US-12617087-B2 - Transfer apparatus

US12617087B2US 12617087 B2US12617087 B2US 12617087B2US-12617087-B2

Abstract

A transfer apparatus picks up and transfers plurality of parts, placed on one same plane as a result of a sheet being cut in a cutting step, to a next step. The transfer apparatus includes a plurality of pickup arms each including an extendable arm portion and an adsorption hand adsorbing each of the plurality of parts at a tip of the arm portion. The plurality of pickup arms are movable between the cutting step and the next step. The transfer apparatus further includes controller driving and controlling the plurality of pickup arms. The controller causes relative positions, as seen in a plan view, of the adsorption hands to be changed based on graphics data used in the cutting step, and causes each of the plurality of parts to be adsorbed and picked up by at least one of the adsorption hands.

Inventors

Tsuyoshi Itakura
Shigenori Murakami

Assignees

ELEVEN INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240611
Priority Date: 20211220

Claims (4)

1 . A transfer apparatus picking up and transferring a plurality of parts, placed on one same plane as a result of a sheet being cut in a cutting step, to a next step, the transfer apparatus comprising: a plurality of pickup arms each including an extendable arm portion and an adsorption hand adsorbing each of the plurality of the parts at a tip of the extendable arm portion, the plurality of the pickup arms being movable between the cutting step and the next step; a controller driving and controlling the plurality of the pickup arms, the controller causing relative positions, as defined by two-dimensional coordinate data, as seen in a plan view, of the adsorption hands to be changed based on graphics data used in the cutting step, and causing each of the plurality of the parts to be adsorbed and picked up by at least one of the adsorption hands; and a printer as hardware performing printing on each of the plurality of the parts, the printer being provided between the cutting step and the next step, the printer is hung from above such that the printing is performed by a bottom portion thereof, the transfer apparatus further comprises a temporary table allowing each of the plurality of the parts to be placed thereon, the temporary table being provided at a printing position, below the printer, at which the printer performs the printing, and the temporary table is movable between the printing position and a retracted position retracted from a horizontal region connecting the cutting step and the next step.
2 . The transfer apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the plurality of the pickup arms are each supported by a movable body movable between a region of the cutting step and a region of the next step in a reciprocating manner, and plural pickup arms among the plurality of the pickup arms are located on each of two sides of a transfer line connecting the cutting step and the next step.
3 . The transfer apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the retracted position is below the horizontal region, and the temporary table is supported by an elevation mechanism.
4 . The transfer apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a horizontal moving mechanism moving the temporary table in a horizontal direction, the horizontal moving mechanism being provided between the elevation mechanism and the temporary table, and the controller drives and controls the temporary table, the controller being adapted to move the adsorption hand adsorbing each of the plurality of the parts to a predetermined position in the vicinity of the printing position, to drive the elevation mechanism to elevate the temporary table to the same height as that of the printing position and stop the adsorption by the adsorption hand, then to drive the horizontal moving mechanism to move the part placed on the temporary table to a position below the printer and then drive the printer to perform the printing on the part, then to drive the horizontal moving mechanism to move the temporary table away from the position below the printer to cause the adsorption hand to adsorb one of the plurality of the parts, and to lower the temporary table and re-start transferring the one of the plurality of the parts by the adsorption hand.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus transferring a plurality of parts, placed on one same plane as a result of a sheet being cut, to a next step. FIELD OF INVENTION Conventionally, a work of picking up parts that have been cut from a sheet or the like by a cutting device and are to be, for example, sewn into an item, and transferring the parts to the next step is mainly performed manually. A plurality of such parts are required to produce one product, and generally, the parts are not of one same shape but are of various shapes. Usually, it is devised that a sheet is cut into the parts with no waste, and therefore, the post-cutting parts are positionally arranged with no consideration of the next step. For this reason, the post-cutting parts are conventionally picked up in an orderly manner by a human operator visually based on, for example, the type of the parts or the sewing order. However, once a pickup error occurs, the work of the next step and steps thereafter is disturbed, resulting in an inconvenience such that, for example, defective products are produced or the work is delayed. Patent Document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2021-48926) discloses a transfer apparatus that picks up such post-cutting parts mechanically instead of manually, and transfers the parts to a template for sewing. This transfer apparatus includes a pickup device that includes pickup heads scattered on one same plane, and selectively picks up certain parts among a plurality of parts based on information specifying each of the parts. CITATION LIST Patent Literature Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2021-48926 SUMMARY Technical Problem The transfer apparatus described in, for example, Patent Document 1 that picks up the parts mechanically decreases the number of errors of picking up wrong parts as compared with the case where the parts are picked up manually. However, the transfer apparatus has the following problems. The pickup heads are located at pre-defined positions, and some of the pickup heads are actuated to pick up the parts. Therefore, the transfer apparatus does not respond to a slight difference in shape among the parts and may not pick up desired parts. In addition, there are pickup heads that do not contribute to the pickup operation, and thus the work efficiency is not high. In this situation, the present invention has a main object of providing a transfer apparatus that picks up parts of various shapes without fail to significantly decrease the number of pickup errors and transfers the parts efficiently. Solution to Problem The above-described object is achieved by a transfer apparatus picking up and transferring a plurality of parts, placed on one same plane as a result of a sheet being cut in a cutting step, to a next step. The transfer apparatus includes a plurality of pickup arms each including an extendable arm portion and an adsorption hand adsorbing each of the plurality of parts at a tip of the arm portion, the plurality of pickup arms being movable between the cutting step and the next step; and a controller driving and controlling the plurality of pickup arms, the controller causing relative positions, as seen in a plan view, of the adsorption hands to be changed based on graphics data used in the cutting step, and causing each of the plurality of parts to be adsorbed and picked up by at least one of the adsorption hands. According to this structure, the plurality of parts, placed on one same plane as a result of a sheet being cut in the cutting step are picked up in a pre-defined order and transferred to the next step. This is realized as follows. Based on graphics data on the part to be picked up, the controller selects at least one pickup arm to be actuated in accordance with the size and the shape of the part. In the case where the part is not held properly by one pickup arm, for example, in the case where the part is large or has a complicated shape, plural pickup arms are cooperated. The arm portion of the selected pickup arm is driven to adsorb an appropriate site of the part with the adsorption hand to pick up the part. The part is transferred to the next transfer, and then is released. The pickup arms other than the pickup arm used to transfer one part are usable to pickup and transfer another part(s). Advantageous Effects of Invention As described above, according to the present invention, relative positions, as seen in a plan view, of the adsorption hands of the pickup arms are changed based on the graphics data, so that the plurality of parts are each held by one or the adsorption hands. Therefore, the parts of various shapes are picked up without fail. In addition, the pickup arms, among the plurality of pickup arms, that are not used to pick up one part are usable to pick up another part(s). Therefore, the parts are transferred efficiently. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a transfer apparatus a