Visual Pick-Up Control for Detecting Stable Workpieces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robot systems face inefficiencies and failures when attempting to pick up workpieces that are not yet stable in position and posture, leading to wasteful time and reduced cycle times in pick-up operations.
Innovation Solution
A controller and detection system that utilizes a visual sensor to acquire multiple images and determine workpieces in a stationary state, excluding moving workpieces as targets for pick-up, thereby reducing the likelihood of failure and shortening cycle times.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot attempts to pick up a workpiece immediately after it is placed on the conveyor, then the cycle time is reduced, but the pick-up failure rate increases due to unstable position and posture
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of workpiece stability using visual sensors before the robot attempts pick-up. By detecting whether the workpiece position and posture are stable in advance, the system prevents failed pick-up attempts, thereby improving reliability without significantly extending the cycle time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors workpiece position and posture through visual sensors and provides feedback to the control device. This feedback mechanism allows the system to determine when the workpiece has become stable and ready for pick-up, enabling timely intervention while ensuring successful grasping.
2Reliability
If the robot waits for the workpiece to become stable before pick-up, then the pick-up success rate improves, but the cycle time increases due to wasteful waiting
Solution Approach 1:
The visual sensor system continuously provides feedback on workpiece stability, allowing the robot to pick-up exactly when the workpiece becomes stable rather than waiting for a predetermined time. This eliminates wasteful waiting while ensuring pick-up success.
Solution Approach 2:
The workpiece essentially determines its own readiness for pick-up through its natural stabilization process, and the detection system automatically identifies this state without requiring external intervention or predetermined waiting periods.
3Measurement precision
If multiple images are acquired to determine workpiece stability, then the detection accuracy improves, but the processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system acquires multiple images but processes them selectively, using threshold-based comparison to determine stability. By processing only the necessary number of images required to confirm stability rather than analyzing all captured images in detail, the system maintains high detection accuracy while minimizing processing time.
Data Source
AI summary
A control device including: an image acquisition unit for acquiring, from a visual sensor, a plurality of images obtained by successively imaging a workpiece; and an object-determining unit for determining, on the basis of the plurality of images, the workpiece that is in a stationary state as an object on which work is to be carried out by industrial machinery.