JPH072313A - Storage/delivery device for flexible object and flexible object grasping hand - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store flexible objects, automatically extract them based on a command, temporarily collect related objects and deliver them in the lump, and properly grasp flexible objects. CONSTITUTION:Three food cases 3 are assembled in a drawer frame 2, drawer frames 2 are vertically stacked in many stages to form a repository 1, two repositories 1 are arranged face to face, and they are processed by one robot 4 with good space efficiency. Collection cases 8 are fitted liftably along both side faces of the main body 5 of the robot 4, and they are positioned at the levels according to the delivery of food to facilitate the temporary storage of delivery food. When food is collected for each order, the collection cases 8 are lowered to the prescribed levels to wait for food delivery. The robot 4 is provided with a horizontal multi-joint arm 6 and a grasping hand 7, the hand 7 quickly grasps individual food with proper force, and it draws or thrusts the case 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention stores flexible individuals such as foods of various types and variations in size and shape, and automatically takes them out in accordance with a command, and temporarily collects related items. The present invention relates to a storage / removal device for a flexible individual that allows the flexible individual to be dispensed, and a flexible individual clamping hand that can appropriately clamp a flexible individual such as food.

[0002]

[Prior Art] In recent fast food restaurants,
The cooked food is stored under a heat-retaining condition, and it is taken out according to the customer's order and paid out collectively for each order, especially at meal time. Moreover, the food is paid out manually.

[0003]

There are various problems or demands in the conventional food dispensing system, which are listed below. (1) Basically, we would like to automatically dispense stored food. By the way, food is a flexible individual, and since there are many types and variations in size and shape, handling is a difficult condition. (2) In connection with the previous item, it is necessary to improve the hand side and to devise a handling method for the case side that stores food. (3) In order to improve service to customers, we want to prevent mistakes in food products to be dispensed and reduce the time required for dispensing food products. (4) Since food is stored in a warm state, it is necessary to adopt a take-out method that minimizes disturbing the warm state. (5) From a hygienic point of view, the case for storing food must be easy to clean.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to store a flexible individual such as a variety of foods having variations in size and shape and automatically take out the soft individual based on a command. The object is to provide a storage / removal device for a flexible individual that temporarily collects related items so that they can be collectively dispensed, and a flexible individual pinching hand that can appropriately pinch a flexible individual such as food. .

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage and retrieval device for a flexible individual, which includes a storage case in which drawer cases for accommodating the flexible individual are arranged side by side in each of horizontal and vertical directions; A robot having a hand for collecting; a flexible object that is sandwiched by the hand and taken out from a drawer case that is provided on the main body fixing part of the robot so as to be able to move up and down And a case;

A flexible individual holding hand according to claim 2 is
A positioning portion for defining an initial opening / closing position of the first finger and the movable base, which face each other so that they can approach and separate from each other; and between the movable base and the second finger, which face each other and are guided so that they can approach and separate each other. And a force determining portion that generates a force that acts on the flexible solid body is clamped and released by the first and second fingers.

A flexible individual holding hand according to claim 3 is
In the hand according to claim 2, the positioning unit uses an electric motor as a power source. A flexible solid pinching hand according to a fourth aspect is the hand according to the second aspect, wherein the positioning portion uses a pneumatic cylinder as a power source.

The flexible individual holding hand according to claim 5 is
The hand according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the force determining portion includes a magnetic field generating means provided on one of the movable base and the second finger and a coil provided on the other, and the magnetic field is provided. The force received by the current flowing through the coil in the magnetic field generated by the generating means is the acting force between the movable base and the first finger.

The flexible individual holding hand according to claim 6 is
In the hand according to any one of claims 2 to 4, the force determining portion includes a pneumatic cylinder, and the operating force thereof is an acting force between the movable base and the first finger. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flexible individual clamping hand according to any one of the second to sixth aspects, wherein the first and second fingers and the movable base are moved in parallel by a parallel crank mechanism. Be guided as much as possible.

A flexible solid holding hand according to claim 8 is
The hand according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein each of the first and second fingers has a tip portion curvedly formed, and a bottom surface having a carved portion into which the tip portion of each finger can be inserted. A flexible individual that is positioned and housed in
It can be clamped in the form of descending from above and holding it later.

A flexible individual holding hand according to claim 9 is
The hand according to claim 8 is provided with a contact sensor at the tip of at least one of the first and second fingers.

[0012]

In the flexible individual storage / extraction device according to the first aspect, the flexible individual housed in the drawer case arranged in parallel in each of the horizontal and vertical directions forming the storage is a hand for holding the flexible individual of the robot. First, the pull-out case is pulled out, then is clamped and taken out, and is temporarily housed in the collecting case which is provided at the main body fixing portion of the robot and positioned at an appropriate level.

In the flexible solid pinching hand according to any one of claims 2 to 9, the first finger and the movable base are positioned at the initial opening / closing position by the positioning portion.
Next, a force is generated between the movable base body and the second finger by the force determining unit, and the first and second fingers hold the flexible solid body by using this force as a holding force. In particular, in the flexible individual holding hand according to claim 8, the flexible individual is positioned and stored in the case, and is held by the tips of the first and second fingers that descend and are inserted into the engraved portion of the bottom surface. Sandwiched between.

Particularly, in the flexible solid pinching hand according to the ninth aspect, it is detected by the contact sensor that the tips of the fingers are in contact with the inner surface of the engraved portion on the bottom surface of the case.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of a flexible solid storage / removal device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a storage / removal device. This storage / extraction device is mainly composed of a storage case 1 in which food storage cases 3 are horizontally arranged in parallel and stacked in multiple stages.
And the case 3 together with the drawer frame 2
It comprises a robot 4 for taking out the food stored in the container and a collection case 8 for temporarily storing the taken food and collecting the food for each order.

The storage 1 is constructed by assembling a plurality of food storage cases 3 (three in the figure) into a drawer frame 2 and stacking them vertically in multiple stages. This storehouse 1
Are arranged so as to face each other, and food can be handled efficiently by one robot 4 in a space-efficient manner. The inside of the storage 1 is always kept warm, and the food taken out is immediately provided to the customer. Collection case 8
The robot 4 is mounted so as to be able to move up and down along both side surfaces of the fixed main body 5, and is positioned at a level corresponding to the case 3 in which the food is taken out so that the taken-out food can be temporarily stored. make it easier. When the food is collected for each order, the collection case 8 descends to a predetermined level and waits for the food to be dispensed. Robot 4
The main body 5 is provided with a horizontal articulated arm 6 and a sandwiching type hand 7. In particular, as will be described later in detail, the hand 7 is configured so as to be able to quickly sandwich a flexible solid food product with an appropriate force, and to sandwich the commanded food product in the pulled-out case 3 from vertically above. , Lift and place in collection case 8. After that, Case 3 was pulled out
Push it back in. It should be noted that setting the collection case 8 to the level corresponding to that of the case 3 to be pulled out means that the collection case is set after the food is taken out from the case 3.
It helps to minimize the heat storage condition of Case 3 by shortening the time to store it as much as possible.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the case stored in the drawer frame in the storage / removal device, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the same. In FIG. 3, the drawer frame 2 is a frame body having a pipe structure and constitutes one layer in which the storage 1 can be put in and taken out. The case 3 is a rectangular container, and is partitioned into a plurality of storage locations by a partition plate. A common reference numeral 3 is attached to the case regardless of the number of storage places. The number of sections is 4, 6, and 8 in order from the case 3 on the front side. Each case 3 can be easily washed in a state of being removed from the drawer frame 2 of FIG. 3, which is convenient for hygiene. In FIG. 2, three cases 3 are stored in the drawer frame 2 and assembled as a drawer case. Drawer frame 2
When the drawer is pulled out, the protruding part on the right side is the storage 1.
Remains on the side of, and the entire plane of the case 3 is exposed. The case 3 may be modified in terms of its structure so that the fingers of the robot hand can easily hold the food, which will be described later in detail.

By the way, a slight supplement will be given to the withdrawal and withdrawal of the drawer frame 2 by the robot. An auxiliary tool (not shown) is attached to the wrist of the horizontal articulated arm 6 (see FIG. 1) of the robot together with the hand 7, and the auxiliary tool is attached to a pin (not shown) on the front surface of the drawer frame 2 when taking in and out. Mating. Moreover, it is impossible for the arm 6 to accurately perform the rectilinear motion of putting in and out, and in actuality, a zigzag locus of a narrow width following a straight line is taken, and a countermeasure for it is necessary.
For that purpose, a long hole is formed in the auxiliary tool at a right angle to the inserting / removing direction to allow the movement of the fitting with the pin, or
Attach an auxiliary tool to the wrist of the arm 6 via an elastic member,
Well-known and commonly used techniques, such as making the deformation of the elastic member a relief of movement, are applied.

The hand will be described with reference to the block diagram of the embodiment of the flexible individual holding hand in FIG. In FIG. 4, the hand 7 includes a first finger 11 and a movable base body 13.
And the second finger 12 as the basic constituent elements, and the positioning portion 14 is separately provided between the first finger 11 and the movable base body 13.
-The force determining parts 15 are respectively interposed between the second fingers 12.
It is the first and second fingers 11 and 1 that sandwich food directly.
It is 2.

The positioning portion 14 includes the first and second fingers.
In the initial stage of 11,12, that is, to determine the opening degree before clamping food, this initial opening degree is to minimize the stroke of clamping operation on food without damaging it. It is set according to the food. Positioning part 14
Consists of a pinion 14a, a rack 11a on the side of the first finger 11 and a rack 13a on the side of the movable base 13, which mesh with the pinion 14a. The pinion 14a is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and moves the first finger 11 and the movable base body 13 toward or away from each other via the racks 11a and 13a. The movable base 13 is connected to the second finger 12 through the force determining portion 15, so that the first and second fingers 11 and 12 are finally brought close (closed) and separated (opened) from each other. Initial positioning is done.

The force determining section 15 includes a movable base 13 and a second finger.
The force acting between 12 is determined so as to be an appropriate clamping force for food, and as described in detail later, a force is generated electrically. The operation of the hand 7 is generally described. After moving to the position where the food is to be clamped, first the positioning unit 14
To indirectly determine the initial position (opening) of each of the first and second fingers 11 and 12, and then generate an appropriate force for holding by the force determination unit 15 and use that force to move the food. It becomes the process of sandwiching.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the force determining unit of the hand.
In the figure, the yoke 16 and the permanent magnet 17 are indicated by the movable base 13
(See Fig. 6) to generate a magnetic field represented by magnetic lines of force such as broken lines. The coil 19 is the second finger.
It is built in 12 and constructed so as to cross the magnetic path of the yoke 16. Now, assuming that the current flowing through the coil 19 flows from the back side of the paper surface to the front side in the upper portion and flows from the front side to the back side of the paper surface in the lower portion, the force received by the magnetic field is In proportion to the product of the value and the strength of the magnetic field, the direction is leftward based on Fleming's left-hand rule, and the second finger 12 is driven leftward. When the direction of the current flowing through the coil 19 is reversed, the second finger 12 is driven rightward with the same force. Here, the second finger 12 and the portion of the yoke 16 adjacent to the N pole of the permanent magnet 17 have a linear motion pair, but structurally the rolling linear motion guide 18 such as a linear guide is provided. , And is interposed between the second finger 12 and the second finger 12 in a fixed manner.

Returning to FIG. 4, each of the first and second fingers 1
1, 12 and the movable base 13 are guided by a linear motion guide mechanism (not shown) so that they can move straight. The linear motion guide mechanism is, for example, a rolling linear motion guide 18 such as the linear guide shown in FIG. Another type of linear motion guide mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a parallel crank mechanism that guides the movement of each member of the hand. This parallel crank mechanism includes a fixed link 21.
As a base, a first mechanism including a set of links 22 and 23 and a first finger 11, a second mechanism including a set of links 24 and 25 and a movable base 13, and a set of links 26 and 27. It is composed of three of the third mechanisms including the second finger 12. Since this system mechanically consists of only the rotating pairs between the links, it is possible to expect a long service life due to a relatively simple structure that is unlikely to be mechanically worn.

By the way, the power source of the hand 7 is slightly supplemented. In the embodiment described above, the positioning portion 14 is an electric motor, but instead of this, a pneumatic cylinder can be used as the power source. Further, the force determining unit 15 is composed of a coil through which an electric current flows and magnetic field generating means, but instead of this, it can be composed of a pneumatic cylinder. The relationship between the hand and the food storage case will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. 7 is a side view of the hand before it is inserted into the case, and FIG. 8 is a plan view of the same. In FIG. 7, the first and second fingers of the hand 7 are shown.
11, 12 has a tip portion curvedly formed inward, and a contact sensor 28 is attached to the tip. Case for storing 10 food items
30 has a rectangular storage space 31 built-in,
Four deep grooves 33 are carved from the surface side so that the tips of the fingers 11 and 12 can be inserted (see FIG. 8), and a part of the bottom surface 32 is hollowed out. Therefore, the food 10 is positioned by the storage space 31 and is in a good condition that is easy to handle. Further, when the hand 7 is lowered into the case 30 from above, first, the contact sensor 28 detects that the engraved bottom has been reached. Based on this detection, the hand 7 is slightly returned in the vertical direction and its positioning is corrected, and then the fingers 11 and 12 hold the food 10 while holding it. Therefore, the pinching operation is reliable, the force is appropriate, and the pinching is performed quickly. This helps to minimize disturbing the heat retention of the food.

[0025]

According to the flexible individual storage / extraction device of the first aspect, the flexible individual housed in the drawer case that is arranged in parallel in each of the horizontal and vertical directions forming the storage is for holding the flexible individual of the robot. First, the drawer case is pulled out by the hand and then is clamped and taken out, and is temporarily accommodated in the collection case that is provided at the main body fixing portion of the robot and positioned at an appropriate level. Therefore, flexible individuals such as foods of various types and variations in size and shape are automatically taken out from the stored state based on the instruction,
Moreover, since the related cases are temporarily collected in the collection case, it is convenient to collectively dispense them. Moreover, mistakes in payout are prevented, and the time required for payout is shortened.

In the flexible solid pinching hand according to any one of claims 2 to 9, the first finger and the movable base are positioned at the initial open / close position by the positioning portion.
Next, a force is generated between the movable base and the second finger by the force determining section, and the first and second fingers hold the flexible solid body by using this force as a holding force. Therefore, a large number of flexible individuals with variations in size and shape can be damaged quickly, reliably, and with appropriate force based on the start of the pinching operation from an appropriate initial position using the first and second fingers. It is pinched without receiving.

Particularly, in the flexible individual holding hand according to the third and fourth aspects, since the positioning portion uses the electric motor and the pneumatic cylinder as power sources, respectively, it is more suitable depending on the type of the flexible individual, the application condition and the purpose. You can select an appropriate method.
Particularly, in the flexible individual holding hand according to claims 5 and 6,
Since the force determination section uses the operating force by the electromagnetic force and the pneumatic force as the clamping force, a more appropriate method can be selected according to the type of flexible individual, application conditions, and purpose.

In particular, in the flexible solid gripping hand according to the seventh aspect, the first and second fingers and the movable base are guided by the parallel crank mechanism so as to be movable in parallel, and the sliding surface is not interposed. Is less likely to be subject to mechanical abrasion and a longer life can be achieved. In particular, in the flexible individual holding hand according to claim 8, the flexible individual is positioned and stored in the case, and is held by the tips of the first and second fingers that descend and are inserted into the engraved portion of the bottom surface. Sandwiched between. Therefore, the reliable, proper, and prompt pinching of the flexible individual is supported.

Particularly, in the flexible solid pinching hand according to the ninth aspect, the contact sensor detects that the tips of the fingers are in contact with the inner surface of the engraved portion on the bottom surface of the case. The reliable, proper and prompt pinching is further supported.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a flexible solid storage / extraction device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a case stored in a drawer frame in the storage / removal device.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a flexible individual clamping hand according to the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the force determination unit of the hand.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a parallel crank mechanism that guides movement of each member of the hand.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the hand before it is inserted into the case.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Storage 2 Drawout Frame 3 Case 4 Robot 5 Main Body 6 Arm 7 Hand 8 Collection Case 10 Food 11 First Finger 11a Rack 12 Second Finger 13 Movable Base 13a Rack 14 Positioning Section 14a Pinion 15 Force Determination Section 16 Yoke 17 Permanent Magnet 18 Rolling linear motion guide 19 Coil 20 Parallel crank mechanism 21-27 Link 28 Contact sensor 30 Case 31 Storage space 32 Bottom surface 33 Groove

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A storage in which drawer cases for accommodating flexible individuals are juxtaposed in each of horizontal and vertical directions; a robot having a hand for grasping the flexible individuals; A storage / removal device for a flexible individual, comprising: a collection case in which a flexible individual sandwiched by the hand and taken out is provided from a drawer case provided and pulled out by a hand; 2. A positioning portion for defining an initial opening / closing position of the first finger and the movable base, which face each other so that they can approach and separate from each other; And a force deciding part for generating a force acting between the second fingers, the flexible individual being pinched and released by each of the first and second fingers. . 3. The hand according to claim 2, wherein the positioning section uses an electric motor as a power source. 4. The hand according to claim 2, wherein the positioning portion uses a pneumatic cylinder as a power source. 5. The hand according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the force determining portion has a magnetic field generating means provided on one of the movable base and the second finger and a coil provided on the other. And a force received by a current flowing through the coil in the magnetic field generated by the magnetic field generating means as an acting force between the movable base and the first finger. 6. The hand according to claim 2, wherein the force determining portion includes a pneumatic cylinder,
A flexible solid gripping hand characterized in that the operating force is used as the acting force between the movable base and the first finger. 7. The hand according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the first and second fingers and the movable base are guided by a parallel crank mechanism so as to be movable in parallel. A hand for pinching a flexible individual. 8. The hand according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein each of the first and second fingers has a curved tip end portion, and the tip end portion of each finger can be inserted into the bottom surface. A hand for pinching a flexible individual, characterized in that a flexible individual, which is positioned and housed in a case having an engraving portion, can be clamped in a form of descending from above and holding it later. 9. The hand according to claim 8, wherein
A hand for pinching a flexible individual, characterized in that a contact sensor is provided on at least one tip of each of the second fingers.