Device and method of arraying articles by using robot, and article transfer system

• US 9,643,796 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2015
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fanuc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Fanuc Corporation
• Inventors: Koga, Kentarou, Ooba, Masafumi, Kanno, Ichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): LOGAN, KYLE O
• Application Number:
  US14/632,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20150246778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 803 Days
• Field of Search: 700218
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1697 Vision controlled systems
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/905 Control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4182 manipulators and conveyor only
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

An article arraying device including a robot; a vision sensor for obtaining position information of each of randomly arranged articles; an arrangement pattern generating section for generating an arrangement pattern by using the position information, the arrangement pattern including pattern elements in a regular arrangement, in such a manner that any one of the pattern elements coincides with a position of a reference article in the randomly arranged articles; a picking motion generating section for generating a picking motion by using the position information, the robot picking up by the picking motion an article other than the reference article; an arraying motion generating section for generating an arraying motion, the robot placing by the arraying motion the picked-up article in a position juxtaposed to the reference article in accordance with the arrangement pattern; and a robot controlling section for controlling the picking motion and the arraying motion.

Claims

1. An article arraying device configured to array a plurality of articles so as to rearrange the articles from a random arrangement to a regular arrangement, comprising:

a robot configured to hold an article;

a vision sensor configured to obtain position information of each of a plurality of articles placed in a random arrangement;

an arrangement pattern generating section configured to generate an arrangement pattern with use of the position information, the arrangement pattern including a plurality of pattern elements in a predetermined regular arrangement, each pattern element representing a position of an article, in such a manner that a first pattern element that is any one of the plurality of pattern elements coincides with a position of a reference article that is any one of the plurality of articles placed in the random arrangement;

a picking motion generating section configured to generate a picking motion of the robot with use of the position information, the robot being configured to pick up, by the picking motion, an article other than the reference article;

an arraying motion generating section configured to generate an arraying motion of the robot, the robot being configured to place, by the arraying motion, the article picked up by the picking motion in a position juxtaposed to the reference article in accordance with the arrangement pattern; and

a robot controlling section configured to control the picking motion and the arraying motion of the robot.

2. The article arraying device of claim 1, wherein the robot includes a first mechanical section and a second mechanical section, configured to operate independently from each other;

and wherein the robot controlling section is configured to control the first mechanical section to execute the picking motion and the arraying motion and also control the second mechanical section to execute the picking motion and the arraying motion, in accordance with a predetermined ratio of operation.

3. An article transfer system, comprising:

the article arraying device of claim 1;

a conveying device configured to convey a plurality of articles in a regular arrangement in which the articles are juxtaposed to each other; and

a transfer robot configured to collectively hold a plurality of articles arrayed in the regular arrangement by the article arraying device and to transfer the articles to the conveying device.

4. The article arraying device of claim 1, further comprising:

a conveyor configured to convey the article; and

a conveyor sensor configured to obtain conveying information of the conveyor;

wherein the vision sensor is configured to obtain the position information of the plurality of articles placed on the conveyor in the random arrangement;

wherein the arrangement pattern generating section is configured to generate the arrangement pattern on the conveyor, the reference article being one of the plurality of articles placed on the conveyor in the random arrangement;

wherein the picking motion generating section is configured to generate the picking motion with use of the conveying information and the position information, the robot being configured to pick up, by the picking motion, the article other than the reference article from the conveyor; and

wherein the arraying motion generating section is configured to generate the arraying motion with use of the conveying information, the robot being configured to place, by the arraying motion, the article picked up from the conveyor in the position on the conveyor in accordance with the arrangement pattern.

5. The article arraying device of claim 4, wherein the robot controlling section is configured to control the picking motion and the arraying motion so as to follow a conveying motion of the conveyor.

6. The article arraying device of claim 1, further comprising:

an interference judging section configured to predictively judge as to whether an interference is caused between an article capable of being placed on a second pattern element in the arrangement pattern, different from the first pattern element, and another article including the reference article, with use of shape information of each of the plurality of articles together with the position information;

wherein the picking motion generating section is configured to generate the picking motion in consideration of a judgment of the interference judging section; and

wherein the arraying motion generating section is configured to generate the arraying motion in consideration of a judgment of the interference judging section.

7. The article arraying device of claim 6, wherein the interference judging section is configured to predictively judge as to whether the article capable of being placed on the second pattern element protrudes from a predetermined working space.

8. The article arraying device of claim 6, wherein, when the interference judging section judges that the interference is caused, the picking motion generating section generates the picking motion so as to make the robot pick up an article causing the interference, from among the plurality of articles placed in the random arrangement, prior to picking up an article causing no interference, from among the plurality of articles placed in the random arrangement.

9. The article arraying device of claim 6, wherein the arrangement pattern generating section is configured to determine the reference article by selecting any one of the plurality of articles placed in the random arrangement in consideration of the judgment of the interference judging section.

10. The article arraying device of claim 6, wherein, when it is predicted, as a result of considering the judgment of the interference judging section, that the robot cannot place an article in a position juxtaposed to the reference article in accordance with the arrangement pattern,

the picking motion generating section generates an exceptional picking motion of the robot with use of the position information, the robot being configured to pick up, by the exceptional picking motion, a plurality of articles including the reference article,

the arrangement pattern generating section generates an alternative arrangement pattern including a plurality of alternative pattern elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of pattern elements, in a free space where it is predicted that no interference is caused between a plurality of articles capable of being placed on the plurality of alternative pattern elements and another article, and

the arraying motion generating section generates an exceptional arraying motion of the robot, the robot being configured to place, by the exceptional arraying motion, the plurality of articles picked up by the exceptional picking motion in positions juxtaposed to each other in the free space in accordance with the alternative arrangement pattern.

11. The article arraying device of claim 1, wherein the arrangement pattern generating section is configured to generate the arrangement pattern based on an arrangement form, the arrangement form being configured to define each of the plurality of pattern elements by a coordinate value in a predetermined pattern coordinate system.

12. The article arraying device of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of pattern elements further represents an orientation of each of the plurality of articles;

and wherein the arrangement form is configured to define each of the plurality of pattern elements by the coordinate value and a relative rotation angle in the pattern coordinate system.

13. An article arraying method for making a robot array a plurality of articles so as to rearrange the articles from a random arrangement to a regular arrangement, comprising:

obtaining position information of each of a plurality of articles placed in a random arrangement;

generating an arrangement pattern with use of the position information, the arrangement pattern including a plurality of pattern elements in a predetermined regular arrangement, each pattern element representing a position of an article, in such a manner that a first pattern element that is any one of the plurality of pattern elements coincides with a position of a reference article that is any one of the plurality of articles placed in the random arrangement;

generating a picking motion of the robot with use of the position information, the robot being configured to pick up, by the picking motion, an article other than the reference article;

generating an arraying motion of the robot, the robot being configured to place, by the arraying motion, the article picked up by the picking motion in a position juxtaposed to the reference article in accordance with the arrangement pattern; and

controlling the picking motion and the arraying motion of the robot, so as to array the plurality of articles including the reference article in a regular arrangement.

14. The article arraying method of claim 13, which makes the robot individually pick up the plurality of articles placed on a conveyor in the random arrangement, and array the articles on the conveyor in the regular arrangement while following a conveying motion of the conveyor.

15. The article arraying method of claim 13, further comprising:

predictively judging as to whether an interference is caused between an article capable of being placed on a second pattern element in the arrangement pattern, different from the first pattern element, and another article including the reference article, with use of shape information of each of the plurality of articles together with the position information;

wherein the picking motion is generated in consideration of a judgment of the interference; and

wherein the arraying motion is generated in consideration of a judgment of the interference.