JPH06288740A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize an environment to carry out favourable picture processing by making opaque liquid reserved in a container a background of an object in picture processing. CONSTITUTION:On an upper part head end of a support table 10 supporting a workpiece W, a support plate 10a is provided, and the workpiece W is attracted and supported by magnetic force of a magnet 11 on the upper surface of the support plate 10a. On the support table 10, a coolant pool 20 to reserve a coolant solution C is fixed. The coolant solution C is circulated while keeping its level constant. Thereafter, the workpiece W is picked up its image by a television camera 15 installed on the upper part of the support table 10, delivered to a picture processing device 17 and picture processing is carried out. This picture processing is to carry out binarization processing to a picked up picture by light and darkness difference of the workpiece W and its background, to binarize and picturize the the workpiece it by making the workpiece as a dark part and the background as a light part, and a boundary of the light part and the dark part is extracted as a border line. The workpiece is black iron color, and as its image is picked up with the white color coolant solution C as its backgound, contrast is distinguished clearly.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is an image in which an object is imaged by a television camera or the like and the position and shape of the object are recognized by image processing in an environment where the object is processed to generate chips and dirt. The present invention relates to an image pickup device used for a processing device for picking up an image capable of favorably performing image processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been one that utilizes image processing as means for recognizing the position and shape of an object. That is,
A two-dimensional image obtained by picking up an image of an object with a television camera or the like is subjected to image processing such as contour line extraction and boundary line extraction to recognize the shape and position of the object.

A device utilizing the above image processing is, for example, a deburring device for removing the burrs B formed on the outer periphery of the workpiece W as shown in FIG. In this, the work W is attracted and supported by the magnet 11 arranged on the support plate 10a of the support base 10, and the work W is imaged by the television camera 15 provided above the work W. The captured image is image-processed by the image processing device 17, and the position of the workpiece W,
The position and shape of the flash B are recognized, converted into data, and sent to the robot controller 16. Then, the robot controller 16 drives the robot 12, and the grinder 14 provided at the tip of the robot arm 13 performs deburring processing for removing the burrs B on the outer periphery of the workpiece W.

[0004]

Generally, in image processing, in order to accurately recognize the position and shape of an object, it is necessary to distinguish between the object and the background (specifically, clarify the contrast between the object and the background). You will need it. Therefore, in the above-described conventional deburring device, in order to clarify the contrast between the work W and the support plate 10a that is the background of the work W, the support plate 10a is coated or plated to make the work W
It is made to have a symmetrical color scheme. FIG. 5 is FIG.
FIG. 11 is a diagram viewed from the direction of the center AA ′, that is, a diagram illustrating an image captured by the television camera 15. Figure 5 [A]
Is larger than the portion where the magnet 11 is provided, and the magnet 11 is hidden by the workpiece W, so that the background of the workpiece W is only the support plate 10a. However, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the shape of the workpiece W is smaller than the portion where the magnet 11 is arranged,
Since the magnet 11 protruding from the workpiece W is recognized as an object in the image processing, the magnet 11 is also painted to be the same as the support plate 10a to avoid it.

In such a deburring device, the following situations have occurred. That is, when the deburring process is performed once, the chips are generated and fall on the support plate 10a, and the chips are recognized as an object existing on the background of the workpiece W. Further, since the cut chips that have fallen are high in temperature, the coating of the support plate 10a is burnt and the support plate 10a is discolored. In addition, the painted magnet 11 is also the work W
Repeatedly putting on and taking off makes the coating fall. The occurrence of such a state becomes a disturbance in the image processing, which causes a problem of hindering accurate recognition of the workpiece W. Therefore, the support plate 11
It took a lot of time and effort to perform maintenance work such as cleaning of a and repainting of the support plate 11a and the magnet 11.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus which realizes an environment capable of performing good image processing.

[0007]

The container portion provided in the background portion of the object in the image processing is opaque with a color that can be distinguished from the object by image processing by the image processing device. A liquid is stored, and the liquid surface of the opaque liquid is used as the background of the object.

[0008]

The liquid level of the opaque liquid stored in the container acts as the background of the object. This opaque liquid acts as an optimal object background in image processing by using a color that makes contrast definition with the color of the object,
Further, the foreign matter in the background, which is a disturbance element of the image processing, sinks below the liquid surface because the background is the liquid surface, and maintains a good background of the object.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a deburring device having an imaging device of the present invention. Further, FIG. 2 is a view as seen from the direction of BB ′ in FIG. Here, the opaque liquid in the claims means a white coolant in this embodiment. In the present embodiment, the object in the claims refers to the work W, and the work W is a black iron-colored iron plate. A flash B is formed on the outer circumference of the workpiece W.

A support base 10 for supporting the workpiece W is fixed to the floor surface. A support plate 10a is provided at the top end of the support base 10, and a plurality of magnets 11 are arranged on the upper surface of the support plate 10a. The magnetic force of the magnets 11 attracts and supports the workpiece W. It has become. A coolant pool 20 which is a container for storing the coolant liquid C is fixed to the support base 10. The bottom surface of the coolant pool 20 is provided with an inclination so that chips generated by deburring and falling into the coolant pool 20 are collected. Further, a coolant drain 21 is provided at the lowest point on the bottom surface of the coolant pool 20 and is normally closed. A water supply pipe 22 and a drain pipe 25 are attached to the side surface of the coolant pool 20. The water supply pipe 22 is connected to a coolant tank 24 via a circulation pump 23, and the circulation pump 23
The coolant liquid C is supplied into the coolant pool 20 by driving. On the other hand, drain pipe 2
5 is for keeping the liquid level of the coolant liquid C constant, and when the work W is supported by the support plate 10a, the work W
It is attached at a position where the water surface of the coolant C comes to a position where the lower part of the liquid is soaked and the support plate 10a is completely hidden.
Then, the coolant liquid C in the coolant pool 20 is drained by being connected to the coolant tank 24 via the drainage filter 26. With the above configuration,
The coolant liquid C is circulated while the liquid level of the coolant liquid C in the coolant pool 20 is kept constant.

Reference numeral 12 is a robot, and a robot arm 1
A grinder 14 is attached to the tip of 3. The grinder 14 has a grindstone 14 rotated by a drive device (not shown).
a is attached, and deburring is performed by grinding the flash B of the workpiece W. The robot 12 is connected to a robot controller 16, and the robot controller 16 controls driving of the robot arm 13 and deburring and grinding.

A television camera 15 is attached above the support 10 so that the work W can be imaged. The image captured by the television camera 15 is captured by the image processing device 17 and subjected to image processing. In this image processing, the imaged image is binarized by the difference in brightness between the workpiece W and the background (the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C), and the workpiece W is darkened and the background (the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C) is illuminated. A binarized image is formed as a portion, and the boundary between the bright portion and the dark portion of this binarized image is extracted as the contour line of the workpiece W. Then, this contour line is converted into a movement locus of the grindstone 14a and sent to the robot controller 16.

The operation of the present embodiment having the above construction will be described. The work W is supported by the support plate 10 a, and the work W is imaged by the TV camera 15. The workpiece W is imaged with the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C accumulated in the coolant pool 20 as the background. At this time, the color of the workpiece W is black iron,
Since the color of the coolant C is set to be symmetrical with white, the contrast is clarified.

The video image picked up by the television camera 15 is sent to the image processing device 17 and subjected to image processing.
That is, the picked-up image is binarized by the difference in brightness between the workpiece W and the background (the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C), and the workpiece W is used as the dark portion and the background (the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C) as the bright portion. Obtain a binarized image. Next, the boundary between the bright portion and the dark portion of the binarized image is extracted as the contour line of the workpiece W, converted into the movement trajectory of the grindstone 14a, and sent to the robot controller 16. Then, according to this data, the robot 12
Is driven to deburr the flash B formed on the outer periphery of the workpiece W.

When the chips generated during deburring are scattered in the coolant pool 20, the chips having a large shape sink below the surface of the coolant C. Further, the cutting chips having a small shape and floating on the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C are discharged from the drain pipe 25 by the circulation of the coolant liquid C and collected by the filter 26. In this way, the cutting liquid does not exist on the liquid surface of the coolant C and does not affect the background of the workpiece W.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, even when the magnet 11 protrudes from the workpiece W due to the size of the workpiece, the magnet 11 is below the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C. , The background of the workpiece W is not affected. As described above, the deburring apparatus of the present embodiment makes the background of the workpiece W of the captured image the liquid surface, and the chips generated by the deburring process sink below the liquid surface. There is an effect that the powder does not affect the background of the object in the image processing, and good image processing can be performed. Further, in the present embodiment, by using the coolant liquid C used in the grinding process as the background liquid, a special liquid or a device for separating the background liquid of the workpiece W and the coolant liquid C is not required. There are advantages such as.

Further, the present embodiment has the following effects. That is, by circulating the coolant liquid C, it is possible to deal with the removal of cutting chips and dust floating on the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C. Since the support plate 10a is below the liquid surface, the magnet 11 does not appear in the background of the workpiece W regardless of the size of the workpiece W, and does not affect the background in image processing. Furthermore, with these, the workpiece W
There is an advantage that the maintenance work such as the removal of the cutting chips on the support plate 10a and the painting work of the magnet 11 which are required at the time of the replacement are eliminated.

In this embodiment, the coolant C is constantly circulated, but the image during deburring is unnecessary, so when the work W is replaced (the work W is imaged). The same effect can be obtained by removing the swarf, dust and the like by circulating it only). A core discriminating apparatus shown in FIG. 3 is shown as a modification of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a core discriminating apparatus for discriminating the type of a sand core of a casting. 3A is an overall configuration diagram of the core discriminating apparatus.
[B] is a view seen from the direction of the arrows CC ′ in FIG. 3A. However, in FIG. 3, the same elements as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The core M made of sand is gripped by the robot hand 13a provided at the tip of the robot arm 13 of the robot hand 12, and the coolant pool 2 is held.
0 Transfer to the sky. The image of the core M is picked up by the television camera 15, the contour line of the shape of the core M is extracted by the image processing device 17, and the contour line is collated with the shape stored in the image processing device 17 in advance. It is designed to determine the type.

Since the core M is made of sand, a state occurs in which the sand drops from the core M during transfer by the robot hand 12. However, when a board is used as the background of the core as in the past, the dropped sand scattered on the background board and affected the image processing of the core recognition. Since the background is the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C, the dropped sand sinks below the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C and does not affect the background of the core, and good core shape recognition can be performed, and the accurate type of the intermediate powder There is an effect that discrimination can be performed. Further, since a mechanism for circulating the coolant liquid C is provided as in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to remove sand and dust floating on the liquid surface of the coolant liquid C.

[0021]

As described above, the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention has the following effects by making the background of the object to be imaged the liquid surface of the liquid. That is, since the background of the object is the liquid surface of the liquid, even if chips or the like generated due to processing of the object or the like sink below the liquid surface, a good background of the object in image processing can be realized. Further, since the background is the liquid surface, it is possible to easily clarify the contrast by coloring the liquid in accordance with the color of the object. And with these,
This has the effect that there is no need to perform maintenance work when processing the next object.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a view seen from the direction of B-B ′ in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of a core discriminating apparatus showing a modified example of the present invention and a diagram viewed from the direction of the arrows CC ′.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of a conventional deburring device.

5 is a view seen from the direction A-A 'in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Support Stand 11 Magnet 12 Robot 15 TV Camera 16 Robot Controller 17 Image Processing Device 20 Coolant Pool 22 Water Supply Pipe 23 Circulation Pump 24 Coolant Tank 25 Drain Pipe B Burr C Coolant Liquid M Core W Workpiece

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup apparatus used in an image processing apparatus for recognizing a position, a shape, etc. of an object by picking up an image of the object and performing image processing on the object, the image pickup apparatus being provided in a portion which becomes a background of the object in image processing It is characterized in that an opaque liquid having a color that can be distinguished from the object is stored in the container part by image processing by the image processing device, and the liquid surface of the opaque liquid is used as the background of the object. Imaging device.