JPS60102314A - Parts feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable handling of more than one kind of parts with a single feeder and separated feeding of only a required part by taking the picture of parts at a part separating position of a circulating type parts feeder and detecting a necessary part from the signal of said picture. CONSTITUTION:A TV camera 11 is placed in the rear of a blade 10 in the part separating position of a circulating type parts feeder 1, to take the picture of a group of parts on a truck 3, and a picture signal is sent to a picture recognition and processing device 12. The recognition and processing device 12 processes the received picture, detects a part which is required at present and has a proper posture, and send information to a robot controlling device 14 and a part-feeding controlling device 15. The part-feeding controlling device 15 stops the truck 3 and a disk 4, based on the inputted information. The robot controlling device 14 controls a robot B and carries out the feeding of a part when notified of the existance of the part. Due to this construction, it is possible to detect the feed only a necessary part out of more than one kind of part, by means of a single feeder.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a parts feeding device, and is particularly suitable for separating currently required types of parts from multiple types of parts fed into a single parts feeder. Regarding the parts supply bag f-neck.

[Background of the invention]

There are many different types of parts, and therefore there are many different automatic parts supply systems. As the main parts supply method,
A manufacturing supply method in which parts are manufactured and simultaneously supplied to the assembly process, an array supply method in which parts are arranged in advance on a magazine or belt and supplied by hand, and a random supply method in which parts randomly stacked in bulk are arranged and fed to livestock. There is an automatic parts supply system. Currently, most parts feeders (components feeding devices) used in assembly lanes are either random automatic parts feeding systems or array feeding systems. Especially in the former case,
In principle, vibration type (bowl feeder, straight feeder),
Rotary type (drum feeder), vibrating type (hopper feeder)
etc.

All of these devices have three functions: storage, alignment, and feeding of parts. Among them, the parts tweeter using a vibrating bowl feeder has the best alignment function and is widely used because it is versatile. .

However, on the other hand, there are a wide variety of methods for keeping the posture of parts constant through the interaction between the attachment and the moving parts, which can be called tooling for alignment, and there is not necessarily one method for each type of part. Na-. The tooling described above varies depending on the shape, size, weight, and surface condition of the parts, and even within the same manufacturer, there is no set tooling technique, and it is highly dependent on the intuition and experience of the operator. strong. Therefore, even for a type of part, the actual situation is that the tooling for each parts feeder differs depending on the manufacturer.

As a result, conventional parts supply devices have the disadvantage that the entire device is expensive and takes a long time to manufacture. Additionally, conventional component supply devices have a configuration in which one set of dedicated supply devices is provided for one type of component.
The drawback was that it lacked versatility and could not be adapted to different types of parts.

[Purpose of the invention]

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, to be able to simultaneously handle multiple types of parts with a single circulating burn feeder, and to handle currently 8 types of parts from among the multiple types of parts.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a parts supply device that can accurately search for and stably supply parts that are of a high quality and have an appropriate orientation.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, a set of circulating parts feeders capable of circulating and separating multiple types of parts is installed, a parts imaging means is arranged facing the parts separation position of the parts feeder, and the parts imaging means is used to image the parts. In addition to being connected to a recognition processing device, this image recognition processing device can process image signals sent from the component imaging means, search for the currently required component and in an appropriate orientation, and transmit that information. This device is characterized by its structure, and with this structure, all of the above objects can be achieved.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1. Image recognition processing device 12. It is equipped with a robot 13 for taking out currently required parts, a robot control device 14, and a parts supply control device 15.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the circulating acid parts feeder 1 includes a case 2 for preventing components from escaping, a track 3 disposed concentrically inside the case 2, and a track 3 disposed slantingly inside the track 3. It has a circular plate 4 and a blade 1o arranged on a track 6. The truck 3 has a motor 5
As a result, the twisted discs 4 are rotated by the motors 6 independently and in the same direction as shown by the arrows in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the disc 4 is provided with a component receiving part 8 having a step 7 between it and the upper surface of the track 3 at one end in the diametrical direction, and at the other end in the diametrical direction. The end portion is connected to the upper surface of the track 3 through the contact portion 9 . Case 2 for preventing parts from escaping
The parts 16 on the track 3 are returned to the parts receiver 8. In this circulation type parts feeder 1, the parts receiver drops a plurality of types of parts 16 into the part 8, lifts these parts 16 from the disk 4 onto the track 3, and as the track 6 rotates, the parts 16 are lifted up by about 1 m. After moving half a circle, the blade 10 is configured so that the part receiver can be returned to the section 8 for circulation.

The TV left camera 1 is arranged above the track B and behind the blade 10 in the same rotational direction of the track 3, and is arranged to move the parts on the track 3 at predetermined intervals for a certain period of time. An image is captured within the visual field of the camera, and the image signal is sent to the image recognition processing device 12.

The image recognition processing device 12 processes the image sent from the TV left camera 1, searches for parts that are currently required and has an appropriate orientation, and sends peak information to the robot control device 14 and the parts supply rate. 15.

The component supply control device 15 controls the motor 5 of the rack 3 based on the information from the image recognition processing device 12 that there is a currently necessary component on the truck 3 and a component in an appropriate posture. The motor 6 of the disk 4 is stopped, and the motors 5 and 6 are driven based on the information that ``not present -J'', and the rotational speed of the motor 6 of the disk 4 is increased. There is.

The robot control device 14 transmits information on the type of parts currently required to the image recognition processing device 12, and also receives information from the image recognition processing device 12 indicating that the currently required parts and the appropriate posture exist. The robot 15 is configured to be controlled based on the information and the position and orientation information of its parts.

The robot 131d', in response to a command from the robot control device 14, takes out the necessary parts present on the truck 3, transports them, for example, to a parts assembly position, and returns to assemble them.

The parts supply control device of the above embodiment is used and operates as follows.

That is, the parts receiver of the circulating parts feeder 10 and the disc 4 are fed into the part 8, and the motor 5 of the truck 3 and the motor 6 of the disc 4 are driven through the parts supply control device 15, so that the truck 3 and the disc 4 are fed. Rotate each independently and in the same direction.

As a result, the component 16 on the disc 4 is transferred from the contact portion 9 between the track 6 and the disc 4 onto the track 3 due to the centrifugal force that acts on the component 16 in proportion to the square of the rotation speed of the disc 4. . At b, the parts 16 on the track 6 are transported to the position of the b5 blade 10 as the track 3 rotates, and this blade 10 moves the parts receptacle formed with a step 7 between the track 3 and the disc 4. The voice returns to part 8. In this way, the parts 16 are arranged in the following order: the parts holder is part 8 → disc 4 → contact part 9 → track 6
→The blade 10→The parts receiver circulates to the section 8. This circulating parts feeder 1 has a function of aligning parts 16.
Therefore, the types, postures, and numbers of parts 16 that appear on the track 3 are not constant and change.

Therefore, using the TV camera 11 and the image recognition processing device 12, a currently required part and a part in an appropriate orientation is searched for in the following manner.

Now, it is assumed that six types of parts as shown in FIG. 3 αl b+' are handled. When assembling these three types of parts, the plane of the posture is shown in FIG. 4 αl bIC.

ζ et al., these parts are assembled in the plane of the posture, the fifth
As shown in Figures α, b, and c, a contrast in tone different from the background surface is provided.

On the other hand, the image recognition processing device 12 has information about individual parts.
The area value and number of holes as reference attribute values shown in Table 1 are stored in advance.

In Table 1, the TV left camera 1 images a group of parts on the track 3 within a predetermined field of view at regular intervals,
The assembly utilizes the contrast between the plane of the posture and the background to obtain a binarized image as shown in FIG. 6, and sends the image signal to the image recognition processing device 12vc.

Part 1. Then, in the image recognition processing device 12, in addition to the area values and the number of holes as attribute values of various parts, the barycenter coordinate values are determined from the binarized image and stored in the image recognition processing device 12 in 6 degrees, and the standard b is determined. Comparison with the attribute values is performed to search for parts with proper postures such as the type of parts and the assembly posture, and create a parts data table shown in Table 2.

Table 2 In this parts data table, the number of parts recognized and t11TV
The number of objects recognized in a separated state within the field of view of the camera 11 is shown (see FIG. 6).

Next, in the image recognition processing device 12, the robot control device 1
When the currently required parts information sent from 4 is compared with the type of parts in the parts data table, and it is determined that there is a currently required part on the track 6 and in an appropriate orientation, In other words, if the currently required part is α or b shown in the part type in Table 2, the image recognition processing device 12 transmits information that “exists” to the parts supply control device 15 and robot control device 14, and The supply control device 15 stops the motor 5 of the truck 3 and the motor 6 of the disk 4, and the robot control device 14 guides the robot 13 to the position where the currently required part in the proper posture is present.
The part is then removed, which is then controlled. After the robot 13 takes out the parts, the robot 13 carries them to a position and performs work such as assembling them, for example.

On the other hand, when there is no part on the track 3 that is currently required and has a proper orientation, if the currently required part is C, the image recognition processing device 12 sends the parts to the component supply control device 15 and the robot control device 14. The information that "does not exist" is transmitted to. Therefore, the motor 5 of the seat trunk 3 and the motor 6 of the disc 4 are continuously driven by the parts supply control device 15. As a result, the above-mentioned parts searching operation is repeated, and the driving force of the motor 6 for the disc 4 is further increased, the rotational speed of the disc 4 is increased, and the currently required parts are placed on the track 6. The probability of appearance is increased.

In this way, the single circulating parts feeder 1 can accurately search for currently required and appropriate parts from among the plurality of types of parts 16 and stably supply them.

Of course, the present invention is limited to parts having the glaze and shape shown in FIG.

Further, the structure of each part is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but it is preferable if it has the desired function. [Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described above, a plurality of types of parts can be attached to a circulating parts feeder. Dropped and circulated, and imaged by a component imaging means at a component separation position of the parts feeder,
The image signal is sent to an image recognition processing device, which performs image processing, and 'fJ4. This system is designed to search for parts that are currently in use and in the correct position, and to transmit that information.''7 This makes it possible to handle multiple types of parts at the same time using a single circulating parts feeder. , because it can handle cases where the types of parts are different.
In addition to having the effect of providing versatility, the present invention has the effect of accurately searching for currently required parts in an appropriate orientation from among a plurality of types of parts, and stably supplying them.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a circulating parts feeder, Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the shapes of three different types of parts, and Fig. 4 shows these Figure 5 is a plan view showing the proper postures of three types of parts, Figure 5 is a binarized image of the parts in their proper posture, and Figure 6 is a binarized image captured by a TV camera, which is the part imaging means. be. 1...1ikff1 type parts feeder 11...TV camera 12 which is a part imaging means...Image recognition processing device 13...'', robot 14 which images the necessary parts.
...Robot control device 15...Parts supply control device 16...Part 16'...Part αb at the position shown on the TV camera
, c...Patent attorneys representing different types of parts High
Akio Hashi Figure 3 Yu ShiC ■ Figure 4 αb Kosashi S Figure ^b Go

Claims (1)

[Claims] A set of circulating parts feeders capable of circulating and separating multiple types of parts is installed, a parts imaging means is arranged opposite to the parts separation position of this parts feeder, and this parts imaging means is used for image recognition processing. At the same time, this image recognition processing device is configured to process the image signal sent from the component imaging means, search for the currently required component and in the appropriate orientation, and transmit that information. A parts supply device characterized by: