Vision-assisted transport system for elongated materials

Abstract

A vision-assisted conveying system for long strips is suitable for conveying assemblies of long strips. The system includes a picking device, a vision component, and a controller. The picking device includes a base and clamping assemblies. The base is movable between a clamping position and an unloading position. The clamping assemblies are located on opposite sides of the base and, when the base is in the clamping position, perform clamping movements based on clamping signals to position the clamping assemblies at clamping positions on both sides of the long strip assembly. The vision component captures images of the long strip assembly from at least one shooting direction. The controller generates a clamping signal when the outline of the long strip assembly in the image conforms to a contour threshold. In response to the clamping assemblies being in the clamping position, the base moves from the clamping position to the unloading position.

Claims

1. A visual-assisted conveying system for long strips, suitable for conveying a group of long strips, comprising: a picking device, comprising: a base for moving between a clamping position and a unloading position; and a clamping assembly disposed on opposite sides of the base and, when the base is in the clamping position, performing a clamping movement according to a clamping signal to drive the clamping assembly to be positioned at a clamping position on each side of the long strip group; A vision component for capturing an image of an elongated strip assembly in at least one shooting direction; and a controller for generating a clamping signal when the outline of an elongated strip assembly in the image of the elongated strip assembly conforms to a outline threshold, wherein the controller drives the base to move from the clamping position to the unloading position when the clamping assembly is in the clamping position, the outline threshold including a contact rate threshold; the controller obtains an elongated strip assembly contact rate based on a maximum contact length and an actual contact length in the image of the elongated strip assembly, and generates the clamping signal in response to the elongated strip assembly contact rate being greater than the contact rate threshold.

2. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 1, wherein, The contact rate threshold is between 10% and 20%.

3. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 1, wherein, During the material clamping motion, in response to the contact rate of the long strip material group approaching the contact rate threshold, the controller controls the clamping assembly to generate a first clamping force; in response to the contact rate of the long strip material group approaching a maximum contact rate, the controller controls the clamping assembly to generate a second clamping force; the first clamping force is greater than the second clamping force.

4. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 1, wherein, The controller obtains the width of the long strip group based on the image of the long strip group, and the controller does not generate the clamping signal when the maximum clamping arm distance of the clamping assembly is less than or equal to the width of the long strip group.

5. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 1, wherein, The profile threshold further includes a radius of curvature threshold. The controller obtains a radius of curvature of the long strip group corresponding to the profile of the long strip group based on the long strip group diagram. In response to the radius of curvature of the long strip group exceeding the radius of curvature threshold, the controller controls the clamping assembly to re-clamp the material and adjust the clamping position according to the radius of curvature of the long strip group.

6. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 5, wherein, The clamping positions are located between a top edge and a bottom edge on the two sides of the long strip assembly; when the radius of curvature of the long strip assembly is positive, the clamping position is adjusted toward the top edge; when the radius of curvature of the long strip assembly is negative, the clamping position is adjusted toward the bottom edge.

7. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 5, wherein, The profile threshold further includes an offset threshold. The controller obtains a strip offset corresponding to the profile of the strip group based on the strip group drawing. In response to the strip offset exceeding the offset threshold, the controller restarts the clamping movement and adjusts the clamping position based on the strip offset.

8. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 7, wherein, The clamping position is located between a first end and a second end on two sides of the long strip assembly, with the first end adjacent to the vision component; in response to a positive offset of the long strip, the clamping position is adjusted toward the second end; in response to a negative offset of the long strip, the clamping position is adjusted toward the first end.

9. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 7, wherein, The vision component includes: a first camera lens disposed at a bottom of the base for capturing a first position image, wherein the controller obtains the contact rate of the elongated material assembly based on the first position image; and a second camera lens disposed on the material handling device, wherein the shooting direction of the first camera lens is different from the shooting direction of the second camera lens, for capturing a second position image, wherein the controller obtains the radius of curvature of the elongated material assembly and the offset of the elongated material based on the second position image.

10. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 9, wherein, The vision component further includes: a third camera lens, disposed on the material handling device, for capturing a second position image from a different shooting direction than the second camera lens, and the controller merging the second position images from different shooting directions to obtain the offset of the long strip.

11. The visual-assisted transport system for long strip materials as described in claim 7, wherein, The image of the elongated material assembly has a first position image and a second position image depending on the shooting direction. The vision component includes: a first camera lens disposed adjacent to the clamping position for capturing the first position image, and a controller obtaining the contact rate of the elongated material assembly based on the first position image; and a second camera lens disposed adjacent to the clamping position for capturing the second position image, and the controller obtaining the radius of curvature of the elongated material assembly and the offset of the elongated material based on the second position image.

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