Handling apparatus, control device, control method, and program

A control device comprising:

• a storage device;
• a processor configured to:
• gather a plurality of workpiece data which are transmitted from a visual sensor for capturing images of a plurality of workpieces being conveyed by a conveyer and correspond to the workpieces for each image captured by the visual sensor to produce tracking data,
• store the tracking data in the storage device, and
• read out each of the tracking data from the storage device in accordance with a conveyance operation of the conveyer, and
• a drive controller configured to:
• make a single robot operate in accordance with an actual conveyance state of each of the workpieces in accordance with the processing result of the processor to make the robot perform work on each of the workpieces,
• detect, using the tracking data, a workpiece positioned in a nearest position to the single robot, wherein the workpiece positioned in the nearest position to the single robot is the workpiece in a most downstream side of a conveying direction relative to the other of the plurality of workpieces,
• detect a next workpiece positioned in a nearest position to the detected workpiece,
• repeat the detection of the next workpiece for all workpieces represented in the tracking data to generate a detected order of the workpieces, and
• arrange a sequence for performing the work by the single robot in response to the detected order of the workpieces;
• wherein the controller is configured to make the single robot perform the work on every workpiece in the arranged sequence.

A control method including:

• capturing images, with a visual sensor, of a plurality of workpieces being conveyed by a conveyer and, for each image, gathering a plurality of workpiece data corresponding to each of the workpieces to produce tracking data;
• storing each tracking data of each of the images in a database;
• detecting, using the tracking data, a workpiece positioned in a nearest position to a single robot, wherein the workpiece positioned in the nearest position to the single robot is the workpiece in a most downstream side of a conveying direction relative to the other of the plurality of workpieces;
• detecting a next workpiece positioned in a nearest position to the detected workpiece;
• repeating the detection of the next workpiece for all workpieces represented in the tracking data to generate a detected order of the workpieces;
• arranging a sequence for performing the work by the single robot in response to the detected order of the workpieces;
• and
• controlling the single robot to operate in accordance with an actual conveyance state of each of the workpieces to perform work on each of the workpieces in the arranged sequence.

A program which makes a computer execute the following routines:

• a first routine of causing a visual sensor to capture images of a plurality of workpieces being conveyed by a conveyer and inputting from the visual sensor workpiece data produced by that visual sensor,
• a second routine of gathering the input workpiece data for each image captured by the visual sensor to produce tracking data and storing the tracking data in a database,
• a third routine of:
• detecting, using the tracking data, a workpiece positioned in a nearest position to a single robot, wherein the workpiece positioned in the nearest position to the single robot is the workpiece in a most downstream side of a conveying direction relative to the other of the plurality of workpieces,
• detecting a next workpiece positioned in a nearest position to the detected workpiece,
• repeating the detection of the next workpiece for all workpieces represented in the tracking data to generate a detected order of the workpieces,
• arranging a sequence for performing the work by the single robot in response to the detected order of the workpieces;
• and
• a fourth routine of controlling the single robot to operate in accordance with an actual conveyance state of each of the workpieces in accordance with the result of the processing to make the robot perform work on each of the workpieces in the arranged sequence.