JP7262311B2 - sewing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sewing system having a sewing machine suitable for mounting on a robot arm.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, a sewing system has been developed in which a sewing machine is mounted on the tip of a robot arm and sewing is performed not only on a flat surface but also on a three-dimensional curved surface. Such a sewing system is suitable, for example, for forming stitches on the surface of a thin resin molded product.
For example, in the conventional sewing system 200, as shown in FIG. An optical sensor 201 for detection is provided at the bottom of the rear end of the sewing machine 202. The position of the sewing line L is detected while the optical sensor 201 is moved along the sewing material R in advance, and the detected sewing line L is detected. The sewing machine 202 is controlled to be moved by the robot arm 203 so that the needle is dropped along the position (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100003).

In another sewing system 300, as shown in FIG. 12, an optical sensor 302 that detects the position of the sewing line obliquely above the needle drop position of the sewing machine 301 is provided to perform similar sensing (for example, Reference 2).

Chinese Patent Application Publication No. 107237059 U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0033960

However, in the sewing system 200 of Patent Document 1, the sewing line is detected by the optical sensor 201 provided at a position away from the throat plate of the sewing machine 202. Therefore, the sewing line is not placed on the throat plate at the time of detection. The detection of the sewing line on the surface of the sewing material R in the state where there is no sewing line has been performed. However, since the material to be sewn R is deformed by the throat plate when actually sewing, there is a problem that the detected sewing line and the actual sewing position are not aligned.

In the sewing system of Patent Document 2, an optical sensor provided above the head of the sewing machine 202 detects the sewing line by sensing the vicinity of the needle drop of the sewing material R from obliquely above. However, when the sewing system 300 reads the sewing line of the sewing material R whose height changes from T1 to T2 due to the undulations of the surface as shown in FIG. Since the sewing line is read by erroneously recognizing the position D1 which is different from the position D of , there is a problem that the sewing line cannot be detected accurately.

An object of the present invention is to improve the detection accuracy of a sewing line.

The invention according to claim 1 is a sewing system,
a sewing machine; and a robot arm that holds the sewing machine and moves the held sewing machine with respect to a sewing object,
The sewing machine
a throat plate provided on the bed of the sewing machine and on which the material to be sewn is placed;
a needle up-and-down movement mechanism that is housed in a sewing machine arm of the sewing machine and faces the throat plate to drop a sewing needle;
a detection unit that detects a sewing line formed on the surface of the sewing material as a reference for a needle drop position;
A sewing system in which the sewing machine is moved by the robot arm so that a needle is dropped along the detected sewing line,
A sewing-ready state in which the sewing needle faces the throat plate at a position where the needle can drop, and a detectable state in which the detection unit faces the throat plate in the same direction as the sewing needle in the sewing-ready state. Equipped with a switching state switching mechanism,
The sewing line is detected while the sewing machine is moved by the robot arm in the detectable state.

The invention according to claim 2 is the sewing system according to claim 1,
The detection unit is provided on a sewing machine arm of the sewing machine,
The state switching mechanism is characterized by switching between the sewing ready state and the detectable state by changing the position or orientation of the sewing machine arm with respect to the needle plate.

The invention according to claim 3 is the sewing system according to claim 2, wherein:
The state switching mechanism is characterized by switching between the sewing enabled state and the detectable state by rotating the sewing machine arm.

The invention according to claim 4 is the sewing system according to claim 3,
The state switching mechanism is characterized by switching between the sewing ready state and the detectable state by rotating the sewing machine arm about the upper shaft.

The invention according to claim 5 is the sewing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The state switching mechanism may include a drive source for switching between the sewing enabled state and the detectable state.

The invention according to claim 6 is the sewing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The sewing machine is switched between the sewing-enabled state and the detection-enabled state by moving the sewing machine by the robot arm.

The present invention provides a sewing-ready state in which the sewing needle faces the throat plate at a position where the needle can drop, and a detectable state in which the detection unit faces the throat plate from the same direction as the sewing needle facing the throat plate in the sewing state. Since the sewing machine is provided with a state switching mechanism for switching between the two states, it is possible to detect the needle drop line from the same direction as the sewing needle that is ready to be sewn by the detecting section while the sewing material is placed along the throat plate. It is possible to improve detection accuracy.

1 is a side view showing the overall configuration of a sewing system that is an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sewing machine ready for sewing; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sewing machine in a detectable state; FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the sewing machine in a detectable state, viewed from a direction different from that of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the sewing machine in a detectable state as seen from a direction different from that of FIGS. 3 and 4; FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a detection state of a sewing line of a sewing object by a displacement sensor; FIG. 10 is a perspective view when the state switching mechanism switches the sewing machine arm to a sewing-enabled state; FIG. 10 is a perspective view when the state switching mechanism switches the sewing machine arm to a detectable state; It is a flowchart which a control apparatus shows. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing another example of a state switching mechanism; 1 is a perspective view of a conventional sewing system; FIG. 1 is a partial front view of another conventional sewing system; FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the magnitude of undulations that occur on the sewn material; FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing measurement errors that occur in another conventional sewing system;

[Overall Configuration of Sewing System]
A sewing system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing the overall configuration of sewing system 100. As shown in FIG.
The sewing system 100 includes a sewing machine 10 that sews a sewing material R, and a robot arm 110 that holds the sewing machine 10 and conveys the held sewing machine 10 to the sewing material R to perform arbitrary sewing. ing.
Further, in the present embodiment, a sewing material R (see FIG. 6) having a sewing line L as a reference for the needle drop position is formed in advance on a curved or flat surface of a thin or sheet-like resin molded product. A case where two stitches are formed on both sides of a sewing line L will be exemplified.

[Robot arm]
The robot arm 110 includes a base 111 as a foundation, a plurality of arms 112 connected by joints 113, servo motors as drive sources provided for each joint, and arms rotated or rotated by each servo motor. The sewing machine 10 is held at the tip of a plurality of arms 112 connected by joints 113 .

Each of the joints 113 is composed of either a rocking joint that pivotally supports one end of the arm while pivoting the other end, or a rotary joint that pivotally supports the arm itself to be rotatable about its longitudinal direction. be done.
The robot arm 110 has six joints 113, and can position the sewing machine 10 at the tip of the robot arm 110 at an arbitrary position and take an arbitrary posture.
Therefore, the robot arm 110 can sew along an arbitrary curve on the three-dimensional curved surface of the sewing material R.

It should be noted that the robot arm 110 is not limited to the six-axis one, and a seven-axis one having seven joints may be employed. In this case, since redundant joints are generated, it is possible to position the sewing machine 10 at any position and move the intermediate joints while taking any posture. Interference with objects can be avoided. Therefore, the sewing machine 10 can be positioned in a wider range of positions and taken in any posture.

[sewing machine]
2 is a perspective view of the sewing machine 10 in a sewing ready state, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the sewing machine 10 in a detectable state, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the sewing machine 10 in a detectable state seen from a different direction from FIG. 3, and FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the sewing machine 10 in a detectable state, viewed from a different direction than in FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the sewing machine 10 includes a needle vertical movement mechanism 30 having a needle bar 32 holding two sewing needles 31 arranged in the Y-axis direction, and a A looper mechanism comprising a throat plate 12 on which a material to be sewn R is placed, two loopers 14 for capturing upper thread loops from each of two sewing needles 31 to form a seam, and a looper mechanism on the throat plate 12. A displacement sensor 40 as a detection unit for detecting a sewing line L (see FIG. 6) that is formed on the surface of the sewing material R and serves as a reference for the needle drop position, two thread tension devices 13, and the sewing machine 10 is capable of sewing. It includes a state switching mechanism 50 that switches between a state and a detectable state, and a sewing machine frame 20 that supports each of these components.

[Sewing machine frame]
The sewing machine frame 20 includes a sewing machine bed portion 21 extending in a predetermined longitudinal direction, a vertical body portion 22 erected from one end of the sewing machine bed portion 21 in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, and a vertical body. A sewing machine arm portion 23 extending in the same direction as the sewing machine bed portion 21 from the vicinity of the upper end portion of the portion 22 , and a mounting portion fixed to the upper end portion of the vertical body portion 22 and connected to the tip portion of the robot arm 110 . a plate 24;
In the following description of each configuration of the sewing machine 10, the longitudinal direction of the sewing machine bed portion 21 and the sewing machine arm portion 23 is the Y-axis direction, which is orthogonal to the Y-axis direction, and the direction in which the vertical body portion 22 is erected is the Z-axis direction. A direction orthogonal to the direction, the Y-axis direction, and the Z-axis direction is defined as the X-axis direction.
One direction in the Y-axis direction is forward and the other is backward, one direction in the X-axis direction is left and the other right direction, and one direction in the Z-axis direction is upward and the other is downward.

A rectangular frame portion 211 is provided on the upper surface of the front end portion of the sewing machine bed portion 21 of the sewing machine frame 20 , and the throat plate 12 is attached to the upper portion of the frame portion 211 .
The needle plate 12 has a side wall portion 121 raised from the frame portion 211 and a flat contact portion 122 along the XY plane at the upper end portion of the side wall portion 121 . The contact portion 122 is formed with a needle hole into which the sewing needle 31 is inserted. During sewing, the contact portion 122 contacts the back side of the material R to be sewn, and works together with the presser foot 34 to flatten the material R to be sewn. .

Two loopers 14 that can swing around the Y-axis are arranged below the throat plate 12 and inside the frame portion 211 (see FIG. 5).
A lower shaft parallel to the Y-axis direction is rotatably arranged inside the sewing machine bed 21 . The lower shaft is connected to a looper mechanism provided inside the front end of the sewing machine bed 21 .

Two loopers 14 of the looper mechanism are arranged side by side in the Y-axis direction, and have sharp tips directed in the X-axis direction. The looper mechanism converts the rotation of the lower shaft into a reciprocating swing motion to swing the two loopers 14 along the X-axis direction.
Each looper 14 has an insertion hole through which a looper thread is inserted. A loop of thread is captured and a looper thread is passed therethrough. Thereafter, the looper 14 is retracted to form a loop of looper thread, and the sewing needle 31 enters the loop of the looper thread to catch the looper thread. By repeating these steps, seams are formed.

The vertical body portion 22 is erected along the Z-axis direction, and includes a sewing machine motor (not shown) and an upper shaft 33 driven to rotate by the sewing machine motor, which transmits rotational force to the lower shaft. A belt mechanism is stored.

The sewing machine arm portion 23 houses the upper shaft 33 and the needle vertical movement mechanism inside, and the two thread tensioning devices 13 and the displacement sensor 40 are provided outside. 2 to 5, the sewing machine arm portion 23 is shown in a state where each portion is open, but these are all closed by a cover member (not shown).
The sewing machine 10 of the sewing system 100 is characterized in that the state switching mechanism 50 switches between a sewing ready state and a detectable state. Is going.
Therefore, the sewing machine arm portion 23 is supported by the vertical drum portion 22 via a bearing 231 so as to be rotatable about the upper shaft 33 parallel to the Y-axis direction.

When the sewing machine arm 23 is ready for sewing, the needle bar 32 arranged at the front end of the sewing machine arm 23 is parallel to the Z-axis direction and the sewing needle 31 faces downward. In this sewable state, a displacement sensor 40 is provided on the left side of the sewing machine arm portion 23 .
The sewing machine arm portion 23 is switched to the detectable state by rotating 90 degrees from the sewing-enabled state so that the left side surface on which the displacement sensor 40 is provided faces downward.
In the detectable state, the displacement sensor 40 emits detection light vertically downward (in the Z-axis direction), and the light is emitted perpendicularly to the sewing material R on the contact portion 122 of the throat plate 12 at the irradiation destination. It receives the reflected light of the detected light.

The mounting plate 24 is a rectangular flat plate elongated in the Y-axis direction, and extends forward from the upper end portion of the vertical body portion 22 in the same manner as the sewing machine arm portion 23 . A tip of a robot arm 110 is fixed to the upper front end of the mounting plate 24 .
Further, the mounting plate 24 is formed with a slight vertical clearance with respect to the sewing machine arm portion 23, so that it does not interfere with the sewing machine arm portion 23 that rotates when the state is switched. .

[Needle vertical movement mechanism]
As shown in FIG. 4, the needle vertical movement mechanism 30 includes a sewing machine motor that serves as a drive source for vertical movement of the needle bar 32, an upper shaft 33 that is rotationally driven by the sewing machine motor, and a fixed device on the front end of the upper shaft 33. and a needle bar 32 that reciprocates in the Z-axis direction by means of the crank mechanism (not shown).

As described above, the upper shaft 33 is rotatably supported in the sewing machine arm portion 23 along the Y-axis direction. A rear end portion of the upper shaft 33 is inserted into the vertical body portion 22 through the center of the bearing 231 described above.
Inside the vertical drum section 22, the sewing machine motor is arranged with its output shaft extending in the Y-axis direction, and the output shaft is connected to the rear end of the upper shaft 33 directly or via a gear mechanism. ing.

A presser bar 35 is arranged next to the needle bar 32 to support the presser foot 34 at its lower end. In addition to the crank mechanism for the needle bar 32, the sewing machine arm 23 is also provided with another crank mechanism for moving the presser foot 34 up and down. Grant to.
The vertical motion of the presser foot 34 is performed at the same period as the vertical motion of the needle bar 32 and the amplitude of the vertical motion is smaller than that of the needle bar 32 .
Unlike general sewing machines, the sewing machine 10 does not have a feed mechanism for feeding the material to be sewn R from below by means of a feed dog. It enables smooth relative movement between 10 and the material to be sewn R.

[Displacement sensor]
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing how the displacement sensor 40 detects the sewing line L of the material R to be sewn.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the displacement sensor 40 includes a light source 41 for detection light and a light receiving element 42 for receiving the reflected light. In the detectable state, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the light source 41 of the displacement sensor 40 emits band-like detection light having a width in the X-axis direction vertically downward and perpendicular to the contact portion 122 of the needle plate 12. to irradiate. Let the irradiation direction of this detection light be a detection direction. Therefore, the slit light S along the X-axis direction is irradiated onto the sewing material R on the contact portion 122 of the needle plate 12 .
On the other hand, the light-receiving element is a planar image sensor, and the optical axis of the light-receiving element and its optical system is slightly oblique with respect to the vertical downward direction. Accordingly, by receiving the slit light S irradiated onto the sewing material R from an oblique direction, it is possible to obtain the slit light corresponding to the uneven shape at the irradiation position. Then, the surface shape of the sewing material R along the XZ plane can be obtained from the slit light S corresponding to the uneven shape of the sewing material R detected by the light receiving element 42 of the displacement sensor 40 .

Since the sewing line L formed on the material to be sewn R consists of a continuous concave groove, the light source 41 of the displacement sensor 40 irradiates the detection light consisting of the slit light S in the direction crossing the grooves, so that the displacement sensor 40 Since the light-receiving element 42 receives the slit light S having a concave portion having a cross-sectional shape of a ridge or groove, the needle drop position can be specified by obtaining the position of the concave portion. Further, by continuously determining the positions of the recesses while moving the sewing machine 10 with the robot arm 110, it is possible to determine the trajectory of the continuous target needle drop positions.

[State switching mechanism]
7 is a perspective view when the state switching mechanism 50 switches the sewing machine arm portion 23 to the sewing enabled state, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view when the state switching mechanism 50 switches the sewing machine arm portion 23 to the detectable state.
The state switching mechanism 50 rotates the sewing machine arm 23 within an angular range of 90° to switch between the sewing ready state and the detectable state.
For this reason, the state switching mechanism 50 is provided at the rear end portion of the sewing machine arm portion 23 and extends radially outward from the upper shaft 33 . A cylindrical boss member 52, a slide block 54 having an elongated hole 541 into which the boss member 52 can be inserted, a guide rail 55 slidably supporting the slide block 54 along the Z-axis direction, and a servo as a drive source. A motor (not shown), a power transmission mechanism built in the guide rail 55, a first fixed arm portion 57 and a second fixed arm portion 58 provided at the rear end portion of the sewing machine arm portion 23, and a sewing machine arm. A lock pin 59 is provided to fix the portion 23 so that it does not rotate.

The guide rail 55 is attached to the left side surface of the vertical body portion 22 along the Z-axis direction.
The power transmission mechanism built into the guide rail 55 is composed of, for example, a ball screw mechanism, a belt mechanism, or the like, and uses a servomotor as a drive source to transmit linear motion along the Z-axis direction to the slide block 54.

The slide block 54 has an elongated hole 541 along the X-axis direction formed in its front surface.
On the other hand, the driven arm portion 51 has a boss member 52 attached to its rear surface in a state of protruding rearward, and is inserted into the elongated hole 541 of the slide block 54 .
When the slide block 54 is moved along the Z-axis direction by the guide rail 55 , the driven arm portion 51 rotates the entire sewing machine arm portion 23 around the upper shaft 33 via the boss member 52 inserted into the elongated hole 541 . Let At this time, the boss member 52 moves along the circumference centered on the upper shaft 33, and thus changes in position in the Z-axis direction and the X-axis direction. Since it is inserted into the elongated hole 541, it is allowed to move along the X-axis direction.
Therefore, the sewing machine arm portion 23 is smoothly rotated by the linear movement of the slide block 54 along the Z-axis direction.
Further, since a servomotor is used to move the slide block 54, it is possible to accurately position the slide block 54 between the position where the sewing machine arm 23 is ready for sewing and the position where it is ready for detection. be.
Although the moving direction of the slide block 54 is illustrated as the Z-axis direction, it is not limited to this, and may be any direction as long as it is perpendicular to the Y-axis direction.

Both the first fixed arm portion 57 and the second fixed arm portion 58 extend radially outward from the rear end portion of the sewing machine arm portion 23 about the upper shaft 33 . The angle formed by the extension direction of the first fixed arm portion 57 and the extension direction of the second fixed arm portion 58 is 90°, which is equal to the rotation angle range of the sewing machine arm portion 23 .
Through holes 571 and 581 into which the lock pin 59 can be inserted are formed in the first fixed arm portion 57 and the second fixed arm portion 58 along the Y-axis direction at positions equidistant from the upper shaft 33 . Penetration is formed.
When viewed from the Y-axis direction, the position of the through hole 571 of the first fixed arm portion 57 in the sewing machine arm portion 23 in the sewing ready state (see FIG. 7) and the second fixed arm portion in the sewing machine arm portion 23 in the detectable state. 58 (see FIG. 8).

The lock pin 59 contains, for example, a solenoid, and can be protruded or retracted from the front surface of the vertical body portion 22 . Therefore, by inserting the lock pin 59 into the through hole 571 of the first fixing arm portion 57 of the sewing machine arm portion 23 in the sewing ready state, the sewing machine arm portion 23 can be fixed in the sewing ready state. Further, by inserting the lock pin 59 into the through hole 581 of the second fixing arm portion 58 of the sewing machine arm portion 23 in the detectable state, the sewing machine arm portion 23 can be fixed in the detectable state.

[Sewing operation of the sewing system]
In the sewing system 100 configured as described above, an operation input device (not shown) is used in advance to set and input information relating to the trajectory of a plurality of consecutive needle drop positions. Such a setting operation may be performed by inputting the coordinates of a plurality of continuous needle drop positions as numerical values, or by calculating and inputting the coordinates of the needle drop positions from the design data of the sewing line L formed on the material to be sewn R. can be In addition, the robot arm 110 is operated with respect to the reference sewing material R, the actual attitude and position coordinates of the robot arm 110 are read, and basic information for setting the needle drop position and the attitude of the sewing machine is input ( teaching).

In this way, when sewing along the sewing line L of the sewing material R, basic control data is acquired in advance. The sewing material R is manually fixed to the jig, and the sewing material R in the fixed state is sewn.
For this reason, the position of the sewing line L may be displaced individually at the stage of attaching the sewing material R, or the position of the sewing line L may be displaced due to a processing error or the like at the stage of manufacturing the individual sewing material R. may occur.

In consideration of the occurrence of such an error, a control device (not shown) that controls the sewing system 100 performs sewing operation control as shown in the flowchart shown in FIG.
That is, the control device switches the sewing machine 10 to the detectable state in advance before sewing (step S1).
That is, the control device rotates the sewing machine arm portion 23 by driving the servo motor of the state switching mechanism 50 of the sewing machine 10 to switch to a detectable state in which the displacement sensor 40 faces the throat plate 12 side.

Next, the control device controls the robot arm 110 based on the basic control data to convey the sewing machine 10 along the ideal sewing line L with no error (step S3).
During such transportation, the control device detects the actual position of the sewing line L using the displacement sensor 40 of the sewing machine 10 (step S5).
Then, based on the detected position of the actual sewing line L detected by the displacement sensor 40, the positional error of the actual sewing line L with respect to the ideal sewing line L with no error is calculated (step S7).

Next, the control device switches the sewing machine 10 to the sewing-ready state (step S9).
That is, the control device rotates the sewing machine arm portion 23 by driving the servo motor of the state switching mechanism 50 of the sewing machine 10 to switch to the sewing ready state in which the needle bar 32 and the sewing needle 31 face the needle plate 12 side. .

Next, the control device corrects the basic control data based on the position error acquired in step S7, controls the robot arm 110, and conveys the sewing machine 10 along the actual sewing line L. (Step S11), the sewing machine motor is driven to execute sewing (Step S13).
Then, sewing is performed along the entire sewing line L, and the control device ends the sewing operation control.

[Effects of Embodiment]
As described above, in the sewing system 100, the sewing machine 10 faces the throat plate 12 and the sewing needle 31 faces the throat plate 12 at a position where the needle can drop into the sewing ready state. A state switching mechanism 50 is provided for switching between a detectable state in which the light source 41 of 40 faces the needle plate 12 . Therefore, the sewing line L can be detected while the sewing material R is placed on the contact portion 122 of the needle plate 12, and the sewing line L can be detected accurately.
In addition, since the displacement sensor 40 performs detection while facing the throat plate 12 in the same direction as the sewing needle 31 ready for sewing, detection position errors due to the influence of the undulations of the material R to be sewn are reduced, and sewing can be performed with high precision. Line L can be detected.

In addition, the state switching mechanism 50 of the sewing machine 10 changes the orientation of the sewing machine arm 23 with respect to the needle plate 12 to switch between the sewing ready state and the detectable state. The displacement sensor 40 can be arranged to face the throat plate 12 without interfering with the needle plate 12, and highly accurate detection can be performed by an easy switching operation.

In addition, since the state switching mechanism 50 of the sewing machine 10 switches between the sewing ready state and the detectable state by rotating the sewing machine arm 23, large movements of each component can be avoided and a space for switching can be saved. Since the size can be reduced, the installation space for the sewing machine 10 in the sewing system 100 can be reduced, and accordingly, the size of the entire sewing system 100 can be reduced.

In addition, the sewing machine 10 switches between the sewing-enabled state and the detection-enabled state by rotating the sewing machine arm 23 about the upper shaft 33 by the state switching mechanism 50 . It becomes easy to dispose the sewing machine motor on the side of the vertical body portion 22 outside the sewing machine 23, and it becomes possible to reduce the weight of the configuration for performing the state switching operation by the state switching mechanism 50.
As a result, the driving source of the state switching mechanism 50 can be downsized, and the overall size of the sewing machine 10 can be reduced. becomes possible. Also, it is possible to reduce the size of the robot arm 110 .

In addition, since the state switching mechanism 50 of the sewing machine 10 includes a servomotor as a drive source for switching between the sewing ready state and the detectable state, the state switching work can be automated and the burden on the operator can be reduced. becomes possible.

In addition, since the sewing system 100 is configured such that the robot arm 110 holds the sewing machine 10, the sewing machine 10 can be conveyed with high precision, and sewing with high quality can be achieved.

[others]
In the above-described sewing system 100, the configuration in which the state switching mechanism 50 of the sewing machine 10 switches the state using the servomotor as a driving source has been exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, like a state switching mechanism 50A shown in FIG. 10, a driven arm portion 51A extending radially outward from the sewing machine arm portion 23 centering on the upper shaft 33 and a cylindrical shape provided on the driven arm portion 51A A boss member 52A is provided, and a state switching jig 53A having a structure for locking the boss member 52A, such as an insertion hole 531A of the boss member 52A, is fixed within the movable range of the robot arm 110 so as not to move. It is good also as a structure to install.
In this case, when the state is switched, the robot arm 110 inserts the boss member 52A into the insertion hole 531A of the jig 53A for state switching by moving the sewing machine 10, and the sewing machine arm 23 is detected from the sewing ready state. The configuration may be such that the robot arm 110 moves the sewing machine 10 so that the sewing machine arm portion 23 rotates in the direction in which the sewing machine arm 23 is switched from the ready state or the detectable state to the sewing ready state, thereby switching the state.
In this case, it is possible to eliminate the need for a configuration such as a servomotor, a slide block 54, a guide rail 55, etc., which serves as a drive source for the state switching mechanism 50A.
It is desirable that the state switching mechanism 50A also include the first fixed arm portion 57, the second fixed arm portion 58, and the lock pin 59. As shown in FIG.

Further, the state switching mechanism 50 performs state switching by rotating the sewing machine arm portion 23, but the state switching mechanism 50 may be switched by other methods.
For example, the displacement sensor 40 is arranged next to the needle bar 32 in a direction orthogonal to the Z-axis direction with the irradiation direction (detection direction) of the detection light directed downward in the Z-axis direction. may be slid in adjacent directions to switch the state.

Moreover, although the case where the concave groove was formed in the to-be-sewn material R as the sewing line L was illustrated, it is not restricted to this, You may comprise, for example, a convex line|wire, a crease|fold, etc. As shown in FIG.
Also, the sewing line may be displayed in any optically detectable direction. For example, lines may be applied with inks having specific colors or specific optical properties.
Accordingly, the detection unit is not limited to a displacement sensor, and a camera, photointerrupter, or other optical element may be used.

The state switching mechanism 50 switches the state by rotating the sewing machine arm 23 by 90 degrees, but the magnitude of this angle can be changed.

10 Sewing machine 12 Needle plate 122 Contact part 20 Sewing machine frame 21 Sewing machine bed part 22 Vertical body part 23 Sewing machine arm part 231 Bearing 30 Needle up-down movement mechanism 31 Sewing needle 32 Needle bar 33 Upper shaft 40 Displacement sensor (detection part)
41 Light source 42 Light receiving element 50, 50A State switching mechanism 51, 51A Follower arm 52, 52A Boss member 54 Slide block 541 Slot 55 Guide rail 57 First fixed arm 58 Second fixed arm 59 Lock pin 100 Sewing System 110 Robot arm D Original position D1 Misidentified position L Sewing line R Object to be sewn S Slit light

Claims (6)

a sewing machine; and a robot arm that holds the sewing machine and moves the held sewing machine with respect to a sewing object,
The sewing machine
a throat plate provided on the bed of the sewing machine and on which the material to be sewn is placed;
a needle up-and-down movement mechanism that is housed in a sewing machine arm of the sewing machine and faces the throat plate to drop a sewing needle;
a detection unit that detects a sewing line formed on the surface of the sewing material as a reference for a needle drop position;
A sewing system in which the sewing machine is moved by the robot arm so that a needle is dropped along the detected sewing line,
A sewing-ready state in which the sewing needle faces the throat plate at a position where the needle can drop, and a detectable state in which the detection unit faces the throat plate in the same direction as the sewing needle in the sewing-ready state. Equipped with a switching state switching mechanism,
A sewing system, wherein the sewing line is detected while the sewing machine is moved by the robot arm in the detectable state. The detection unit is provided on a sewing machine arm of the sewing machine,
2. The sewing according to claim 1, wherein the state switching mechanism switches between the sewing enabled state and the detectable state by changing the position or orientation of the sewing machine arm with respect to the needle plate. system. 3. The sewing system according to claim 2, wherein the state switching mechanism switches between the sewing ready state and the detectable state by rotating the sewing machine arm. 4. The sewing system according to claim 3, wherein the state switching mechanism switches between the sewing ready state and the detectable state by rotating the sewing machine arm about an upper shaft. The sewing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the state switching mechanism includes a drive source that switches between the sewing ready state and the detectable state. 5. The sewing system according to claim 1, wherein the sewing machine is switched between the sewing ready state and the detectable state by moving the sewing machine by the robot arm.

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