Supply control device and supply control method
AssigneeFanuc Corporation
InventorHiroshi Oowatari
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Articles are continuously supplied to a robot by control circulation speed. In a supply control device for controlling a circulation device that causes an article to circulate in a system that includes the circulation device, and a robot that retrieves the article during circulation with the circulation device, the supply control device includes: a detection unit that detects the article circulating with the circulation device, and a position of the article; a measurement unit that measures a number of the articles in a predetermined region on the circulation device, based on detection results of the detection unit; and a control unit that controls a speed of circulation of the circulation device according to the number of the articles in the predetermined region measured by the measurement unit.
Claims7
A supply control device for controlling a circulation device that causes an article to circulate in a system that includes the circulation device, and a robot that retrieves the article during circulation with the circulation device, the supply control device comprising:
- a detection unit that detects the article circulating with the circulation device, and a position of the article;
- a measurement unit that measures a number of the articles in a predetermined region on the circulation device, based on detection results of the detection unit;
- a control unit that controls a speed of circulation of the circulation device according to the number of the articles in the predetermined region measured by the measurement unit, and
- wherein the control unit corrects a number of articles in the predetermined region measured by the measurement unit, based on notification received from the robot that the robot retrieved an article in the predetermined region, and controls the speed of circulation of the circulation device according to the number of articles in the predetermined region after correction.
A supply control method, for controlling a circulation device that causes an article to circulate in a system that includes the circulation device, and a robot that retrieves the article during circulation on the circulation device, the supply control method comprising the steps of:
- detecting the article circulating on the circulation device and a position of the article;
- measuring a number of the articles in a predetermined region of the circulation device, based on detection results of the step of detecting;
- controlling a speed of circulation of the circulation device according to the number of the articles in the predetermined region measured in the step of measuring, and
- wherein, in the step of controlling, a number of articles in the predetermined region measured by the measurement unit is corrected based on notification received from the robot that the robot retrieved an article in the predetermined region, and the speed of circulation of the circulation device is controlled according to the number of articles in the predetermined region after correction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.