JPH042479A - Automatic cooking and selling system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely check the transfer state of goods by the robot of the cases of the delivery and cooking of goods, by composing it so as to hold at a holding part without fail whenever a moving robot holds goods by hand and to detect the goods holding state by a detector. CONSTITUTION:A moving robot 10 holds goods by a hand 101 and temporarily holds it at a holding part 106 without fail. On this holding part 106 a detector 109 consisting of a luminous element 107 and light receiving element 108 is provided. The holding state of goods is then detected with the light emitted from the luminous element 107 being not received by the light receiving element 108 with its being cut off by the goods. A control unit 2 then confirms the goods holding by receiving the detection signal output by this detector 109, utilizing for the decision of control thereafter.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an automatic cooking and sales system that is applied to unmanned sales at restaurants, fast food shops, and the like.

(b) Conventional technology In general, individual vending machines for processed foods such as soft drinks, burgers, pizza, etc. have already been developed and put into practical use, but as an unmanned vending system, At present, various vending machines are installed in a row in a store, at a store front, or in a designated installation location such as an open space.Customers can select the vending machine's vending machine for their desired food. You can receive goods by inserting money or cards and making selections.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-105763 discloses a serving robot that automatically delivers cooked food to customers. In this system, a cook prepares food and robots installed on the walls or ceiling transport the food.

However, this system has problems with the installation conditions for the mobile robot, and Japanese Patent Application No. 63-259664 has been proposed.

The mobile robot used here handles the products (including trays)
It consists of a hand for gripping the handle, a manipulator for moving the handle, and a cart for moving the entire handle. A plurality of robots move along a fixed path and transport the products one by one.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in this example, when the mobile robot grasps the product with its hand and transports it, it cannot be determined whether the hand has grasped the product securely, and if the hand cannot grasp the product, it cannot notify the ordering customer. give dissatisfaction. Particularly in the case of unmanned systems, such deficiencies cannot be addressed.

The present invention makes it possible to reliably check whether a product is being held by a hand.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The solution according to the present invention includes an order receiving device that receives customer orders, a sales device that delivers the ordered products, a product storage device, a product cooking device, and the ordered products. It consists of a conveyance means for conveying food from a storage device to a cooking device as necessary and further to a sales device, and a control device for controlling these devices and means in an integrated manner, and said conveyance means is constituted by a mobile robot. This mobile robot consists of a hand that grips the product to be transported, a holding part that temporarily holds the product, and a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element that face each other across the holding part, and detects the product holding state. This configuration includes a detector that outputs a detection signal of the lever to the control device.

(e) Operation The mobile robot grasps the product with its hand and always holds it temporarily in the holding section. The holding portion is provided with a detector including a light emitting element and a light receiving element.

Then, the holding state of the product is detected when the light from the light emitting element is blocked by the product and is no longer received by the light receiving element. The control device receives the detection signal output from the detector, confirms whether the product is held, and uses the signal to make subsequent control decisions.

(f) Example An example of an unmanned automatic fast food cooking store will be described below based on the drawings.

The order receiving device 1 is a card vending machine displaying a menu, settles the price according to the customer's order, issues an order card, and at the same time transmits the contents of the order to the control device 2. The customer has an order card, goes to the vending machine (counter) 3 written on the card, and waits for the food.

In addition to the order receiving device 1, the control device 2, and the sales device 3, this store also has storage devices 4, 5, 6, and 1 for storing the first, second, and third products.
, a second cooking device 7.8, and a device 9 for removing the tray for placing the products.
It surrounds a movement area 11 for mobile robots 10 of more than one robot.

Here, the control device 2 controls product delivery to the storage device 4.5.6, tray delivery control to the tray delivery device 9, cooking control to the cooking device 7.8, and transportation control to the mobile robot 10, depending on the order details. Do this. Further, the sales device 3 can open a shutter or the like after verification in exchange for the order card issued by the order receiving device 1 and hand over the product to the customer. Storage device 4.5.6
stores products such as pizza pies, pilaf, rice balls, and popcorn in a refrigerator or frozen state, and sends each product to each delivery table 41, 51, and 61 in response to a product exit command. The cooking device 7.8 is a microwave oven, oven, steam, etc., and thaws or heats the supplied product. The tray delivery device 9 delivers a tray 92 to a delivery table 91 in response to a tray delivery command.

The mobile robot 10 includes a two-finger line opening/closing type hand 101 that grips a tray 92 on which products are placed, and this hand 101.
5-degree-of-freedom vertical articulated manipulator 1 that moves
02, moving area 1 by driving wheels 103 and casters.
1, and a fixed guidance type or autonomous guidance type trolley 104 that moves to a specified position within the vehicle. A mounting table 105 is provided on the upper part of the cart 104, and two holding portions 106 each consisting of a recessed hole are formed in this mounting table 105. In addition, each holding portion 106 has its holding portion 10
A light emitting element 107 and a light receiving element 10 facing each other across 6
A detector 109 consisting of 8 is provided.

The light emitting element 107 and the light receiving element 108 are the light emitting part 107
0 and the light receiving section 1080 are provided so as to be located slightly above the upper edge of the tray 92 when the tray 92 is mounted and held on the holding section 106. The light emitting element 107 has its light emitting operation controlled by the control device 2, and an output signal corresponding to the light receiving state of the light receiving element 108 is sent to the control device 2. The detector 109 detects the holding state of the product placed on the tray 92 and held via the tray 92 using this configuration, and outputs a detection signal to the control device 2 . That is, when the product is placed correctly on the tray 92 and the tray 92 is correctly held by the holding unit 106, the light emitted by the light emitting element 107 is blocked by the product and does not reach the light receiving element 108, and the light emitted from the light receiving element 10
The non-light receiving state of 8 is sent to the control device 2 as a detection signal.

Next, the operation of the mobile robot 10 and the like when, for example, one customer orders two types of products 42 and 52 will be described. First, when this order is received, the order receiving device 1 transmits this order information to the control device 2.

Then, the control device 2 instructs the mobile robot 10 to approach the tray delivery device 9, and instructs the tray delivery device 9 to deliver the tray 92 to the delivery table 91. next,
When the robot 10 is instructed to grip the tray 92 with the hand 101, the robot 10 grips the tray 92 and places it on one of the holding parts 106. Subsequently, the control device 2 instructs the tray delivery device 9 to deliver the tray 93, and instructs the robot 10 to also grasp the tray 93 with the hand 101 and place it on the other holding section 106. After completing these operations, the robot 10 is loaded with the first storage device 4.
the tray 9 of one holding section 106.
2 with the hand 101 and commanded to deliver it to the delivery table 41. On the other hand, the first storage device 4 is instructed to place the ordered product 42 on the tray 92 delivered to the delivery table 41.

When the first storage device 4 transmits that the product 42 has been placed on the tray 92, the hand 101 moves the product 42 onto the tray 9.
2 and to return it to one of the holding parts 106.

If the operation according to such a command is completed normally, that is, the tray 92 on which the product 42 is correctly placed is placed on one of the holding parts 10.
6, the light from the light emitting element 107 is blocked by the product 42 and is no longer received by the light receiving element 108 (see FIG. 3). At this time, the control device 2 confirms that the operation has been completed normally and issues a command for the next operation. In this case, the robot 10 is commanded to approach the second storage device 5, and thereafter the product 52 is removed from the second storage device 5 and held using the tray 93 in the other holding section 106. Execute in the same way as for product 42,
confirm.

If the product 42 is not placed on the tray 92 for some reason, the light will not be Element 108 can receive light emitted by light emitting element 107. In this case, the control device 2 determines that the operation did not end normally, and performs accident recovery processing such as redoing the operation or refunding the customer.

When these operations are completed normally, the control device 2 compares the cooking times of the product 42 and the product 52 and instructs the robot 10 to approach the cooking device that takes longer. Each cooking device 7.8 prepares for cooking by opening the door, and then the robot 10 uses the hand 101 to carry in the products together with the tray 92 and cook them. This operation is performed for each product, and after cooking, the product and tray 92 are returned to the holding unit 106 using the hand 101. During these operations, a detection signal from the detector 109 indicates that the operation is being performed normally. It is confirmed each time that the

In this way, the two kinds of products 42.52 are cooked and held in the holding section 106 on the tray 92.93, and when this is confirmed by the detection signal of the detector 109, the control device 2
commands the robot 10 to approach the vending device 3, and also transfers each product 42 and 52 from each holding section 106 to the tray 9.
I carried 2.93 to the counter there with hand 101,
command to put it down.

Delivery of the product 42.52 is made possible by opening the shutter by verifying the order card.

In this way, by providing two or more holding parts 106 in each robot 10, one robot can process two or more orders at the same time, greatly improving work efficiency.

In this embodiment, the product 42.52 is indirectly grasped by the hand 101 grasping the tray 92.93, but depending on the package of the product 42.52, the hand 101 may hold the product 42.52. Can be grasped directly.

(G) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, each time the mobile robot grasps an item with its hand, it is always held in the holding part, and the detector detects the holding state of the item. It is possible to reliably check the conveyance status of products by robots at the time of delivery.

Moreover, since the detector consists of a light emitting element and a light receiving element, its output signal can be easily digitally processed. Therefore, the configuration of the control section can be simplified compared to a system in which the product holding state is detected using an analog output signal from a weight sensor provided in the holding section. It is also possible to reliably detect the holding state of light products such as popcorn.

Therefore, an extremely reliable automatic cooking and selling system can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an automatic cooking and vending system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a mobile robot serving as a transport means, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the main parts. l...Order receiving device, 2...Control device, 3...Vending device, 4.5.6...Storage device, 7.8...Cooking device, 10...Mobile robot, 101.・Hand, 10
6... Holding part, 107... Light emitting element, 108...
Light receiving element, 109...detector.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An order receiving device that receives customer orders, a sales device that delivers the ordered products, a product storage device, a product cooking device, and transports the ordered products from the storage device to the cooking device as necessary; Furthermore, it consists of a conveyance means for transporting to the vending device, and a control device that centrally controls these devices and means,
The transport means is constituted by a mobile robot, and the mobile robot includes a hand for gripping the product to be transported, a holding part for temporarily holding the product, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element facing each other across the holding part. 1. An automatic cooking and selling system comprising: a detector comprising an element for detecting a product holding state and outputting a detection signal to the control device.