operation of the first robot arm based on the image captured by the camera;
The control device
recognizing the position and shape of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and aligning the glass bottle in the longitudinal direction along the conveying direction of the conveyor by the two surfaces of the end effector without gripping the glass bottle by the end effector; controlling the first robot arm to cause
By recognizing the color of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and without the end effector gripping the glass bottle, by at least one of the two surfaces of the end effector, a plurality of glass bottles partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor. A glass bottle sorting apparatus for controlling the first robotic arm to move the glass bottle to any one of the zones. a conveyor for conveying glass bottles;
a camera for photographing the glass bottles on the conveyor;
a first robot arm provided at its tip with an end effector having two surfaces facing each other;
a second robot arm arranged upstream of the conveyor from the first robot arm ;
a control device that controls operations of the first robot arm and the second robot arm based on the image captured by the camera;
The control device
recognizing the position and shape of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and controlling the first robot arm to align the longitudinal direction of the glass bottle along the conveying direction of the conveyor by the two surfaces of the end effector;
recognizing the color of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and moving the glass bottle to any one of a plurality of regions partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor by at least one of the two surfaces of the end effector; controlling the first robot arm to
The control device recognizes the positions and shapes of the plurality of glass bottles on the conveyor, and controls a second robot arm to separate the positions of the plurality of glass bottles that are conveyed in a dense or overlapping state. Glass bottle sorting equipment. a conveyor for conveying glass bottles;
a plurality of outlets adjacent to the terminal end of the conveyor;
a camera for photographing the glass bottles on the conveyor;
a first robot arm provided at its tip with an end effector having two surfaces facing each other;
a control device that controls the operation of the first robot arm based on the image captured by the camera;
The control device
recognizing the position and shape of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and controlling the first robot arm to align the longitudinal direction of the glass bottle along the conveying direction of the conveyor by the two surfaces of the end effector;
recognizing the color of the glass bottle on the conveyor, and moving the glass bottle to any one of a plurality of regions partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor by at least one of the two surfaces of the end effector; controlling the first robot arm to
The plurality of discharge ports are provided corresponding to each of a plurality of regions partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor,
The conveyor is
A guide member provided at the boundary of a plurality of areas partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor,
A glass bottle sorting device, wherein the guide member is configured to guide the glass bottles on the conveyor to any one of the plurality of discharge ports. 4. The glass bottle sorting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the end effector has a U-shaped shape. The glass bottle sorting according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the control device controls the first robot arm such that the tip of the first robot arm synchronizes with the conveying speed of the conveyor. Device. further comprising a plurality of discharge ports provided adjacent to a terminal end of the conveyor;
The glass bottle sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the plurality of discharge ports are provided corresponding to each of a plurality of regions partitioned by color in the width direction of the conveyor.

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