JPH05149730A - Image input device for robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To measure the inclination of a TV camera mounted on the hand of a robot when the camera is inclined. CONSTITUTION:A laser beam emitting device 16 equipped with a mechanism which always emits a laser beam downward in the vertical direction is mounted on a camera 4. Accordingly, the spotting position of the laser beam moves when the camera 4 is inclined from its basic position. Therefore, when the distance and direction of the spotting position of the laser beam are measured, the inclination of the camera 4 can be measured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for inputting an image from a camera mounted on a robot hand.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 6 to 9 are views showing a conventional image input device for a robot. FIG. 6 is a block diagram, FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory views of inclination of a visual center axis, and FIG. It is a figure.

In FIG. 6, (1) is a robot body, (2) is an arm driven by the robot body (1), and (3) is an arm.
A hand attached to the tip of (2), (4) a television camera (hereinafter referred to as a camera) attached to the hand (3) and capturing an image of a recognition target (work) (5), and (6) a camera (4 ) Is an image processing device that is connected to the target object (5) and recognizes the position of the object (5).

A control device (8) is connected to the image processing device (6) and has a coordinate correction calculation means (9) and a robot position correction command means (10).

The conventional image input device of the robot is constructed as described above, and the position of the object is recognized by the image processing device (6) by the input from the camera (4). This position data is input to the controller (8), the position is corrected by the coordinate correction calculation means (9), and the robot position correction command means (10) gives a robot position correction command to the robot body (1). This sequence is always constant regardless of the posture of the arm (2) or the hand (3).

[0006]

In the conventional image input device for a robot as described above, a certain calculation is performed regardless of the posture of the arm (2) or the hand (3).
When the arm (2) is shortened as shown in (A) and is extended as shown in FIG. 7 (B), the tip of the arm (2) is bent and the hand (3) and camera (4) are bent. The central axis of may be inclined by an angle δθ. When the hand (3) is rotated from the position shown in FIG. 8 (A), the camera (4) is rotated as shown in FIG. 8 (B).
There is a case where the central axis of is inclined by an angle δθ.

As a result, when the camera (4) tilts to the position of the camera (4A) as shown in FIG. 9, the object on the camera image (11) is
The image of (5) shifts from the regular position (5a) to the transition position (5b),
This misalignment cannot be corrected correctly. For this reason, it is necessary to measure the tilt of the camera (4),
There is a problem that it is difficult to measure this.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image input device for a robot which can easily measure the tilt of a camera when the camera is tilted.

[0009]

An image input device for a robot according to the present invention is equipped with a laser projecting device having a mechanism for constantly projecting a laser beam in a vertically downward direction on a camera, and a laser beam spot position The image is processed to measure the tilt of the camera.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the laser light is always projected vertically downward regardless of the camera tilt, and the spot position is image-processed to measure the camera tilt. It is possible to measure the distance and direction between the spot positions in the basic posture and the tilted posture regardless of the direction.

[0011]

1 to 5 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram, FIG. 2 is a front view of a laser projecting device, FIG. 3 is a block diagram, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the light projecting device, and FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the image processing of the image processing device.
The same parts as those of the conventional device are indicated by the same reference numerals.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral (16) is a laser projecting device which is shown in detail in FIG. 2, and is connected to a laser power source (17).

In FIG. 2, reference numeral (18) is a frame body, and a sphere body (19) is accommodated through a ball (20). Reference numeral (21) is a laser projector fixed to the spherical body (19), and reference numeral (22) is a weight attached to the laser projector (21).

In FIG. 3, reference numeral (23) is an inclination measuring means which is connected to the image processing device (6) and measures the inclination of the camera (4) from its output and outputs it to the coordinate correction calculating means (9).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The laser projecting device (16) has a sphere (19) supported by a ball (20),
Moreover, since the weight (22) is attached to the laser projector (21), the projection direction of the laser light of the laser projector (21) is always the vertically downward direction. That is, as shown in FIG.
The position (24b) of the laser spot when the central axis of (4) is measured by the angle θ from the reference position is the position where the laser light is projected vertically downward.

FIG. 5 shows an image of the laser spot captured by the camera (4). It is now assumed that the laser spot when the camera (4) is at the reference position is at the position (24a). If this is the tilt of the camera (4) and it moves to the position (24b), the size and direction of the tilt are measured by calculating the vector (25) connecting these positions (24a) and (24b).
It is measured at (23) and input to the coordinate correction calculation means (9) to be corrected.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the camera is equipped with the laser projecting device for constantly projecting the laser beam vertically downward, and the image of the spot position of the laser beam is processed to measure the tilt of the camera. Since the laser light is directed in a fixed direction regardless of the camera posture, the distance and direction between the spot positions in the basic posture and the tilted posture can be measured, and when the camera is tilted, the image processing is easy. There is an effect that can be measured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the laser projection device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of the laser light projecting device of FIG. 1.

5 is an image processing explanatory diagram of the image processing apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 3. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional image input device of a robot.

7 is an explanatory view of the inclination of the central axis of vision in FIG. 6, (A) when the arm is shortened, and (B) when the arm is extended.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the inclination of the visual center axis in FIG. 6, where (A) is before the camera is rotated and (B) is similarly after rotated.

9 is an explanatory diagram of an input image of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Robot Main Body 3 Hand 4 Television Camera 5 Object 6 Image Processing Device 16 Laser Projector 23 Inclination Measuring Means 24a Position of Laser Spot in Reference Position 24b Position of Laser Spot in Inclined Sub-position

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A robot equipped with a camera for recognizing an object in a hand at the tip of a robot, wherein the camera is equipped with a laser projecting device having a mechanism for constantly projecting a laser beam in a vertically downward direction. An image input device for a robot, comprising an inclination measuring means for processing an image of a light spot position to measure the inclination of the camera.