JPH0741567B2 - Industrial robot - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an industrial robot that stacks works on pallets.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as an industrial robot for performing a work (hereinafter, also referred to as a palletizing work) for sequentially stacking works (boxes containing products, etc.) conveyed on a conveyor and positioned at a predetermined position on the pallet , Which has the configuration shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, (1) is a conveyor for transporting a work, (2) is a sequencer for controlling the conveyor (1), etc., and (3) is a conveyor (1).
The robot (4) is a robot controller for controlling the robot (3) and the like.

The industrial robot configured by the above-mentioned respective main parts (1) to (4) is based on a series of operations described below (5) in the figure.
The work is carried out by sequentially stacking the works conveyed by the conveyor (1) on the pallet (three types A to C are shown in FIG. 8).

That is, the work sensor confirms that the work has been conveyed to the conveyor (1), and then the positioning sensor confirms that the work has been positioned. The positioning signal from this positioning sensor is input to the robot controller (4) via the sequencer (2), the robot (2) is started based on this signal input, and the work is palletized (according to the information taught in advance). 5)
It moves to a predetermined position one by one upward, and the stacking is performed. As an example of the stacking pattern (overall positional relationship of each work) at that time, the one shown by the XY coordinate in FIG. 9 can be mentioned. If the positions of (P ₁ ) to work (P ₉ ) are taught in sequence, or if data can be directly input to the robot controller, the coordinates on the pallet for each work (P ₁ ) to (P ₉ ) above Need to enter.

However, in recent years, high-mix, low-volume production has increased, and along with this, the types of work, pallets, and stowage patterns also tend to increase in palletizing work. The demand for palletizing various contents has become stronger. Regarding technology to meet such diversification requirements, see "Automation Technology" Vol. 20, No. 2 (1986) P75-80.
It is specifically described in.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, in order to deal with various palletizing as described above, the conventional method of setting the stacking position for each work and performing the stacking according to the pattern as described above results in an enormous amount of data. Therefore, there was a problem that adequate management could not be performed and appropriate measures could not be taken.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide an industrial robot capable of appropriately stacking works even when the types of works change arbitrarily on a designated pallet.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In the industrial robot according to the present invention, a stowage pattern file that stores information about stowage patterns, a work information file that stores information about work shapes, a pallet information file that stores information about pallet shapes, and a stowage position A stacking position file for storing information regarding information, work instruction receiving means for inputting work instruction information including a stowage pattern, work type, pallet type and number of stowages necessary for palletizing work, and the work instruction information Based on the above, the stowage pattern file, the work information file, and the pallet information file are referred to, the stowage position is calculated as a function of the work size, and the calculation result is stored in the stowage position file. Position calculation means and the calculated stored in the stowage position file Based on the mounting position and the work size of the work information file, the stacking position confirming means for confirming whether the works stacked on the pallet do not interfere with each other, and the works do not interfere with each other by the stacking position confirming means. If it is confirmed, the personal computer is provided with a stowage operating means for actually performing a palletizing operation based on the calculated stowage position stored in the stowage position file.

[Action]

In the present invention, since it is possible to perform appropriate stacking for each specified pallet and for each specified plurality of works, palletizing work flexibly corresponding to changing works and stacking patterns. Is possible.

At that time, before starting the robot, it is possible to always perform accurate palletizing work by making it possible to confirm that the stacking positions of the works determined based on the above information do not interfere with each other. It becomes possible to improve the working accuracy.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation program in a control unit when the palletizing work of a work is executed by the industrial robot of this embodiment. The industrial robot of this embodiment has the same basic configuration as that shown in FIG. 8 as shown in FIG. 2 and is designed to enable execution of the program shown in FIG. The robot controller (4) is connected to a personal computer (14).

The control unit for palletizing work is housed in the personal computer (14), and its outline is as follows: work instruction receiving means (6), stowage position calculation means (7), stowage position confirmation means (8). ) And stowage operation means (9), stowage pattern file (10) connected to the stowage position calculation means (7), and data such as vertical, horizontal, and height of workpieces are stored. The work information file (11), the pallet information file (12) in which data such as the vertical, horizontal, and height of the pallet is stored, and the stacking position file (13). The work information file (11) is also connected to the stowage position confirmation means (8), and the stowage position file (13) is also connected to the stowed position confirmation means (8) and the stowage operation means (9). It is connected.

In the control unit having the above-mentioned configuration, first, work instruction information such as the type of work, the stowage pattern, the type of pallet, and the number of stowages necessary for the palletizing work is input to the work instruction receiving means (6). . The stowage position calculation means (7) specifies the stowage position and the order based on the work instruction information. At that time, the stowage pattern file (10), the work information file (11) and the pallet information file are designated. The necessary data is taken out from each of them, the stowage position is calculated by the method described later, and the calculation result is output and stored in the stowage position file (13). In this embodiment, next, the stacking position confirmation means (8) interferes with the stacking works on the pallet based on the calculated stacking position and the data input from the work information file (11). If it is confirmed that no interference occurs, the data such as the stowage position is input to the stowage operation means (9), and the palletizing operation is actually started based on the data.

Next, an example of the calculation of the stowage position will be specifically described.

Specific instructions for palletizing work are input by the personal computer (14). That is, the loading pattern file (10), the work information file (11), and the pallet information file (12) included in the control unit in the personal computer (14).
The necessary data is taken out by and the stowage position is calculated by the following method.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, a length (L) and a width (W) are defined for the work size. At this time, the center position of the work is Will be the coordinates. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the placing manner with W in front is defined as an angle θ = 1, and the placing manner with L in front is defined as θ = 0. At this time, set the stacking position of one work Is expressed as The position of each work is determined by setting the part for each work.

If this method of calculating the stowage position is applied to the case where the workpieces are stowed according to the stowage pattern shown in FIG.
For each work of each blank of the first formula above The equation in which the value is set can be expressed as shown in FIG.

If the stowage pattern is set as described above and the length (L) and the width (W) are determined from the work information, the stowage position can be calculated from the first equation. Furthermore, the final stacking position is determined by adding the height of the first stage work and the total shift amount of the stacking position based on the pallet information.

In the method described above, since the stacking pattern is set as a function of the work size, there is a possibility that the works may interfere with each other as shown by the shaded area in FIG. 7 depending on the work size. . Therefore, it is checked in advance whether the straight lines forming the four sides of the work are not within the area of another work, and as a result, the palletizing work is started only when it is clear that there is no interference.

When the stowage position is determined as described above, the data is transmitted to the robot controller (4) shown in FIG. 2, and the robot (3) accurately pallets (5) the workpieces on the conveyor (1) according to the data. ) Can be loaded to the above loading position.

The present invention has been specifically described above based on the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. For example, it goes without saying that the method of calculating the stowage position is not limited to the concretely illustrated method, but may be arbitrarily changed depending on the type of pallet, the type of work, and the like.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the industrial robot of the present invention can stack works at appropriate positions on the instructed pallet even when the types of works change, palletizing that can flexibly cope with high-mix low-volume production Work is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation program in a palletizing control unit of an industrial robot of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the industrial robot of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 7 are the present invention respectively. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view used to explain the operation of the embodiment according to FIG.
The figure is a graph showing an example of a stowage pattern. (1) ... Conveyor, (2) ... Sequencer, (3) ... Robot, (4) ... Robot controller, (5) ... Pallet, (6) ... Work instruction receiving means, (7) ... … Stacking position calculation means (8) …… Stacking position confirmation means (9) …… Stacking operation means, (10) …… Stacking pattern file, (11) …… Work information file, (12) ...... Pallet information file, (13) …… Loading position file, (14) …… PC. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An industrial robot for sequentially stacking works conveyed by a conveyor at designated positions on a pallet, and a stacking pattern file for storing information on a stacking pattern and a work shape information. Work information file to be stored, pallet information file to store information on pallet shape, stow position file to store information on stow position, stow pattern required for palletizing work, work type, pallet type and number of stowage items Work instruction receiving means for inputting work instruction information, consisting of a stacking position as a function of work size, with reference to the stacking pattern file, the work information file, and the pallet information file based on the work instruction information Is calculated, and the calculation result is A stacking position calculating means for storing the stacking position on the pallet, based on the calculated stacking position stored in the stacking position file and the work size of the work information file. If it is confirmed by the stacking position confirming means and the stacking position confirming means that the works do not interfere with each other, the actual stacking position is stored based on the calculated stacking position stored in the stacking position file. An industrial robot characterized by having a personal computer having a stacking operation means for performing palletizing work.