Patent · US10923370B2 · B2 · US

Transport system and transport method

(11) Publication number

US10923370B2

(21) Application number

16/612,060

(22) Filing date

2018-03-16

(30) Priority date

2017-05-11

(43) Publication date

2021-02-16

(45) Date of grant

2021-02-16

(51) IPC

B25J 13/08; B65G 35/06; B66C 13/48; G06T 7/00; G06T 7/70; H01L 21/67; H01L 21/677; H01L 21/68

(52) CPC

H10P Generic processes or apparatus for the manufacture or treatment of devices covered by class H10: 72/0608, 72/0606, 72/3214, 72/3221, 72/3222, 72/53
B25J Manipulators; chambers provided with manipulation devices: 13/08
B65G Transport or storage devices, e.g. conveyors for loading or tipping, shop conveyor systems or pneumatic tube conveyors: 1/0464, 2201/0297, 2203/0233, 2203/041, 2203/044, 35/06
B66C Cranes; load-engaging elements or devices for cranes, capstans, winches, or tackles: 13/48
G06T Image data processing or generation, in general: 2207/20081, 2207/30148, 7/0004, 7/70
H01L Semiconductor devices; electric solid state devices not otherwise provided for: 21/67259, 21/67265, 21/67724, 21/67733, 21/67736, 21/681

(73) Assignee

Murata Machinery Ltd

(72) Inventors

Kazumi Harasaki

(54) Title

Transport system and transport method

(57) Abstract

A transport system includes: an image capturer included in a transport vehicle; a positional deviation detector that detects a positional deviation between a pre-correction position at a time when the article is placed on a reference transfer destination and a reference placement position; a corresponding relationship calculator that finds a pixel deviation between a pre-correction image and a post-correction image and calculates an actual deviation amount per unit pixel, the pre-correction image being captured at an initial position of the transport vehicle by the image capturer, and the post-correction image being captured by the image capturer at a position of the transport vehicle deviated by the positional deviation; and the correction amount calculator that finds a pixel deviation between the post-correction image and a transfer destination image captured of another transfer destination and calculates a correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.

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Claims (19)

A transport system including: a track installed across multiple transfer destinations including a reference transfer destination; and a plurality of transport vehicles each including a traveling body that travels on the track, a holder that holds an article, and a transferer including a lifter provided in the traveling body and raises or lowers the holder, wherein the transport vehicle which has stopped to correspond to the transfer destination receives or delivers an article from or to the transfer destination by the transferer. the transport system comprising: an image capturer provided in the transport vehicle and captures an image thereunder; a positional deviation detector that detects a positional deviation in a horizontal direction between a position of an article placed on the reference transfer destination by the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to the reference transfer destination and lowering the holder by the lifter and a reference placement position preliminarily determined on the reference transfer destination; a corresponding relationship calculator that finds a pixel deviation between a pre- correction image and a post-correction image and calculates an actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, the pre-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at the initial position, of the reference transfer destination at a predetermined height at which the holder is not lowered to a height at which the article is placed at the reference transfer destination, and the post-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the reference transfer destination at the predetermined height; and a correction amount calculator that finds a pixel deviation between the post-correction image and a transfer destination image captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to another transfer destination or at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the another transfer destination at the predetermined height and that calculates, from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel, a correction amount of a stop position at a time when the transport vehicle transfers the article to the another transfer destination.
The transport system according to claim 1, wherein: a stop indicator is provided at each of the plurality of transfer destinations so as to correspond thereto, the transport vehicle includes a stop indicator detector which detects the stop indicator, and the initial position corresponding to the transfer destination is a stop position of the transport vehicle in which the traveling body has stopped traveling as triggered by detection of the stop indicator.
The transport system according to claim 1, wherein: the image capturer is provided on the holder, and the predetermined height is a height of the image capturer in a state where the lifter has raised the holder to an uppermost position thereof.
The transport system according to claim 1, wherein a coordinate value in one coordinate system set in a horizontal direction and an angle in a direction of rotation about an axis in a vertical direction are used for the correction amount.
The transport system according to claim 1, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.
The transport system according to claim 1, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.
The transport system according to claim 1, the transport system further comprising: a teaching unit that can be held by the holder, wherein the teaching unit includes a supporter which supports the image capturer.
The transport system according to claim 7, wherein the supporter includes a posture maintainer that maintains a posture of the image capturer so that a direction of image capturing of the image capturer is downward.
A transport method in a transport system including: a track installed across multiple transfer destinations including a reference transfer destination; and a plurality of transport vehicles each including a traveling body that travels on the track, a holder that holds an article, and a transferer including a lifter provided in the traveling body and raises or lowers the holder, wherein the transport vehicle which has stopped to correspond to the transfer destination receives or delivers an article from or to the transfer destination by the transferer, the transport method comprising: providing in the transport vehicle an image capturer which captures an image thereunder; detecting a positional deviation in a horizontal direction between a position of an article placed on the reference transfer destination by the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to the reference transfer destination and lowering the holder by the lifter and a reference placement position preliminarily determined on the reference transfer destination; finding a pixel deviation between a pre-correction image and a post-correction image and calculating an actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, the pre-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at the initial position, of the reference transfer destination at a predetermined height at which the holder is not lowered to a height at which the article is placed at the reference transfer destination, and the post-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the reference transfer destination at the predetermined height; and finding a pixel deviation between the post-correction image and a transfer destination image captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to another transfer destination or at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the another transfer destination at the predetermined height and calculating, from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel, a correction amount of a stop position at a time when the transport vehicle transfers the article to the another transfer destination.
The transport system according to claim 2, wherein: the image capturer is provided on the holder, and the predetermined height is a height of the image capturer in a state where the lifter has raised the holder to an uppermost position thereof.
The transport system according to claim 2, wherein a coordinate value in one coordinate system set in a horizontal direction and an angle in a direction of rotation about an axis in a vertical direction are used for the correction amount.
The transport system according to claim 3, wherein a coordinate value in one coordinate system set in a horizontal direction and an angle in a direction of rotation about an axis in a vertical direction are used for the correction amount.
The transport system according to claim 2, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.
The transport system according to claim 3, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.
The transport system according to claim 4, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.
The transport system according to claim 2, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.
The transport system according to claim 3, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.
The transport system according to claim 4, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.
The transport system according to claim 5, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.

Description

This disclosure relates to a transport system and a transport method.

In a semiconductor manufacturing factory, for example, a transport system in which articles are transported by a transport vehicle that travels along a track installed in the vicinity of a ceiling and transferred to transfer destinations is used. For such transport vehicle to accurately place or receive an article on or from each transfer destination, it is necessary to teach (to perform teaching on) a plurality of transport vehicles. This teaching operation is performed by placing an article on each transfer destination and is therefore time-consuming. And, if the number of transfer destinations is large, the teaching operation takes a long time, causing a delay in starting the operation of the system. To perform this teaching operation in a short period of time, a transport system in which teaching data of each transfer destination is acquired by using an image captured from the transfer destination or from the transport vehicle has been proposed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-349280).

In the transfer system mentioned above, teaching data is acquired by calculating a positional deviation with respect to a preliminarily set desirable position, from an image captured of a transport vehicle from a transfer destination or an image captured of the transfer destination from the transport vehicle. Therefore, the positional deviation is measured on the basis of length and so forth, which are known information acquired during image capturing.

Citations (18)

JPH0299802A
US5222293A
JPH11349280A
US6092678A
US6504144B1
JP2002144267A
US7805219B2
JP2004050306A
US20050011851A1
JP2005334998A
JP5266683B2
JP2010087358A
JP2012143844A
JP2014149182A
JP2015054768A
US10242898B2
US9589821B2
US20200223640A1

Record as JSON

{
  "publication_number": "US10923370B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Transport system and transport method",
  "abstract": "A transport system includes: an image capturer included in a transport vehicle; a positional deviation detector that detects a positional deviation between a pre-correction position at a time when the article is placed on a reference transfer destination and a reference placement position; a corresponding relationship calculator that finds a pixel deviation between a pre-correction image and a post-correction image and calculates an actual deviation amount per unit pixel, the pre-correction image being captured at an initial position of the transport vehicle by the image capturer, and the post-correction image being captured by the image capturer at a position of the transport vehicle deviated by the positional deviation; and the correction amount calculator that finds a pixel deviation between the post-correction image and a transfer destination image captured of another transfer destination and calculates a correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A transport system including: a track installed across multiple transfer destinations including a reference transfer destination; and a plurality of transport vehicles each including a traveling body that travels on the track, a holder that holds an article, and a transferer including a lifter provided in the traveling body and raises or lowers the holder, wherein the transport vehicle which has stopped to correspond to the transfer destination receives or delivers an article from or to the transfer destination by the transferer. the transport system comprising: an image capturer provided in the transport vehicle and captures an image thereunder; a positional deviation detector that detects a positional deviation in a horizontal direction between a position of an article placed on the reference transfer destination by the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to the reference transfer destination and lowering the holder by the lifter and a reference placement position preliminarily determined on the reference transfer destination; a corresponding relationship calculator that finds a pixel deviation between a pre- correction image and a post-correction image and calculates an actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, the pre-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at the initial position, of the reference transfer destination at a predetermined height at which the holder is not lowered to a height at which the article is placed at the reference transfer destination, and the post-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the reference transfer destination at the predetermined height; and a correction amount calculator that finds a pixel deviation between the post-correction image and a transfer destination image captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to another transfer destination or at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the another transfer destination at the predetermined height and that calculates, from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel, a correction amount of a stop position at a time when the transport vehicle transfers the article to the another transfer destination.",
    "2. The transport system according to claim 1, wherein: a stop indicator is provided at each of the plurality of transfer destinations so as to correspond thereto, the transport vehicle includes a stop indicator detector which detects the stop indicator, and the initial position corresponding to the transfer destination is a stop position of the transport vehicle in which the traveling body has stopped traveling as triggered by detection of the stop indicator.",
    "3. The transport system according to claim 1, wherein: the image capturer is provided on the holder, and the predetermined height is a height of the image capturer in a state where the lifter has raised the holder to an uppermost position thereof.",
    "4. The transport system according to claim 1, wherein a coordinate value in one coordinate system set in a horizontal direction and an angle in a direction of rotation about an axis in a vertical direction are used for the correction amount.",
    "5. The transport system according to claim 1, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.",
    "6. The transport system according to claim 1, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.",
    "7. The transport system according to claim 1, the transport system further comprising: a teaching unit that can be held by the holder, wherein the teaching unit includes a supporter which supports the image capturer.",
    "8. The transport system according to claim 7, wherein the supporter includes a posture maintainer that maintains a posture of the image capturer so that a direction of image capturing of the image capturer is downward.",
    "9. A transport method in a transport system including: a track installed across multiple transfer destinations including a reference transfer destination; and a plurality of transport vehicles each including a traveling body that travels on the track, a holder that holds an article, and a transferer including a lifter provided in the traveling body and raises or lowers the holder, wherein the transport vehicle which has stopped to correspond to the transfer destination receives or delivers an article from or to the transfer destination by the transferer, the transport method comprising: providing in the transport vehicle an image capturer which captures an image thereunder; detecting a positional deviation in a horizontal direction between a position of an article placed on the reference transfer destination by the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to the reference transfer destination and lowering the holder by the lifter and a reference placement position preliminarily determined on the reference transfer destination; finding a pixel deviation between a pre-correction image and a post-correction image and calculating an actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, the pre-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at the initial position, of the reference transfer destination at a predetermined height at which the holder is not lowered to a height at which the article is placed at the reference transfer destination, and the post-correction image being captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the reference transfer destination at the predetermined height; and finding a pixel deviation between the post-correction image and a transfer destination image captured, by the image capturer of the transport vehicle having stopped at an initial position corresponding to another transfer destination or at a position deviated from the initial position by the positional deviation, of the another transfer destination at the predetermined height and calculating, from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel, a correction amount of a stop position at a time when the transport vehicle transfers the article to the another transfer destination.",
    "10. The transport system according to claim 2, wherein: the image capturer is provided on the holder, and the predetermined height is a height of the image capturer in a state where the lifter has raised the holder to an uppermost position thereof.",
    "11. The transport system according to claim 2, wherein a coordinate value in one coordinate system set in a horizontal direction and an angle in a direction of rotation about an axis in a vertical direction are used for the correction amount.",
    "12. The transport system according to claim 3, wherein a coordinate value in one coordinate system set in a horizontal direction and an angle in a direction of rotation about an axis in a vertical direction are used for the correction amount.",
    "13. The transport system according to claim 2, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.",
    "14. The transport system according to claim 3, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.",
    "15. The transport system according to claim 4, wherein the transport vehicle which is not involved in the calculation of the correction amount includes a corrector which further corrects the correction amount calculated by the correction amount calculator by using a positional deviation of the transport vehicle itself in the horizontal direction calculated by the positional deviation detector according to the reference transfer destination.",
    "16. The transport system according to claim 2, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.",
    "17. The transport system according to claim 3, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.",
    "18. The transport system according to claim 4, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel.",
    "19. The transport system according to claim 5, wherein: each of the plurality of transfer destinations includes a positioner to position the article on a placement surface for the article, the corresponding relationship calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the pre-correction image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image, and calculates the actual deviation amount per unit pixel from the pixel deviation and the positional deviation, and the correction amount calculator finds a pixel deviation between an image of the positioner in the transfer destination image and an image of the positioner in the post-correction image and calculates the correction amount from the pixel deviation and the actual deviation amount per unit pixel."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "This disclosure relates to a transport system and a transport method.\n\nIn a semiconductor manufacturing factory, for example, a transport system in which articles are transported by a transport vehicle that travels along a track installed in the vicinity of a ceiling and transferred to transfer destinations is used. For such transport vehicle to accurately place or receive an article on or from each transfer destination, it is necessary to teach (to perform teaching on) a plurality of transport vehicles. This teaching operation is performed by placing an article on each transfer destination and is therefore time-consuming. And, if the number of transfer destinations is large, the teaching operation takes a long time, causing a delay in starting the operation of the system. To perform this teaching operation in a short period of time, a transport system in which teaching data of each transfer destination is acquired by using an image captured from the transfer destination or from the transport vehicle has been proposed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-349280).\n\nIn the transfer system mentioned above, teaching data is acquired by calculating a positional deviation with respect to a preliminarily set desirable position, from an image captured of a transport vehicle from a transfer destination or an image captured of the transfer destination from the transport vehicle. Therefore, the positional deviation is measured on the basis of length and so forth, which are known information acquired during image capturing.",
  "cpc": [
    "H10P 72/0608",
    "B25J 13/08",
    "B65G 1/0464",
    "B65G 2201/0297",
    "B65G 2203/0233",
    "B65G 2203/041",
    "B65G 2203/044",
    "B65G 35/06",
    "B66C 13/48",
    "G06T 2207/20081",
    "G06T 2207/30148",
    "G06T 7/0004",
    "G06T 7/70",
    "H01L 21/67259",
    "H01L 21/67265",
    "H01L 21/67724",
    "H01L 21/67733",
    "H01L 21/67736",
    "H01L 21/681",
    "H10P 72/0606",
    "H10P 72/3214",
    "H10P 72/3221",
    "H10P 72/3222",
    "H10P 72/53"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B25J 13/08",
    "B65G 35/06",
    "B66C 13/48",
    "G06T 7/00",
    "G06T 7/70",
    "H01L 21/67",
    "H01L 21/677",
    "H01L 21/68"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Murata Machinery Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Kazumi Harasaki"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2018-03-16",
  "publication_date": "2021-02-16",
  "grant_date": "2021-02-16",
  "priority_date": "2017-05-11",
  "application_number": "US-201816612060-A",
  "family_id": "64105453",
  "cited_by_count": 3,
  "citations": [
    "JPH0299802A",
    "US5222293A",
    "JPH11349280A",
    "US6092678A",
    "US6504144B1",
    "JP2002144267A",
    "US7805219B2",
    "JP2004050306A",
    "US20050011851A1",
    "JP2005334998A",
    "JP5266683B2",
    "JP2010087358A",
    "JP2012143844A",
    "JP2014149182A",
    "JP2015054768A",
    "US10242898B2",
    "US9589821B2",
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  ]
}

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