Material sorting equipment, feeding and grasping synchronous control method and device

Abstract

The present invention provides a material sorting device, a feeding and grasping synchronous control method and device. The method includes: in response to an instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position, acquiring image information of a target area on the vibrating and loosening tray; extracting parameter data of all materials to be grasped in the image information; if it is determined that the target area is in a non-graspable state based on the parameter data, generating a re-feeding instruction, where the re-feeding instruction is used to control the vibrating and loosening tray and the storage bin of the material sorting device to start synchronously. The technical problems of poor synchronization between feeding and grasping and low material grasping efficiency in the prior art are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of material sorting, and particularly to a material sorting device, a feeding and grasping synchronous control method and device. Background Art

[0002] Material sorting devices are important devices in bulk material sorting. Material sorting devices include structures such as vibrating trays, image acquisition devices, and material taking robots. During the working process, after the vibrating tray finishes vibrating, the materials on the vibrating tray are taken by the end manipulator of the material taking robot. However, in the prior art, there may be situations such as material shortage or failure to meet the grasping requirements on the vibrating tray, and it is necessary to re-feed the materials. The grasping waiting time in this process is relatively long, which limits the efficiency of material sorting. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The present invention provides a material sorting device, a feeding and grasping synchronous control method and device, so as to solve the technical problems of poor synchronization between feeding and grasping and low material grasping efficiency in the prior art.

[0004] The present invention provides a feeding and grasping synchronous control method for a material sorting device, and the method includes:

[0005] In response to an instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position, obtain the image information of the target area on the vibrating tray;

[0006] Extract the parameter data of all materials to be grasped in the image information;

[0007] Based on the parameter data, if it is determined that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped, generate a re-feeding instruction, and the re-feeding instruction is used to control the synchronous start of the vibrating tray and the storage bin of the material sorting device.

[0008] In some embodiments, extracting the parameter data of all materials to be grasped in the image information specifically includes:

[0009] In the case where the material to be grasped is a non-transparent material, extract the shadow area in the image information as the parameter data of the material to be grasped.

[0010] In some embodiments, based on the parameter data, determining that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped specifically includes:

[0011] Traverse the target area and extract all the shadow areas in the target area;

[0012] Calculate the total area of all shadow areas;

[0013] In the case where the total area is less than the recognizable area threshold, determine that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped.

[0014] In some embodiments, when extracting the parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information, specifically including:

[0015] When the material to be grasped is a transparent material, the number of materials in the image information is extracted as the parameter data of the material to be grasped.

[0016] In some embodiments, based on the parameter data, determining that the target area is in a non-graspable state specifically includes:

[0017] When the number of materials is less than the quantity threshold, it is determined that the target area is in a non-graspable state.

[0018] In some embodiments, when extracting the parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information, specifically including:

[0019] Extract the front and back states of all materials to be grasped, and use the front and back states as the parameter data of the materials to be grasped.

[0020] In some embodiments, based on the parameter data, determining that the target area is in a non-graspable state specifically includes:

[0021] Traverse the front and back states of all materials to be grasped;

[0022] When there is at least one material to be grasped with the front and back state being the back state, obtain the grasping quantity of the manipulator;

[0023] When the grasping quantity is less than the preset grasping threshold, obtain the continuous grasping times of the manipulator;

[0024] When the continuous grasping times reach the preset times threshold, it is determined that the target area is in a non-graspable state and an alarm instruction is generated.

[0025] In some embodiments, the vibration disk and the storage bin of the material sorting device are started synchronously, and then further include:

[0026] Generate a grasping instruction for synchronously controlling the image acquisition device to acquire an image and the manipulator to grasp the material.

[0027] The present invention also provides a feeding and grasping synchronous control device for a material sorting device, and the device includes:

[0028] An image acquisition unit for obtaining the image information of the target area on the vibration disk in response to the instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position;

[0029] A data extraction unit for extracting the parameter data of all materials to be grasped in the image information.

[0030] An instruction generation unit for determining that the target area is in a non-graspable state based on the parameter data, and generating a re-feeding instruction for controlling the synchronous start of the vibrating plate and the storage bin of the material sorting device.

[0031] The present invention also provides a material sorting device, including a vibrating plate, a storage bin, a manipulator with a suction nozzle, and a controller; wherein, the number of the suction nozzles is multiple, the controller includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, and when the processor executes the program, the steps of the above-mentioned material obstacle avoidance grasping method are implemented.

[0032] The feeding and grasping synchronous control method for a material sorting device provided by the present invention obtains the image information of the target area on the vibrating plate by responding to the instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position; extracts the parameter data of all materials to be grasped in the image information; determines that the target area is in a non-graspable state based on the parameter data, and generates a re-feeding instruction for controlling the synchronous start of the vibrating plate and the storage bin of the material sorting device.

[0033] In this way, during the material grasping process, when there is a shortage of materials or the grasping requirements are not met on the vibrating plate and re-feeding is required, the vibrating plate and the storage bin are synchronously started through the re-feeding instruction, which improves the feeding speed, shortens the grasping waiting time, and improves the efficiency of material sorting. Furthermore, the technical problems of poor synchronization between feeding and grasping and low material grasping efficiency in the prior art are solved.

[0034] In some embodiments, after the vibrating plate and the storage bin of the material sorting device are synchronously started, a grasping instruction is further generated, and the image acquisition device is synchronously controlled to acquire images and the manipulator to grasp materials through the grasping instruction. Thus, a visual synchronization algorithm is required to synchronously realize the vibration of the vibrating plate and the material grasping of the manipulator. The suction nozzle feeds back a signal to the vibrating plate after completing one material grasping, and after the vibrating plate vibrates for the second time, the manipulator can perform the second material grasping, realizing the linkage control of the vibrating plate, the storage bin, the manipulator, and the image acquisition device, and further improving the material grasping efficiency. Description of the Drawings

[0035] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the following drawings are some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0036] Figure 1 One of the flow schematic diagrams of the feeding grasping synchronization control method provided by the present invention;

[0037] Figure 2 Two of the flow schematic diagrams of the feeding grasping synchronization control method provided by the present invention;

[0038] Figure 3 Three of the flow schematic diagrams of the feeding grasping synchronization control method provided by the present invention;

[0039] Figure 4 Four of the flow schematic diagrams of the feeding grasping synchronization control method provided by the present invention;

[0040] Figure 5 Structural schematic diagram of the feeding grasping synchronization control device provided by the present invention. Specific embodiments

[0041] To make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are some but not all of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts in applying the embodiments of the present invention belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0042] To solve the problems in the prior art that the grasping efficiency of bulk materials such as electronic devices is low, and when an abnormality occurs during the grasping process, the waiting time of the manipulator for grasping is too long, the present invention provides a feeding grasping synchronization control method and device. Based on a manipulator structure with multiple suction nozzles, by quickly determining the abnormal grasping state and using the abnormal grasping state as the condition for triggering an instruction, the waiting time for grasping in the abnormal state during the manipulator grasping is reduced, thereby improving the material grasping efficiency.

[0043] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 One of the flow schematic diagrams of the feeding grasping synchronization control method provided by the present invention.

[0044] In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides a feeding grasping synchronization control method for a material sorting device. The material sorting device includes a frame, a vibrating and loosening tray, a storage bin, and a sorting robot. An image acquisition device is installed on the frame. The storage bin is used to store materials to be processed and transfer the materials to be processed to the vibrating and loosening tray. A manipulator is installed on the sorting robot, and multiple suction nozzles are installed at the end of the manipulator through a flange. For example, 6 suction nozzles can be provided.

[0045] Such as Figure 1As shown in the figure, the feeding grasping synchronization control method provided by the present invention includes the following steps:

[0046] S101: In response to the instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position, obtain the image information of the target area on the vibrating and spreading tray; during the working process, when the manipulator reaches the starting position, a trigger instruction is generated, and the image acquisition device responds to this instruction to capture the image of the image area.

[0047] S102: Extract the parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information; the parameter data can be data such as the quantity, area, or front and back states of the materials to be grasped.

[0048] S103: Based on the parameter data, if it is determined that the target area is in a non-graspable state, a re-feeding instruction is generated, and the re-feeding instruction is used to control the vibrating and spreading tray and the storage bin of the material sorting equipment to start synchronously. After receiving the re-feeding instruction, the vibrating and spreading tray starts the vibration mode to vibrate the materials on the vibrating and spreading tray. After receiving the re-feeding instruction, the storage bin starts the feeding mode. In the actual use scenario, when it is determined that the target area is in a non-graspable state, the robot controls the cylinder to push the materials of the buffer mechanism into the vibrating and spreading tray to start vibrating, and synchronously the storage bin vibrates to feed the materials to the buffer mechanism to achieve synchronous preparation of materials, thereby shortening the waiting time of the manipulator.

[0049] That is to say, after the storage bin receives the instruction, it performs material buffering. When the image acquisition device captures that the materials are insufficient (determine that the materials are insufficient by the shadow area or the number), it feeds back to the controller, and the robot advances the materials through the cylinder in the buffer mechanism on the storage bin; and at the same time, signals are sent to the vibrating and spreading tray and the storage bin, the vibrating and spreading tray starts to vibrate, and the camera vision system also starts the algorithm synchronously.

[0050] After step S102, when the judgment result is that the target area is in a graspable state, a normal grasping instruction is generated, and the normal grasping instruction is used to control the manipulator of the material sorting equipment to grasp the materials. After each material grasping is completed, the vibrating and spreading tray and the storage bin are synchronously started. Then, after each grasping by the manipulator, the vibration of the vibrating and spreading tray and the discharging of the storage bin can be carried out synchronously, and the feeding of the storage bin does not occupy the grasping waiting time of the manipulator, further improving the grasping efficiency.

[0051] In step S102, extracting the parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information specifically includes:

[0052] In the case where the material to be grasped is a non-transparent material, extract the shadow area in the image information as the parameter data of the material to be grasped. When the material to be grasped is a non-transparent material, such as a metal plate or a metal ball, etc., since these materials are non-transparent, there will be shadows in the image information. By extracting these shadow areas, it can be used as a judgment basis.

[0053] When the material to be grasped is a non-transparent material and the shadow area is used as the parameter data of the material to be grasped, as Figure 2 shown, based on the parameter data, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state, which specifically includes the following steps:

[0054] S201: Traverse the target area and extract all the shadow areas in the target area. For example, if there are 3 shadow areas in the target area, then extract the areas of these 3 shadow areas in sequence.

[0055] S202: Calculate the total area of all the shadow areas; still taking the above 3 shadow areas as an example, calculate the total area of these 3 shadow areas.

[0056] S203: In the case where the total area is less than the recognizable area threshold, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state. When the total area of all the shadow parts is less than the recognizable area threshold when meeting the material quantity requirement, it can be known that the current state is out of stock, and thus determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state.

[0057] In step S102, extract the parameter data of all the materials to be grasped in the image information, which specifically includes:

[0058] In the case where the material to be grasped is a transparent material, extract the quantity of the material in the image information as the parameter data of the material to be grasped. When the material to be grasped is a transparent material, such as a transparent plate, since these materials are transparent, there are no shadows in the image information and the shadow area cannot be extracted. At this time, the method of counting can be used as a judgment basis.

[0059] When the material to be grasped is a transparent material and the counted quantity is used as the parameter data of the material to be grasped, as Figure 3 shown, based on the parameter data, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state, which specifically includes the following steps:

[0060] S301: In the case where the quantity of the material is less than the quantity threshold, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state. The quantity threshold can be set according to the actual use situation, such as 3, 5, 10, etc.

[0061] In an actual usage scenario, if there is sufficient material on the vibrating and spreading tray, that is, there is no such situation of material shortage as described above, but the material on the vibrating and spreading tray may not meet the grasping conditions. At this time, extract the parameter data of all materials to be grasped in the image information, specifically including:

[0062] Extract the front and back states of all materials to be grasped, and use the front and back states as the parameter data of the materials to be grasped.

[0063] When using the front and back states as the parameter data of the materials to be grasped, as Figure 4 shown, based on the parameter data, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state, specifically including the following steps:

[0064] S401: Traverse the front and back states of all materials to be grasped;

[0065] S402: In the case where the front and back states of at least one material to be grasped are in the reverse state, obtain the grasping quantity of the manipulator;

[0066] S403: In the case where the grasping quantity is less than the preset grasping threshold, obtain the continuous grasping times of the manipulator;

[0067] S404: In the case where the continuous grasping times reach the preset times threshold, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state and generate an alarm instruction.

[0068] In a specific usage scenario, when the number of materials in the front state is too small, normal grasping cannot be performed. At this time, it needs to be vibrated again until the number of materials in the required front state reaches the standard. When the continuous grasping times are greater than or equal to the preset times threshold, an alarm is issued. This preset times threshold can be set to any value. For example, if it vibrates continuously more than three times, and still cannot reach the grasping quantity after vibrating continuously three times, an alarm is issued; after manual inspection and intervention, it continues to vibrate until the required number of fronts is reached. When an alarm is issued, after the grasping fails abnormally, the robot runs inside the vibrating and spreading tray, automatically senses data through IO or vacuum, and the robot automatically sends a command to the vision system, telling the vision system that a certain suction nozzle has no material; when NG, PK1 and PK6 alarms will be displayed.

[0069] In some embodiments, the vibrating and spreading tray and the storage bin of the material sorting device are started synchronously, and then further include:

[0070] Generate a grasping instruction, which is used to synchronously control the image acquisition device to acquire images and the manipulator to grasp materials.

[0071] That is to say, the vibration disk and the storage bin of the material sorting equipment are started synchronously, and then a grasping instruction is generated. The image acquisition device is controlled to acquire images and the manipulator is controlled to grasp materials synchronously through the grasping instruction. Therefore, a visual synchronization algorithm is required to synchronize the vibration of the vibration disk and the material grasping of the manipulator. Once the suction nozzle completes one material grasping, a signal is fed back to the vibration disk. After the vibration disk vibrates for the second time, the manipulator can perform the second material grasping, realizing the linkage control of the vibration disk, the storage bin, the manipulator and the image acquisition device, and further improving the material grasping efficiency.

[0072] In the above specific implementation manner, for the feeding and grasping synchronous control method provided by the present invention for a material sorting equipment, in response to an instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position, image information of a target area on the vibration disk is acquired; parameter data of all materials to be grasped are extracted from the image information; based on the parameter data, if it is determined that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped, a re-feeding instruction is generated, and the re-feeding instruction is used to control the vibration disk and the storage bin of the material sorting equipment to start synchronously.

[0073] In this way, during the material grasping process, when there is a situation of material shortage or non-meeting the grasping requirements on the vibration disk and re-feeding is required, the vibration disk and the storage bin are started synchronously through the re-feeding instruction, improving the feeding speed, shortening the grasping waiting time, and improving the efficiency of material sorting. Furthermore, the technical problems of poor synchronization between feeding and grasping and low material grasping efficiency in the prior art are solved.

[0074] In addition to the above method, the present invention also provides a feeding and grasping synchronous control device for a material sorting equipment, as Figure 5 shown, the device includes:

[0075] An image acquisition unit 501, configured to acquire image information of a target area on the vibration disk in response to an instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position;

[0076] A data extraction unit 502, configured to extract parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information;

[0077] An instruction generation unit 503, configured to generate a re-feeding instruction based on the parameter data if it is determined that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped, and the re-feeding instruction is used to control the vibration disk and the storage bin of the material sorting equipment to start synchronously.

[0078] In some embodiments, extracting parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information specifically includes:

[0079] When the material to be grasped is a non-transparent material, the shadow area in the image information is extracted as the parameter data of the material to be grasped.

[0080] In some embodiments, based on the parameter data, determining that the target area is in a non-graspable state specifically includes:

[0081] Traverse the target area and extract all the shaded areas in the target area;

[0082] Calculate the total area of all the shaded areas;

[0083] In the case where the total area is less than the recognizable area threshold, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state.

[0084] In some embodiments, extracting the parameter data of all the materials to be grasped in the image information specifically includes:

[0085] In the case where the material to be grasped is a transparent material, extract the quantity of the material in the image information as the parameter data of the material to be grasped.

[0086] In some embodiments, based on the parameter data, determining that the target area is in a non-graspable state specifically includes:

[0087] In the case where the quantity of the material is less than the quantity threshold, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state.

[0088] In some embodiments, extracting the parameter data of all the materials to be grasped in the image information specifically includes:

[0089] Extract the front and back states of all the materials to be grasped, and use the front and back states as the parameter data of the materials to be grasped.

[0090] In some embodiments, based on the parameter data, determining that the target area is in a non-graspable state specifically includes:

[0091] Traverse the front and back states of all the materials to be grasped;

[0092] In the case where there is at least one material to be grasped with the front and back state being the back state, obtain the grasping quantity of the manipulator;

[0093] In the case where the grasping quantity is less than the preset grasping threshold, obtain the continuous grasping times of the manipulator;

[0094] In the case where the continuous grasping times reach the preset times threshold, determine that the target area is in a non-graspable state and generate an alarm instruction.

[0095] In some embodiments, the vibrating disk and the storage bin of the material sorting device are started synchronously, and then further include:

[0096] Generate a grasping instruction for synchronously controlling an image acquisition device to acquire an image and a manipulator to grasp a material.

[0097] The present invention further provides a material sorting device, including a vibrating and scattering plate, a storage bin, a manipulator with a suction nozzle, and a controller. Among them, the number of the suction nozzles is multiple. The controller includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor. When the processor executes the program, the steps of the above-mentioned material obstacle avoidance and grasping method are implemented.

[0098] The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the modules can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement it without creative labor.

[0099] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that each embodiment can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course, it can also be implemented by hardware. Based on such an understanding, the above technical solution, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disc, etc., and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment or some parts of the embodiments.

[0100] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit them. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions recorded in the foregoing embodiments, or perform equivalent replacements on some of the technical features. And these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A feeding and grasping synchronous control method for a material sorting device, characterized in that, The method includes: In response to an instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position, obtaining image information of a target area on the vibrating and spreading tray; Extracting parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information; specifically including: When the material to be grasped is an opaque material, extracting the shadow area in the image information as the parameter data of the material to be grasped; When the material to be grasped is a transparent material, extracting the quantity of the material in the image information as the parameter data of the material to be grasped; Extracting the front and back states of all materials to be grasped, and using the front and back states as the parameter data of the materials to be grasped; Based on the parameter data, if it is determined that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped, generating a re-feeding instruction, where the re-feeding instruction is used to control the vibrating and spreading tray and the storage bin of the material sorting device to start synchronously; Among them, based on the parameter data, determining that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped specifically includes: When the material to be grasped is an opaque material, traversing the target area, extracting all shadow areas in the target area, calculating the total area of all shadow areas, and if the total area is less than the recognizable area threshold, determining that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped; When the material to be grasped is a transparent material, if the quantity of the material is less than the quantity threshold, determining that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped; When using the front and back states as the parameter data of the materials to be grasped, traversing the front and back states of all materials to be grasped, if there is at least one material to be grasped with a front and back state of the back state, obtaining the grasping quantity of the manipulator, if the grasping quantity is less than the preset grasping threshold, obtaining the continuous grasping times of the manipulator, and if the continuous grasping times reach the preset times threshold, determining that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped and generating an alarm instruction.

2. The feeding grasping synchronization control method according to claim 1, characterized in that After the vibrating and spreading tray and the storage bin of the material sorting device start synchronously, it further includes: Generating a grasping instruction, where the grasping instruction is used to synchronously control the image acquisition device to acquire an image and the manipulator to grasp the material.

3. A feeding and grasping synchronization control device based on the method according to claim 1 or 2, for a material sorting device, characterized in that, The device includes: An image acquisition unit, configured to obtain image information of a target area on the vibrating and spreading tray in response to an instruction that the manipulator reaches the starting position; A data extraction unit, configured to extract parameter data of all materials to be grasped from the image information; An instruction generation unit, configured to, based on the parameter data, if it is determined that the target area is in a state where it cannot be grasped, generate a re-feeding instruction, where the re-feeding instruction is used to control the vibrating and spreading tray and the storage bin of the material sorting device to start synchronously.

4. A material sorting device, comprising a vibrating and loosening tray, a storage bin, a manipulator with a suction nozzle, and a controller; wherein, The number of the suction nozzles is multiple, the controller includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, and is characterized in that when the processor executes the program, it implements the steps of the material obstacle avoidance and grasping method according to any one of claims 1 to 2.

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