| CPC B25J 11/0095 (2013.01) [B25J 13/089 (2013.01); B25J 15/0014 (2013.01); B25J 19/023 (2013.01)] | 9 Claims |
|
1. A transfer apparatus comprising:
a cassette table having a placement surface on which a cassette that has a pair of side walls facing each other and accommodates a workpiece is placed, the pair of side walls having respective inner side surfaces on each of which a plurality of grooves are formed, the workpiece being accommodated with its outer peripheral edge disposed in one of the grooves of each of the side walls;
a transfer robot that unloads the workpiece from the cassette; and
a controller that controls operation of the transfer robot,
wherein the transfer robot includes:
a transfer arm having a spindle which forms a tip end of the transfer arm that is movable in a first direction perpendicular to the placement surface and a second direction parallel to the placement surface,
a robot hand that is disposed at the tip end of the transfer arm, such that the robot hand is coupled to the spindle, and is capable of holding the workpiece, and
an imaging unit that is fixed to a portion of the transfer arm and is capable of imaging a region included in the cassette placed on the placement surface, and
the controller causes the imaging unit to image different regions of the cassette accommodating the workpiece to form a plurality of images, and thereafter determines a position in the first direction and a position in the second direction of the robot hand to be inserted into the cassette at a time of unloading the workpiece from the cassette, with reference to the plurality of images,
wherein the controller repeatedly determines whether a reference portion of the cassette is within one of the plurality of images, and when the reference portion of the cassette is not within the one of the plurality of images, the transfer robot is moved a predetermined distance until the imaging unit is positioned such that the image from the imaging unit includes the reference portion of the cassette.
|