JP7391389B2 - Article conveyance processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article conveyance processing apparatus that employs a robot picking system.

Conventionally, a robot is controlled based on information about the position and orientation of the article obtained by photographing the article being conveyed by a camera with a camera, and the amount of movement of the article being conveyed by the conveyor to transfer the article. A picking system is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). The picking system disclosed in Patent Document 1 employs an apparatus configuration in which an article placed on a conveyor and transported is gripped by a robot and transported to a predetermined position for a subsequent process. A return conveyor provided near the end of the conveyor is configured to return articles that the robot has failed to grasp to the upstream side.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-292276

In an automated line where items transported from a manufacturing machine are sent to a packaging machine for packaging, a robot installed upstream of the packaging machine picks up the items being transported at random intervals and directs them to the packaging machine. A device is used that transfers the articles to a supply conveyor. For example, rice crackers such as rice crackers are prone to deformation, size variation, cracking, and chipping during the manufacturing process, and such non-standard defective products are mixed with good products that meet the specifications and are shipped from upstream. It will be transported. It is necessary to prevent such defective products from being picked up (grasped) by robots, transported to a packaging machine, and ultimately sent out as products without being distinguished from non-defective products.

However, in the picking system disclosed in Patent Document 1, configurations for obtaining an efficient picking system are not considered, such as a proposal that does not pick defective items that have flowed from upstream to a conveyor that is transferred and processed by a robot. It's not something that exists.

In view of the problems not taken into consideration in the prior art, the present invention prevents a robot from picking an item that is identified as a defective item among conveyed items that are classified as non-defective items and defective items. , among the items that have reached the end of the conveyor, they are sorted into good items that were not picked up by the robot and items that have been identified as defective items, and then the items that have been sorted out as good items are collected and sent back to the conveyor. In addition, when picking items including non-defective items carried out from the conveyor, it is possible to review the processing efficiency of multiple robots or change the ability to supply items to the packaging machine. An object of the present invention is to provide an article conveyance processing device that can improve the processing efficiency of the device (picking system).

The article conveyance processing device of the invention according to claim 1 of the present application includes:
a first conveyor (12) that conveys the article (11);
a second conveyor (20) capable of conveying the article (11) toward the packaging machine (21);
an imaging means (29) for imaging the article (11) conveyed by the first conveyor (12);
The article (11) gripped and picked up from the first conveyor (12) is transferred to the second conveyor (20) at a conveyance interval that matches the packaging timing determined by the packaging speed of the packaging machine (21). robot (13) and
Based on the image information obtained by imaging with the imaging means (29), the article (11) conveyed by the first conveyor (12) is classified as a good article to be gripped by the robot (13) and a good article to be gripped by the robot (13). In step 13), the items (11) that are not to be grasped are classified as either good through items or defective items that pass through the picking area of the robot (13), and each item (11) is transported. an identification unit (42) that specifies the position;
a sorting means (30) for sorting and transporting the defective products and non-defective products identified by the identification unit (42) to predetermined destinations (31, 36), respectively;
A feeding means (41) for distributing and feeding articles (11) conveyed from upstream to the first conveyor (12) via a plurality of conveyors (15, 17, 18),
It is configured to be able to return the non-defective through-products sorted and carried out by the sorting means (30) to the feeding means (41),
In the identification unit (42), the conveyance speed of the second conveyor (20) and the packaging speed of the packaging machine (21) are adjusted according to the number of articles (11) identified as non-defective items conveyed per predetermined time. It is characterized by being configured to control.
According to the invention according to claim 1, since the robot does not grip an article identified as a defective product based on the image information of the imaging means, it is possible to narrow down the objects to be transferred and eliminate unnecessary movements of the operating robot. . This allows production efficiency to be improved over conventional picking systems. In addition, when the goods that were not gripped by the robot and are good through-products and the goods that were identified as defective and were not gripped reach the downstream of the first conveyor, they are sorted to determine whether they are good or defective. Since the article is configured to be carried out after removing the defective articles, it is possible to return the articles excluding defective articles to the conveyance start end of the first conveyor and handle them as if they were to be picked again. Furthermore, it is not necessary to manually find and remove defective products from the articles being transported or to provide a separate inspection device to inspect and eliminate defective products, making it possible to obtain a highly productive apparatus. Furthermore, the items are identified as good through-products that are not to be gripped by the robot, and the items that were carried out without being gripped from the first conveyor are mixed with the items that have been conveyed from upstream (previous process) and returned to the first conveyor. be able to. Even if the conveyance amount of the article increases temporarily due to the return of the article, or the conveyance amount increases due to other factors, some of the articles sent to the first conveyor may be held as non-defective items. Based on the number of identified articles to be conveyed per predetermined time, the conveyance speed of the second conveyor and the packaging speed of the packaging machine are controlled to be appropriate, thereby stably supplying the articles to the packaging machine. Product packaging efficiency can be improved.

In the invention according to claim 2, a plurality of picking units (28) each including the robot (13) are provided, and the picking units (28) are arranged in the article conveyance direction of the first conveyor (12). and the imaging means (29) is provided upstream of the picking area in each picking unit (28), and the identification section (42) identifies an image obtained by imaging with the imaging means (29) in each picking unit. The article (11) is identified into one of the categories based on the information, and the transport position on the first conveyor (12) is obtained for each article in each of the identified categories. According to the invention of claim 2, by providing a plurality of picking units from upstream to downstream of the first conveyor, the picking processing capacity can be improved, and each of the picking units placed on the first conveyor and transported When the placement state of an article changes during transportation, it is possible to identify which of the three categories the article belongs to in each picking unit and perform appropriate picking processing.

In the invention according to claim 3, based on the number of articles transported per predetermined time obtained by identifying each category of the article (11), three categories of the above-mentioned non-defective products, non-defective through products, and defective products are identified for each picking unit. It is characterized in that it is configured to obtain production information about the number of inflows per predetermined time for each category and the operating rate calculated from the number of inflows of goods .
According to the invention of claim 3, production information such as the operating rate of each picking unit can be obtained based on the number of good products transported corresponding to each picking unit, and the production information can be displayed on the display means. You can find out production information at. In addition, by referring to the obtained production information regarding the number of non-defective items transported , the grip assignments of each robot in each picking unit can be changed and set to ensure efficient transfer processing. I can do it.

In the invention according to claim 4, the first conveyor (12) and the second conveyor (20) are arranged in parallel in different conveyance directions, and the robot (13) has a plurality of robots for each picking unit (28). It is characterized by having been established.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, it is possible to efficiently transfer the articles to the second conveyor with a margin.

The invention according to claim 5 includes a good product recovery means (31) for returning the good through-products sorted and carried out by the sorting means (30) to the feeding means (41),
The non-defective product collecting means (31) is characterized by being provided with a collection conveyor (38) for returning the non-defective through products to upstream of the feeding means (41).
According to the invention as claimed in claim 5, by returning the articles that are identified as good through-products, sorted and carried out from the conveyance end of the first conveyor to the upstream side of the picking system by the collection conveyor and conveyed again, the efficiency is improved. transport processing can be performed. Further, there is no need to manually collect good items and return them as items to be picked again, and automation can improve production efficiency.

In the invention according to claim 6, the feeding means (41) includes a storage hopper (14) that stores the articles (11) conveyed from upstream, and from the storage hopper (14) a plurality of conveyors (15, 17, 18) to feed the articles (11) to the first conveyor (12) in a distributed manner;
The collection conveyor (38) is characterized in that it is configured to return the good through-products to the storage hopper (14).
According to the invention of claim 6, the article conveyed from the upstream (previous process) is temporarily stored in the storage hopper and then conveyed by the conveyor of the feeding means, so that the article is conveyed toward the first conveyor. The flow of articles can be adjusted, and changes in the number of articles fed per predetermined time can be suppressed to a minimum, and articles can be favorably fed to the first conveyor. In addition, since the items that are identified by the robot as non-defective through items that are difficult to grasp and are sorted and carried out from the first conveyor are returned to the storage hopper, even if the inflow of items temporarily increases due to the addition of the items, Articles can be sent toward the first conveyor without disturbing the flow.

In the invention according to claim 7, the feeding means (41) includes a distributed supply unit (18, 19) that feeds the articles (11) in a plurality of rows at predetermined intervals to the first conveyor (12). It is characterized by having the following.
According to the invention of claim 7, since the articles are sent to the first conveyor after being scattered from front to back and left to right, when the articles sent to the first conveyor are gripped by the robot, the distance between the articles is adjusted by the robot. It is possible to perform distributed feeding such that the items are spread out and placed on the first conveyor so that there is no problem in gripping them. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the robot from gripping the product incorrectly and to prevent non-defective products from being carried out from the first conveyor, thereby improving the conveyance efficiency of the first conveyor. Further, by providing a plurality of picking units and robots, processing efficiency by the robots can be improved and productivity can be increased.

According to the present invention, among the articles carried out from the first conveyor without being gripped by the robot, articles identified as defective are excluded, and the remaining articles are returned to be transported on the first conveyor. It can be an item to be picked. The robot grasps only the items that are identified as good and transfers them to the second conveyor, which sends the items to a packaging machine such as a horizontal bag-forming-filling machine, thereby preventing the contamination of defective products. I can do it. Thereby, it is not necessary to separately provide an inspection device in a pre-process or a post-process to exclude defective products, so the cost of the device can be reduced. In this way, it is possible to provide an article conveyance processing apparatus with improved productivity. In addition, the number of items transported per predetermined time (the number of non-defective items identified) of the items that are sent to the first conveyor, including the items returned to the first conveyor, are re-identified as non-defective items, and are to be picked. By controlling the conveyance speed of the two conveyors and the wrapping speed of the packaging machine, it is possible to perform stable packaging processing using the packaging machine, and it is possible to perform article transportation processing with improved packaging efficiency and productivity. .

1 is a schematic plan view showing an article conveyance processing device equipped with a picking system. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the article conveyance processing device. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the article conveyance processing device viewed from the downstream side of the article conveyance direction of the picking conveyor. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of main parts showing a sorting means and a non-defective product collecting means. FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the article conveyance processing device.

Next, preferred embodiments of the article conveyance processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The article conveyance processing apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 transports articles 11 such as rice crackers such as rice crackers conveyed from the upstream side of a food manufacturing machine etc. to the subsequent process where the articles 11 are conveyed. This is a device that supplies a horizontal bag-filling machine (packaging machine) 21 via a picking system 10. The picking system 10 includes a picking conveyor (first conveyor) 12 on which articles 11 conveyed from a manufacturing machine are placed and conveyed, and a conveyor (second conveyor) capable of conveying the articles 11 toward a packaging machine 21. 20, and a robot 13 that grasps the articles 11 placed randomly on the picking conveyor 12 and transfers them to the conveyor 20. Further, an imaging means 29 including another image sensor such as a CCD camera is disposed above the picking conveyor 12 so as to be able to take an image of the article 11 placed on the picking conveyor 12 and transported. Based on the information obtained by image processing the image data captured by the imaging means 29, the robot 13 is controlled to pick the article 11 transported by the picking conveyor 12. At the downstream end of the picking conveyor 12, a sorting means (sorting means) 30 is provided. As the articles 11 to be carried out from the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 without being gripped by the robot 13, the articles 11 that are identified by the identification section 42 (described later) as good through-products or defective articles are sorted by the sorting means 30 to different destinations 31, They are sorted into 36 units and transported out. Then, the articles 11 that are good through-products and are carried out by the sorting means 30 join the articles 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine and are sent back to the starting end of the conveyance of the picking conveyor 12. In this way, by adding the returned articles 11 to the articles 11 sent from the manufacturing machine, the number of articles sent to the picking conveyor 12 per predetermined time changes. Then, the identification unit 42 counts the number of articles 11 transported per predetermined period of time that are sent to the picking conveyor 12 and identified as non-defective items, and the items that are identified as non-defective items by the identification unit 42 and are to be held The transport speed of the transport conveyor 20 and the packaging speed of the packaging machine 21 are controlled in accordance with the number of counts sent to the picking conveyor 12 per predetermined time.

As shown in FIG. 1, the article conveyance processing device transports articles 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine to a vibrating hopper 14, an introduction conveyor 15, a first vibrating feeder 16, a connecting conveyor 17, a sorting conveyor 18, and a second vibrating feeder. The pick conveyor 12 is configured to be distributed in a plurality of rows (four rows in the embodiment) in the width direction of the picking conveyor 12 via a feed means 41 consisting of 19. That is, the vibrating hopper (storage hopper) 14 that receives the article 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine is equipped with two divided delivery sections 14a, 14a, and the article 11 sent out from each delivery section 14a is separated from the corresponding introduction section. The conveyor 15 feeds each of the materials to a bowl-shaped first vibratory feeder 16 disposed upstream of the picking system 10 . A sorting conveyor 18 is connected to the conveyance end of the connecting conveyor 17 through which the articles 11 fed to each first vibrating feeder 16 are sent out in a single line, and a second vibrating feeder 19 is connected to the conveying end of the sorting conveyor 18. Two rows of linear troughs 19a, 19a are connected, and the articles 11 sent in one row from the connecting conveyor 17 to the sorting conveyor 18 are sorted by the sorting conveyor 18 to the two lines of linear troughs 19a, 19a. The articles 11 fed by the linear troughs 19a, 19a of the two second vibrating feeders 19 are distributed to the picking conveyor 12 connected to the terminal end into a total of four rows at intervals that allow the robot 13 to grip them. will be supplied. In this way, the articles 11 that are distributed and supplied at a distance in the width direction are configured so that the front and back intervals are random. In the embodiment, the sorting conveyor 18 and the second vibrating feeder 19 are distributed feeding units that feed the articles 11 to the picking conveyor 12 in a distributed manner in a plurality of rows spaced apart in the width direction of the picking conveyor 12 at intervals that allow the robot 13 to grip them. Configure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the introduction conveyor 15 is arranged parallel to one side of the picking conveyor 12, and is arranged to transport the articles 11 in a direction opposite to the article conveying direction of the picking conveyor 12. The vibrating hopper 14 into which the articles 11 from the manufacturing machine are sent is disposed corresponding to the transport end side of the picking conveyor 12. Then, among the articles 11 that are not to be gripped by the robot 13, the articles 11 that are identified as non-defective through items (described later) and sorted and sorted from the transport end of the picking conveyor 12 are returned to the vibration hopper 14 by the non-defective item collecting means 31. It is configured like this. Further, the transport conveyor 20 is arranged in parallel on the other side of the introduction conveyor 15 with the picking conveyor 12 in between, and the articles 11 gripped and picked up from the picking conveyor 12 by the robot 13 are transferred to the transport conveyor 20. It will be posted. The conveyor 20 is configured to convey the articles 11 at predetermined intervals in accordance with the packaging timing of a packaging machine connected downstream. The conveyor 20 is set to place and convey the article 11 in the opposite direction (different conveyance direction) from the article conveyance direction of the picking conveyor 12, and the conveyor end of the conveyor 20 is connected to the supply conveyor in the packaging machine 21. The articles 11 are connected to the upstream end of the conveyor 22 and placed on the conveyor 20 at predetermined intervals by the robot 13, and are transferred from the conveyor 20 to the supply conveyor 22. The articles 11 sent to the supply conveyor 22 are fed at predetermined intervals into a cylindrical film that has been pulled out from the original roll of the packaging machine 21 and formed in accordance with the packaging timing of the packaging machine 21. Then, the cylindrical film is vertically sealed, and at the front and rear positions sandwiching the articles 11 fed into the cylindrical film at predetermined intervals, horizontal sealing and cutting are performed in a direction intersecting the feeding direction of the cylindrical film. By applying this, a pillow-wrapped packaged product can be obtained.

The picking conveyor 12 circulates one wide endless belt 12a as a conveyor by a drive motor such as a servo motor (not shown), thereby transporting all the articles 11 placed on the endless belt 12a to the downstream side. A belt conveyor is used to transport the materials to the destination. A drive motor (servo motor) that drives the picking conveyor 12 is provided with an encoder that detects the rotation of the motor. Output pulses from the encoder 23 (see FIG. 5) serving as conveyance position output means are input to the system control unit 24. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a plurality of parallel link robots are installed as the robots 13, and the handling section 27 provided at the end of the arm 25 of each robot 13 has a suction member 26a for suctioning the article 11. and a pair of chucks 26b, 26b, which are disposed on both sides of the suction member 26a and sandwich the sides of the article 11 suctioned by the suction member 26a with light contact. In the picking system 10 of the embodiment, three picking units 28 each equipped with two robots 13 spaced apart by a predetermined distance in the transport direction of the picking conveyor 12 are arranged in the article transport direction of the picking conveyor 12, and a total of six The robot 13 is configured to carry out a shared picking process such that the robot 13 grasps the article 11 from the picking conveyor 12 and transfers it to the transport conveyor 20.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each picking unit 28 arranged in line in the article conveyance direction of the picking conveyor 12 has a picking area of the robot 13 located at the most upstream position (the robot 13 located at the most upstream position The image pickup means 29 is disposed at a position upstream of the region). The number of pulses from the encoder 23 attached to the drive motor that drives the picking conveyor 12 and detecting the rotation angle of the motor is read, and each time the picking conveyor 12 travels a predetermined distance, a predetermined imaging area is captured by the imaging means. 29 is set to take an image. Image information obtained by imaging by the imaging means 29 in each picking unit 28 is input as a signal to each robot control section C (CA, CB, CC) for image processing, as shown in the control block diagram of FIG. The identification unit 42 (42A, 42B, 42C) of each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) identifies the horizontal position of the article 11, the rotation angle (orientation of the article) of the article 11 around the vertical axis, and the cracks. , chipping, etc. are identified in association with the conveyance position of the article 11 on the picking conveyor 12 (the placement position of the article placed on the conveyor) obtained from the number of pulses from the encoder 23. In other words, there is an overlap between the article 11 that is identified as a good item to be grasped by the robot 13 and the article 11 that is not to be grasped by the robot 13, or the articles are too close to each other. The article 11 is not in the article placement state and is unlikely to be picked up by the robot 13, and is identified as a good through item that passes through the picking area of the robot 13 without being picked up by the robot 13. Identifies which identification category the article 11 belongs to among the three categories, which consists of the article 11 and the article 11 that is identified as a defective article that cannot be considered as a product due to cracks, chips, deformation, or other size defects. do. Then, the robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) uses the gripping means 26 of the robot 13 to grip the article 11 to be gripped, which has been identified as a non-defective item by the identification unit 42 (42A, 42B, 42C), and The gripping means 26 Tracking control is performed so that the articles 11 are moved in the conveyance direction of the conveyor 20 at a speed synchronized with the conveyance speed of the conveyor 20 and placed in accordance with the support interval of the articles 11 being pushed by the conveyor 20. be exposed. Note that when distinguishing the three picking units 28 in the following description, they are referred to as a first picking unit 28A, a second picking unit 28B, and a third picking unit in order from the upstream side in the article conveyance direction by the picking conveyor 12. In addition to referring to the unit 28C, the components constituting each picking unit 28A, 28B, 28C shown in FIG. CA, second robot control section CB, third robot control section CC, first imaging means 29A, second imaging means 29B, third imaging means 29C, first identification section 42A, second identification They will be referred to as a section 42B and a third identification section 42C. Furthermore, since each picking unit 28 includes two robots 13, the robots 13 of the first picking unit 28A are referred to as a first robot 13A and a second robot 13A, and The robots 13 of the unit 28B are referred to as a third robot 13B and a fourth robot 13B, and the robots 13 of the third picking unit 28C are referred to as a fifth robot 13C and a sixth robot 13C.

In the picking unit 28 , the robot 13 is controlled to pick up the articles 11 that have been identified as good among the articles 11 conveyed by the picking conveyor 12 . The picking operation of each robot 13 is controlled so that the three sequentially arranged picking units 28 share the picking process. In the embodiment, first to third picking units 28A, 28B, and 28C are sequentially installed from the upstream side of the picking conveyor 12 to the downstream side of the conveyance side, and the article 11 placed on the picking conveyor 12 is first The first picking unit 28A arrives at the first picking unit 28A, and among the articles 11 that have been imaged by the first imaging means 29A and identified as non-defective items, the loading width of the picking conveyor 12 is divided into two, and the items 11 are transferred to the destination. The first and second robots 13A and 13A provided in the first picking unit 28A grip the article 11 placed in the back half picking area, which is the side far away from the conveyor 20. , the operation of the robot 13 is controlled, and the articles 11 are subsequently conveyed to the installation location of the second picking unit 28B, and among the articles 11 that are imaged by the second imaging means 29B and identified as non-defective items, the above-mentioned picked item is The article 11 placed in the picking area in the front half, which is closer to the transport conveyor 20, which divides the placing width of the conveyor 12 into two, is transferred to the third and fourth robots 13B provided in the second picking unit 28B. , 13B. Subsequently, the remaining articles 11 placed on the picking conveyor 12 are transported to the installation location of the third picking unit 28C, and all the articles 11 that have been imaged by the third imaging means 29C and identified as non-defective items are The picking process is performed by the fifth and sixth robots 13C and 13C in the third picking unit 28C without any restriction on the picking area. In this way, in the third picking unit 28C, the remaining parts that could not be picked by the first to fourth robots 13A, 13A, 13B, and 13B in the first picking unit 28A and the second picking unit 28B are processed. The article 11 imaged by the third imaging means 29C of the third picking unit 28C and identified as a good item is picked by the fifth and sixth robots 13C and 13C. In this third picking unit 28C, the articles 11 that are identified as non-defective items are arranged in the order in which the articles 11 placed apart in the width direction of the picking conveyor 12 are arranged in the width direction (introduced from the transport conveyor side). Conveyor side or vice versa), a preset transfer order such as the position order in the transport direction (order of arrival at the picking area), or the order in which the robot 13 can pick the articles 11 the fastest. The operations of the upstream and downstream robots 13C, 13C can be controlled.

In addition, in each picking unit 28, two robots 13, 13 are provided for each picking unit 28, based on the number, transport position, orientation, etc. of the articles 11 that are imaged by the imaging means 29 and identified as non-defective. The operation of each robot 13 is controlled so that the robots 13 share the picking process. The articles 11 placed on the picking conveyor 12 and conveyed from upstream to downstream are transported by the first to third imaging means 29A provided upstream of the first to third picking units 28A, 28B, and 28C. , 29B, and 29C image a predetermined imaging range each time the picking conveyor 12 travels a predetermined distance, and the conveyance position (position in the article conveyance direction and width direction) and placement orientation of the article 11 on the picking conveyor 12 are recognized. At the same time, it is identified which of the three categories the article 11 corresponds to. In this way, the articles 11 that are distributed and conveyed in four rows on the picking conveyor 12 can be transported if some change (such as a change in the article conveyance position in the width direction or a change in the orientation of the articles) occurs during the conveyance process. However, by sequentially capturing images with the imaging means 29 provided upstream of the picking area of the articles 11 sent to each picking unit 28A, 28B, and 28C, it is possible to respond to changes in the current status of the articles 11 and position changes. , it is possible to identify which of the three categories the article 11 falls under.

The article 11 imaged by the imaging means 29 is identified as either a non-defective through-product or a defective article 11 that is not to be picked, and is not picked up by the robot 13 and transferred to the third picking unit 28C. By reaching outside the picking area of the (most downstream robot 13), it is carried out from the conveyance downstream of the picking conveyor 12. The sorting means 30 sorts the articles 11 that are identified as non-defective through-products among the articles 11 carried out from the picking conveyor 12 to the non-defective article collecting means 31 which is a first destination, and also identifies them as defective articles. The article 11 is configured to be sorted to a defective article collecting section 36 which is a second destination, and the article 11 that has been sorted to the good article collecting means 31 and identified as a non-defective through article is returned to the vibrating hopper 14. . The articles 11 are sent to the picking conveyor 12 so as to be distributed and placed in four rows on the endless belt 12a, and the sorting means 30 collects the articles placed on the picking conveyor 12 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Four branch bodies 32 are provided corresponding to the eleven distribution positions and arranged in the width direction of the endless belt 12a. Each branch body 32 has a slope portion (article conveyance surface) 32a having one end serving as a shooter facing the conveyance end side of the picking conveyor 12, and receives the article 11 carried out from the conveyance end side of the picking conveyor 12, and The body 32 is positioned at the non-defective product carrying out position (solid line position in FIG. 4), and the article 11 is carried out to the non-defective product collecting means 31 by sliding along the slope portion 32a. Each branch body 32 is supported by an operating cylinder (tilting means) 33 such as an air cylinder so as to tilt the slope portion 32a, and one end of the slope portion 32a of the branch body 32 facing the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 is raised. In this case, a void is provided downstream from the transport end of the picking conveyor 12, and a defective product removal position (second part in FIG. It is configured so that the tilting can be switched so that it is positioned at the dotted chain line position). Note that the branch body 32 is normally positioned at the non-defective product carrying-out position, and is switched to the defective product removal position by the actuating cylinder 33 in time for the time when the defective product reaches the end of transport on the picking conveyor 12.

As shown in FIG. 4, the other ends of the four branch bodies 32, which are the delivery ends, receive the products 11 that slide down from the sloped portion 32a positioned at the non-defective product delivery position. A non-defective product guide member 34 for guiding the product 11 is provided. Further, below the four branch bodies 32, a defective product guiding member 35 is provided which is constituted by a chute that guides the articles 11 that have fallen downward from the void to the defective product collecting section 36. That is, the sorting means 30 switches the branching body 32 between a good product delivery position and a defective product removal position, thereby distributing the articles 11 identified as non-defective through-products to the non-defective product collecting means 31, and also distributing the articles 11 identified as defective products. 11 can be distributed to a defective product collection section 36. Note that a regulating member 37 is provided below each branch body 32 to guide the article 11 that has fallen from the empty space so that it reaches the defective article guide member 35 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the non-defective product collecting means 31 includes a collection conveyor (non-defective product return means) 38 for collecting the products 11 identified as non-defective through products, a transport terminal of the collection conveyor 38, and the vibration hopper. 14, and the articles 11 identified as non-defective through-products are returned to the vibrating hopper 14 through the recovery chute 39. In the recovery conveyor 38, horizontal bars 38b are provided at predetermined intervals in the running direction of the conveyor 38a on a conveyor 38a such as an endless belt that circulates, and the conveyor surface of the conveyor 38a is inclined from below to above. It is located. The articles 11 that have slid down on the branch body 32 are sent to a lower receiving section of the recovery conveyor 38 via the non-defective article guide member 34, and are carried up to the recovery chute 39 by each horizontal bar 38b.

As shown in FIG. 5, the pulse signal transmitted from the encoder 23 is input to the system control unit 24 of the article conveyance processing device, and four units are operated to switch each of the branch bodies 32. The actuating cylinders 33 (only one cylinder is shown in FIG. 5) are electrically connected to each other so as to be operable, and a control signal is output. Further, an input/display means (display means) 40 such as a touch panel is connected to the system control unit 24 so as to be able to send and receive information and signals. The input/display means 40 is capable of inputting and setting data of operating parameters of various operating mechanisms, displaying setting data, and displaying operating status and the like for each picking unit. Furthermore, the packaging control device 21a is connected to the system control unit 24 so as to be able to send and receive information and signals, and the packaging control device 21a controls the packaging speed of the packaging machine 21 based on the information and signals from the system control unit 24. It is configured to be able to perform speed change control. The packaging control device 21a is electrically connected via a servo amplifier to the transport conveyor 20, specifically, a drive motor (not shown) consisting of a servo motor or the like that drives the transport conveyor 20 to drive the transport conveyor 20, and controls the drive motor to control the packaging speed. It is configured so that the conveyance speed of the conveyor 20 can be changed in synchronization with the packaging speed by controlling the speed according to the speed. Note that the conveyor 20 is electrically connected to a system control section 24, and the system control section 24 can recognize the conveyance speed of the conveyor 20. Further, each of the robot control units C (CA, CB, CC) of the three picking units 28 (28A, 28B, 28C) is connected to the system control unit 24 so as to be able to send and receive information and signals. In each picking unit 28 (28A, 28B, 28C), each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) receives the corresponding image information so that image information can be input to the robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC). The means 29 (29A, 29B, 29C) are connected, and each robot control section C has the identification section 42 (42A, 42B, 42C) so as to be able to identify the three article categories. Furthermore, two corresponding robots 13, 13 (13A, 13A, 13B, 13B, 13C, 13C) are connected to each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) so as to be able to control their movements. Then, each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) controls each robot using the pulse signal from the encoder 23 that is input via the system control unit 24 and the extracted image data obtained from the image information. The identification section 42 (42A, 42B, 42C) of the section C (CA, CB, CC) determines whether each article 11 is a non-defective item, a non-defective through item, or a defective item in relation to the item position conveyed by the picking conveyor 12. The article 11 corresponds to which category the article 11 corresponds to is identified.

In the image processing of each of the robot control units C (CA, CB, CC), pattern matching or the like is performed to match pre-stored standard image information of the good item 11 with the corresponding imaging means 29 (29A, 29B, 29C). Comparing the image information obtained by imaging, for each article 11, only the article 11 that is identified as a good item among the articles 11 identified in the three categories is to be gripped, and the item 11 that is the good item is handled. The operation of the robots 13, 13 (13A, 13A, 13B, 13B, 13C, 13C) is controlled so that the robots 13, 13 (13A, 13A, 13B, 13B, 13C, 13C) grip and pick it up. In addition, each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) does not handle the items 11 that have been identified as non-defective through items and defective items until they pass through the picking areas of the robots 13 and 13. Then, it is carried out from the transport end of the picking conveyor 12. Note that the article 11 identified as a non-defective product, the article 11 identified as a non-defective product, and the product 11 identified as a defective product may be simply referred to as a non-defective product, a non-defective product, or a defective product.

Each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) identifies the article 11 that has been identified by the corresponding identification unit 42 (42A, 42B, 42C) as a non-defective item, a non-defective through item, or a defective item. It is configured to count the number of articles 11 for each of the three identification categories and obtain the number of articles 11 to be transported, which is the number of counts per predetermined time, for example, in minutes. Then, each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) provides production information such as the number of articles 11 flowing in per predetermined time and the operating rate calculated for each picking unit 28 from the number of articles 11 flowing in. The information is configured to be stored in the storage unit. Then, the system control unit 24 inputs the production information of each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC) stored in the storage unit to the input/display means 40 to display current production information while the picking system 10 is in operation. The screen displays the total number of articles 11 currently flowing in per predetermined time period, the number of articles 11 arriving several times in the past going back from the present, and the robot 13 of the first robot control unit CA in the first picking unit 28A. The number of identified good products to be grasped and the sum of the identified number of non-defective products that are not to be grasped and defective products are set to be displayed in a recognizable list as, for example, "○○ pieces/minute". . In addition, as a cumulative production information display screen, the total number of articles 11 that have flown in so far accumulated by the robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC), the cumulative number of articles 11 to be grasped, and the cumulative number of articles 11 to be grasped are displayed. The cumulative number of missing items 11 can be displayed on each screen for each picking unit 28 in a switched manner. The system control unit 24 calculates the number of counts of articles 11 identified as non-defective items per predetermined time based on image information obtained by imaging with the first imaging means 29A of the first picking unit 28A located at the most upstream position. This is input to the packaging control device 21a, and the packaging control device 21a takes the count per predetermined time as the number of inflows of articles 11, and sets the speed of the packaging machine 21 to a synchronized packaging speed in accordance with the number of inflows. A speed control signal is outputted, and at the same time, a speed control signal is outputted to a drive motor such as a servo motor (not shown) of the transport conveyor 20 connected upstream of the supply conveyor 22 of the packaging machine 21. The conveyor 20 is controlled to feed the articles 11 at predetermined intervals in synchronization with the packaging timing of the packaging machine. Further, the robot 13 is controlled by each robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC), and the loading interval of the articles 11 to transfer the articles 11 gripped from the picking conveyor 12 to the transport conveyor 20 is controlled at the packaging speed. Transfer processing is performed at transport intervals that match the determined packaging timing. Using the input/display means 40 connected to the system control unit 24, a deceleration or acceleration rate is set for the deceleration or acceleration conditions of the packaging machine 21 whose speed is controlled according to the number of articles 11 flowing in per predetermined time. In addition, the count period for the number of inflows can be set as data.

Each of the robot control units C (CA, CB, CC) compares the image information obtained by imaging with the third imaging means 29C of the third picking unit 28C located at the most downstream side and the reference image information to determine if the product is good or not. The center of gravity of the planar shape represented by the image information is calculated for the article 11 that has been identified as a defective product or a defective product, and this center of gravity is specified as the transport position of the article 11. Then, the system control unit 24 receives the position information of the transport position of the article 11 from the robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC), and the system control unit 24 transfers the article 11 identified as a defective item to the picking conveyor by the output pulse of the encoder 23. When it is determined that the end of conveyance of the article 12 has been reached, the branch body 32 at the position corresponding to the center of gravity of the article 11 is switched to the defective article removal position by the operating cylinder 33 and operated. In the embodiment, the robot control unit C constitutes a center of gravity calculation unit that calculates the position of the center of gravity of the article 11 based on the image captured by the imaging means 29. Note that if the center of gravity of the article 11 that has been identified as a defective product is located within the specified range between the adjacent branch bodies 32, 32, the system control unit 24 marks both of the corresponding branch bodies 32, 32 as defective. The operation of the operating cylinders 33, 33 is controlled so that they are switched to the non-defective removal position. When selecting the branch body 32 to be switched to the defective product removal position, not only the center of gravity position of the defective product is selected as the transport position, but also tests are performed on the calculated center of gravity position according to differences in the external shape of the articles 11, etc. A configuration may be adopted in which the position corrected using the correction value obtained by the above method is set as the transport position, and the branch body 32 to be switched to the defective product removal position is selected.

Next, the operation of the article conveyance processing apparatus according to the embodiment will be explained.
The articles 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine are distributed in four rows in the width direction and sent to the picking conveyor 12 by the feeding means 41, as shown in FIG. The articles 11 sent to the picking conveyor 12 are classified into three categories: non-defective items, defective items, and non-defective items. Articles 11 that are cracked or chipped, or articles 11 sent from a manufacturing machine that are out of specification in that the degree of deformation in the shape or size of the article 11 exceeds an allowable range are identified as defective items. In addition, the articles 11 sent to the picking conveyor 12 may be identified as overlapping each other, or the articles 11 may be too close to each other to be grasped by the grasping means 26 of the robot 13. , the article 11 that is difficult to grip by the robot 13 is identified as a non-defective through item. Note that the articles 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine are received and stored in the vibrating hopper 14, and conveyed from the vibrating hopper 14 to the picking conveyor 12 via conveyors 15, 17, 18 and vibrating feeders 16, 19. Therefore, the flow of the articles 11 to be sent to the picking conveyor 12 can be adjusted, suppressing increases and decreases in the amount of conveyance, and the articles 11 can be smoothly fed to the picking conveyor 12 in a leveled state.

The number of output pulses from the encoder 23 is counted, and each time the picking conveyor 12 is driven by a drive motor and travels for a predetermined period, the article 11 placed on the picking conveyor 12 and transported is picked up by the first picking. Based on image information of the article 11 imaged by the first imaging means 29A of the unit 28A and imaged by the first identification section 42A of the first robot control section CA, each article 11 is classified as a non-defective item or a non-defective item. For each of the three categories of articles 11, the transportation position on the picking conveyor 12 is specified, and the orientation (reference plane (degree of inclination relative to posture). Further, the first robot control unit CA stores the number of articles for each of the three categories of articles 11 identified by the first identification unit 42A in the storage unit, and stores the number of articles 11 to be transported per predetermined time. is calculated. Then, the first robot control unit CA controls the first and second robots 13A and 13A to select non-defective items among the articles 11 to be transported through the picking area set in the first picking unit 28A. A process is performed in which the identified article 11 is grasped from the picking conveyor 12 and the grasped article 11 is transferred while moving the grasping means 26 in the conveying direction in synchronization with the traveling speed of the conveying conveyor 20 that is running. . That is, the first and second robots 13A, 13A move the gripping means in accordance with the mounting orientation of the article 11 specified by image processing so as to grip the moving article 11 conveyed by the picking conveyor 12. 26 in a predetermined grip direction, and controls the operation of the handling unit 27 so that the conveyance direction of the gripped article 11 is in the predetermined conveyance direction toward the packaging machine 21. Placing control is performed so that the operation of transferring to the conveyor 20 is repeated at a predetermined conveyance interval.

The article 11 that is conveyed by the picking conveyor 12, passes through the first picking unit 28A, and is conveyed from the second picking unit 28B to the third picking unit 28C is captured by the imaging means of each picking unit 28B, 28C. 29B and 29C, and as described above, the identification process is performed in the identification units 42B and 42C of the robot control units CB and CC in each of the picking units 28B and 28C, and the articles 11 are identified as non-defective items. , a picking process is performed so that the robots 13B, 13B, 13C, and 13C grasp and transfer them to the transport conveyor 20. In this embodiment, since the transport directions of the picking conveyor 12 and the transport conveyor 20 are opposite, the transport downstream of the picking conveyor 12 is the transport upstream of the transport conveyor 20, and therefore the operation of the picking system 10 is started. Sometimes, the picking process by the first and second picking units 28A, 28B is stopped until the article 11 is conveyed to the downstream of the picking conveyor 12, and the article 11 is stopped until it reaches the picking area of the third picking unit 28C which is the most downstream. When the robot is transported, the fifth and sixth robots 13C and 13C start picking processing. Next, picking processing is performed in the order from the second picking unit 28B on the upstream side to the first picking unit 28A. That is, the transport conveyor 20, which transports the articles 11 in the opposite direction to the picking conveyor 12, is picked by the robots 13C, 13C of the third picking unit 28C, which is disposed in the upstream region of the transport conveyor 20. The upstream area of the conveyor 20 is controlled to a conveying speed synchronized with the packaging machine 21, gripping the articles 11 that have been conveyed in order to the picking areas of the sixth and fifth robots 13C, 13C in the downstream area of the conveyor 12. At this point, the articles 11 are placed at appropriate placement positions that match the conveyance interval that corresponds to the timing of supplying the articles to the packaging machine 21, with the articles 11 aligned in a predetermined orientation. Subsequently, the fourth and third robots 13B, 13B of the second picking unit 28B, which is disposed corresponding to the mid-transport area of the transport conveyor 20, move the fourth and third robots 13B, 13B on the picking conveyor 12. 13B, and hold the articles 11 that have been sequentially conveyed to each picking area, and place the articles 11 in the same loading direction on a predetermined position on the conveyor 20 that is not placed within the conveyance interval. Place it. Next, the second and first robots 13A and 13A of the first picking unit 28A disposed in the downstream region of the transport conveyor 20 perform picking operations on the third and fourth robots 13B and 13B on the picking conveyor 12. The articles 11 that have been sequentially conveyed to the area are gripped and placed on a predetermined vacant placement position on the conveyor 20 other than the placement positions that have already been placed at the above-mentioned conveyance intervals. In this way, in accordance with the article supply timing of the packaging machine 21, the articles 11 placed on the conveyor 20 at predetermined conveyance intervals are transferred to The articles 11 are sent to the supply conveyor 22 of the bag filling machine, and the articles 11 are sent between the pushing members arranged at predetermined intervals on the supply conveyor 22, and are packed into pillow packaging in the bag making and filling section. Goods can be obtained.

The third identification section 42C of the third robot control section 24C in the third picking unit 28C located at the most downstream location specifies the center of gravity of the articles 11 that have been identified as non-defective through products and defective products. Then, the transport position of the article 11 on the picking conveyor 12 is determined from the output pulse from the encoder obtained as the picking conveyor 12 travels, the imaging timing taken by the third imaging means 29C, and the image information. This can be known as the position of the picking conveyor 12 in the width direction and the conveyance direction, and the system control unit 24 determines that the article 11 has reached the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 without being identified as a non-defective article and has been sent to the conveyance end. Among the articles 11, the articles 11 that are identified as defective items or non-defective through-products correspond to the center of gravity of the identified articles 11 among the branch bodies 32 arranged side by side at the transport end of the picking conveyor 12. The branching body 32 controls the operation of the branching body 32 at the position so that the article 11 is carried out to either the defective product collection section 36 or the good product collection means 31 at the timing when the product 11 is conveyed to the entrance of the branching body 32. be done. As a result, the article 11 that is identified as a defective product and is carried out from the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 falls from the space between the conveyance end and one end of the branch body 32, as shown in FIG. 35 to the defective product collection section 36. In this embodiment, the branch body 32 is always positioned at the non-defective product delivery position, and when the defective product reaches the end of conveyance on the picking conveyor 12, the actuation cylinder 33 is actuated to move the branch body 32 to remove the defective product. Since the switching operation is made to position the article 11 in the correct position, even if the article 11 that has been identified as a good item is not picked by the robot 13 for some reason, when the article 11 reaches the end of the conveyance on the picking conveyor 12. Then, the branch body 32 located at the non-defective delivery position distributes and carries out the non-defective products to the non-defective collection means 31 in the same way as non-defective through products. In the third picking unit 28C installed downstream of the picking conveyor 12, each article 11 that is identified as a non-defective through item or a defective item by the third robot controller 24C is processed by the system controller 24C. The position of the center of gravity of the article 11 obtained from the pulse signal of the encoder 23 inputted via 24, the image capturing timing captured by the third image capturing means 29C, and the image information, It is possible to know the position of the placed article 11 in the conveying direction and the width direction (conveying position), and at the timing when the article 11 reaches the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12, the conveyed article 11 will be placed on the picking conveyor 12. Depending on which branch body 32 corresponds to the position of the branch bodies 32 lined up in the width direction, the branch body 32 is located at a defective product removal position or a non-defective product removal position corresponding to either a non-defective product or a defective product. It is positioned as one of the following. As a result, the defective products carried out from the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 fall from the space between the conveyance end and one end of the branch body 32, as shown in FIG. It is sent to the collection section 36.

In addition, the articles 11 that are identified as good through-products and carried out from the transport end of the picking conveyor 12 slide on the branch body 32 and are sent to the collection conveyor 38 via the good article guide member 34, as shown in FIG. It will be done. The articles 11 carried up to the upper part of the recovery conveyor 38 are returned via the recovery chute 39 to the vibrating hopper 14 at the same place where the articles 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine are received. That is, the articles 11 identified as non-defective through-products are sent to the picking conveyor 12 together with the articles 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine, as described above, and are handled as articles 11 that can be picked again.

The goods 11 that have been conveyed from the manufacturing machine and have not been sorted into good or bad products, and the goods 11 that have been returned to the vibration hopper 14 via the good product collection means 31 and have been identified as good through products, are mixed together on the picking conveyor. 12 and conveyed to the first picking unit 28A on the picking conveyor 12, the article 11 is imaged by the first imaging means 29A. Then, among the three categories of articles 11 that are identified as "good products", "defective products", and "good products passed through" based on the information obtained from the image data captured by the first imaging means 29A, the robot 13 The number of articles 11 that are identified as "good products" to be grasped by the robot 13 and that are identified as "defective products" or "good through-products" that are not to be grasped by the robot 13 are divided into the number of inflows per predetermined time. is calculated by the first robot control unit CA. Then, the article conveyance processing capacity of the packaging machine 21 and the conveyor 20 are synchronized in accordance with the number of articles 11 identified as "good" articles flowing in per predetermined time among the number of articles flowing in. The packaging control device 21a outputs the data regarding the number of "good" articles outputted from the first robot control section CA via the system control section 24 to the packaging control device 21a of the horizontal bag making and filling machine. A predetermined speed control signal is output to the drive system of the bag filling machine, and a speed control signal is output to the drive motor that drives the transport conveyor 20 so as to synchronize the article transport processing capacity of the transport conveyor 20 with the packaging machine 21. do. In this way, in addition to the articles 11 sent from the manufacturing machine to the vibrating hopper 14, the articles 11 identified as non-defective through-products are returned to the vibrating hopper 14 via the non-defective collecting means 31, and transferred to the picking conveyor 12. The number of incoming articles 11 per predetermined period of time constantly fluctuates. The conveyance speed of the conveyor 20 and the wrapping speed of the packaging machine 21 are controlled to be changed according to the number of fluctuations. In this way, as the transport speed of the transport conveyor 20 is changed by the packaging control device 21a, the system control unit 24 controls the operation of the robot 13 of each picking unit 28, so that the speed of the packaging machine is changed accordingly. The operation is controlled so that the articles 11 are placed on the conveyor 20 at an interval for conveying the articles 11 in accordance with the packaging timing determined by the wrapping speed of 21.

When the screen of the input/display means 40 is the current production information display screen, the system control unit 24 displays the current total inflow of articles 11 per predetermined time of the first robot control unit CA stored in the storage unit. Input the number of items, the number of past inflows going back from the present, the number of identified good items that are to be gripped by the robot 13, and the number of identified items that is the sum of non-defective through items and defective items that are not to be gripped. -Display a recognizable list on the screen of the display means 40. Furthermore, when the screen of the input/display means 40 is switched to the integrated production information display screen, the system control unit 24 displays the total number of articles 11 that have been inflowed up to now, which has been integrated in the robot control unit C (CA, CB, CC). , the cumulative number of articles 11 to be gripped and the cumulative number of articles 11 not to be gripped are displayed on the input/display means 40 for each picking unit 28 .

In the article conveyance processing apparatus of the embodiment, among the three categories of articles 11 imaged and identified by the third imaging means 29C of the third picking unit 28C, the article is identified as either a non-defective through-product or a defective article. When the article 11 reaches the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 without being gripped by the fifth and sixth robots 13C and 13C, a branch body selected according to the widthwise conveyance position of the article 11 on the picking conveyor 12 32 is positioned at either the good product delivery position or the defective product removal position, so that the articles 11 that are randomly placed and conveyed in either the width direction or the conveyance direction of the picking conveyor 12 are individually It is possible to guide the person to the appropriate destination 31, 36. Then, the articles 11 identified as defective can be carried out to the defective article removal position and removed by the sorting means 30, thereby preventing the defective articles from being sent into downstream processing equipment. Further, the branch body 32 is always positioned at the non-defective product delivery position, and when the article 11 identified as a defective product reaches the end of conveyance on the picking conveyor 12, the branch body 32 is switched to the defective product removal position. Since it is activated, even if a situation occurs in which an item that has been identified as a good item cannot be picked by the robot at 13C and 13C and is transported to the end of the transport on the picking conveyor 12, the item will not be passed through as a non-defective item. In the same way as the goods, the goods 11 are returned to the upstream of the transportation of the picking conveyor 12 and can be handled again as objects for picking, and the goods 11 that are identified as good goods are mistakenly excluded from the system, resulting in the goods 11 being wasted. Never. By doing this, it is not necessary to manually collect defective products or to remove defective products by installing other inspection equipment upstream or downstream, and it is possible to obtain a highly productive device. . Furthermore, since the configuration is such that the good through-products carried out from the transport end of the picking conveyor 12 are automatically returned to the vibration hopper 14 by the good-goods collecting means 31, the collection process of the good through-products can be automated and labor-saving can be achieved. I can do it. In particular, the image is captured by the third imaging means 29C installed in the third picking unit 28C, and the product is identified as a non-defective product or a defective product, and is carried out from the transport end of the picking conveyor 12 without being grasped by the robot 13. Since the articles 11 are sorted to the appropriate destinations 31 and 36 by the branching body 32 of the sorting means 30, it is easier to identify the articles 11 by dividing them into two categories: articles 11 to be grasped by the robot 13 and articles 11 not to be grasped. Therefore, there is no need to use a separate device configuration. In addition, since the articles 11 identified as non-defective through-products are carried out from the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12, collected, and returned to the vibration hopper 14, the articles 11 sent from the manufacturing machine are carried out from the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12. Even if the conveyed amount temporarily increases due to the addition of the collected articles 11, the flow of the articles 11 from the vibrating hopper 14 can be leveled and conveyed, without disturbing the flow towards the picking conveyor 12. Article 11 can be sent.

The article conveyance processing device returns the articles 11 identified as good through-products from the non-defective item collecting means 31 to the vibration hopper 14, and transfers them to the picking conveyor in a state where the articles 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine and the non-defective through-products are mixed. 12, the mixed items 11 are subjected to identification processing and the number of items transported is counted for each picking unit 28. Then, based on the image information obtained by imaging with the first imaging means 29A of the first picking unit 28A, the conveyor 20 transports the identified good items to be gripped based on the number of items to be transported per predetermined time. Since the speed and the packaging speed of the packaging machine 21 are controlled to be appropriate, it is possible to stably supply articles to the packaging machine 21 and improve article packaging efficiency. That is, even if the article 11 identified as a non-defective through item is returned to the feeding means 41 and the conveyance amount of the article 11 is temporarily increased, the predetermined amount of the article 11 that has been sent to the picking conveyor 12 and identified as a non-defective item is Based on the number of items to be transported per hour, the transport speed of the transport conveyor 20 and the packaging speed of the packaging machine 21 can be controlled to be appropriate, and the efficiency of packaging articles in the packaging machine 21 can be improved.

The article conveyance processing device of the embodiment is configured such that the sorting conveyor 18 and the second vibrating feeder 19 feed the articles 11 to the picking conveyor 12 in a plurality of rows spaced apart in the width direction at intervals that can be gripped by the robot 13. Therefore, the robots 13 of each picking unit 28 can easily pick up (grasp) the articles 11 that are transported in the width direction. Further, the articles 11 sent to the picking conveyor 12 are spread out and placed on the picking conveyor 12 so that when the robot 13 grasps the articles, the distance between the articles does not interfere with the robot 13 grasping them. Since the products are distributed and sent, it is possible to prevent the robot 13 from grasping them incorrectly and to prevent non-defective products from being carried out from the picking conveyor 12, thereby improving the transport efficiency of the picking conveyor 12. Further, by having the robots 13 of each picking unit 28 share in picking up (grasping) the plurality of rows of articles 11, the efficiency of the picking process in each picking unit 28 can be improved. Further, the transport conveyor 20 and the picking conveyor 12 are arranged in parallel with the transporting direction of the articles 11 being opposite to each other, and each picking unit 28 is provided with a plurality of robots 13 arranged side by side in the transporting direction of the picking conveyor 12. Therefore, the transfer process of the articles 11 to the transport conveyor 20 can be carried out efficiently with a margin. Further, since a plurality of picking units 28 are installed in the article conveyance direction of the picking conveyor 12, the processing capacity of the articles 11 sent to the picking conveyor 12 can be improved. Further, the articles 11 placed on the picking conveyor 12 and conveyed are imaged each time by imaging means 29A, 29B, 29C provided upstream of each picking unit 28A, 28B, 28C, and the articles 11 are transported by the picking conveyor 12. The conveyance position and loading direction of the article 11 are recognized as the horizontal position and the rotation angle of the article 11 around the vertical axis, and it is also possible to identify whether the article is a non-defective product, a non-defective through product, or a defective product. Even if some change occurs in the article 11 during the process, the state of the change over time can be obtained and identified multiple times, and each picking unit 28 can appropriately pick the article 11. Furthermore, since the robot 13 does not grip the article 11 identified as defective by the imaging means 29, it is possible to narrow down the objects to be transferred and eliminate unnecessary movements of the robot 13, which improves production efficiency compared to conventional picking systems. It can be improved. Furthermore, production information such as the operating rate of each picking unit is calculated based on the number of good items, non-defective through items, and defective items 11 being transported to each picking unit 28, By displaying production information such as the operating rate and the number of items transported on the input/display means 40, the production information can be known. Further, by referring to the production information, it is possible to change and set the assignment of gripping by each picking unit 28 of the robot 13, and perform efficient transfer processing.

Since the picking conveyor 12 is a belt conveyor that conveys all the articles 11 using a wide endless belt 12a, there is no possibility that the articles 11 conveyed by the endless belt 12a may be displaced in the width direction or the conveyance direction during conveyance. The picking conveyor Defective products carried out from the transport end of 12 can be effectively eliminated. Furthermore, since the conveyance position of good through products and defective products carried out from the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 is determined by obtaining the center of gravity of the good through products and defective products, any Of the branch bodies 32 at these positions, only the predetermined branch body 32 corresponding to the center of gravity of the article 11 is positioned at either the good product carry-out position or the defective product removal position, and the good throughput products and the defective products are separated from each other. We can guide you through the distribution.

Since the branch body 32 of the sorting means 30 is configured to be switched between the good product delivery position and the defective product removal position by vertical movement, for example, by tilting the branch body 32 that has been previously positioned at the good product delivery position. By positioning the defective product removal position, a space is formed between the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12 and the branch body 32, and the articles 11 identified as defective are allowed to fall downward from the conveyance end of the picking conveyor 12. can be excluded.

(Example of change)
The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment, but can be modified as follows, for example. In addition, various embodiments may be adopted for the configurations described in the examples, without being limited to the following modified examples, within the scope of the gist of the present invention.
(1) The configuration in which the articles 11 are sorted by the branch body 32 of the sorting means 30 is such that both good through-products and defective items are carried out by sliding them on the branch body 32, or good through-through items are sent out in place of defective items. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which the object is dropped from an empty space. Further, the branching body 32 can be guided to different destinations by changing the inclination angle, or can be guided to different destinations not only by vertical movement but also by left and right rotation, or by appropriately combining vertical and horizontal movements. Various guidance methods such as
(2) The picking conveyor 12 may be constituted by a conveyor belt capable of arranging at least two or more branch bodies 32 side by side in the width direction depending on the number of rows of articles 11 sent from the upstream side. Further, the picking conveyor 12 may have a configuration in which a plurality of belts are provided in multiple rows and a plurality of branch bodies 32 are arranged side by side in the width direction for each belt.
(3) The branching body can be selected depending on the characteristics of the article by providing a conveyor belt, a roller conveyor, or the like instead of the plate-shaped branching body 32.
(4) As the means for switching the distribution mode of the branch body 32, various operating means such as a motor can be used instead of the cylinder.

(5) In the embodiment, good throughput items are collected and automatically returned to the upstream side of the picking conveyor 12 by the good item collection means 31, but this configuration may be adopted as necessary, and the sorting means 30 The good through-products that have been sorted and carried out may be manually collected and returned to the upstream side of the picking conveyor 12.
(6) As an identification method for identifying whether the article 11 conveyed by the picking conveyor 12 is a non-defective product, a non-defective through product, or a defective product, the area of the product 11 is determined based on image information, and the area and the reference A method of identifying based on the difference in area and various other known methods can be adopted.
(7) In the embodiment, the case where the articles 11 are fed into the picking conveyor 12 in four rows spaced apart in the width direction is explained, but the number of columns of the articles 11 fed into the picking conveyor 12 may be two or more. good. Alternatively, the articles 11 may be appropriately separated in the width direction depending on the conveyance characteristics such as the properties of the articles 11, and may be conveyed by being placed at random intervals in the width direction of the picking conveyor 12.
(8) In the embodiment, three picking units 28 are arranged in the article conveyance direction of the picking conveyor 12, but the picking units 28 are not limited to the three exemplified in the embodiment, but can be arranged in other multiple or single units. It may be only. Further, the number of robots 13 arranged in the picking unit 28 is not limited to the two robots each installed in the embodiment, but may be several robots each or only one robot 13 installed.
(9) In the embodiment, the articles 11 sorted by the sorting means 30 are sent to the good article collecting means 31 via the good article guide member 34, and are sent to the defective article collecting section 36 via the defective article guide member 35 and the regulating member 37. Although the article is configured to be sent, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the articles 11 sorted by the sorting means 30 are directly sent to the good article collecting means 31 or the defective article collecting section 36.

(10) In the embodiment, the article 11 conveyed from the manufacturing machine is once received by the vibrating hopper 14 and then sent out toward the picking conveyor 12. However, the article 11 is manually fed to the vibrating hopper 14. Alternatively, various configurations may be adopted depending on the properties of the articles 11 to be transported and other conditions, such as not providing the vibrating hopper 14 as necessary.
(11) As with the vibration hopper 14, the first vibration feeder 16, sorting conveyor 18, and second vibration feeder 19 that constitute the feeding means 41 also depend on other conditions such as the properties of the articles 11 to be conveyed. They may be selected and adopted as appropriate.
(12) In the embodiment, non-defective products and non-defective through products are identified based on image information obtained by imaging with the imaging means 29 provided at the entrance of each picking unit 28 (upstream from the picking area of the most upstream robot 13). Although production information such as the number of defective products transported per predetermined time and the operating rate calculated from the number of transported products can be displayed on the input/display means 40, the number of transported products 11 can be displayed. Production information such as the number of pieces to be transported is used as information when making changes and settings for various other automatic controls, such as automatically changing the number of transfers processed by the designated robot 13 of a predetermined picking unit 28. You can do it like this.

11 Goods, 12 Picking conveyor (first conveyor), 13 Robot 14 Vibrating hopper (storage hopper), 15 Introducing conveyor (conveyor)
17 Connection conveyor (conveyor), 18 Sorting conveyor (conveyor, distributed supply section)
19 Second vibration feeder (distributed supply section), 20 Conveyor conveyor (second conveyor)
21 packaging machine, 28 picking unit, 29 imaging means 30 sorting means (sorting means), 38 collection conveyor, 41 feeding means, 42 identification section

Claims (7)

a first conveyor for transporting articles;
a second conveyor capable of conveying the article toward a packaging machine;
imaging means for imaging the article being conveyed by the first conveyor;
a robot that transfers the article gripped and picked up from the first conveyor to the second conveyor at a conveyance interval that matches the packaging timing determined by the packaging speed of the packaging machine;
Based on the image information obtained by imaging with the imaging means, the picking area of the robot is determined to classify the items conveyed by the first conveyor into good items to be gripped by the robot and items not to be gripped by the robot. an identification unit that distinguishes between a good product and a defective product, and specifies the conveyance position of each product;
a sorting means for sorting and transporting the defective products and non-defective products identified by the identification unit to respective predetermined destinations;
A feeding means for distributing and feeding articles conveyed from upstream to the first conveyor via a plurality of conveyors,
configured to be able to return the non-defective through-products sorted and carried out by the sorting means to the feeding means,
The article conveyance is characterized in that the identification unit is configured to control the conveyance speed of the second conveyor and the wrapping speed of the packaging machine according to the number of articles identified as non-defective articles conveyed per predetermined time. Processing equipment. A plurality of picking units including the robot are provided, the picking units are installed side by side in the article conveyance direction of the first conveyor, the imaging means is provided upstream of the picking area in each picking unit, and the picking unit is provided with the imaging means upstream of the picking area of each picking unit, The unit identifies the article into one of the categories based on the image information obtained by capturing the image with the imaging means, and identifies the article into one of the categories for each of the identified categories. 2. The article conveyance processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article conveyance processing apparatus is configured to obtain a conveyance position on a conveyor. From the number of transported items per predetermined time obtained by identifying each category of the article , the number of inflows per predetermined time for each of the three classifications of the above-mentioned non-defective products, non-defective through products, and defective products for each picking unit, 3. The article conveyance processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus is configured to obtain production information regarding the operating rate calculated from the number of articles flowing in . 4. The article conveyance processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first conveyor and the second conveyor are arranged in parallel in different conveyance directions, and a plurality of the robots are provided for each picking unit. comprising a non-defective product recovery means for returning the non-defective through products sorted and carried out by the sorting device to the feeding device;
5. The article conveyance processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-defective product collecting means is provided with a collection conveyor for returning the non-defective through-products upstream of the feeding means. The feeding means includes a storage hopper that stores articles conveyed from upstream, and is configured to distribute and send the articles from the storage hopper to the first conveyor via a plurality of conveyors,
6. The article conveyance processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the collection conveyor is configured to return the good through-products to the storage hopper. The article according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the feeding means is provided with a dispersion supply section on the first conveyor that feeds the articles in a plurality of rows in a distributed manner at predetermined intervals. Conveyance processing equipment.

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