Drill inspection and sorting method and apparatus

Apparatus for inspecting and sorting cylindrical objects, one at a time, from a supply of cylindrical objects comprising:

• a horizontal work plane with a center point located at a predetermined reference location;
• a robot operatively positioned with respect to said work plane, said robot having an arm rotatable about a vertical axis extending through said center point of said work surface, said arm having gripper fingers on the end thereof remote from said axis;
• a drive assembly having a first drive means to rotate said fingers about said axis, a second drive means to raise and lower said fingers with respect to said axis, a third drive means to oscillate said fingers of said arm inwardly and outwardly along a radius extending through said axis, fourth drive means to move said fingers with respect to said arm, and fifth drive means to activate and inactivate said fingers between an object gripping orientation and an object releasing orientation;
• a plurality of bins operatively positioned in a plurality of planes perpendicular with respect to said axis and at a plurality of distances from said work plane, said bins also being operatively positioned arcuately around said axis;
• a hopper adapted to receive and support a supply of cylindrical objects to be fed, inspected and sorted, means associated with said hopper to feed cylindrical objects from said hopper, one at a time, and to sequentially position each cylindrical object at a predetermined position with respect to said work plane and said axis for inspection and transportation to a particular one of said plurality of bins;
• inspection means positioned in operative proximity to said predetermined position to inspect the positioned cylindrical object and to program said drive assembly for transporting the inspected cylindrical object to a particular one of said plurality of bins as a function of the inspection;
• and
• means responsive to the inspection of each cylindrical object and the programming of said drive assembly to activate said drive assembly for transporting the inspected cylindrical object by said fingers to the particular one of said plurality of bins.

A system for feeding, inspecting and sorting drills from a supply of drills comprising:

• a work plane with a center point located at a predetermined reference location;
• a robot operatively positioned with respect to said work plane, said robot assembly having an arm movable with respect to an axis extending perpendicularly through said center point of said work plane, said arm having gripper fingers on the end thereof remote from said axis;
• a drive assembly having means to move said fingers circumferentially with respect to said axis and to move said fingers parallel with respect to said axis and to oscillate said fingers inwardly and outwardly along a radius extending through said axis and to move said fingers with respect to said arm and to activate and inactivate said fingers between a gripping orientation and a releasing orientation;
• a plurality of bins operatively positioned with respect to said robot and said axis, said bins also being operatively positioned in a plurality of planes perpendicular with respect to said axis and at a plurality of distances from said work plane;
• a drill hopper operatively positioned with respect to said robot and said bins and adapted to receive and support a supply of drills to be fed, inspected and sorted, said hopper including means to feed drills from said hopper, one at a time, and to sequentially position each drill at a predetermined position with respect to said work plane and said axis for inspection and transportation to a particular one of said plurality of bins;
• visual inspection means positioned in operative proximity to said predetermined position to inspect the positioned drill and to program said drive assembly for transporting the inspected drill to a particular one of said plurality of bins as a function of the inspection;
• and
• means responsive to the inspection of each drill and the programming of said drive assembly to activate said drive assembly for transporting the inspected drill by said fingers to the particular one of said plurality of bins.