Robot Article Transport Load Balancing by Movement Distribution
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In article transport systems with multiple movable parts, the load often concentrates on specific parts, leading to uneven maintenance frequencies, which can be detrimental to the overall management and maintenance of the system.
Innovation Solution
An article transport system that includes sensors for detecting three-dimensional positions of articles, robots with multiple movable parts, a control section, a movement amount calculation section, and a distribution determination section to determine a distribution pattern that minimizes the difference in movement amounts among movable parts, ensuring balanced load distribution and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If articles are conveyed by a robot with multiple movable parts to complete conveyance in as short a time as possible, then productivity is improved, but the load concentrates on a specific movable part, leading to increased maintenance frequency of that part
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically determines the distribution pattern of articles to movable parts based on real-time movement amount calculations. The distribution determination section adjusts which movable part conveys which article to balance the total movement amounts, making the load distribution flexible and adaptive rather than fixed, thereby preventing excessive concentration on any single part while maintaining efficient conveyance.
2Productivity
If the load concentrates on a specific movable part to achieve faster conveyance, then productivity is improved, but the maintenance frequency of that specific part increases, complicating system management
Solution Approach 1:
The movement amount calculation section continuously calculates the movement amount of each movable part based on the distribution pattern, and this information feeds back to the distribution determination section. This feedback mechanism enables real-time monitoring and adjustment of load distribution, ensuring that no single movable part becomes excessively burdened, thereby simplifying maintenance management through balanced usage patterns.
3Ease of operation
If articles are assigned to movable parts without considering load distribution, then the conveyance process is simple, but the maintenance frequency becomes uneven across movable parts
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of article assignment from a simple fixed pattern to a dynamic pattern based on movement amount calculations. By calculating and comparing movement amounts for different distribution patterns, the system selects patterns that balance the load across movable parts, thereby achieving uniform maintenance frequencies while maintaining operational simplicity through automated determination.
Data Source
AI summary
An article transport system capable of averaging an amount of movement of each movable part when transporting articles. The article transport system includes a sensor for detecting a three-dimensional position of each of a plurality of workpieces, a plurality of robots each having a movable part for conveying the workpieces to predetermined plurality of conveying destinations, a control section for controlling the robots, a movement amount calculation section for calculating a movement amount of each of the movable parts when each workpiece is conveyed by one of the robots based on a three-dimensional position of each workpiece, and a distribution determination section for determining a distribution pattern regarding which robot arm is used for conveyance of each workpiece so that a difference between the movement amounts of the movable parts is minimal or less than a predetermined value.