Picking apparatus, control apparatus, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11660747-B2
Application number	US-202117185197-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2021
Priority date	Apr 21, 2020
Publication date	May 30, 2023
Grant date	May 30, 2023

Abstract

A picking apparatus in an embodiment includes: a gripper, an arm, a detector, and a control unit. The gripper picks and grips an object to be conveyed. The arm moves the gripper and causes the gripper to convey the object to be conveyed. The detector is attached to the arm and senses a force applied to the gripper. The control unit controls an operation of the gripper and the arm. The control unit includes a calculator and a subtractor. The calculator calculates a gravitational force and an inertial force applied to the gripper when the gripper grips and moves the object to be conveyed using an arithmetic expression including a coefficient determined in accordance with a mass of the object to be conveyed. The subtractor subtracts the gravitational force and the inertial force calculated by the calculator from a force applied to the gripper sensed by the detector.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A picking apparatus, comprising:
a gripper configured to pick and grip an object to be conveyed;
an arm configured to move the gripper and cause the gripper to convey the object to be conveyed;
a detector attached to the arm and configured to sense a force applied to the gripper; and
a control unit configured to control an operation of the gripper and the arm,
wherein the control unit comprises at least one of a hardware processor configured to execute a software program and a hardware circuitry, the hardware processor executes the software program or the hardware circuitry operates to cause the control unit to:
estimate, by performing a fitting process based on an offline least square method, gravity compensation parameters and inertial force compensation parameters as parameters for a real-time gravitational force and as parameters for inertial force compensation calculations;
select a compensation gravity calculation expression for calculating a compensation gravity value;
select a set of gravity compensation parameters according to a mass of the object;
calculate, by applying the selected gravity compensation parameters to the selected compensation gravity calculation expression, a gravity component, as a compensation gravity value, included in the force sensed by the detector;
select a compensation inertial force calculation expression for calculating a compensated inertial force value;
select a set of inertial force compensation parameters according to the mass of the object;
subtract the compensation gravity value and the compensated inertial force value from the force sensed by the detector, for compensating a difference between gravitational force and inertial force in a state in which an object to be conveyed is gripped by the gripper; and

detect a collision on the basis of a result of comparison between a subtraction result and a predetermined collision threshold value.

2. The picking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the compensation selected compensation gravity calculation expression and the compensation inertial force calculation expression each include a coefficient, the coefficient including a first coefficient when the gripper is in a no load state in which the gripper is not gripping the object to be conveyed and a second coefficient when the gripper has a load.

3. The picking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the compensation selected compensation gravity calculation expression and the compensation inertial force calculation expression each include a coefficient, the coefficient including a first coefficient when the gripper is in a no load state in which the gripper does not grip the object to be conveyed and a classification correspondence coefficient classified in accordance with a mass of the object to be conveyed gripped by the gripper.

4. The picking apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to cause the control unit to:
acquire a mass of the object to be conveyed; and
select a coefficient corresponding to the acquired mass.

5. The picking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the compensation selected compensation gravity calculation expression includes a gravity calculation coefficient for calculating the gravitational force and the compensation inertial force calculation expression includes an inertial force calculation coefficient for calculating the inertial force, and
the gravity calculation coefficient is determined based on angle data of the arm.

6. The picking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the compensation selected compensation gravity calculation expression includes a gravity calculation coefficient for calculating the gravitational force and the compensation inertial force calculation expression includes an inertial force calculation coefficient for calculating the inertial force, and
the inertial force calculation coefficient is determined based on acceleration data of the arm.

7. A control apparatus, comprising:
a gripper configured to pick and grip an object to be conveyed;
an arm configured to move the gripper and cause the gripper to convey an object to be conveyed;
a control unit configured to control a picking robot which includes a detector attached to the arm and configured to sense a force applied to the gripper; and
wherein the control unit comprises at least one of a hardware processor configured to execute a software program and a hardware circuitry, the hardware processor executes the software program or the hardware circuitry operates to cause the control unit to:
acquire a mass of the object to be conveyed by the gripper on the basis of a sensing signal of a force applied to the gripper,
estimate, by performing a fitting process based on an offline least square method, gravity compensation parameters and inertial force compensation parameters as parameters for a real-time gravitational force and as parameters for inertial force compensation calculations;
select a compensation gravity calculation expression for calculating a compensation gravity value;
select a set of gravity compensation parameters according to a mass of the object;
calculate, by applying the selected gravity compensation parameters to the selected compensation gravity calculation expression, a gravity component, as a compensation gravity value, included in the force sensed by the detector;
select a compensation inertial force calculation expression for calculating a compensated inertial force value;
select a set of inertial force compensation parameters according to the mass of the object;
subtract the compensation gravity value and the compensated inertial force value from the force sensed by the detector, for compensating a difference between gravitational force and inertial force in a state in which an object to be conveyed is gripped by the gripper; and
detect a collision on the basis of a result of comparison between a subtraction result and a predetermined collision threshold value.

8. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program which causes a control apparatus configured to control a picking robot,
wherein the picking robot comprising:
a gripper configured to pick and grip an object to be conveyed;
an arm configured to move the gripper and cause the gripper to convey the object to be conveyed; and
a detector attached to the arm and configured to sense a force applied to the gripper, and
wherein the program, when executed, causes the control apparatus to:
estimate, by performing a fitting process based on an offline least square method, gravity compensation parameters and inertial force compensation parameters as parameters for a real-time gravitational force and as parameters for inertial force compensation calculations;
select a compensation gravity calculation expression for calculating a compensation gravity value;
select a set of gravity compensation parameters according to a mass of the object;
calculate, by applying the selected gravity compensation parameters to the selected compensation gravity calculation expression, a gravity component, as a compensation gravity value, included in the force sensed by the detector;
select a compensation inertial force calculation expression for calculating a compensated inertial force value;
select a set of inertial force compensation parameters according to the mass of the object;
subtract the compensation gravity value and the compensated inertial force value from the force sensed by the detector, for compensating a difference between gravitational force and inertial force in a state in which an object to be conveyed is gripped by the gripper; and
detect a collision on the basis of a result of comparison between a subtraction result and

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk
• Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corp

Inventors

• Oaki Junji
• Masuda Tetsuya
• Horiuchi Haruhiko
• Inoue Junichi
• Ushiyama Takafumi

Classifications

• G05B2219/37624

  Detect collision, blocking by measuring change of velocity or torque · CPC title

• B25J9/1679 Primary

  characterised by the tasks executed · CPC title

• G05B2219/40053

  Pick 3-D object from pile of objects · CPC title

• B25J9/1633 Primary

  compliant, force, torque control, e.g. combined with position control · CPC title

• B25J9/1638

  compensation for arm bending/inertia, pay load weight/inertia · CPC title