Material or article handling – Device for emptying portable receptacle – Nongravity type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-21
2001-12-11
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 2167)
Material or article handling
Device for emptying portable receptacle
Nongravity type
C414S225010, C414S729000, C414S806000, C414S811000, C414S815000, C198S396000, C198S401000, C345S440000, C901S047000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328523
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automation technology for handling articles such as assembly workpieces in a factory or other places. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus capable of picking up articles one by one by using an industrial robot (hereinafter referred to as robot) when many articles are placed in a disorderly pile on a table or on a surface of a box or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an assembly process in a factory, for example, picking up various articles is a basic work element which is indispensable in almost all cases. To automate this work, a robot or a system incorporating a robot and a visual sensor are used.
A problem with the conventional technology is that it is very difficult for the robot to hold and pick up articles one by one when many articles are placed in a disorderly pile.
For example, where many workpieces W
1
to W
5
(e.g., five bolts) are placed in a disorderly pile on a tray TR as shown in
FIG. 1
, it is not easy for a robot to pick up individual workpieces, even with the aid of a visual sensor. Picking up articles is especially difficult for a robot when the holding posture of the robot hand requires a certain accuracy, for example, when the axial direction of a bolt in
FIG. 1
must be in agreement with the Z-axis direction of the tool coordinate system.
To solve this problem, conventionally, in many cases, the workpieces W
1
to W
5
are lined up or positioned such that they do not overlap before the robot picks up the workpieces, as shown in FIG.
2
. If the visual sensor is used, the accuracy of lining-up or positioning the workpieces W
1
to W
5
may be reduced, and in some cases, some overlapping of the workpieces is also allowed.
However, to realize the state as shown in
FIG. 2
or a similar state, manual work or a largescale automatic lining-up/positioning mechanism is needed, which presents an obstacle to automating the process using a simple system. Also, with either manual work or the use of an automatic mechanism, the process time may be prolonged by lining-up or positioning the workpieces.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of picking up articles one by one from a pile of many articles without manually lining-up or positioning the articles and without using any special lining-up/positioning mechanism.
In the present invention, to attain the above object, even where many articles are piled up, the piled-up articles are loosened (including decreasing the degree of the pile-up of the articles, at least partially, and the elimination of the pile-up) by directly or indirectly providing an appropriate physical action to a group of articles, enabling the robot to pick up the loosened articles one by one.
The article picking-up apparatus, in accordance with the present invention, comprises a robot; articles placing means; loosening means that loosens a pile of articles placed on the articles placing means; and a visual sensor that searches the group of articles on the articles placing means to find at least one article that can be held by the robot in accordance with a predetermined criterion, and obtains data concerning the position of the holdable article. The robot holds and picks up the holdable article using the data concerning the position of the holdable article. Either a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional visual sensor may be used.
As an example of the criterion, an isolated article that does not overlap another article may be a holdable article. Also, another example of the criterion includes that one isolated article or an isolated small set containing a certain number (“N”) of, or less than N, articles contacting each other may be a set of holdable articles. The latter criterion is suitable for a picking-up apparatus using a three-dimensional visual sensor. The value of N is selected such that the robot can pick up individual articles from the maximum N number of articles with the aid of the visual sensor, even if the articles are in contact with each other or piled up.
A group of articles to be picked up is subjected to a physical action. This physical action is typically an oscillating motion. As means for giving the oscillating motion to the articles to loosen or disentangle the articles, a shaking device attached to the articles placing means is used or a robot taught an operation for oscillating the articles placing means can be used. Also, a tool for loosening the piled-up articles may be mounted to the robot. The robot is taught to level the pile of articles using the tools to establish a state in which the articles are isolated or in which N number or less articles are in contact with each other.
According to the present invention, the lining-up or positioning of articles, which has conventionally been needed before the robot can hold and pick up the articles, becomes unnecessary. Therefore, manpower or a special-purpose mechanism for lining up or positioning the articles is unnecessary. As a result, great advantages can be obtained in terms of work efficiency and economical cost.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4909376 (1990-03-01), Herndon et al.
patent: 5314055 (1994-05-01), Gordon
patent: 5446835 (1995-08-01), Iida et al.
patent: 5853078 (1998-12-01), Kneubuhler
patent: 2-299005 (1990-12-01), None
patent: 5-134731 (1993-06-01), None
patent: 6-144584 (1994-05-01), None
patent: 7-053054 (1995-02-01), None
patent: 7-319525 (1995-12-01), None
patent: 9-147121 (1997-06-01), None
patent: 11-123681 (1999-05-01), None
Japanese Reason For Rejection for corresponding application No. 016314 mailed Feb. 13, 2001.
Ban Kazunori
Hara Ryuichi
Kumiya Hidetoshi
Watanabe Atsushi
Fanuc Ltd.
O'Connor Gerald J.
Olszewski Robert P.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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