JPH11151692A - Robot arm for handling bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot arm for handling bottles which can perform various works for piling up bottles in layers and packing bottles into a corrugated fiber board box. SOLUTION: This robot arm for handling bottles is provided with a robot hand 46 for holding a wine bottle, a first to a fourth arms 42 to 45 for moving this robot hand 46, joints R1 to R4 connecting these arms so as to turn freely, and a control part. The control part controls the rotation of the robot hand 46 and the joints R1 to R4 in accordance with a predetermined pattern. Any of a suction assembly for suctioning a wine bottle in a belly part thereof and a grip assembly for gripping a head part of a wine bottle is attached to the robot hand 46.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot arm for handling bottles, and more particularly, to performing various operations such as stacking a large number of bottles in a container or packing a plurality of bottles in a container. Robot arm.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a wine manufacturing factory, after brewing wine in a bottle, the wine bottle is stored for a fixed period of time in an atmosphere of an appropriate temperature or humidity in order to age it. Need. Here, wine bottles are generally stored in a predetermined number, for example, 300 bottles.
It is performed in a state where about 1000 wine bottles are stacked in a mesh-shaped pallet called, for example, a palletina.

[0003] In addition, such stacking needs to be performed in a state where a wine bottle is laid down due to the characteristics of wine. In this case, it is necessary to arrange the bottles in a staggered manner, for example, and to efficiently store the bottles in a pallet in order to prevent collapse of the load. Conventionally, stacking of wine bottles on such a pallet has conventionally been performed by about 2 to 4 workers on site.

[0004] Furthermore, the wine bottles whose storage has been completed are taken out of the pallet and packed in cardboard boxes.
Shipped as a product. Conventionally, such operations as packing in a box are performed by a worker at the site in the same manner as described above.

[0005]

However, as described above, operations such as stacking a fragile wine bottle in a palletin or packing a wine bottle in a cardboard box are complicated and time consuming. Take it. Therefore, it is strongly desired to easily perform such operations.

That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a bottle handling robot arm for performing various operations such as stacking bottles on a pallet or packing bottles in cardboard boxes. .

[0007]

A robot arm for handling bottles according to the present invention controls a hand for holding a bottle, an arm for moving the hand, and operations of the hand and the arm. A control unit, wherein the hand unit is configured such that any one of a holding member for holding the bottle and a suction member for sucking the bottle is attachable.

Here, in the robot arm for handling bottles according to the present invention, the control unit specifically controls the operation of the arm unit according to a predetermined pattern. That is, the control unit appropriately controls operations such as rotation and turning in the arm unit according to the predetermined pattern.

Further, in the robot arm for handling bottles according to the present invention, the control unit controls the gripping operation of the gripping member when the gripping member is mounted on the hand unit, and the suction member is mounted on the hand unit. At times, the suction operation of the suction member is controlled.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a system using a bottle handling robot arm according to the embodiment. The system includes first to third transport units 1 to 3, a robot arm 4, a packaging material pallet supply unit 5, a canning machine 6, a top pat supply unit 7, a weight checker 8, a sealing machine 9, a product pallet storage unit 10 and the like.

The first transport section 1 is constituted by a transport means such as a belt conveyor. Then, the first transport unit 1
Represents a wine bottle 11 supplied from a supply source (not shown),
The wine bottle 11 is transported in the direction indicated by the arrow to the accumulation section 1a.

Here, the stacking section 1a is formed at the end of the first transport section 1 in the illustrated example. That is, by providing the block plate 1b at the final position of the first transport unit 1, the first
The wine bottle 11 conveyed on the conveyance section 1 is locked by the block plate 1b, and stays and accumulates in order from the block plate 1b. Note that, in addition to the above-described configuration, the stacking unit 1 a may have a configuration in which the end of the transport destination of the first transport unit 1 is formed of a member different from the first transport unit 1.

Preferably, at least an end of the block plate 1b on the wine supply side is formed of an elastic member such as rubber, so that an impact when the conveyed wine bottle 11 is locked by the block plate 1b can be reduced. Buffered.
The width of the accumulation unit 1a is, for example, a dimension in which three wine bottles 11 (three rows) are arranged as illustrated.

Further, in the first transporting section 1, on both sides of the belt conveyor constituting the transporting section, the wine bottles 11 placed and transported on the belt conveyor are guided and fall from the belt conveyor is controlled. A pair of guide plates for prevention are provided. The width of the pair of guide plates 22 is the same as that of the accumulation section 1a.
Are arranged in three lines.

As is generally known, the wine bottle 11 has a small-diameter cylindrical portion on the upper side of a cylindrical main body portion, and further, the upper portion of the cylindrical portion has a slightly larger diameter to form a head portion. Is provided.

The second transport section 2 is constituted by transport means such as a belt conveyor. Then, the second transport unit 2
Is for transporting the cardboard 12 made by making the packaging material supplied from the packaging material pallet supply unit 5 by the canning machine 6 to the working range of the robot arm 4.

The third transport section 3 is constituted by transport means such as a belt conveyor. And the third transporter 3
Is a cardboard box 1 in which a predetermined number of wine bottles 11 are packed in a box.
2 is conveyed to the product pallet storage unit 10 via the top pat feeder 7, the weight checker 8, and the sealing machine 9. Note that the cardboard box 12 in which the wine bottles 11 are packed in boxes.
The top pad 13 supplied by the top pad supply machine 7 is placed on the upper part thereof, and after the weight is checked by the weight checker 8, the upper opening is closed by the sealing machine 9.

The robot arm 4 carries out operations such as holding and transporting the wine bottles 11 collected in the collecting section 1a. Specifically, a plurality of wine bottles 11 collected in the stacking unit 1a are stacked and stacked on a pallet 14 arranged beside the wine bottles 11, or the stacking unit 1a
For example, the cardboard box 12 is supplied to a position forward of the box. In the illustrated example, the pallet 14 is arranged on both sides of the robot arm 4, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the pallet 14 may be arranged only on the right or left side.

In order to perform the above operation, the robot arm 4 has a control unit (not shown). This control unit is provided, for example, inside the robot arm 4.
The operation of the robot arm 4 is controlled according to a predetermined pattern. Specifically, the control unit controls the operation of the robot arm 4 in an arbitrary selected pattern of a plurality of preset different patterns by a known means such as numerical control (NC) or computer control by a computer program. Functions to control. The selection of such a pattern is performed by, for example, manually changing the setting in the control unit by operating a switch or the like.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of different wine bottles 11 are controlled to sequentially stack a plurality of wine bottles 11 inside the pallet 14, and the plurality of wine bottles are The control to enter 11 is used.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the robot arm 4 is installed on a base 15. Then, the robot arm 4 is attached to the base 4 fixed on the base 15.
1, first to fourth arms 42 to 45, and a robot hand 46 attached to the tip of the fourth arm 45. First arm 42 and second arm 43
Means that the second arm 43 and the third arm 43
The arm 44 is rotatably connected to the third arm 44 and the fourth arm 45 by a joint R3, and the fourth arm and the robot hand 46 are rotatably connected to each other by a joint R4.

In each of the joints R1 to R4,
The relative rotation between the two arms connected by the joints R1 to R4 is, for example, determined by each joint R1
This is performed by driving the electric motors provided in R4. The control of the driving of each electric motor is performed by the control unit described above. With this configuration, in the robot arm 4, the joints R1 to R4 are controlled according to a predetermined pattern, and perform operations such as rotation and turning.

Next, the operation of the robot arm 4 of the handling system according to the embodiment having the above configuration will be described. First, using this handling system, the wine bottle 1
The operation of the robot arm 4 when the work of stacking the robot 1 on the pallet 14 is performed will be described. This operation is generally called an impaletina.

That is, in this case, the suction assembly 47 is fixed to the robot hand 46 as shown in FIG. The fixing is performed, for example, by fixing the mounting portion 47a of the suction assembly 47 to the robot hand 46 with a bolt and a nut.

Here, the suction assembly 47 includes the above-described mounting portion 47a, a base portion 47b, and a suction portion 47c. Referring to FIG. 6, the base portion 47b is a member extending in the lateral direction.
A plurality of, in the illustrated example, twelve suction portions 47c are arranged at predetermined intervals, specifically, at least a distance corresponding to the diameter of the wine bottle 11. Suction unit 47
c is a known suction mechanism suitable for sucking the outer peripheral portion of the wine bottle 11, that is, the belly portion of the wine bottle 11.

As an example, the suction portion 47c is formed of a rubber suction cup, and an air hole is provided substantially at the center of the suction cup. When the wine bottle 11 is sucked by the suction cup, the suction surface is depressurized by sucking air from the air hole with the suction cup pressed against the belly of the wine bottle 11. When releasing the suction, air is supplied from the air hole to release the decompression on the suction surface. Such suction and supply of air may be performed using a known compressor, actuator, or the like.

Then, referring to FIG.
Robot arm 4 in wine bottles 11 collected in a row
The 12 wines from the right, which are located in the row facing the side of the robot arm, that is, in the lower row, are supplied to each suction section 4 of the suction assembly 47 attached to the robot hand 46 of the robot arm 4.
7c are sucked and held together. In this case, the joint R4 and the like are appropriately controlled such that the suction unit 47c is located on the antinode of the wine bottle 11 of the accumulation unit 1a as shown in FIG.

The robot arm 4 that has absorbed the wine bottle 11 as described above moves the wine bottle 11 to, for example, a pallet 14 located on the right side in FIG. 7, and places the wine bottle 11 therein. The placement of the wine bottle 11 is as follows.
This is performed by placing the wine bottle 11 on the pallet 14 sideways. Next, the robot hand 46 of the robot arm 4
Moves again to the stacking unit 1a, and similarly sucks and holds 12 wine bottles in each suction unit 47c. Note that these operations are performed by controlling the operations of the joints R1 to R4 and the suction unit 47c as described above according to a predetermined pattern in the control unit.

Then, by repeating this operation sequentially,
The wine bottles 11 are arranged in a predetermined form in the pallet 14 and stacked. In addition, the form in which the wine bottles 11 are arranged, the number of stacked wine bottles 11, and the like are as follows.
It is appropriately changed by setting in the above predetermined pattern. The replacement of the pallets 14 is performed by an operator.

Further, the wine bottles 11 aligned and stacked in the pallet 14 as described above are stored after storage.
When taking out from the pallet 14, the reverse procedure may be taken. That is, the pallet 14 is placed beside the robot arm 4, and a predetermined number of wine bottles 11 in the pallet 14 are sequentially arranged from above by the suction portions 47 c of the suction assembly 47 attached to the robot hand 46 of the robot arm 4. In this state, the robot arm 4 may be controlled so that the robot arm 4 is sucked, transported to, for example, the stacking unit 1a of the first transfer unit 1 and placed upright on the stacking unit 1a.

A case will be described in which the wine bottle 11 is packed in a cardboard box 12 using this handling system. This operation is generally called an inker.

That is, in this case, the gripping assembly 48 is fixed to the robot arm 4 as shown in FIG. The gripping assembly 48 is fixed by fixing the mounting portion 48a of the gripping assembly 48 to the robot hand 46 with bolts and nuts, as described above.

Here, the gripping assembly 48 is composed of the mounting portion 48a, the base portion 48b, and the gripping portion 48c. In the example shown in the figure, the base portion 48b is provided with 12 gripping portions 48c of 4 horizontal rows × 3 vertical columns in order to grip a total of 12 wine bottles 11 of 4 horizontal rows × 3 vertical columns. I have. The distance between these twelve gripping portions 48c is spaced apart by the distance corresponding to the diameter of the wine bottle 11.

The holding portion 48c is constituted by a known holding mechanism suitable for holding the head of the wine bottle 11.
For example, a pair of semicircular gripping pieces are arranged so that their ends face each other to form a substantially circle. And
The head of the wine bottle 11 is gripped or released by reducing or separating the distance between the gripping pieces. Here, such an operation of the pair of gripping pieces is performed using a known actuator in the same manner as described above.

Then, with reference to FIG.
Of the wine bottles 11 collected in a row, four wine bottles 11 from the left side in FIG. 8, that is, a total of twelve wine bottles 11 are held together by the holding portions 48 c of the holding assembly 48 attached to the robot hand 46 of the robot arm 4. It is gripped and held. In this case, the joint R4 and the like are appropriately controlled such that the grip portion 48c is located at the head of the wine bottle 11 of the stacking portion 1a as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8, the robot arm 4 holding the wine bottle 11 moves to place the gripped wine bottle 11 inside the corrugated cardboard 12 supplied onto the second transport unit 2 in FIG. Then, the grip is released after the placement. Thus, the twelve wine bottles 11 are placed in the cardboard 12 in an aligned state. In addition, a partition piece for partitioning each wine bottle 11 may be put in the cardboard 12 in advance.

Thereafter, the robot arm 4 moves to the position before the movement, and holds a new wine bottle 11 at this position. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated, and similarly, the twelve wine bottles 11 are sequentially placed inside the cardboard 12. These operations are performed by joints R1 to R
4 and the operation of the gripper 48c as described above are controlled by the control unit according to a predetermined pattern.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a robot arm for handling bottles, which can easily perform various operations such as stacking bottles on a pallet and packing bottles in cardboard boxes. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of a system using a robot arm for handling bottles according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a main part of the robot arm of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the robot arm of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the robot arm of FIG. 1 in a state where the robot arm is rotated by 90 °.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a suction assembly is attached to a robot hand constituting a robot arm.

FIG. 6 (a) is a rear view of the suction assembly of FIG. 6,
(A) is a top view similarly.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of sucking a wine bottle by a robot arm and transporting the wine bottle into a pallet.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of holding a wine bottle by a robot arm and transporting the wine bottle into cardboard.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of holding a wine bottle by a robot arm and transporting the wine bottle into cardboard.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 1st conveyance part 1a accumulation part 2 2nd conveyance part 3 3rd conveyance part 4 Robot arm 46 Robot hand 11 Wine bottle 12 Cardboard 14 Pallet R1, R2, R3, R4 Joint

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A hand unit for holding a bottle, an arm unit for moving the hand unit, and a control unit for controlling operations of the hand unit and the arm unit, wherein the hand unit is A robot arm for handling bottles, wherein one of a holding member for holding the bottle and a suction member for sucking the bottle is freely attachable. 2. The robot arm according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the operation of the arm unit according to a predetermined pattern. 3. The control unit controls a gripping operation of the gripping member when the gripping member is attached to the hand unit, and suctions the suction member when the gripping member is attached to the hand unit. The robot arm according to claim 1, wherein the operation is controlled.