US 12,378,076 B2
Transport system and transport robot
Atsushi Oshiro, Kyoto (JP); and Tomonori Manome, Kyoto (JP)
Assigned to OMRON Corporation, Kyoto (JP)
Appl. No. 17/793,039
Filed by OMRON Corporation, Kyoto (JP)
PCT Filed Feb. 8, 2021, PCT No. PCT/JP2021/004613
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 15, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/171989, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 2, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-034047 (JP), filed on Feb. 28, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0039788 A1, Feb. 9, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 7/00 (2006.01); B65G 1/137 (2006.01)
CPC B65G 1/1371 (2013.01) 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A transport system for transporting, in an area where a plurality of pieces of equipment provided with a plurality of loading locations for loading an object to be transported is installed, the object to be transported between the loading locations across the plurality of pieces of equipment by a transport robot, the transport system comprising:
a control device having an instruction issuance unit that issues a transport instruction for the transport robot, and a database that holds inventory information of the loading location; and
the transport robot,
wherein an address used in the transport instruction to specify a transport destination or a transport source is represented by a tree structure that comprises a node indicating the locating location and a node indicating equipment provided with the locating location, and
when the address of the transport destination specified by the transport instruction indicates the equipment, the transport robot sequentially loads the object to be transported in accordance with a predetermined loading priority order in the loading location where the object to be transported has not been loaded, among the loading locations belonging to the equipment, based on the inventory information.
 
5. A transport robot for transporting, in an area where a plurality of pieces of equipment provided with a plurality of loading locations for loading an object to be transported is installed, the object to be transported between the loading locations across the plurality of pieces of equipment in accordance with a transport instruction from a control device, the transport robot comprising:
an articulated robot arm that grips the object to be transported;
an arm controller that controls an operation of the robot arm;
an instruction acceptance unit that receives the transport instruction from the control device;
a recording unit that holds a plurality of robot arm control programs for executing loading or unloading of the object to be transported to each of the plurality of loading locations of the equipment, and information of a loading priority order with respect to the plurality of loading locations of the equipment; and
a selection unit that selects one from the plurality of robot arm control programs with reference to the transport instruction,
wherein an address used in the transport instruction to specify a transport destination or a transport source is represented by a tree structure that comprises a node indicating the locating location and a node indicating equipment provided with the locating location,
when the address of the transport destination or the transport source specified by the transport instruction indicates the equipment,
the selection unit sequentially selects specific robot arm control programs based on inventory information of each of the loading locations belonging to the equipment and information of the loading priority order of each of the loading locations belonging to the equipment, and
the arm controller controls the robot arm in accordance with the robot arm control programs sequentially selected.