The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 24, 2005
Filed:
Nov. 08, 2002
Atsushi Watanabe, Tokyo, JP;
Katsutoshi Takizawa, Tokyo, JP;
Atsushi Watanabe, Tokyo, JP;
Katsutoshi Takizawa, Tokyo, JP;
Fanuc LTD, Yamanashi, JP;
Abstract
A position detecting device and a takeout apparatus capable of obtaining information on height or stage number of an object in a stack of objects by a two-dimensional image capturing device for an operation of taking out the object by a robot. A CCD camera is arranged at a position above a place where workpieces stacked in multiple stages are provided. An image processing device determines a size of the image of the uppermost workpiece in a two-dimensional image captured by the camera. The height or stage number of the workpiece is determined from the size of the workpiece image using a stored relation table or arithmetic expression representing relationship between the height or stage number of the workpiece and the size of the workpiece. For a plurality of kinds of workpieces, the relation table/arithmetic expression is stored for each kind of workpiece and selectively used in accordance of a mark on the workpiece which indicate the kind of workpiece. The obtained positional information on height or stage number is sent to a robot controller so that a robot is operated to a takeout position which is corrected based on the positional information for taking out the workpiece from a stack of workpieces.