JP7085449B2 - Sheet-shaped article grasping robot, sheet-shaped article handling system and sheet-shaped article handling method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a robot capable of discriminating the front and back and / or left and right of the sheet-shaped article by grasping the sheet-shaped article having the front and back or the left and right.

Sheet-shaped articles such as flat cables, fabrics, and ribbons are gripped and handled by robots. In such work, the object is generally recognized by a visual sensor and grasped by a robot hand. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a handling system that recognizes a flexible and variable-shaped sheet-like article such as a towel with a stereo camera and grips it with a robot hand.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-270915

However, if the sheet-like article has front and back or left and right, for example, if the front and back orientation or the left and right orientation can be distinguished due to uneven thickness, the visual sensor recognizes the front and back or left and right orientation. Sometimes it was difficult to do. In order to deliver such a sheet-shaped article to the moving target in a required orientation, it is necessary to determine the front / back or left-right orientation of the sheet-shaped article by some means.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a robot capable of discriminating the front and back and the left and right of a sheet-shaped article. Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet-shaped article handling system and a sheet-shaped article handling method using such a robot.

The sheet-shaped article gripping robot of the present invention includes a hand provided with a first gripping surface and a second gripping surface for gripping the sheet-shaped article, a first pressure sensor provided on the first gripping surface, and the above-mentioned. It has a calculation unit for discriminating one or both of the front and back sides of the sheet-shaped article and the left and right sides based on the pressure distribution detected by the first pressure-sensitive sensor.

Here, the sheet-shaped article means an article having a planar outer shape. Sheet-like articles include what are commonly referred to as films, papers and cloths. Further, the sheet-shaped article includes a band-shaped article such as a flat cable and a ribbon. With this configuration, when the robot grips the sheet-shaped article, the front and back and / or the left-right orientation of the sheet-shaped article can be determined.

Preferably, the sheet-shaped article gripping robot further includes a first rotation mechanism for rotating the sheet-shaped article around a straight line parallel to the surface of the sheet-shaped article, and the first rotation mechanism is the calculation unit. The sheet-shaped article is rotated so that the front and back directions of the sheet-shaped article are in the required direction according to the result of the determination.

Alternatively, preferably, the sheet-shaped article gripping robot further includes a second rotation mechanism for rotating the sheet-shaped article around a straight line perpendicular to the surface of the sheet-shaped article, and the second rotation mechanism is the calculation unit. The sheet-shaped article is rotated so that the left-right orientation of the sheet-shaped article is the required direction according to the result of the determination.

The sheet-shaped article handling system of the present invention aligns the sheet-shaped article with the front and back or left-right orientation of the sheet-shaped article according to the result of the determination of the sheet-shaped article grasping robot and the calculation unit. It has a third rotation mechanism that rotates a movement target to which the shaped article is moved. Here, to give an example of a moving target, a section on a table on which a sheet-shaped article is placed, a storage container for the sheet-shaped article, an insertion portion of a processing device for the sheet-shaped article, and a sheet-shaped article for setting in the processing device. Jigs, etc.

The sheet-shaped article handling method of the present invention includes a gripping step of sandwiching and gripping a sheet-shaped article between a first gripping surface and a second gripping surface of a robot hand, and a first gripping surface provided on the first gripping surface of the robot hand. A discrimination step of discriminating the front and back and one or both of the left and right sides of the sheet-shaped article by a pressure-sensitive sensor and, if necessary, performed based on the result of the discrimination step, the front and back and / or left and right of the sheet-shaped article. A rotation step of rotating the sheet-shaped article and / or the moving target so as to align the orientation of the moving target with the direction of the moving target, and the sheet-shaped article carried out in parallel with the rotating step or after the rotating step. It has a moving step of moving to the moving target.

According to the sheet-shaped article grasping robot of the present invention, the front and back and / or the left and right of the sheet-shaped article can be discriminated by the pressure distribution detected by the first pressure-sensitive sensor when the sheet-shaped article is gripped.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the sheet-shaped article grasping robot and the sheet-shaped article handling system of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the hand of the sheet-shaped article grasping robot. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the 1st pressure sensor. It is a process flow diagram of the sheet-like article handling method of 1st Embodiment of this invention. A is a diagram showing a state in which the hand grips the work, and B: a diagram showing the output of the first pressure sensor. It is a figure which shows the structure of the sheet-shaped article grasping robot and the sheet-shaped article handling system of 1st Embodiment of this invention. A, B: It is a figure for demonstrating the distinction between the front and back of a sheet-like article based on the positional relationship with a moving target. A, B: It is a figure for demonstrating the distinction between the left and right of a sheet-like article. A, B, C, D: It is a figure for demonstrating another relationship between the cross-sectional shape of a sheet-like article, front and back, and left and right. This is an example of the cross-sectional shape of a sheet-shaped article. It is a figure for demonstrating the gripping direction of a work with respect to a hand.

First, a case where the thickness of the sheet-shaped article is not uniform and the front and back sides are separated and the left and right sides are separated will be described. Whether or not the sheet-shaped article has a front and back distinction and whether or not the sheet-shaped article has a left and right distinction is a cross section perpendicular to the surface of the sheet-shaped article and in a direction in which the thickness changes (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "cross section"). ) Can be determined based on the shape.

If the cross-sectional shape is not line-symmetrical in the thickness direction of the sheet-like article (direction perpendicular to the surface of the sheet-like article), the sheet-like article has front and back sides. With reference to FIG. 9, when the cross section S is turned upside down with respect to the straight line M (hereinafter referred to as “center line in the thickness direction”) that divides the cross section S (diagonal portion) in the thickness direction, before and after the inversion. This is because the cross-sectional shapes do not match. Inverting the cross section with respect to the straight line M corresponds to rotating the sheet-like article 180 degrees around the straight line M.

In addition, when there are a plurality of directions in which the thickness of the sheet-shaped article changes, and if the cross-sectional shape in any of the directions is not line-symmetrical in the thickness direction, the sheet-shaped article has front and back sides. The same applies to point symmetry and other line symmetries in the following.

Further, even if the cross-sectional shape is line-symmetrical in the thickness direction of the sheet-shaped article, if the cross-sectional shape of the sheet-shaped article is not point-symmetrical, the sheet-shaped article has front and back sides. This is because when the cross section S is rotated 180 degrees around the center O of the cross section S with reference to FIG. 9, the cross-sectional shapes do not match before and after the rotation. Rotating the cross section 180 degrees around the point O corresponds to reversing the sheet-like article around the straight line A passing through the point O and perpendicular to the cross section S.

The sheet-shaped articles shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B have front and back sides because the shape of the cross section S is not line-symmetrical in the thickness direction (not line-symmetrical with respect to the straight line M). The sheet-shaped article shown in FIG. 9C has a cross-sectional shape that is line-symmetrical in the thickness direction (line-symmetrical with respect to the straight line M) but not point-symmetrical (not point-symmetrical with respect to the center point O). Has. The sheet-shaped article shown in FIG. 9D has a cross-sectional shape that is line-symmetrical in the thickness direction and point-symmetrical, so that there is no distinction between the front and back sides. Since it seems difficult to intuitively think about the front and back of the sheet article shown in FIG. 9C, it will be described below using an example.

With reference to FIG. 7, when one side end side 61 of the flat cable 60 is thick and the other side end side 62 is formed thin, and the tip 63 is inserted into the opening 66 of the connector 65 which is the movement target. think of. The opening 66 has a wide right side portion (67) and a narrow left side portion (68) toward the opening. To insert the cable 60 into the opening 66, the thickly formed side edge 61 must be to the right of the opening 66 (FIG. 7A). If the thickly formed side edge 61 of the cable 60 is on the left side of the opening 66, the cable 60 needs to be inverted around a straight line A parallel to the connector 65 towards the opening 66 (-Xt direction). There is (Fig. 7B). Therefore, the front and back of the cable 60 are distinguished based on the positional relationship with the connector 65.

If the cross-sectional shape of the sheet-like article is not line-symmetrical in the width direction of the sheet-like article (direction parallel to the plane of the sheet-like article), the sheet-like article has left and right distinction. With reference to FIG. 9, the cross section S is left and right with respect to a straight line N (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “center line in the plane direction”) perpendicular to the surface of the sheet-shaped article and equidistant from both ends L and R of the cross section S. This is because the cross-sectional shapes do not match before and after the inversion when the inversion is performed. Inverting the cross section with respect to the straight line N corresponds to rotating the sheet-like article 180 degrees around the straight line N.

The sheet-shaped articles shown in FIGS. 9B and 9C have left and right distinctions because the shape of the cross section S is not line-symmetrical in the width direction of the sheet-shaped articles (not line-symmetrical with respect to the straight line N). The sheet-shaped articles shown in FIGS. 9A and 9D have a cross-sectional shape that is line-symmetrical in the width direction of the sheet-shaped articles (line-symmetrical with respect to the straight line N), and therefore have no distinction between left and right. The sheet-shaped articles shown in FIGS. 9B and 9C have both front and back sides and left and right sides.

With reference to FIG. 8, consider a case where one side end side 71 of the flat cable 70 is thick and the other side end side 72 is thinly formed, and this is placed in the compartment 75 which is the movement target. At this time, when the thickly formed side end side 71 is placed on the right side portion (77) of the section 75 and the thinly formed side end side 72 is placed on the left side portion (78), the left and right directions of the flat cable 70 are the sections. If it is aligned with the direction of 75, it can be dropped onto the section 75 as it is (FIG. 8A). If the thickly formed side edge 71 of the cable 70 is on the left side of the compartment 75, the cable 70 needs to be rotated 180 degrees around a straight line N parallel to the direction perpendicular to the compartment (Zt direction) (Figure). 8B).

FIG. 10 shows an example of the cross-sectional shape of the sheet-shaped article. The shaded area in FIG. 10 is the cross section, the point O is the center of the cross-sectional shape, the straight line M is the center line in the thickness direction, and the straight line N is the center line in the plane direction. Each of the sheet-shaped articles 80 to 90 has a front and back side. In particular, the sheet-shaped articles 84 to 86 have front and back sides with respect to the orientation or shape of the moving target. Sheet-shaped articles 84 to 90 have left and right distinctions.

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. In the present embodiment, a long strip-shaped sheet-shaped article having front and back surfaces is grasped by a robot hand, and the front and back surfaces of the sheet-shaped article are set on a moving target by a first rotation mechanism in a required direction.

With reference to FIG. 1, the sheet-shaped article handling system 10 of the present embodiment includes a sheet-shaped article gripping robot 20 and a visual sensor 50. The sheet-shaped article grasping robot 20 grips the work W with the hand 30 and moves the work W to the movement target T with the front and back sides of the work W in a required direction. In the following, the sheet-shaped article gripping robot 20 is simply referred to as a “robot”.

The work W is a sheet-like article. The sheet-like article refers to various articles such as cloth, film, and paper having a planar shape. Sheet-shaped articles include strip-shaped articles such as flat cables and ribbons. In FIG. 1, the strip-shaped work W is wound around the reel 55. The work W may be one before being cut or processed as shown in FIG. 1, or may be one that has already been cut or partially processed.

The work W has a front and a back. When the front and back of the work W are distinguished by a pattern or the like, the front and back can be easily discriminated by a visual sensor. However, if the front and back of the work W are distinguished by the unevenness formed on the surface or the thickness of the sheet is not uniform, it is difficult to distinguish the front and back by the visual sensor. Therefore, the robot 20 of the present embodiment is used. The effect of using it is great.

The material of the work W is not particularly limited, but is preferably a flexible material. This is because the flexible sheet-like article is easily deformed by bending or twisting, so that it is particularly difficult to distinguish the front and back with a visual sensor, and the effect of using the robot 20 of the present embodiment is great.

The size of the work W is preferably such that the gripping surface of the hand 30 can grip the entire transfer from one side to the opposite side. This is because the front and back sides of the work W can be more reliably discriminated by detecting the thickness distribution and unevenness of the entire delivery.

The movement target T is a target for moving the work W gripped by the hand 30. When the work W is a long strip as shown in FIG. 1, it is a destination for gripping the vicinity of the tip thereof and pulling it out from the reel to move the tip of the work W. The type of the movement target T is not particularly limited. Examples of the moving target T include a section on a table on which the work W is placed, a container for accommodating the work W, an insertion part such as a connector to be attached to the work W, an insertion part of a processing device of the work W, and a work W. Examples include a jig for setting the device in the processing device.

The robot 20 is an articulated robot and has an arm 21, a hand 30, and a calculation unit 24. The arm 21 is composed of a plurality of links 22 and a plurality of joints 23 connecting the links. The calculation unit 24 determines the front and back of the work W held by the hand 30. The robot 20 grips the work W by the hand 30, and moves the arm 21 and the hand 30 to align the front and back of the work W with the required direction and move the work W to the movement target T.

With reference to FIG. 2, the hand 30 is fixed to the tip of the arm 21 by the body 31. A groove 31a extending in the Zh direction in FIG. 2 is formed inside the body 31. The convex portion 32a of the slide member 32 is fitted in the groove 31a, and the two slide members 32, 32 are interlocked with each other by a cam mechanism (not shown) housed inside the body 31 so as to widen or narrow the distance between them. Move in parallel. The first finger portion 33 and the second finger portion 35 are fixed to the slide members 32 and 32 by screws 37, respectively. The first finger portion 33 has a first gripping surface 34. The first gripping surface 34 includes a first pressure sensitive sensor 40. The second finger portion 35 has a second gripping surface 36. The hand 30 shown in FIG. 2 has a structure called a linear parallel opening / closing type, but the structure of the hand is not limited to this, and grippers having various structures can be used.

The first pressure sensor 40 is provided on the first gripping surface 34. The first pressure-sensitive sensor 40 of the present embodiment is a sensor capable of detecting a pressure distribution in a one-dimensional direction (in the present embodiment, the Xh direction of FIG. 3). The first pressure-sensitive sensor 40 may be an array of switches capable of detecting the presence or absence of pressure, but a sensor capable of detecting the strength of the applied force is preferable because the front and back discrimination accuracy can be improved.

FIG. 3 shows a structural example of the first pressure sensor 40. The upper part of FIG. 3 is a plan view of the first pressure-sensitive sensor 40, and the lower part is a vertical sectional view of the first pressure-sensitive sensor 40. The first pressure-sensitive sensor 40 is configured by laminating each layer of an insulating layer 41, a first electrode 42, a pressure-sensitive body 43, a second electrode 44, and a protective layer 45 from the side of the first finger portion 33. The first electrode 42 is made of copper foil. The pressure sensitive body 43 is made of a pressure sensitive conductive elastomer. The pressure-sensitive conductive elastomer is also called a conductive rubber sheet or the like, and is obtained by uniformly dispersing conductive particles such as carbon and metal powder in a highly insulating elastomer. The second electrode 44 is provided with linear electrodes having a constant width in parallel in the width direction (Xh direction in FIG. 3) at a constant pitch. The second electrode 44 can be formed, for example, by printing silver paste wiring on an elastic sheet. The protective layer 45 covers the entire second electrode 44 and protects the second electrode 44. The protective layer 45 is made of an elastomer.

The first electrode 42 and the second electrode 44 are connected to the electric circuit 47 via the lead wire 46. The electric circuit 47 has a DC power supply, a resistance R, and an A / D converter, and detects a change in resistance between the first electrode 42, which is a planar electrode, and the second electrode 44, which is a linear electrode. When pressure is applied to the surface of the protective layer 45 and the pressure sensitive body 43 is compressed, the resistance value between the first electrode and the second electrode decreases.

The first rotation mechanism rotates the work W around a straight line parallel to the surface of the work W so that the front and back sides of the work W face in a required direction. For example, the first rotation mechanism inverts the work W when the front and back sides of the work W are opposite to each other. The first rotation mechanism of this embodiment is realized by the arm 21 of the robot 20. By rotating the joint 23 of the arm 21, the robot 20 rotates the front and back directions of the work W gripped by the hand 30. In general, an articulated robot having 6 or more joints, that is, 6 or more degrees of freedom, can invert the work W. Depending on the arrangement of the work W and the movement target T, the work W may be inverted with a smaller degree of freedom.

As the visual sensor 50, various cameras can be used, and preferably a stereo camera or the like capable of three-dimensional measurement is used. The visual sensor 50 puts the work W and the moving target T in the field of view. The visual sensor 50 is unnecessary when the initial arrangement of the work W to be gripped and the position and orientation of the moving target T are fixed and the operation of the robot 20 can be taught in advance. However, preferably the sheet-like article handling system 10 includes a visual sensor 50. This is because the visual sensor 50 can confirm whether the gripping operation of the work W and the movement to the moving target T are correctly performed. Further, using the visual sensor 50 is particularly advantageous when the work W is flexible. This is because the visual sensor 50 recognizes the deformation of the work W due to bending or twisting, and the hand 30 can grip the work W from a certain direction according to the shape of the work W. Further, by sandwiching the work W with the first gripping surface 34 and the second gripping surface 36 parallel to the surface of the work W according to the shape of the work W, the work W can be gripped in an expanded state without folding or overlapping. Because.

Next, the sheet-shaped article handling method of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flow of FIG. Hereinafter, a case of handling a work W having a cross-sectional shape similar to that of the flat cable 60 shown in FIG. 7 will be described.

First, in the gripping step, the visual sensor 50 recognizes the gripping position of the work W, and the hand 30 grips the work W from the direction perpendicular to the side edge (from the right or left in FIG. 1). Here, the side edge refers to two sides corresponding to the long sides of the four sides on the outer circumference of the strip-shaped work W. Alternatively, the hand 30 may grip the tip side from the direction perpendicular to the tip side of the work W (from the lower side of FIG. 1). Here, the tip side means two sides corresponding to the short side of the four sides on the outer circumference of the strip-shaped work W. Which end of the work W to grip can be determined according to the movement to the movement target T, and if the movement target T is some kind of insertion part or jig, the insertion or mounting direction of the work W. can.

Preferably, the hand 30 is gripped by the first gripping surface 34 and the second gripping surface 36 so as to sandwich the entire transfer from one end side of the work W to the opposite end side. This is because the thickness distribution and unevenness of the entire delivery can be detected, so that the front and back of the work W can be more reliably discriminated.

Further, preferably, the hand 30 makes the first gripping surface 34 and the second gripping surface 36 substantially parallel to the surface of the work W (substantially parallel to the extending direction of the sheet-shaped article) to narrow the distance between the two gripping surfaces. By doing so, the work W is gripped. For example, when the work W is in the state of the flat cable 60 of FIG. 7A, the hand 30 makes the first gripping surface 34 and the second gripping surface 36 substantially parallel to the planes defined in the Xt direction and the Yt direction, and the flat cable. Grasp 60. The term "substantially parallel" does not mean that the work W is strictly parallel, and depending on the shape of the work W, it is sufficient that the work W can be in contact with the entire work W even if it is slightly tilted. As a result, even if the work W is flexible, it is less likely to wrinkle when gripped, and the thickness distribution of the work W and the unevenness of the surface can be reliably detected by the first pressure sensor 40.

Next, in the discrimination step, in the robot 20, the calculation unit 24 discriminates the front and back of the work W based on the output of the first pressure sensor 40. Information such as the shape of the work W required for front / back discrimination is registered in advance in the calculation unit. Based on the registered information and the output of the first pressure sensor 40, the calculation unit 24 determines the front and back of the work W. When the work W is gripped by the first gripping surface 34 and the second gripping surface 36 with reference to FIG. 5 (FIG. 5A), the first pressure-sensitive sensor 40 detects the distribution of the pressure P in the Xh direction in FIG. 5A. (FIG. 5B). From this pressure distribution, the distribution of the thickness of the work W can be obtained, and the front and back sides of the work W can be discriminated. In FIG. 5, the front and back sides of the work W can be discriminated depending on whether the thick portion of the work W is on the root side or the fingertip side of the first finger portion 33 and the second finger portion 35.

If the thickness of the work W is constant along a certain direction, for example, if the work W is a strip and the shape of the cross section is constant in the longitudinal direction, the direction orthogonal to the direction, that is, If the pressure distribution in the width direction of the strip can be detected, the front and back of the work W can be discriminated. Therefore, if the sheet-shaped article handling system 10 is provided with the visual sensor 50, the work W can be gripped by the hand 30 from a certain direction, so that an inexpensive sensor capable of detecting the pressure distribution in the one-dimensional direction is the first. Can be used as a pressure sensitive sensor.

Next, in the rotation step, the work W is rotated by the first rotation mechanism so that the front and back directions of the work W are the required directions. Specifically, as described with reference to FIG. 7, a straight line parallel to the surface of the work W so that the front and back directions of the work W are aligned with the direction of the movement target T when the work W is moved to the movement target T. Rotate the work W around. In the strip-shaped work W, the work W is rotated around a straight line parallel to the longitudinal direction thereof, as described with reference to FIG. 7.

Next, in the moving step, the work W is moved to the moving target T and set at the moving target T. In the present embodiment, the work W is pulled out from the reel 55, and the vicinity of the tip of the work W is moved to the movement target T and set.

The above rotation step and movement step may be carried out in parallel. That is, the work W may be moved toward the movement target T while rotating the front and back directions. The movement process is completed by setting the front and back of the work W in the required orientation according to the movement target T and setting the work W to the movement target T.

After setting the work W to the movement target T, the hand 30 releases the work W in the release process.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the sheet-shaped article having the left and right sides of the cut strip-shaped object is grasped by the hand of the robot, and the left and right sides of the sheet-shaped article are set as the movement target by the second rotation mechanism.

With reference to FIG. 6, the sheet-shaped article handling system 10 and the sheet-shaped article gripping robot 20 of the present embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment. The robot 20 grips the work V with the hand 30 and moves the work V to the moving target U with the left and right sides of the work V in a required direction.

The work V is a strip-shaped article cut into short pieces. The work V has a distinction between left and right due to the non-uniform thickness. The movement target U of the present embodiment is a section on a table on which the work V is placed.

The second rotation mechanism rotates the work W around a straight line perpendicular to the surface of the work V so that the left and right sides of the work V face the required direction. For example, the second rotation mechanism rotates the work V by 180 degrees when the left and right sides of the work V are opposite to each other. The second rotation mechanism of the present embodiment is realized by the arm 21 of the robot 20. The robot 20 rotates the joint 23 of the arm 21 to rotate the left and right directions of the work V gripped by the hand 30.

The flow of the sheet-shaped article handling method of the present embodiment is the same as that in FIG. The gripping step, the discrimination step, the moving step, and the releasing step in FIG. 4 are the same as those in the first embodiment.
However, in the rotation process of the present embodiment, the work V is rotated by the second rotation mechanism so that the left and right directions of the work V are the required directions.
Specifically, as described with reference to FIG. 8, a straight line perpendicular to the surface of the work V so that the left and right directions of the work V are aligned with the direction of the movement target U when the work V is moved to the movement target U. Rotate the work V around.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea thereof.

In the first embodiment, the front and back sides of the work W are aligned with each other by rotating the work W, but when the movement target T is rotatable, the work W is rotated by rotating the movement target T. The front and back may be aligned with the direction of the movement target T. Similarly, in the second embodiment, the left and right sides of the work V are adjusted to the required directions by rotating the work V, but when the movement target U is rotatable, the movement target U is rotated. The left and right of the work V and the direction of the movement target U may be aligned. For example, when the moving target is a component such as a connector to be attached to the work or a jig for setting the work on the processing apparatus, it may be easier to rotate the moving target than to rotate the work. In that case, the sheet-shaped article gripping system may be provided with a third rotation mechanism. The third rotation mechanism receives the discrimination result of the front and back or the left and right of the work from the calculation unit 24 of the robot 20, and rotates the moving target so as to align the front and back or the left and right of the work. The third rotation mechanism can be realized by using a known technique according to the shape of the moving target and the like. Also, both the work and the moving target may be rotated.

Further, for example, a sensor capable of detecting the pressure distribution in the two-dimensional direction may be used as the first pressure-sensitive sensor. In such a sensor, the first electrode 42 in FIG. 3 is an electrode in which linear electrodes having a constant width are arranged in parallel at a constant pitch in the width direction, and each linear electrode is a linear electrode of the second electrode 44 in a plan view. It can be realized by making it orthogonal to. With this structure, the pressure applied to the portion where the linear electrodes of the first electrode and the second electrode intersect with each other can be individually detected, and the pressure distribution in the two-dimensional direction can be detected. When the first pressure sensor can detect the pressure distribution in the two-dimensional direction, in addition to the front / back determination / left / right determination of the work, the gripping direction of the work with respect to the hand when the hand 30 grips the work is calculated. be able to. Here, the gripping direction of the work with respect to the hand means the direction of the work with respect to the hand on the gripping surface when the hand grips the work, and specifically, the reference line indicating the direction of the hand and the direction of the work are shown. It is represented by the angle formed by the reference line. The method of taking the reference line is not particularly limited, but in FIG. 11, for example, it is represented by the angle θ formed by the center line of the hand 30 and the center line of the work W.

Further, for example, in addition to the first pressure-sensitive sensor 40 on the first gripping surface 34, a second pressure-sensitive sensor may be provided on the second gripping surface 36. By using a plurality of pressure-sensitive sensors, it is possible to more accurately determine the front / back / left / right and calculate the gripping direction of the work with respect to the hand. Further, if the cross section of the work is trapezoidal (for example, the sheet-shaped article 80 in FIG. 10) and the area in contact with each gripping surface is different on the front and back when gripped by the hand 30, the first pressure sensor By calculating the difference in pressure distribution between the second pressure sensor and the second pressure sensor, it is possible to easily determine the front and back sides.

10 Sheet-shaped article handling system 20 Sheet-shaped article gripping robot 21 Arm 22 Link 23 Joint 24 Calculation unit 30 Hand (robot hand)
31 Hand body 32 Hand slide member 33 1st finger 34 1st grip surface 35 2nd finger 36 2nd grip surface 37 Screw 40 Pressure sensor 41 Insulation layer 42 1st electrode 43 Pressure sensitive body 44 2nd electrode 45 Protective layer 46 Lead wire 47 Electrical circuit 50 Camera (visual sensor)
60 Flat cable (sheet-like article)
61, 62 Side end side of flat cable 63 Tip side of flat cable 65 Connector (movement target)
66 Connector opening 67 Right side of the connector opening 68 Left side of the connector opening 70 Flat cable (sheet-like article)
71, 72 Side end of flat cable 75 compartments (movement target)
77 Right side part facing the section 78 Left side part facing the section 80-90 Sheet-shaped article A Straight line passing through the center of the cross section and parallel to the surface of the sheet-shaped article M Center line in the thickness direction N Center line in the plane direction O Cross section Center P Pressure S Cross section of sheet-shaped article T, U Movement target V, W Work (sheet-shaped article)

Claims (11)

A hand provided with a first gripping surface and a second gripping surface for sandwiching and gripping a sheet-shaped article,
The first pressure sensor provided on the first gripping surface and
A calculation unit that determines the front and back and / or left and right of the sheet-shaped article based on the pressure distribution detected by the first pressure sensor.
Sheet-shaped article grasping robot having. The calculation unit calculates the gripping direction of the sheet-shaped article with respect to the hand based on the pressure distribution detected by the first pressure sensor.
The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to claim 1. The second gripping surface comprises a second pressure sensor.
The calculation unit determines the front and back and / or left and right of the sheet-shaped article based on the pressure distribution detected by the first pressure sensor and the second pressure sensor.
The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to claim 1 or 2. The hand grips the sheet-shaped article with the first gripping surface and the second gripping surface substantially parallel to the surface of the sheet-shaped article.
The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The sheet-like article is flexible,
The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to any one of claims 1 to 4. A first rotation mechanism for rotating the sheet-shaped article around a straight line parallel to the surface of the sheet-shaped article is further provided.
The first rotation mechanism rotates the sheet-shaped article so that the front and back directions of the sheet-shaped article are in the required direction according to the result of the determination by the calculation unit.
The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5. A second rotation mechanism for rotating the sheet-shaped article around a straight line perpendicular to the surface of the sheet-shaped article is further provided.
The second rotation mechanism rotates the sheet-shaped article so that the left-right orientation of the sheet-shaped article is a required direction according to the result of the determination by the calculation unit.
The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
A third rotation mechanism that rotates a moving target to which the sheet-shaped article is moved so as to align the front and back or left and right of the sheet-shaped article according to the result of the determination of the calculation unit.
Sheet-like article handling system with. The sheet-shaped article gripping robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
A visual sensor capable of recognizing the sheet-shaped article and
Sheet-like article handling system with. Further having a visual sensor capable of recognizing the sheet-like article.
The sheet-shaped article handling system according to claim 8. A gripping step of sandwiching and gripping a sheet-shaped article between a first gripping surface and a second gripping surface of a robot hand,
A discriminating step of discriminating the front and back and / or left-right orientation of the sheet-shaped article by a first pressure sensor provided on the first gripping surface of the robot hand.
It is carried out as necessary based on the result of the determination step, and the sheet-shaped article and / or the moving target is rotated so as to align the front and back and / or left-right directions of the sheet-shaped article with the orientation of the moving target. Rotation process and
A moving step performed in parallel with or after the rotating step to move the sheet-shaped article to the moving target.
Sheet-shaped article handling method having.

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