Workpiece picking apparatus

A workpiece picking apparatus comprising a robot for holding the workpiece, a workpiece recognition device for recognizing the rough positions of individual workpieces included in a group of workpieces located within a relatively wide area, an accurate measurement device for accurately measuring the three-dimensional position of a workpiece in a relatively narrow area, and a workpiece select device for selecting the workpiece to be picked from the group of workpieces, said accurate measurement device accurately measuring the three-dimensional position of the workpiece selected by said workpiece select device, said robot picking the selected workpiece from the group of workpieces based on the three-dimensional position of the workpiece measured by said accurate measurement device,

• wherein said workpiece picking apparatus further comprises an NG (no good) workpiece storage device storing information on the rough position of a failed workpiece when said accurate measurement device has failed the measurement of the three-dimensional position of the workpiece or said robot has failed the picking of the workpiece, said workpiece select device excluding the failed workpiece, for which the measurement of the three-dimensional position or the picking has failed, from the group of workpieces recognized by said workpiece recognition device, based on the information on the rough position of individual workpieces recognized by said workpiece recognition device and the information stored in said NG workpiece storage device, and selecting the next workpiece to be measured by said accurate measurement device.