JPH0723122B2 - Boxing method using a robot - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is a method of using a robot to stack inner boxes in an outer box whose four sides are regulated in a fixed order and according to a fixed storage pattern. Regarding

[Conventional technology]

A method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-197529 is conventionally known as a method of stacking an inner box in an outer box whose four sides are restricted by using a robot. In this method, a hand with a cushioning mechanism is used to grip the middle box, and the middle box is moved linearly up to the target position for stacking, and when it reaches the target position, the middle box is swirled in a spiral shape. While moving it to reach the target position. According to this method, even if the already stacked middle boxes are displaced from the regular stacking position, the middle boxes that are about to be stacked are in contact with the already stacked middle boxes during the spiral movement of the middle boxes. Then, the position of the inner box that had already been loaded is said to be corrected.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, since the inner boxes to be stacked are brought into contact with each other, it is an undeniable fact that the middle box held by the hand comes off even though the inner boxes are provided.

In addition, when there is not enough space between the inner size of the outer box and the size of the inner box to be stored in it, for the middle box that fits just inside the inner wall of the outer box, the posture control of the inner box and the positioning accuracy of the robot can be done with a fairly high accuracy. If not controlled by, the inner wall of the outer box and the inner box come into contact with each other, and the grip of the inner box comes off, or the gripping posture becomes poor, so that the inner box cannot be properly put in the outer box.
The above-mentioned conventional method cannot deal with such a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and even if there is no margin in the inner dimension of the outer box and the outer dimension of the inner box to be contained therein, it is possible to reliably pack the box. The purpose is to provide a method.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention for achieving the above object is a method of packing a plurality of middle boxes in a regulated outer box in a fixed order in multiple stages and in multiple rows and multiple columns using a robot. In the last row and the last column in the middle box stowage group A, and the last row and the last column in the middle box stowage group D,
The inner boxes for packaging are classified into four groups, a loading group B in the last row excluding the group D and a loading group C in the last column excluding the group D, and then, the inside boxes of the inside boxes are sorted by the robot. The top part is sucked and gripped and actuated, and the middle box of the group A is linearly moved from diagonally above with respect to the loading position to be packed, and the middle box of the group B is stacked. Insert a part of the bottom of the middle box into the upper space of the stacking position with the top part inclined to the center side of each stacking row from the stacking position, and then raise the middle box to the stacking position. Boxes are packed in a straight line, and for the middle boxes of group C, the bottom boxes of the middle boxes are partly placed in the upper space at the loading position in a posture in which the top is tilted toward the center side of each loading row rather than the loading posture. Then insert the The boxes are raised in the stowed position and linearly packed, and the middle boxes of the group D are moved to the upper space of the stowed position with the top part inclined to the center side of the outer box rather than the stowed position. The gist of this method is to insert a part of the bottom surface of the inner box, raise the inner box in the stowed position, and linearly move the inner box. Further, when the upper part of the inner box is sucked and gripped, a robot hand including a vacuum suction means connected to a suction device and a support plate extending from the vacuum suction means is used, and the vacuum suction means is provided with The top part may be sucked and held, and the side part of the inner box may be supported by the support plate.

[Action]

According to the configuration of the present invention, the top portion of the inner box that is sequentially supplied to the predetermined position is sucked and gripped by the robot and conveyed to the upper side of the outer box, and this is stacked in the outer box. For the stacking of the middle boxes of group A where the stacking position to the group is other than the last row and the last column, the gripped middle box is diagonal to the stacking position because the periphery of the stacking position is sufficiently open. By moving it in a straight line from above, it can be boxed without any problems.

In addition, for the middle box of group B, which is the last row of the stacking group excluding group D, in which the space at the stacking position is surrounded by three sides, first The top part is tilted to the center side, and then a part of the bottom surface of the inner box is inserted into the upper space at the stowage position in that position, and then the inner carton is raised in the stowed position and linearly packed. That is, by this operation, the middle box is rotated around a part of the bottom surface inserted in the upper space at the loading position, and the whole bottom surface of the middle box is smoothly inserted into the upper part of the space, resulting in the inner box As long as the dimensions are correct, the inner box can be stored comfortably in the stowage position. This also applies to the middle box of group C.

Further, for the middle box of group D, which is the stacking group of the middle boxes in the last row and the last column, in which the space of the stacking position is surrounded by the four sides, first, rather than the stacking posture, The top part is inclined to the center side, and then one corner of the bottom surface of the middle box is inserted into the upper space at the stowage position in that posture, and then the middle box is raised in the stowage posture and linearly moved to pack the boxes. Also in this case, as in the case of the group B, the middle box is comfortably placed in the stowage position.

As described above, according to the present invention, with respect to the middle box that is accommodated in the inner wall of the outer box, first, the entire bottom surface of the middle box is inserted into the space upper part of the loading position, and then it is pushed into the loading position. Even if there is not enough room for the inner size of the outer box and the size of the inner box to be contained therein, it is possible to comfortably pack the inner box.

Further, when the upper part of the middle box is sucked and gripped, a robot hand having a vacuum suction means connected to a suction device and a support plate extending from the vacuum suction means is used, and the vacuum suction means is used to hold the top of the middle box. If the support plate is made to suck and grip the side part of the inner box, the support plate can receive a load inclined with respect to the acting direction of the suction force by the vacuum suction plate. In contrast, stable suction gripping can be performed, and stable box packaging can be performed.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 14. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state in which the inner boxes are stacked in the outer box. As shown in the drawing, n number of middle boxes b in the column direction and m number of middle boxes b in the row direction are stacked in the outer box a. In the present invention, the following method is used to cause the robot to perform the work of packing the inner boxes b in a certain order from the corners.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, when the state in which the inner boxes are stacked is viewed from above the outer box, the middle boxes of the last row and the last column of each stage are group D, and the middle boxes of the last row excluding group D are the middle boxes. The middle boxes in the last row excluding the groups B and D are grouped into groups C, and the middle boxes other than those are grouped into four groups. Then, each classified group performs the stowage control by the robot by the same stowage operation.

In this way, as a loading pattern for middle boxes,
It is intended to provide a method for controlling a packaging robot that simplifies the control of the packaging robot by classifying it into three and enables offline teaching.

Next, the loading operation of the inner boxes of the classified groups will be described.

After the middle box b supplied to the predetermined position by the middle box cutting and supplying device is sucked and gripped by the robot hand and conveyed to the upper center of the outer box a, it passes through the stacking operation path shown in FIGS. 2 to 5. The middle box is packed by passing through the points.

First, for group A, as shown in FIG. 2 (here, the stacking in the second row and the first column is shown), the middle box b sucked and held by the robot hand is temporarily moved from the target stacking position to the height of the middle box b. Move to the position of point P1 with a margin of approximately 1/2 of the length dimension, 1/2 of the length dimension and 1/2 of the width dimension (Fig. 2 (a)), and then stack The inner boxes b previously stacked are pushed into the target position in a linear motion so as to be pushed (Fig. 2 (b)). Next, for the group B, as shown in FIG. 3 (here, the stacking in the 4th row and the 1st column is shown), the width of the middle box b from the target stacking position to the column direction in the column direction once. Move to the position of the PO point, which is about half the size and has an inclination of ω ≈ 60 ° with respect to the horizontal direction (Fig. 3 (C)), and then, the middle box b previously loaded. And the inner box b in the gap between the inner wall of the outer box a
In the present embodiment, the tip end of is moved to the position of point P1 (Fig. 3 (d)) so that approximately 1/10 of the height of the middle box is pushed in, and then the middle position is moved to the stow target position. The box b is inserted by linear movement (Fig. 3 (e)).

Further, for group C, as shown in FIG. 4 (here, the stacking at the 1st row and the 4th column is shown), the middle box b and the length of the middle box b once from the target stacking position in the row direction. Approximately 1/2 of dimension
At the position of, and moved to the PO point with an inclination of ≈30 ° with respect to the horizontal direction (Fig. 4 (f)), next, the inner and inner walls of the inner box b and outer box a that were previously loaded After moving the tip of the middle box b to the position of the point P1 (Fig. 4 (g)) so that about 1/10 of the height of the middle box b can be screwed into the gap (Fig. 4 (g)), The middle box b is linearly inserted into the target position (fourth
Figure (h)).

Finally, for group D, as shown in FIG. 5 (here, the stacking at the 4th row and the 4th column is shown), the inclination of the F-side of the middle box b with respect to the horizontal plane is about 30 °. , E-plane tilt ω is tilted by about 60 ° respectively, and it is conveyed to the PO point overhead at the final insertion position of the row and column (Fig. 5 (i)), and then the height of the middle box b is tilted. Approximately 1/10 of the dimension Move to the position of P1 (Fig. 5 (j)) so that it can be twisted, and then insert the middle box b into the stow target position by linear movement (Fig. 5 (k)). .
Inserting the E-face and F-face of the middle box b into the target position with the tilted postures of the middle box b is not necessary even if the column direction and the row direction of the empty space are narrower than the specified dimensions of the middle box. This is because it is easy to twist in by inserting from an oblique direction.

Further, in this embodiment, the description is made such that the inner box is inserted with the outer box a tilted to one side. However, this is because the inner box b inserted by tilting the outer box a is It moves along the inclined surface and can densely pack the middle boxes, but as described above, it is the same as the previous middle boxes both in the D group and in the corner part. The outer box a may be in a horizontal state in order to push in and to insert it while interrupting the space between the inner box and the corner portion.

Next, a boxing robot system using the present invention shown in FIG. 6 will be described. In the figure, (49) is a conveyor (1) that conveys the outer box a by a packing device, a stopper (2) that stops the outer box a at a predetermined position, and an inclination that tilts and positions the stopped outer box a. An apparatus (3) and a robot (4) for packing the inner box b in the outer box a, and a middle box cutting and feeding device (5) for sequentially supplying the middle box b to a predetermined position above the tilting device (3). ) Is attached. The robot (4) has a suction type robot hand (6). A width aligning device (7) is provided on the upper side of the tilting device (3) in the transport direction. The middle box cutting and feeding device (5) is an L-shaped box that cuts the middle box b at the take-out position by the robot (4) and fixes the next middle box b at the same time as the middle box stopper (11) that serves as a position reference during cutting. Cutout pusher (9) with head (9a)
Composed of and. The cutting pusher (9) is composed of an air cylinder or the like. The carrier table (8) is provided with a side reference guide (10) and a movable guide (12) whose interval can be automatically adjusted by driving the guide shift device (14) according to the width of the middle box b. The cutting pusher (9) is provided so as to be movable together with the movable guide (12). A guide shift device for automatically adjusting the position of the movable guide (13) according to the width of the inner box b, by providing a movable guide (13) at the take-out position of the robot (4) so as to face the stopper (11) of the inner box b. (15) is provided. The inner box stopper (11) and the movable guide (13) are provided with protrusions for receiving the lower side edges of the inner box b.

The conveyor (1) is a drive type roller conveyor and has a guide (1b) for preventing the outer box a from falling. Stopper (2)
Can be projected and retracted from between the conveyor rollers (1a) by a lifting device such as a cylinder device.

As shown in FIG. 7, the tilting device (3) is provided with comb-shaped bottom lifting means (19) protruding and retracting between the conveyor rollers (1a).
And the side reference plate (20) are fixed at right angles to each other and the bearing (2
It is rotatably supported together with the rotating shaft (22) on 1). The bottom surface lifting means is vertically driven by an inclination driving device (not shown) including an air cylinder or the like.

The side reference plate (20) partially has a positioning suction means (24) for sucking the outer box a. The positioning suction means (24) is composed of a concave suction port provided on the reference surface of the side reference plate (20), and is connected to a suction device such as a blower with a flexible tube (25).

The width aligning device (7) includes a width aligning guide (16) and a side reference guide (17) serving as a correction reference. The width-adjustment guide (16) is supported by a column (18) so as to be horizontally rotatable, and a spring member (not shown) applies a torque in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the conveyor (1). Further, the reverse rotation end is regulated by a stopper or the like.

The dimensions of each part are determined as follows. The width d of the conveyor (1) and the width g of the bottom surface lifting means (19) are respectively the outer box a.
Greater than the width and length of the largest of. The horizontal width e and the vertical width f of the positioning suction means (24) are respectively the outer case a.
Less than the minimum length and height of.

As shown in FIGS. 8 to 12, the robot hand (6) has a vacuum suction disk (31) and a support plate (32) extending in front of the vacuum suction disk and supporting the middle box b. The vacuum suction board (31) is fixed to the tip of the pipe (33),
The pipe (33) has a flange (34) for attachment to the robot arm (35) at the base end. The pipe (33) is covered with a conical cover (36) whose flange (34) side extends from the tip to the outer periphery of the flange (34). Pipes (33)
The suction hose nipple (39) protruding from the cover (36) serves as a connection port for the branch pipe (38), which also serves as a suction path communicating with the vacuum suction disk (31).

The vacuum suction disk (31) is a box-shaped one in which substantially the entire front surface serves as a suction port (31a), and the suction port (31a) is provided with a ventilation material (40).
And a suction pad (41) made of urethane resin or the like is provided on the outer periphery of the suction port (31a). The ventilation member (40) is made of a metal mesh, but a perforated plate or a lattice material may be used.

To attach the robot hand (6), fix the fixing screw inserted into the attachment hole (42) (Fig. 12) of the flange (34) to the hand attachment flange (43) of the robot arm (35) (Fig. 9). By doing.

The robot (4) is a multi-axis type (6 axes in this example) general-purpose robot that realizes a boxing operation similar to that of a human. That is, horizontal rotation of the support column (45) on the base (44) (arrow θ1), vertical rotation of the robot arm (35) at the shoulder (arrow θ2), and joints of the robot arm (6). Vertical bending (arrow θ3), rotation of the wrist (47) (Fig. 9) around the arm center axis p (arrow θ4), bending of the wrist (47) around the axis q orthogonal to the axis P. (Arrow θ5), the hand attachment flange (43) of the rotary joint (48) can rotate (arrow θ6). Various other types can be used as the main body of the robot (4).

Further, in the present embodiment, it has been described that the first inner box to be loaded is also loaded with a constant insertion path like the other inner boxes, but the first inner box does not interfere with other inner boxes. Therefore, it may be inserted straight through a single path. Since this can be applied to each stage, the stowage time of the robot can be shortened.

Further, in the present embodiment, it has been described that the inner boxes are stacked one by one, but as shown in FIG. 13, a plurality of (for example, two) suction plates of the robot hand are attached, and the vacuum system is made independent so that a plurality of solid boxes are provided. The inner boxes (for example, two boxes) can be suction-held and stacked. If the number of rows of the stacking array cannot be divided by the number of suction cups of the robot hand (for example, 5 rows), group them as shown in Fig. 14, and stack the first row by one middle box. If a plurality of second rows and subsequent rows (for example, two boxes) are stacked, the suction boxes of the robot hands can be packed without interfering with the outer box a when the final row is stacked.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the packing robot hand is provided with the vacuum suction plate for sucking the inner box and the supporting plate for supporting the sucked inner box, and the stacking control of the inner box is classified into four groups. However, since the middle boxes belonging to the same group are controlled to be packed by the same stacking operation, the packing robot control is simplified and offline teaching is possible.

Further, the robot control method according to the present invention, when performing packing in the corners of the outer box, positions the part of the inner box in the overhead space at the loading position in a posture in which the inner box is tilted forward in the loading position direction. Insert it, raise the inner box in the stowed position, and pry in the tip of the inner box, and then pack the box by linear movement, so the box's manufacturing dimensional accuracy is poor, and the inner dimension is small. It can be stably carried out even when it is packed in a box. Further, since the robot hand has the support plate extending forward from the vacuum suction plate, the support plate can receive a load inclined with respect to the acting direction of the suction force of the vacuum suction plate. Therefore, when the middle box is packed in an oblique posture with respect to the outer box which is inclined as described above, the middle box can be reliably sucked and the box packing operation is easy. Moreover, as described above, when the outer box having the poor dimensional accuracy is packed by applying a force from the inside, the supporting plate can support the pressing force, so that the detachment of the suction of the inner box can be prevented.

In addition, since the passing point of each loading operation path is clear with respect to the world coordinate system of the robot, it is suitable for offline teaching in which the target position is calculated offline by using a personal computer, etc. There is.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show the embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a classification layout diagram in which the stacking positions of each inner box in the outer box are classified into four groups, and FIGS. 2 to 5 are the sections in FIG. FIG. 2 shows a stacking operation path of each middle box in each classified group group, FIG. 2 shows group A, FIG. 3 shows group B, FIG. 4 shows group C, and FIG. 5 shows group D, The posture at each motion change point is shown in a partially broken front view (right figure) and a partially broken side view (left figure). FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the whole apparatus using the present invention for a boxing robot system, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conveyor and a tilting device, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a robot hand, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a robot arm. Figure, 10th
Figures 12 to 12 respectively show a side view, a plan view and a front view of a robot hand, FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a robot hand having two suction cups, and FIG. 14 is the robot hand of FIG. A classification layout diagram for classifying into four groups in the case is shown. a ... outer box, b ... middle box, (1) ... conveyor, (3) ... tilting device, (4) ... robot, (5) ... medium box cutting and feeding device, (6) ... Robot hand.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of packing a plurality of middle boxes in a regulated outer box in a fixed order in a multi-step and multi-row multi-column method using a robot, wherein a final row and a final column in a packing matrix of each step are provided. Other than middle box stowage group A, last row and last column middle box stowage group D, final row stowage group B excluding the group D, and last row excluding group D The inner boxes for packing are classified into four groups of group C, and then the robot is made to suck and hold the top part of the inner box and operate it. The boxes are moved in a straight line from diagonally above the loading position and packed in a box. For the middle boxes of group B, the loading position is such that the top part is tilted toward the center side of each loading row rather than the loading position. In the upper space of the bottom of the middle box Insert a part of it, and then raise the inner box in the stowed posture and pack it in a linear motion. For the middle box of group C, place the top part closer to the center side of each stowed line than the stowed posture. Insert a part of the bottom surface of the middle box into the upper space at the loading position in an inclined posture, then raise the middle box in the loading posture and pack the boxes by linear motion. Insert a part of the bottom of the middle box into the upper space at the loading position with the top part tilted to the center side of the outer box rather than the loading position, and then raise the inner box in the loading position and move linearly. A boxing method using a robot, which is characterized by boxing by. 2. When sucking and holding the top part of the inner box, a robot hand having a vacuum suction means connected to a suction device and a support plate extending from the vacuum suction means is used, and the vacuum suction means 2. The box packing method using a robot according to claim 1, wherein the top of the box is suction-held and the side of the middle box is supported by the support plate.