TH77401B - Systems for measuring automated workpieces - Google Patents

Abstract

------January 24, 2020------(OCR) Page 1 of 1 Summary of the Invention This invention describes an automated system for measuring the diameter of hard disk drive components. It comprises a robot, internal and external diameter measuring instruments, a workpiece parallelism measuring instrument, and an automated workpiece tray conveyor system. The system begins with the input workpiece tray moving into the robot's working area. The robot picks up the workpiece from the tray and feeds it into the two measuring instruments. After measurement, the results from the instruments indicate where the robot should place the workpiece. If the workpiece is marked as passing, it is moved back to the output workpiece tray. If the workpiece is marked as failing, it is moved to the tray for defective parts. The robot continuously picks up the workpiece, feeds it into the measuring instruments, and returns it to its original position until the input workpiece tray is empty and the output workpiece trays are full (five trays). The system then moves the workpiece trays out of the robot's working area, completing one cycle. This is an automated system for measuring the diameter of hard disk drive components. This will help reduce human error. Furthermore, the system is highly flexible and the grippers can be modified to grip other model parts in the future. Therefore, it is ideally suited for the manufacturing process of hard disk drive components that requires continuity, speed, and minimal error. ------------ DC60 (30/10/58) This invention describes an automatic hard disk drive component diameter measurement system. It consists of a robot, internal and external diameter measuring instruments, a workpiece parallelism measuring instrument, and an automatic workpiece tray conveyor system. The system begins with the incoming workpiece tray moving into the robot's working area. The robot picks up the workpiece from the tray and feeds it into the two measuring instruments. After measurement, the results from the measuring instruments indicate where the robot should place the workpiece. If the workpiece is marked as passing, it is moved back to the outgoing workpiece tray. If the workpiece is marked as failing, it is moved to the tray for defective parts. The robot process continues picking up the workpiece, feeding it into the measuring instruments, and returning it to its original position until the incoming workpiece trays are empty and the outgoing workpiece trays are full (five trays). The system then moves the workpiece trays out of the robot's working area, completing one cycle. This automatic hard disk drive component diameter measurement system will help reduce human error. In addition, the system is highly flexible and the grippers can be modified to... It can handle other model parts in the future, making it ideal for the hard disk drive component manufacturing process that requires continuity, speed, and minimal errors. (Revised Invention Summary 30/10/2015) This invention describes an automated hard disk drive component diameter measurement system consisting of a robot, internal and external diameter measuring instruments, a workpiece parallelism measuring instrument, and an automated workpiece tray conveyor system. The system begins with the workpiece tray moving from the input side into the robot's working area. The robot picks up the workpiece from the tray and feeds it into the two measuring instruments. After measurement, the results from the measuring instruments indicate where the robot should place the workpiece. If the workpiece is marked as passing, it is moved back to the output side tray. If the workpiece is marked as failing, it is moved to the tray for defective parts. The robot then picks up the workpiece, feeds it into the measuring instruments, and returns it to its original position, repeating this process. The process continues until the incoming workpiece trays are empty and the outgoing workpiece trays are full (five trays in total). At that point, the system moves the workpiece trays out of the robot's working area, completing one cycle. The automated hard disk drive diameter measurement system helps reduce human error. Furthermore, the system is highly flexible and the grippers can be modified to hold other model parts in the future, making it ideal for hard disk drive manufacturing processes requiring continuity, speed, and minimal error. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The automated hard disk drive diameter measurement system described in this invention consists of a robot, internal and external diameter measuring instruments, workpiece parallelism measuring instruments, and an automated workpiece tray conveyor system. The system begins with the incoming workpiece trays moving into the robot's working area. The robot picks up the workpiece from the trays and feeds it into the two measuring instruments. After measurement, the results from the measuring instruments indicate where the robot should place the workpiece. If the workpiece is marked as passing, it is moved back to the outgoing workpiece trays. If the workpiece is marked as failing, it is moved to the tray for defective parts. The robot then picks up the workpiece, feeds it into the measuring instrument, and returns it to its original position, repeating this process. The process continues until all incoming workpiece trays are empty and all five outgoing workpiece trays are full. At that point, the system moves the workpiece trays out of the robot's working area, completing one cycle. The automated hard disk drive diameter measurement system helps reduce human error. Furthermore, the system is highly flexible and the grippers can be modified to grip other models in the future, making it ideal for hard disk drive manufacturing processes that require continuity, speed, and minimal error.

Claims (2)

------January 24, 2020------(OCR) Page 1 of 2. Claims 1. An automated workpiece measurement system consisting of a robotic arm with workpiece grippers for moving workpieces to predetermined positions; a workpiece tray consisting of an input and output tray, positioned in predetermined locations to hold a certain number of workpieces; a camera for capturing images of the workpiece; an image analysis system that receives image data from the camera for analyzing workpiece position, number of workpieces, or any abnormalities that would render the robot unable to continue; a control unit consisting of a memory unit for storing the analyzed data and controlling the operation of the system; and a physical characteristic measurement device connected to the control unit for measuring the physical characteristics of the workpiece and sending the measurement results to the control unit. Specifically, the control unit controls the movement of the robotic arm in a way that allows the robotic arm to move the workpiece from the input tray to the measurement device for physical characteristic measurement and then move the workpiece to either the input or output tray, depending on the measurement results. The robotic arm is positioned in the center of the work area. It also features a two-sided workpiece gripper and hook for lifting workpiece trays at the end of the robotic arm, reducing arm movement and saving time. Furthermore, cameras are used to inspect the workpieces at the incoming and outgoing trays, helping to verify the number of workpieces and the accuracy of their arrangement. This is achieved using image processing methods that separate the background from the workpiece (segmentation) and global thresholding, considering the difference in color between the workpiece and the tray. This results in more accurate workpiece picking and placement by the robotic arm. (Page 2 of 2) Claim 1. A system for automated workpiece measurement comprising: • A robotic arm with workpiece grippers for moving workpieces to predetermined positions. • Workpiece trays consisting of an incoming and outgoing tray, positioned in predetermined locations to hold a certain number of workpieces. • A camera for capturing images of the workpieces. • An image processing system that receives image data from the camera for analysis to determine workpiece position, number of workpieces, or any abnormalities. • Workpiece defects that would render the robot unable to continue working. • Control unit, consisting of memory for storing various data obtained from analysis and controlling the operation of the system. • Physical characteristic measurement device connected to the control unit for measuring the physical characteristics of the workpiece and sending the measurement results to the control unit. Specifically, the control unit controls the movement of the robotic arm in a way that allows the arm to bring the workpiece from the input tray to the measurement device for physical characteristic measurement and move the workpiece to either the input or output tray, depending on the measurement result. The robotic arm is positioned in the center of the work area. It also has a two-sided workpiece gripper and a hook for lifting the workpiece tray at the end of the robotic arm to reduce arm movement, saving time. In addition, cameras are used to inspect the workpieces at the input and output trays to help check the number of workpieces and the accuracy of the arrangement. This is done using image processing methods by separating the background from the workpiece (segmentation) using global thresholding because the color of the workpiece and the tray are different, which affects the picking and placing of the workpiece. More Precise Robotic Arm ----------- Updated 30/10/2015 1. Automatic workpiece measurement system consisting of: • A robotic arm with workpiece grippers for moving workpieces to predetermined positions. • Workpiece trays consisting of an input tray and an output tray, positioned in advance to hold a certain number of workpieces. • A camera for capturing images of the workpiece. • An image data analysis system that receives data from the camera to analyze the workpiece's position, number of workpieces, or any abnormalities that would prevent the robot from continuing the operation. • A control unit consisting of memory for storing the analyzed data and controlling the operation of the system. • A physical characteristic measurement device connected to the control unit for measuring the physical characteristics of the workpiece and sending the measurement results to the control unit. Specifically, the control unit controls the movement of the robotic arm so that the arm brings the workpiece from the input tray to the measurement device for physical characteristic measurement and then moves the workpiece to either the input or output tray, depending on the measurement result. The robotic arm is positioned in the center of the work area and is equipped with two-sided workpiece grippers and a hook. For lifting workpiece trays at the end of the robotic arm, reducing robotic arm movement and saving operating time. In addition, cameras are used to inspect workpieces at the incoming and outgoing trays, helping to verify the number of workpieces and the accuracy of their arrangement. This is achieved using image processing methods with background separation from the workpieces (segmentation) and global thresholding, taking into account the difference in color between the workpieces and trays. This results in more accurate workpiece picking and placement by the robotic arm. 2. The system under claim 1, which includes the aforementioned physical measurement instrument, consists of a diameter measuring instrument or a workpiece surface parallelism measuring instrument. 1. An automated workpiece measurement system consisting of: • A robotic arm with workpiece grippers for moving workpieces to predetermined positions. • A workpiece tray consisting of an input tray and an output tray, positioned in predetermined locations to hold a certain number of workpieces. • A camera for capturing images of the workpiece. • An image data analysis system that receives data from the camera to analyze the workpiece's position, number of workpieces, or any abnormalities that would prevent the robot from continuing the operation. • A control unit consisting of a memory unit for storing the analyzed data. The control unit stores this data and transmits it to the control unit. Specifically, the control unit controls the movement of the robotic arm to move the workpiece from the input tray to the measurement device for physical characteristics measurements and then moves the workpiece to either the input or output tray, depending on the measurement results. 2. A system under claim 1 in which the aforementioned physical measurement instrument includes a diameter measuring instrument or a surface parallelism measuring instrument.