TW202222665A - Conveying system - Google Patents

Abstract

A conveying system provided by the invention is expected to realize quickness and simplification of the action form adjustment operation of the conveying object posture changing unit; the conveying system is provided with a conveying device that conveys an object to be conveyed along a transport path, and that has a posture change site that changes the posture of the object to be conveyed midway along the transport path; an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the conveyed object; a conveyed object discrimination unit for performing image processing on an image part of the conveyed object in a determination region set on the upstream side of the posture change site to obtain conveyed object discrimination information relating to the posture of the conveyed object; a conveyed object posture changing unit which changes the posture of the conveyed object at the posture changing part when the conveyed object identification information is information that the posture of the conveyed object needs to be changed; and a conveyed object confirmation unit for performing image processing on the image portion of the conveyed object whose posture has been changed by the conveyed object posture changing unit to obtain conveyed object confirmation information related to the posture of the conveyed object.

Description

Conveyor system

The present invention relates to delivery systems.

Conventionally, in various conveying systems, images generated by photographing conveyed objects are processed to count conveyed objects, judge whether they are good or not, determine their posture, and detect conveying states (speed, density, interval, etc.). As an example of the above-mentioned delivery system, the apparatuses disclosed in the following Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 can be mentioned. In addition, the following Patent Documents 3 and 4 disclose methods of changing the posture of the transported object by blowing an airflow to the transported object in order to change the posture of the transported object on the transport path in the above-described transport system. Serve neatly and consistently. prior art literature Patent Literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2017-121995 Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2019-169010 Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-240615 Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-264430

However, in the above-mentioned conveying system, when the attitude of the conveyed object is changed, the blowing pressure of the air flow or the blowing timing is not appropriate, and the changed attitude may be inappropriate or the changed attitude may become irregular. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the blowing pressure or blowing timing of the air flow according to the type of the conveyed object, and there is a problem that the adjustment work takes time every time the posture of the conveyed object is changed, and a skilled person is required to perform the appropriate adjustment.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the subject of the present invention is to realize quickness and simplification of the adjustment operation of the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing means in the conveying system.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the conveying system of the present invention includes: a conveying device that conveys a conveyed object along a conveying path, and has a posture changing part in the middle of the conveying path that changes the attitude of the conveyed object; and an image acquisition unit that Acquiring an image of the conveyed object; a conveyed object identification unit that performs image processing on the image portion of the conveyed object in a judgment area set on the upstream side of the position change portion, thereby obtaining a correlation with the conveyed object The conveyed object identification information related to the posture of the object; the conveyed object posture changing unit, when the conveyed object identification information is the information that the posture of the conveyed object needs to be changed, the posture of the conveyed object is implemented at the position change part. change; and a conveyed object confirmation unit, which performs image processing on the image portion of the conveyed object after the posture of the conveyed object has been changed by the conveyed object posture change unit, thereby obtaining the conveyed object confirmation related to the posture of the conveyed object News.

According to the present invention, since the state of the conveyed object after the posture of the conveyed object has been changed by the operation of the conveyed object posture changing unit can be confirmed by obtaining the conveyed object confirmation information related to the attitude of the conveyed object, it is possible to confirm the information at the same time. The adjustment work of the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit simplifies the adjustment work of the operation form of the conveyed object attitude changing unit, and the attitude change form of the conveyed object at the position changing position is improved with high precision.

In the present invention, it is preferable to further include a conveyed object posture change determination unit that obtains conveyed object posture change information indicating a relationship between the conveyed object identification information and the conveyed object confirmation information. According to this invention, by obtaining the conveyed object posture change information indicating the relationship between the identification information before the conveyed object posture change and the conveyed object posture change confirmation information, it is possible to more easily confirm the operation form and the conveyed object posture change unit. The relationship between the posture change state of the conveyed object caused by the operation of the conveyed object posture changing unit.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the conveyed object confirmation unit obtains the conveyed object confirmation information by performing image processing on an image portion of a confirmation area, wherein the confirmation area is set at the location where the conveyed object is located. The position change part is located in a position or a range where the position is changed by the conveyed object position change means. Here, it is preferable that the confirmation area is set at the same time as the other image captured after a predetermined time has elapsed with respect to the image of the image portion including the determination area. The said posture change part is in the image part which has a predetermined positional relationship. In addition, it is preferable to further include confirmation area prediction means for predicting the position or range of the confirmation area for each of the images or each of the conveyed objects. In addition, the confirmation area may also be set in a preset fixed position or range.

In the present invention, it is preferable to further include a posture change control unit for controlling the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit; the posture change control unit is preferably based on the conveyed object confirmation information or through the conveyed object posture change determination unit The outputted object posture change information automatically sets the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit. According to this invention, since the operation form of the conveyed object attitude changing unit can be automatically adjusted based on the conveyed object confirmation information or the conveyed object attitude change information, the trouble of adjustment work can be reduced and the accuracy of the attitude change can be improved.

In this invention, it is preferable that the said conveyed object attitude|position changing means changes the attitude|position of the said conveyed object by blowing the airflow to the said conveyed object. Here, the operation form is preferably at least one of the blowing timing and the blowing pressure of the airflow. In addition, the above-mentioned conveyed object posture changing means is not limited to the above-mentioned device using airflow, and may be a mechanical device such as a robot arm, or may be a device using the shape or structure of the conveying path, for example, by forming a step in a part of the conveying path. A device that rotates the conveyed object by waiting.

In the present invention, it is preferable that both the determination area and the confirmation area are areas included in the image. According to this invention, since the two areas used for the conveyed object identification process and the conveyed object confirmation process can be set in a single image, the setting of the positional relationship between the two areas can be easily set, and the camera and the like can be simplified. shooting system. (Inventive effect)

According to the present invention, the speed and simplification of the adjustment work for the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit can be realized in the conveying system.

Next, embodiments of the transport system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of an embodiment of the conveying system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 . FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart showing the processing flow of the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 , which is a part of the operation program 10P executed by the computer of the conveying system 10 according to the present embodiment. (a) of FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart showing the processing flow of the conveyed object confirmation processing procedure 101 as a part of the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 , and (b) is the processing of the conveyed object posture change setting processing procedure 102 An outline flowchart of the process. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of the embodiment of the transport system 10 .

First, with reference to FIG. 3, the whole structure of the conveyance system 10 is demonstrated. As shown in FIG. 3, this conveyance system 10 is a conveyance system which conveys the conveyance CA along a predetermined conveyance path. The conveying system 10 constitutes a vibrating conveying device including a feeder 11 including a bowl-shaped conveying body 110 having a spiral conveying path 111 and a linear feeder 12 having a linear feeder 12. The conveyance body 120 of the linear conveyance path 121 is provided with the inlet which is comprised so that the conveyance object may be received from the exit of the said conveyance path 111 of this feeder 11. Moreover, this conveyance apparatus has a conveyance management function which inspects and judges conveyance CA which is conveyance on the conveyance path 121 of the conveyance body 120 of the linear feeder 12 based on the captured image GPX. In addition, in this invention, the structure not limited to a vibrating conveying apparatus can be used for various conveying apparatuses which convey the conveyance CA along a conveyance path. In addition, even if it is a vibration type conveying apparatus, it is not limited to the combination of the above-mentioned feeder 11 and the linear feeder 12, It can also be used for other types of conveying apparatuses, such as a circulating feeder. Furthermore, even in the above-mentioned combination, the inspection is not limited to the inspection of the conveyed object CA on the conveying path 121 of the linear feeder 12, and the conveyed object CA on the conveying path 111 of the feeder 11 may be inspected.

The feeder 11 is driven and controlled by the controller CL11. In addition, the linear feeder 12 is driven and controlled by the controller CL12. The controllers CL11 and CL12 AC drive the vibration excitation mechanisms (including electromagnetic drive bodies or piezoelectric drive bodies, etc.) of the feeder 11 and the linear feeder 12 to vibrate the conveying bodies 110 and 120 so as to make the conveying paths 111 and 121 vibrate. The conveyed object (conveyed object CA) is in a state of moving in the predetermined conveying direction F. In addition, the controllers CL11 and CL12 are connected to an inspection processing unit DTU having an image processing function as the main body of the conveyance management system via an input/output circuit (I/O).

In addition, when a predetermined operation input (debugging operation) is performed to the arithmetic processing device MPU that executes the above-mentioned conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 through the operation input devices SP1 and SP2, which will be described later, such as a mouse, the controllers CL11 and CL12 operate according to the above-mentioned The operation program 10P stops the driving of the conveying device of the conveying system 10 . At this time, according to the above-mentioned operation program 10P, for example, the image measurement processing in the inspection processing unit DTU is also stopped. The debug operation and the operation of each part corresponding to the operation will be described in detail later.

The inspection processing unit DTU is composed of an arithmetic processing unit MPU (microprocessor) such as a personal computer as a core. In the illustrated example, the above-mentioned arithmetic processing device MPU is composed of central processing units CPU1, CPU2, cache memory CCM, memory controller MCL, chip set CHS, and the like. In addition, the inspection processing unit DTU is provided with image processing circuits GP1 and GP2, which are respectively connected to cameras CM1 and CM2 as imaging devices and used to perform image processing. The image processing circuits GP1 and GP2 are connected to the image processing memories GM1 and GM2, respectively. The outputs of the image processing circuits GP1 and GP2 are also connected to the above-mentioned arithmetic processing unit MPU, and the image data of the captured images GPX obtained from the cameras CM1 and CM2 are processed, and an appropriate processed image (for example, an image area to be described later) is processed. image data in GPY) to the arithmetic processing unit MPU. The operation program 10P of the conveyance management system is pre-stored in the main memory device MM. When the checking processing unit DTU is activated, the above-mentioned action program 10P is read and executed through the arithmetic processing unit MPU. In addition, in this main memory device MM, image data of a captured image GPX or an image area GPY, which is a subject to be executed by the arithmetic processing device MPU, for image measurement processing to be described later, is stored.

In addition, the inspection processing unit DTU is connected to display devices DP1 and DP2 such as a liquid crystal monitor or operation input devices SP1 and SP2 via an input/output circuit (I/O). The display devices DP1 and DP2 display the image data of the captured image GPX or the image area GPY processed by the arithmetic processing device MPU, and the result of the image measurement processing, that is, the identification processing of the conveyed object or the detection of the conveying behavior, in a predetermined display manner. processing results, etc. In addition, this display function is not limited to being used when the conveyed object CA is actually conveyed, and is also used when reading and reproducing past data as will be described later. In addition, by operating the operation input devices SP1 and SP2 while viewing the screens of the display devices DP1 and DP2, processing conditions such as various operation commands and set values can be input into the arithmetic processing device MPU.

In the present embodiment, the cameras CM1 and CM2 continuously capture images at a predetermined capturing interval, and perform image measurement processing on image data in a measurement area that has a predetermined ratio based on the conveying speed Vs of the conveyed object and the image capturing process. The relationship of the interval Ts is set to a range in the conveyance direction F in which at least the discrimination target portion of all the conveyed objects CA passing through the conveyance path is always included in any image. As a result, all the conveyed objects CA must be detected in the captured image of a certain measurement area, so it is not necessary to generate a trigger signal for detecting the position of each conveyed object as in the prior art. In addition, by processing the image data of the conveyed object CA included in the image, information necessary for the conveyed object identification processing, the conveyed object detection processing, and the conveying behavior detection processing can be reliably extracted. In addition, in the conveyance system of the present invention, the triggerless imaging method as described above may not be used, and images may be acquired at imaging timings corresponding to detection timings at which conveyed objects are normally detected by a sensor or the like. In addition, in the present embodiment, the above-mentioned identification target portion is the whole of the conveyed object CA, but a part of the conveyed object CA, for example, a portion showing the identification mark on the side surface of the conveyed object CA, etc., may be the above-mentioned identification. object part.

In the conveyance system 10, the conveyed object identification in the middle of conveying is executed by the execution of the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 shown in FIG. 1 included in the below-described operation program 10P (see FIG. 8) executed by the above-mentioned arithmetic processing unit MPU. process, and control the above-mentioned conveying device according to the discrimination result of the process. In the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 , the conveyed object CA is usually discriminated by performing image processing on the conveyed object CA in the measurement area of the image. When the conveyed object CA is appropriate, it can be conveyed on the conveying path as it is, so no special treatment is required, and when it is determined that the conveyed object CA is not appropriate, various actions, such as removing it from the conveying path, or changing its posture on the conveying path, need to be performed. , or return to the upstream side, etc. In the present embodiment, the above-mentioned conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 includes a portion that executes processing (conveyed object identification processing) for identifying the posture of the conveyed object CA, and executes the conveyed object CA based on the identification result Ci of the posture of the portion. Posture change processing.

Here, in this specification, as one of the various ways of changing the posture of the conveyed object CA, inversion of the conveyed object CA is included. In addition, "posture change" includes not only the inversion in the sense of inverting the conveyed object CA upside down, but also broadly includes various ways of finally changing the posture of the conveyed object CA, such as rotating the conveyed object CA by an arbitrary angle around an arbitrary axis (rotation 90° degrees, rotate 180 degrees, rotate 270 degrees, etc.) and so on. In addition, in the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 of the present embodiment, in addition to the process of recognizing the posture of the conveyed object CA, other discrimination processing, such as processing of determining whether the conveyed object CA is good or not, may be performed. Other conveying processing other than the conveying processing for changing the posture of the conveyed object CA, for example, processing for excluding the conveyed object CA, etc., may be executed. In addition, in the following description, except for the conveyed object screening process shown in FIG. 8, description of the above-mentioned other discrimination|determination process and other conveyance process is abbreviate|omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 first reads out various setting values such as initial values, and then sequentially acquires a plurality of images Ai by the image acquisition unit A composed of the inspection processing unit DTU described above. . These images Ai may basically be the image data itself of the above-mentioned captured image GPX or the image area GPY generated by the above-mentioned inspection processing unit DTU, or may be constituted by a part of these image data. When these images Ai are obtained, image processing of the determination area DA and image processing of the confirmation area DB set in the image Ai are performed.

(a)-(d) in FIG. 4 and (e)-(h) in FIG. 5 are explanatory diagrams which show the example of the conveyance form of the conveyance on the conveyance path 121 of the conveyance system 10. The conveyance CA advances in the conveyance direction F on the conveyance path 121 . At this time, in the image Ai acquired by the image acquisition unit A, the determination area DA formed as the above-mentioned measurement area is provided. This determination area DA is provided as an area limited on the conveyance path 121 to the upstream side of the position change portion having the air injection port OP.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the above-mentioned conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100 includes: an image acquisition unit A that sequentially acquires a plurality of images Ai including a measurement area where the conveyed object CA may exist, and a conveyed object identification unit B that executes The image processing of the judgment area DA in these images Ai; the conveyed object posture changing unit C, which operates at the above-mentioned posture change position according to the identification result Ci of the conveyed object CA, thereby executing the change of the conveying posture of the conveyed object CA, wherein , the conveyed object identification information Bi is obtained from the conveyed object identification information Bi obtained by the conveyed object identification unit B; posture, and obtain the confirmation information Ej of the conveyed object. Here, i is a natural number and represents a plurality of numbers from 1 to n (n is a natural number of 2 or more). Further, it is preferable to include conveyed object posture change determination means G that obtains conveyed object posture change information Gij based on the conveyed object identification result Ci and the conveyed object confirmation result Ej for a certain conveyed object CA. In addition, the conveyed object confirmation means E is not specifically limited, As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, it confirms the attitude|position of the conveyed object CA after the attitude|position change by performing image processing of the confirmation area|region DB. In the case of the present embodiment, the confirmation area DB is set on the conveyance path 122 which is different from the conveyance path 121 and is located further downstream than the above-mentioned determination area DA.

The conveyed object identification information Bi includes at least information related to the posture of the conveyed object CA. Moreover, it is preferable to include the conveyed object detection range (position information) which shows the arrangement|positioning of the conveyed object CA. Further, information on the type and appearance of the conveyed object CA, the presence or absence of defects or the type of defects, and the quality of the conveyed object may also be included. Here, for example, when the object to be conveyed CA is in the shape of a cube, it is preferable to capture at least two surfaces of the object to be conveyed CA in the image Ai, so that the information on the posture of the object to be conveyed CA can be obtained as the conveyance. Object identification information Bi. Since the image data includes information on as many surfaces as possible of the six surfaces of the conveyed object CA, it is more suitable for identifying the posture of the conveyed object CA. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , it is preferable to photograph at least two surfaces of the cube shape. In addition, in the present embodiment, only the four side surfaces other than the front and rear end surfaces (portions where electrodes are provided in the figure) of the conveyed object CA are surrounded by the axis along the conveying direction F at the position changing position used in the description. The four conveying postures (CN1 to CN4 to be described later) are the subject of description, but a total of eight conveying postures including the form in which the front and rear directions are reversed may be added as the subject. A total of 16 conveying postures out of eight other conveying postures on the sides whose directions are orthogonal to each other are targeted.

In addition, the above-mentioned conveyed object identification result Ci is the identification result related to the posture of the conveyed object CA obtained through the image processing of the determination area DA in the current image Ai, and indicates the posture based on a preset posture reference, for example. Good (OK) or bad (NG). Of course, three or more discrimination results may be obtained as the conveyed object discrimination results Ci based on the information for discriminating a plurality of postures of the conveyed object CA as the conveyed object discrimination information Bi. For example, it may be a result of being able to discriminate a plurality of conveying postures of the conveyed object CA, respectively.

As an example of the conveyed object confirmation unit E, as shown in FIG. 2( a ), a confirmation area prediction unit D that predicts the confirmation area DB may be included. Generally, the confirmation area DB may be set at a fixed position in the image Ai (Aj) as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , and in this case, the confirmation area prediction unit D is not required. When the confirmation area prediction unit D is used, the position and range of the confirmation area DBj of the image Aj for deriving the conveyed object confirmation information Ej are predicted based on the conveyance status of the conveyed object CA. In this case, the conveyance status includes the conveyance speed of the conveyed object CA, the position on the conveyance path 122 after the conventional conveyed object posture has been changed, and the blowing timing and blowing pressure of the air flow supplied from the air outlet OP at the position changing position. etc. information. The confirmation area prediction unit D derives the position and range (shooting range) of the confirmation area DBj in the image Aj and the image Aj in which the confirmation area DBj is set (or equivalent to the shooting timing (shooting time) of the image Aj) , the image processing of the conveyed object confirmation unit E is performed on the set confirmation area DBj. The prediction of the confirmation area DB is performed for each image Aj or each conveyed object CA whose posture has been changed.

In addition, in the example shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the confirmation area DB is set as a fixed range at a fixed position, but even in this case, as shown in FIG. It is discriminated whether or not the conveyed object confirmation processing needs to be performed in the confirmation area DB like Ai, and the image processing is performed in the confirmation area DB only for the required image Aj. Whether or not this conveyed object confirmation process is necessary depends on whether the conveyed object identification result Ci in the previous image Ai indicates that the posture needs to be changed, and thus the conveyed object CA is subjected to posture change by the conveyed object posture changing means C. This is because if there is no change in the above-mentioned posture, the confirmation process of the conveyed object is not required. In addition, when the above-mentioned posture change is performed by the conveyed object identification processing in the previous image Ai, as long as the image Aj (j>i, there is a single image or a plurality of images) It is only necessary to perform image processing in the confirmation area DB to check whether the conveyed object CA is detected. If the conveyed object CA is detected, and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej related to the posture of the conveyed object CA is obtained, Then, the fact that the above-mentioned posture change is reset shall be regarded as not having the above-mentioned posture change.

In addition, since the confirmation area prediction unit D predicts the position, range, and shooting time of the confirmation area DBj, whether or not the image Aj is an image to be confirmed only needs to be determined based on the prediction content. However, in consideration of the prediction accuracy, the judgment as to whether one or more images Aj are images that need to be confirmed can also be checked separately from the prediction content at the result of the image processing by the conveyed object confirmation unit E, and based on the confirmation area DBj It is judged whether the conveyed object CA is detected or not. That is, in this case, although the position and range of the confirmation area DBj are used, the prediction result of the image Aj corresponding to the predicted shooting time is not actually used. In any case, as long as the conveyed object CA is detected in any image Aj, the information related to the posture of the conveyed object CA is the above-mentioned conveyed object confirmation information Ej. In addition, as will be described later, there are cases in which the conveyed object CA cannot be confirmed in the confirmation area DB (DBj) due to the return operation of the conveyed object CA (the case where the conveyed object CA does not exist), so when there is a possibility of When the conveyed object CA is not detected in the image Aj (all images in the case of multiple images Aj) of the conveyed object confirmation information corresponding to a certain posture change, the conveyed object confirmation information includes the result of "not detected", and this Also perform the above reset.

The confirmation areas DB and DBj may be set as the above-mentioned measurement areas in the same manner as the above-mentioned determination area DA. This is because, in many cases, the conveyed object CA whose posture has been changed on the conveying path 122 basically has the same conveying speed as when being conveyed on the conveying path 121 . In this case, the confirmation area DB may be set at a position on the downstream side of the position where the conveyed object CA after the posture change may be arranged. In addition, in the example of illustration, the conveyance path 122 is comprised so that it may extend to the downstream side in parallel with the conveyance path 121, and it is comprised so that it may merge with the conveyance path 121 at last. Here, generally, when the conveyed object CA on the conveying path 122 converges on the conveying path 121 , it is configured to be in a standard conveying posture on the conveying path 121 . Here, the setting locations of the confirmation areas DB and DBj are not limited to the conveyance path 122 different from the conveyance path 121 , and the conveyed object CA after the posture change may be arranged on the conveyance path 121 .

In addition, it is confirmed that the areas DB and DBj are set as limited areas. However, it is preferable to set this area as a range having a margin so as to have a range larger than at least the discrimination target portion (or the whole) of the conveyed object CA. Thereby, the conveyed object confirmation process can be performed more reliably. Although it is preferable that the range of the confirmation areas DB and DBj is large in view of the fact that the conveyed object CA after the posture change can be reliably detected, the larger the range is, the larger the load of image processing is. Therefore, it is preferable to determine the expansion rate of the confirmation areas DB and DBj based on the movement characteristics of the conveying object CA in the conveying apparatus. For example, when the deviation of the position of the conveyed object CA after the posture change is large, the expansion ratio needs to be increased, and when the deviation is small, the expansion ratio can be decreased. When it is possible to obtain a plurality of moving states after the posture change of the actual conveyed object CA in the past, it is preferable to increase the deviation (for example, the standard deviation) of the set of these moving states (in a positive correlation with the deviation). Increase or decrease the above expansion rate. In this way, the burden of image processing can be reduced, and the confirmation process after the posture change of the conveyed object CA can be reliably performed by the image processing in the confirmation areas DB and DBj.

Next, the conveyance method of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and FIGS. 4 and 5 . As shown in FIG. 4( a ), the conveyance CA is conveyed in the conveyance direction F on the conveyance path 121 . Here, another auxiliary conveying path 122 is formed in parallel above (actually, the side) of the conveying path 121 in the drawing. In the middle of the conveyance path 121, there is provided a position changing position where the air outlet OP opens on the conveyance surface. In addition, a determination area DA is provided in a range adjacent to the upstream side of the posture change site. This determination area DA is included in the above-mentioned image Ai. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of images Ai are sequentially obtained. In the illustrated example, the conveyed object CA is not detected in the judgment area DA in the first image A1, and the same is true in the next image A2. The conveyed object CA is not detected in the judgment area DA until the next image A3. In addition, the determination area DA is set so that the relationship between the length range Lda along the conveyance direction F and the conveyance speed Vs of the conveyed object CA and the photographing interval Ts satisfies Lda>Vs·Ts as described above, so that all the The conveyed object CA (at least the identification object portion) must be detectable in a certain image Ai. However, in practice, it is preferable to set the margin ΔL in such a manner that Lda≧Vs·Ts+ΔL, and if possible, Lda≧2Vs·Ts is preferable. In addition, the upper limit of the above-mentioned range Lda is preferably not less than 2Vs·Ts and not more than 3Vs·Ts. The width of the determination area DA in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction F is preferably larger than the width of at least the discrimination target portion of the conveyed object CA. However, in this embodiment, since the conveyed object CA is conveyed by vibration, the conveyed object CA is There is also a certain degree of wobble in the width direction. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a margin Δw of about 10% to 80% of the width of the identification target portion (or the whole) of the conveyed object CA in the width direction.

In the example shown in the figure, the conveyed object CA is configured in a cube shape, and is shown in the form of conveying the longitudinal direction toward the conveying direction F. As shown in FIG. In this case, the posture of the conveyed object CA can be detected through the mark M formed on one part of the four side surfaces except the front and rear surfaces of the conveyed object CA. In the example shown in the figure, the mark M is formed in the entire width direction and half of the length direction of one side surface (shaded part in the figure). In addition, the end of the mark M appears at the boundary portion (near the ridgeline) of the two side surfaces adjacent to the above-mentioned one side surface, so that if only one of the four side surfaces can be confirmed in detail, the surrounding of the conveyed object CA can be identified. The conveying posture along the axis of conveying direction F. However, in the illustrated example, the imaging directions of the cameras CM1 and CM2 are set so that at least two adjacent side surfaces of the conveyed object CA can be simultaneously seen in the image Ai. That is, the angle between the photographing direction of the camera and the conveying surfaces 121a and 121b (surfaces that are substantially orthogonal to each other) of the conveying path 121 is set so that one ridgeline of the conveyed object CA can be seen on both sides of the ridgeline. Two adjacent sides are included in the image at the same time. In addition, in the example of illustration, the case where the mark M is arrange|positioned at the upper right part of the conveyance object CA is shown as a standard conveyance attitude|position. In addition, the other conveyance path 122 includes conveyance surfaces 122a and 122b. The conveyance surfaces 122a and 122b are surfaces that are substantially orthogonal to each other.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4( c ), when the conveyed object CA is detected in the determination area DA of the image A3 , it is derived through the conveyed object identification process performed by the image processing of the determination area DA Conveyed object identification information B3. The conveyance posture of the conveyed object CA corresponding to the position of the mark M is determined based on the conveyed object identification information B3, and the judgment "NG" of the non-standard conveyance posture is obtained as the conveyed object identification result C3. Therefore, when the conveyed object CA reaches the position changing position as shown in FIG. 5(e) , as shown in FIG. 5(f), the air flow is blown from the air ejection port OP, and the conveyed object CA rotates from the conveying path. 121 and move to the conveying path 122. In addition, since the air ejection port OP is opened so as to be able to apply pressure to the upper range of the conveyed object CA on the conveying path 121, the conveyed object CA can be not only simply excluded from the conveying path 121, but also the conveyed object CA can be Rotation about an axis along the conveying direction F. Thereby, the posture of the conveyed object CA gradually changes as shown in (f) and (g) of FIG. 5 , and finally, as shown in (h) of FIG. 5 , when the conveyed object CA is arranged on the conveyance path 122 , It is changed to a predetermined conveyance posture different from the conveyance posture on the conveyance path 121 . In the case of the illustrated example, the conveyance posture of the conveyed object CA when arranged in the conveyance path 122 becomes the above-described standard conveyance posture. In the case of the illustrated example, the posture change of the conveyed object CA at the posture change site is accomplished by rotating it by 180 degrees around the axis along the conveyance direction F (the axis around the longitudinal direction).

In the present embodiment, a confirmation area DB for confirming the conveyed object CA on the conveyance path 122 is provided in the image Ai. In the case of the illustrated example, the confirmation area DB is a fixed area having a predetermined position and range in the image Ai in advance. However, as described above, it may be set for each image Aj for which the conveyed object confirmation process is performed, or for each conveyed object CA, and the predicted confirmation area DBj may be set. Image processing is also performed in this confirmation area DB, and conveyed object confirmation information Ej is output. In addition, FIG. 1 shows a case where the posture of the conveyed object CA is changed based on the conveyed object identification result Ci based on the conveyed object identification information Bi obtained by executing the conveyed object identification process in the judgment area DA of the image Ai. Then, in the confirmation area DB (DBj) of the image Aj, the conveyed object confirmation process is performed on the conveyed object CA whose posture has been changed, and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej is obtained. As described above, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show the case where the conveyed object confirmation information Ej indicates that the conveying posture of the conveyed object CA after the posture has been changed is the standard conveying posture. On the other hand, in (b) and (d) of FIG. 6 , the case is shown according to the map in the judgment area DA of the transmitted image Ai as shown in (a) and (c) of FIG. 6 . The conveyed object identification information Bi derived from the image processing changes the posture of the conveyed object CA, and as a result, the conveying posture of the conveyed object CA after the posture change is a posture other than the standard conveying posture. Here, FIG. 6( b ) shows a case where the conveyed object CA is changed from the conveying posture shown in FIG. 6( a ) around the axis along the conveying direction F (the axis around the longitudinal direction). ) is rotated by 270 degrees, and the rotation exceeds the standard delivery posture and becomes a non-standard delivery posture. In addition, (d) in FIG. 6 shows the case where the conveyed object CA is changed from the conveying posture shown in (c) in FIG. 6 to the axis along the conveying direction F (the axis around the longitudinal direction) The conveying posture rotated by 90 degrees does not reach the standard conveying posture due to insufficient rotation, and becomes a non-standard conveying posture.

When the conveyed object confirmation information Ej is obtained as described above, the conveyed object identification information Bi and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej are used to obtain the conveyed object identification information Bi and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej as shown in (b) of FIG. The information Gij of the posture change of the conveyed object is output. The conveyed object posture change information Gij indicates the conveying posture before the posture change in the judgment area DA of the conveyed object CA (see FIG. 4( c ), FIG. 6( a ), and FIG. 6( c )). Information on the relationship with the conveyance posture (refer to FIG. 5(h), FIG. 6(b), and FIG. 6(d) ) in the confirmation area DB after the posture of the conveyed object CA has been changed. The conveyed object posture change information Gij may simply include the information part indicating the conveying posture before the posture change in the judgment area DA of the conveyed object CA and the information indicating the conveying posture in the confirmation area DB after the posture change of the conveyed object CA Part of the two parts, or it can only contain information indicating the relationship between the two parts of the information. In addition, it is also possible to display a symbol or character of a category corresponding to the conveying posture before and after the posture change. For example, in the examples of FIG. 4 and FIG. The conveying posture is the standard conveying posture (OK).

When the conveyed object attitude change information Gij is derived as described above, the conveyed object attitude change setting process is executed based on the information as shown in FIG. 2( b ) by the conveyed object attitude change setting unit H shown in FIG. 1 . The conveyed object posture change setting process adjusts and sets the blowing timing and blowing pressure of the air flow to the conveyed object CA from the air outlet OP of the above-mentioned position changing portion based on the conveyed object confirmation information Ej or the conveyed object posture change information Gij. In the illustrated example, the posture change control unit is set based on the conveyed object posture change information Gij, but it may be set only based on the conveyed object confirmation information Ej depending on the situation. For example, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , when the conveyed object confirmation information Ej obtained by the conveyed object confirmation process is information corresponding to the standard conveying posture, it is considered that the blowing timing and blowing pressure are appropriate, and the original set values are maintained. . On the other hand, as shown in (a) and (b) and (c) and (d) of FIG. 6 , when the conveyed object CA is different from the standard conveying posture, the conveyed object confirmation information Ej is not different from the standard conveying posture When the corresponding information is used, the operation form of the position changing part such as the blowing timing and blowing pressure of the above-mentioned air flow is changed, thereby adjusting the effect on the attitude change of the conveyed object CA. In this case, it is preferable that the conveyed object confirmation information Ej includes detailed information indicating which of the specific conveying posture types. Therefore, it is preferable to change the above-mentioned adjustment method of the operation form for the specific conveying posture type. For example, when the rotation angle when the posture of the conveyed object CA is changed as shown in FIG. 6( b ) is too large, the blowing pressure is reduced, and when the posture of the conveyed object CA is changed as shown in FIG. 6( d ) When the rotation angle is too small, the above-mentioned blowing pressure is increased. In addition, although not particularly shown, when the conveyed object confirmation information Ej is the conveying posture B6' which appears when the blowing timing is too late as shown in FIG. 5(f), the blowing timing is advanced. Conversely, in the conveying posture B7′ that appears when the blowing timing is too early as shown in FIG. 5( g ), the blowing timing is delayed.

(a) of FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a posture change control system that realizes an operation form for changing the posture of the conveyed object CA at the above-described posture change portion of the present embodiment. For example, the posture change control unit 103 constituted by a part of the above-mentioned controller CL12 controls the pressure setting unit 124a of the regulator 124 to set the supply pressure of the gas to be adjustable, and controls a solenoid valve and the like connected to the downstream side of the regulator 124. The opening and closing drive unit 125a of the supply valve 125 sets the opening and closing operation timing of the supply valve 125, and the regulator 124 is used to adjust the pressure of the compressed gas (air, etc.) supplied from a compressed gas source 123 such as a compressor. Here, the conveyed object posture change control unit 103 can adjust and change the supply pressure and the opening/closing operation timing through the conveyed object posture change setting unit H.

(b) of FIG. 7 shows the operation form of the conveyed object posture change information Gij represented by the combination of the conveyed object identification information Bi and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej according to the present embodiment and the conveyed object posture changing means C of the position changing part. Correspondence graph that adjusts the relationship between content. According to the figure, when the conveyed object confirmation information Ej is "OK", the adjustment of the above-mentioned operation form is not performed, but when the conveyed object confirmation information Ej is "NG" and the rotation angle when the posture of the conveyed object CA is changed is too large ( In the case shown in (b) in FIG. 6 ), that is, in the case of “NG+”, the blowing pressure of the airflow is reduced by a predetermined pressure (-Δp). On the other hand, when the conveyed object confirmation information Ej is "NG" and the rotation angle at the time of changing the posture of the conveyed object CA is too small (the case shown in (d) in Fig. 6 ), that is, "NG-", Increase the blowing pressure of the airflow by the specified pressure (+Δp). In addition, when the conveyed object CA itself is not detected in the above-mentioned confirmation area DB(DBj), for example, it is usually not in the confirmation area DB(DBj) in either one of the images Aj or the plurality of images Aj When the conveyed object CA is detected, it is considered that the conveyed object CA does not move from the conveying path 121 to the conveying path 122 and returns to the conveying path 121 because the blowing pressure of the air flow blown from the air outlet OP is insufficient, or the above-mentioned blowing pressure The conveyed object CA is too large to move to the conveying path 122 and then returns to the conveying path 121 by inertia. Therefore, if the set value of the operation form of the posture change at this time (the above-mentioned blowing pressure) exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the airflow is made The blowing pressure is reduced by the specified pressure (-Δp). On the other hand, when the set value is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, the blowing pressure of the airflow is increased by a predetermined pressure (+Δp). It should be noted that the above-mentioned Δp has been described as being the same in all cases, but Δp may be changed in various ways according to the situation, or it may be determined by the degree of deviation of the operation form at the time of the posture change from the appropriate value. Proportional control to increase or decrease Δp.

On the other hand, irrespective of the conveyed object confirmation information Ej or the conveyed object posture change information Gij, the posture of the conveyed object CA at the position change position when the posture is changed is relative to the conveying direction as shown in B6′ in (f) of FIG. 5 . When F has a negative inclination angle, or when it has a positive inclination angle with respect to the conveyance direction F like B7′ in FIG. 5( g ), the following processing is performed. First, when the inclination angle is smaller than the predetermined reference angle θ, eg, smaller than ±10 degrees, no adjustment is made to the operation form. In addition, when the positive inclination angle exceeds the above-mentioned reference angle θ (10 degrees), the blowing timing of the airflow is advanced by Δt. When the negative inclination angle is smaller than the above-mentioned reference angle θ (10 degrees), the blowing timing of the airflow is delayed by Δt. It should be noted that the above-mentioned Δt has been described as the same in all cases, but Δt may be changed in various ways according to the situation, or it may be deviated from an appropriate value (0 degrees) from the operation form at the time of the posture change. The degree of proportional control increases or decreases Δt accordingly. As described above, even in the case of having a plurality of conveyance postures, the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing means C is adjusted and set based on the conveyed object confirmation information Ej or the conveyed object posture change information Gij obtained by the conveyed object confirmation means E. , so that the posture change of the transported object CA can be appropriately performed by the transported object posture changing unit C, whereby the transport posture of the transported object CA can be efficiently unified (controlled).

In FIG. 7( c ), as an example when the plurality of conveyance attitudes CN1 to CN4 of the conveyed object CA are unified into CN1 by the attitude change control unit 103 adjusted and optimized as described above, setting In the case of three posture changing parts arranged along the conveyance direction F of the conveyance path 121 . Here, if the conveying posture CN1 to be unified is used as a reference (0 degrees), for example, when the rotation angle at the time of changing the posture is set to +90 degrees, the rotation angle of the conveyed object CA around the axis along the conveying direction F may be An example is given in which CN2 is -90 degrees, CN3 is -180 degrees, and CN4 is -270 degrees. In this example, at the first posture change portion, the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN1 passes as it is toward the downstream side, and at the posture changing portion, the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN2 is changed into The conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN1, the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN3 is changed to the conveying posture CN2 by the air flow blown from the air injection port OP at the position change position, and the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN4 is blown from the air injection port OP at the position changing position. It changes to the conveying posture CN3. Next, at the second posture change portion, the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN1 passes as it is toward the downstream side, and the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN2 is changed to the conveying posture CN1 at the posture changing portion by the airflow blown from the air jet port OP. , the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN3 is changed to the conveying posture CN2 by the air flow blown from the air jet port OP at the position changing portion. Then, at the third posture change portion, the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN1 passes as it is toward the downstream side, and the conveyed object CA in the conveying posture CN2 is changed to the conveying posture CN1 at the posture changing portion by the air flow blown from the air jet port OP . In the conveying apparatus provided with the above-described plurality of position changing parts, the above-mentioned efficient change of the conveying attitude becomes more effective, and the conveyed object CA having the uniform conveying attitude can be reliably supplied with high conveying efficiency. The above-described structures described in the present embodiment can be effectively employed in each of the plurality of posture changing portions, and preferably, the above-described structures are effectively employed at all the posture changing portions.

<Configuration of Action Program 10P> Next, the flow of the overall operation program 10P of each embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 8 . FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart showing various processing procedures for conveyance management executed by the arithmetic processing unit MPU of the above-mentioned inspection processing unit DTU according to the operation program 10P. When the operation program 10P is activated, the above-mentioned image capturing and image measurement processing is started, and the conveying devices (the feeder 11 and the linear feeder 12 ) are started to be driven by the controllers CL11 and CL12 . Then, if the debug setting corresponding to the above-mentioned debug operation is OFF, the image measurement process is performed on the captured image GPX or the image area GPY, and the conveyed object screening process and the conveyed object posture change control process (including the above-mentioned conveyed object identification process) are performed. and the above-mentioned conveyed object confirmation process), etc. Here, if the final judgment result of the conveyed object screening process or the above-mentioned conveyed object identification process is "OK", the image measurement of the next captured image GPX or image area GPY will be directly carried out as long as no debugging operation is performed. deal with. For example, at the conveyed material removal portion for the above-mentioned conveyed material screening process, the outflow of the air flow from the air injection port OP is normally stopped, but when the judgment result is "NG" (defective product), the air flow out of the air injection port OP is made. Thereby, the defective conveyed material CA is excluded from the conveyance path. In addition, at the position where the posture is changed, the outflow of the air flow from the air outlet OP is normally stopped, but when the determination result is “NG” (bad posture), the air flow is ejected from the air outlet OP to cause the conveyed object CA to flow from the conveying path 121 to the conveying path. 122 Changes the posture of the conveyed object CA during the movement, performs inversion, and the like. In addition, contrary to the above, the airflow may flow out normally, but when the determination result is "OK" (correct posture), the airflow may be stopped.

In this way, by discriminating the conveyed object CA as the conveyed object on the conveying path, and processing based on the result of the discrimination, only the conveyed objects CA of good quality or good posture are supplied to the downstream side in an aligned state. In this case, as long as the debugging operation is not performed thereafter, the image measurement process and the conveyed object identification process are directly performed on the next captured image GPX or in the measurement area of the next image area GPY. Here, in the conveyed object identification processing performed by the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100, the processing is performed for a certain conveyed object CA as described above, but generally, many objects that are subsequently successively conveyed into the determination area DA as the measurement area are processed. For each of the conveyed objects CA, the same conveyed object discrimination processing is performed for each of the conveyed objects CA in parallel. In addition, the above-mentioned conveyed object confirmation processing is performed only for the conveyed object CA whose posture has been changed based on the discrimination result Ci. Furthermore, in parallel with the above-described image measurement processing or conveyed object identification process, the conveying behavior detection process of tracking the conveyed object CA on the conveying path may be performed, for example, to detect the conveying behavior of the conveyed object CA when conveyed in the conveying direction F on the conveying path. . Furthermore, the driving of the conveying device may be controlled so that the conveying state may be adjusted according to the detection result of the conveying behavior detection process. The conveying drive is controlled, for example, by controlling the driving conditions of the excitation element of the excitation mechanism of the conveying device, such as the frequency or voltage of the piezoelectric driver, so as to adjust to an appropriate conveying state. In addition, the above-mentioned conveyance behavior detection process may be executed in parallel with the conveyed object identification process of the conveyed object posture change control processing unit 100, or may be completely executed through separate image processing independently of the conveyed object identification process. . For example, by controlling the frequency and amplitude of the vibration according to the magnitude of the positional change of the conveyed object CA in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction F when the conveying path 121 moves along the conveying direction F, the conveyed object CA can be prevented from being conveyed while being conveyed. Road 121 shakes unnecessarily.

If the debugging operation is performed during the above process and the debugging setting is turned "ON", the above program (operation mode) is exited, the driving of the conveying device is stopped, and the image measurement processing, the conveyed object screening process, and the conveyed object posture change control process are also stopped. , Conveying behavior detection processing, etc. Then, when an appropriate operation is performed in this state, it becomes a state in which the past image file can be selected. At this time, the image file selected for display is an image file including a plurality of shot images GPX or image areas GPY recorded in the previous operation mode. If the image file is directly selected and an appropriate operation is performed, it will transfer to the re-execution mode. In this mode, the image processing can be executed again based on the image file in which the results of the image measurement process, the conveyed object screening process, the conveyed object posture change control process, the above-mentioned conveying behavior detection process, etc., which have been executed as described above are recorded. display, various processing or control, etc. That is, when a defect occurs in the control (exclusion, inversion, etc.) of the conveyed object CA as the conveying device, in order to eliminate the defect, image processing is first performed again based on the past image data, and each item is examined. Problems with processing or control etc. If the problem is identified, the setting content (setting value) of each process or control can be changed and adjusted accordingly, and the adjustment and improvement of the operation can be confirmed by re-executing the image measurement process on the previous image data again. result. Then, when an appropriate recovery operation is performed, the commissioning setting is returned to OFF, the image measurement processing is restarted, and the driving of the conveying device is restarted.

In addition, in the above-mentioned debugging operation, it is also possible to manually adjust the operation of the position changing position based on the conveyed object confirmation information Ej or the conveyed object attitude change information Gij instead of the conveyed object attitude change setting unit H (the conveyed object attitude change processing) form. For example, the control form of the posture change control unit 103 shown in FIG. 7( a ) may be adjusted.

In the present embodiment, by obtaining the conveyed object confirmation information Ej, it is possible to confirm the posture change state of the conveyed object CA caused by the operation of the conveyed object posture changing unit C. Therefore, the change of the conveyed object posture is adjusted while confirming the information. The operation form of the unit C is easy to adjust, and the posture change form of the conveyed object at the posture change part is improved with high precision.

In particular, by further comprising the conveyed object posture change determination means G that obtains the conveyed object posture change information Gij indicating the relationship between the conveyed object identification information Bi and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej, it is possible to more easily confirm whether the conveyed object posture change means C The relationship between the operation form and the posture change state of the conveyed object CA caused by the operation of the conveyed object posture changing unit C.

In the present embodiment, the conveyed object confirmation unit E performs an image of the image portion of the confirmation area DB arranged after the conveyed object CA for which the discrimination result Ci has been obtained is changed by the conveyed object posture changing unit C at the above-mentioned position changing position By processing to obtain the conveyed object confirmation information Ej, it is possible to reliably and quickly confirm the posture of the conveyed object CA after the posture change while suppressing the load of image processing. In particular, by setting the confirmation area DB to be the same as the other image Aj (j>i) captured at a time point when a predetermined time has elapsed with respect to the image Ai of the image portion including the judgment area DA and thereafter (j>i) The image portion in which the posture changing portion has a predetermined positional relationship can simultaneously achieve a reduction in image processing load and processing time, and an improvement in the reliability and accuracy of posture confirmation in a higher dimension.

In the present embodiment, a posture change control unit 103 for controlling the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit C is further provided. The information Gij automatically sets the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit C, so that the conveyance can be automatically adjusted based on the conveyed object confirmation information Ej or the conveyed object posture change information Gij indicating the relationship between the conveyed object identification information Bi and the conveyed object confirmation information Ej The action form of the object posture changing unit C can not only reduce the trouble of adjustment work, but also improve the accuracy of posture change.

In the present embodiment, the conveyed object posture changing means C changes the posture by blowing air flow to the conveyed object, but the conveyed object posture changing setting means H preferably sets the blowing of the air flow as the operation form. At least one of timing and blowing pressure. Thereby, the operation form when the posture of the minute conveyance CA is changed can be changed quickly and appropriately.

In the present embodiment, the confirmation area prediction unit D that predicts the position or range of the confirmation area DB for each image Aj or each conveyed object CA is further provided, so that the acquisition and the posture change of the conveyed object CA can be realized at the same time. The reliability of posture-related information is improved and the burden of image processing is reduced.

In the present embodiment, the determination area DA and the confirmation area DB are both areas included in the images Ai and Aj, so that the conveyed object identification process and conveyed object confirmation process can be set and used in a single image. Therefore, it is possible to easily set the positional relationship between the two areas, and it is expected to simplify the photographing system of a camera or the like.

In addition, the conveyance system of this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned example of illustration, Of course, various changes can be added in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the determination area DA and the confirmation area DB are set within the same images Ai and Aj, and the image processing is performed in these areas, but the present invention is not limited to such an aspect, and each of the The image of the determination area DA and the image including the confirmation area DB may be photographed by different cameras (imaging devices). In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the conveyed object CA whose posture has been changed is arranged on the conveying path 122 by operating the conveyed object posture changing unit C with respect to the conveyed object CA on the conveying path 121, but it may be in the same conveying path. On 121, the conveying posture of the conveyed object CA is changed.

10: Conveying system 10P: Action Program 11: Feeder 110: Conveyor 111: Conveyor Road 12: Linear feeder 120: Conveyor 121: Conveyor Road OP: air vent CA: Conveyor CN1～CN4: Conveying posture CM1, CM2: Camera CL11, CL12: Controller DTU: Check Processing Unit DP1, DP2: Display device GP1, GP2: Image processing device GM1, GM2: Image processing memory GPX: Capture images GPY: Image area MPU: arithmetic processing unit MM: main storage device SP1, SP2: Operation input device RAM: memory for arithmetic processing θ: Reference tilt angle 100: conveyed object posture change control processing unit 101: Confirmation process of conveyed material 102: Processing process for changing the posture of the conveyed object A: Image acquisition unit Ai:image B: conveyed object identification unit Bi: conveyed object identification information C: conveyed object posture change unit Ci: conveyed object identification result D: Confirm the regional prediction unit DA: Judgment area DB: Confirmation area E: Conveyor confirmation unit Ej: Conveyor confirmation information G: conveyed object posture change judgment unit Gij: Information on changing the posture of the conveyed object H: conveyed object posture change setting unit

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart showing an outline of the flow of the conveyed object posture change control processing unit of the embodiment of the conveying system according to the present invention. (a) of FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart showing a schematic flow of the conveyed object confirmation processing procedure 101 of this embodiment, and (b) is a schematic flowchart showing a schematic flow of the conveyed object posture change setting processing procedure 102 . FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the conveying system according to the embodiment. (a) to (d) in FIG. 4 are explanatory diagrams for explaining the conveyed object discrimination processing used for the conveyed object posture change control in this embodiment. (e) to (h) in FIG. 5 are explanatory diagrams for explaining the conveyed object confirmation process used for the conveyed object posture change control in this embodiment. (a) and (b) of FIG. 6 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of the correspondence between the conveyed object identification information and the conveyed object confirmation information in this embodiment, and (c) and (d) are explanatory diagrams showing other examples. (a) of FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the conveyed object posture change setting means in this embodiment, and (b) is a combination of conveyed object identification information Bi and conveyed object confirmation information Ej and their correspondence The correspondence relationship between the conveyed object posture change information Gij, and the correspondence relationship between these and the adjustment and setting contents of the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit, (c) shows a plurality of conveying postures CN1 for changing the conveyed object. -CN4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a plurality of posture changing parts of one CN1. FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart showing the processing procedure of an example of the operation program 10P in this embodiment.

100: conveyed object posture change control processing unit

A: Image acquisition unit

Ai:image

B: conveyed object identification unit

Bi: conveyed object identification information

C: conveyed object posture change unit

Ci: conveyed object identification result

E: Conveyor confirmation unit

Ej: Conveyor confirmation information

G: conveyed object posture change judgment unit

Gij: Information on changing the posture of the conveyed object

H: conveyed object posture change setting unit

Claims (9)

A conveying system, characterized in that it has: A conveying device that conveys a conveyed object along a conveying path, and has a posture changing part for changing the posture of the conveying object in the middle of the conveying path; an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the conveyed object; A conveyed object identification unit for obtaining conveyed object identification information related to the posture of the conveyed object by performing image processing on an image portion of the conveyed object in a determination area set on the upstream side of the position change portion ; A conveyed object posture changing unit, which, when the conveyed object identification information is information that needs to change the posture of the conveyed object, executes the posture change of the conveyed object at the position changing part; and The conveyed object confirmation unit performs image processing on the image part of the conveyed object after the posture of the conveyed object has been changed by the conveyed object posture changing unit, thereby obtaining conveyed object confirmation information related to the posture of the conveyed object. The conveying system of claim 1, wherein, A conveyed object posture change determination unit is further provided, and the conveyed object posture change determination unit obtains conveyed object posture change information indicating a relationship between the conveyed object identification information and the conveyed object confirmation information. The conveying system of claim 1, wherein, The conveyed object confirmation unit obtains the conveyed object confirmation information by performing image processing on an image portion of a confirmation area, wherein the confirmation area is set at the position where the conveyed object is changed by the conveyed object. The conveyed object posture changing means is arranged in the position or range after the posture has been changed. The conveying system of claim 3, wherein, The confirmation area is set at a time point having a predetermined time elapse with respect to the image of the image portion including the determination area and other images captured after that, and is set in the position having the position changed. in the image part of the given positional relationship. The conveying system of claim 3, wherein, A confirmation area prediction unit is further provided which predicts the position or range of the confirmation area for each of the images or each of the conveyed objects. The delivery system of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, further comprising a posture change control unit for controlling the operation form of the conveyed object posture change unit; The posture change control unit automatically sets the operation form of the conveyed object posture changing unit based on the conveyed object confirmation information. The delivery system of claim 6, wherein, The conveyed object posture changing unit changes the posture of the conveyed object by blowing an air flow to the conveyed object. The delivery system of claim 7, wherein, The action form is at least one of the blowing timing and the blowing pressure of the airflow. The delivery system of any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein, Both the determination area and the confirmation area are areas included in the image.

Images