Patent ID: 11969905
Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G  Y | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A control method for causing a processor to execute a program sorted in a memory, the control method comprising executing on the processor the steps of:
capturing, at a first time, a first image of a first part of a moving belt of a conveyor, a target object being conveyed on the moving belt along a first direction in a normal state, a robot performing a task with respect to the target object, the moving belt having a center line extending along the first direction, the first image including a first reference position, the center line, and the target object aligned on an initial line from the first reference position, the initial line extending along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;
capturing a second image of a second part of the moving belt, the second image including a second reference position and the center line, a distance between the first and second reference positions along the first direction being defined as a reference distance;
obtaining an imaginary line passing through the first and second reference positions, the imaginary line being parallel to the first direction;
calculating a first distance between the first reference position and the center line along the second direction based on the first image;
calculating a second distance between the second reference position and the center line along the second direction based on the second image;
calculating an inclination of the moving belt with respect to the imaginary line based on (Y1−Y2)/L, where Y1 is the first distance, Y2 is the second distance, and L is the reference distance;
calculating a normal distance between a first position of the target object in the first image and a second position of the target object at a second time later than the first time based on the first image and a signal from an encoder disposed at a pully of the conveyor when the processor determines that there is no inclination of the moving belt;
calculating an abnormal distance between the first position and a third position of the target object at the second time based on (Y1−Y2)×Xcnv/L, where Xcnv is the normal distance when the processor determines that there is the inclination of the moving belt; and
causing the robot to perform the task with respect to the target object based on the normal distance or the abnormal distance.