US 12,303,944 B2
Material separation system
Hiroki Tachikake, Fukuoka (JP)
Filed by KABUSHIKI KAISHA YASKAWA DENKI, Kitakyushu (JP)
Filed on Mar. 25, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/614,752.
Application 18/614,752 is a continuation of application No. PCT/JP2022/040228, filed on Oct. 27, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-175346 (JP), filed on Oct. 27, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0226963 A1, Jul. 11, 2024
Int. Cl. B07C 5/342 (2006.01); B07C 5/28 (2006.01); B25J 9/16 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G06T 7/50 (2017.01); G06V 10/20 (2022.01)
CPC B07C 5/3422 (2013.01) [B07C 5/28 (2013.01); G06T 7/0004 (2013.01); G06T 7/50 (2017.01); G06V 10/255 (2022.01); B25J 9/1679 (2013.01); B25J 9/1697 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A material separation system comprising circuitry configured to:
acquire a composite image capturing a plurality of commingled pieces of material;
set a plurality of voxels for the plurality of commingled pieces of material captured in the composite image;
estimate, for each of the plurality of voxels, a mass of the pieces of material corresponding to the voxel, as a voxel mass;
set a number of candidate separation positions based on the composite image;
identify, for each of the candidate separation positions, a subset of the plurality of commingled pieces of material;
calculate an estimated mass of each subset of the plurality of commingled pieces of material, based on the voxel mass of each of the plurality of voxels;
determine a position for separating a predetermined mass of pieces of material from the plurality of commingled pieces of material, as a separation position, based on a comparison of the predetermined mass with the estimated mass corresponding to each of the candidate separation positions; and
separate the predetermined mass of pieces of material from the plurality of commingled pieces of material at the separation position.