Stable positioning of product for robotic picking off roller table
View Patent ↗In a roller conveyor system in which a product is being conveyed on rollers, a rotational arrestor may be used to dampen and/or stop rotation of rollers after a camera captures an image of the product where such image will be used to predict a location of the product at a subsequent time for picking or other manipulation. The rotational arrestor may comprise a shortened or limited-length traction bar that allows the rotational friction of the rollers to dampen and/or stop rotation of the rollers when the traction bar is not interacting with the rollers.
1 . A roller conveyor system comprising:
a track comprising a roller rotation segment and a roller non-rotation segment;
two rollers configured to move along the track in a movement direction and in sufficient proximity to each other to directly support an item between them;
a sensor device having a data capture area comprising at least some of the path that the two rollers cover as they move along a segment of the track;
an item manipulation device configured to manipulate the item in an area that is, according to the movement direction, after the roller rotation segment; and
a processing module;
wherein:
the sensor device is configured to capture both (i) at least two rotating images (“rotating images”) of the item in the roller-rotation segment of the track and (ii) a second image (“second captured image”) of the item after the roller rotation segment of the track;
the processing module is configured to determine, based on the rotating images, the second captured image, and on movement of the two rollers along the track: (i) an item manipulation location in or after (according to the movement direction) the roller non-rotation segment and (ii) an item manipulation time; and
the processing module is further configured to direct the item manipulation device to manipulate the item at the item manipulation location at the item manipulation time.
2 . The roller conveyor system of claim 1 , further comprising a rotation inducer configured to induce rotation of the two rollers in the roller rotation segment of the track.
3 . The roller conveyor system of claim 2 , wherein the rotation inducer is a traction bar.
4 . The roller conveyor system of claim 3 , wherein the traction bar extends in the movement direction to the end of the roller rotation segment and does not extend into the roller non-rotation segment.
5 . The roller conveyor system of claim 4 , wherein the rotational friction of the two rollers is sufficient to decrease or arrest rotation of the two rollers when not in contact with the traction bar.
6 . The roller conveyor system of claim 1 , further comprising a rotational arrestor to decrease or arrest rotation of the two rollers in the roller non-rotation segment.
7 . The roller conveyor system of claim 6 wherein the rotational arrestor is a brake.
8 . The roller conveyor system of claim 1 , wherein the item manipulation device is a picker.
9 . The roller conveyor system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor device is a camera.
10 . The roller conveyor system of claim 1 ,
further comprising a traction bar configured to induce rotation of the two rollers in the roller rotation segment;
wherein:
the traction bar extends in the movement direction to the end of the roller rotation segment and does not extend into the roller non-rotation segment;
the rotational friction of the two rollers is sufficient to decrease or arrest rotation of the two rollers when not in contact with the traction bar;
the item manipulation device is a picker; and
the sensor device is a camera.