Patent ID: 8504191

Claim:
A method for picking up work pieces, comprising: storing a representative partial shape, at least one holding position of the representative partial shape, and a preference rank for the at least one holding position in a partial shape storage unit; obtaining image information by sensing the work pieces which are accumulated and storing the image information in an image information storage unit; recognizing exposed portions of the work pieces by performing edge detection on the image information with an edge detection processor; selecting at least one of the exposed portions with an image extraction processor; detecting at least one coinciding portion of the selected exposed portion that coincides with the representative partial shape with a matching determination processor; determining an optimal holding position for the detected coinciding portion with a holding position setting processor, wherein the optimal determined holding position is based on the preference rank; transmitting a holding command to hold the work piece that includes the selected portion by the optimal determined holding position to a controller; and controlling a robot arm to grasp the optimal determined holding position of the work piece that includes the selected portion.