Patents by Inventor Masafumi Ooba

Masafumi Ooba has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20200401801
    Abstract: A monitor device includes a camera for capturing a motion image of a motion of a robot device and an acceleration sensor for detecting an operational status of the robot device. A storage control unit for a robot controller performs control for storing, in a storage unit, a motion image captured by the camera and attached with a time, and control for storing, in the storage unit, an acceleration acquired from an acceleration sensor and attached with a time. When the operational status of the robot device deviates from a reference operational status, an extraction unit extracts, from the storage unit, a motion image in a period preceding the deviation from the reference operational status and stores the extracted motion image in the storage unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2020
    Publication date: December 24, 2020
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Patent number: 10850927
    Abstract: Provided is a work system including: a conveying apparatus that conveys an object; a moving platform that can be moved; a work portion that is secured to the moving platform and that performs work on the object being conveyed by the conveying apparatus; a visual sensor that is secured to the moving platform and that successively acquires visual information about the object being conveyed by the conveying apparatus or a mark formed on the conveying apparatus; a detecting portion that successively detects at least positions of the object or the mark by processing the visual information acquired by the visual sensor; a calculating portion that calculates a conveying velocity of the conveying apparatus on the basis of the positions of the object or the mark successively detected by the detecting portion; and a drive control unit that drives the work portion by using the conveying velocity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 10815067
    Abstract: Provided is a work system including: a conveying apparatus that conveys an object; a moving platform that can be moved; a work portion that is secured to the moving platform and that performs work on the object being conveyed by the conveying apparatus; a visual sensor that is secured to the moving platform and that successively acquires visual information about the object being conveyed by the conveying apparatus or a mark formed on the conveying apparatus; a detecting portion that successively detects at least positions of the object or the mark by processing the visual information acquired by the visual sensor; a calculating portion that calculates a conveying velocity of the conveying apparatus on the basis of the positions of the object or the mark successively detected by the detecting portion; and a drive control unit that drives the work portion by using the conveying velocity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 10807243
    Abstract: A robot system includes: a transport device; an article accumulating part that can block the article without stopping the operation of the transport device; a robot performing a task on the article in a working area defined on a downstream side; a control unit; an article-decelerating unit that can reduce the speed of the article in the working area; a detecting unit detecting the traveling distance of the article; a sensing unit that detects the position of the article on an upstream side; and a management unit that causes the article to be blocked and causes the speed of the article to be reduced when the management unit determines that the task will not be completed within the working area. The control unit calculates the current position of the article based on the position and the traveling distance and causes the robot to follow the article to complete the task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 10780579
    Abstract: A work robot system including a conveying apparatus that conveys an object in one direction; a robot that performs a predetermined task on a target portion of the object being conveyed by the conveying apparatus, a movement amount detector that sequentially detects the movement amount of the object moved by the conveying apparatus, and a force detector that detects a force generated by contact between a tool supported by the robot and the object. Then, when the predetermined task is performed, a controller performs force control based on a value detected by the force detector while performing control of the robot by use of information about the position of the target portion and a value detected by the movement amount detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Publication number: 20200269448
    Abstract: An object detection device detects, when a camera that generates an image representing a target object and the target object do not satisfy a predetermined positional relationship, a position of the target object on the image by inputting the image to a classifier, and detects, when the camera and the target object satisfy the predetermined positional relationship, a position of the target object on the image by comparing, with the image, a template representing a feature of an appearance of the target object when the target object is viewed from a predetermined direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Publication number: 20200238518
    Abstract: A robot includes an arm, one or more visual sensors provided on the arm, a storage unit that stores a first feature value regarding at least a position and an orientation of a following target, the first feature value being stored as target data for causing the visual sensors provided on the arm to follow the following target, a feature value detection unit that detects a second feature value regarding at least a current position and a current orientation of the following target, the second feature value being detected using an image obtained by the visual sensors, a movement amount calculation unit that calculates a movement command for the arm based on a difference between the second feature value and the first feature value, and a movement command unit that moves the arm based on the movement command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Patent number: 10703577
    Abstract: Provided is an object conveying system including: a conveying apparatus that conveys an object; one or more cameras that capture images of feature points of the object; a position measuring portion that measures positions of the feature points from the acquired images; a detecting portion that detects a position or a movement velocity of the object; a position correcting portion that corrects the positions of the feature points so as to achieve positions at which the feature points are disposed at the same time; a line-of-sight calculating portion that calculates lines of sight that pass through the feature points on the basis of the corrected positions of the feature points and the positions of the cameras; and a position calculating portion that calculates a three-dimensional position of the object by applying a polygon having a known shape to the calculated lines of sight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 10692018
    Abstract: A machine learning device according to the present invention learns an operation condition of a robot that stores a plurality of objects disposed on a carrier device in a container using a hand for grasping the objects. The machine learning device includes a state observation unit for observing the positions and postures of the objects and a state variable including at least one of cycle time to store the objects in the container and torque and vibration occurring when the robot grasps the objects during operation of the robot; a determination data obtaining unit for obtaining determination data for determining a margin of each of the cycle time, the torque, and the vibration against an allowance value; and a learning unit for learning the operation condition of the robot in accordance with a training data set constituted of a combination of the state variable and the determination data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Publication number: 20200164512
    Abstract: This robot system includes a sensor system, a robot, and a robot controller, in which the robot controller recognizes a robot coordinate system but does not recognize a sensor coordinate system of the sensor system, and the robot controller creates a conversion matrix for carrying out coordinate conversion in a plane including an X-axis and a Y-axis on sets of position coordinates obtained by the sensor system based on the sets of position coordinates of a plurality of objects or points obtained by the sensor system and sets of position coordinates in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction in a robot coordinate system corresponding to the plurality of objects or points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Publication date: May 28, 2020
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Publication number: 20200139551
    Abstract: This robot system includes a sensor system that performs at least detection of a position of an object that is being moved by moving device, where the position of the object is detected based on data obtained by a sensor; a robot that performs a task on the object; a robot controller that controls the robot; and a measurement unit which is connected to the robot controller and which measures an amount of movement of the object moved by the moving device, in which the sensor system transmits a signal to the sensor when the sensor system causes the sensor to obtain the data, and the robot controller retains a value associated with a measurement value of the measurement unit when the robot controller receives the signal and associates the value with the position of the object detected by the sensor system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Publication date: May 7, 2020
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Patent number: 10625415
    Abstract: A robot system provided with: a conveying apparatus; a robot that performs processing on an article being conveyed; a camera that captures images of the article being conveyed; a conveying-velocity calculating portion that calculates at least one of a position of the article on the conveying apparatus and a velocity at which the article is conveyed by the conveying apparatus on the basis of the plurality of images captured by the camera; and a control unit that controls the robot on the basis of at least one of the position and the conveying velocity. The control unit determines whether or not the article is present in the images, and, in the case in which the article is absent, controls the robot on the basis of at least one of the position and the conveying velocity calculated by the conveying-velocity calculating portion immediately therebefore.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 10604357
    Abstract: An article transfer system including: a transfer device that transfers an article in one direction; a travel distance detecting unit that sequentially detects a distance the article transferred by the transfer device has traveled; an article sensing unit that senses passage of the article transferred by the transfer device; an image capturing unit that photographs the article, the image capturing unit being disposed downstream of the article sensing unit in a transfer direction of the transfer device; a position-and-orientation detecting unit that processes an image captured with the image capturing unit to extract the article and detect a position and an orientation of the article; and a removal unit that removes the article, which has been sensed with the article sensing unit but not extracted by the process performed in the position-and-orientation detecting unit, from the transfer device, the removal unit being disposed downstream of the image capturing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 10603793
    Abstract: A work assisting system includes a sensor unit that detects a position and an orientation of at least one body part of a worker; a supply unit that supplies a part or a tool to the worker; and a cell controller that controls the supply unit, the cell controller including a machine learning unit that constructs a model by learning a work status of the worker on the basis of the detected position and orientation, and a work status determining unit that determines the work status of the worker by using the constructed model. The supply unit selects the part or tool on the basis of the determined work status and changes the position and orientation of the part or tool on the basis of the position and orientation of the at least one body part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 10596707
    Abstract: An article transfer device includes a robot configured to perform a workpiece picking operation; an image capturing device that captures an image of a workpiece on a conveyor; and a control unit, configured to execute, a workpiece identification process performing workpiece detection in the captured images; a workpiece information storage process storing workpiece information about a position and an angle of each detected workpiece in a storage device; and an identical workpiece determination process comparing the workpiece information of each of the detected workpieces in a newly captured image with the workpiece information of each of the detected workpieces in previously captured images, to determine whether the detected workpieces that are identical to the detected workpieces in the previously captured images exist in the newly captured image, to store in the storage device only the workpiece information of one of the images regarding the detected workpieces determined to be identical.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Fanuc Corporation
    Inventors: Taiki Katagiri, Masafumi Ooba, Kentaro Koga
  • Patent number: 10589422
    Abstract: Provided is an article conveying apparatus including a three-dimensional sensor that measures a three-dimensional shape of an article; an adhering portion that is made to adhere to a surface of the article; a moving mechanism that moves a position of the adhering portion in a three-dimensional manner; and a control unit that controls the moving mechanism. The control unit is provided with a center-of-gravity calculating portion that calculates a center of gravity of the article on the basis of the three-dimensional shape of the article measured by the three-dimensional sensor and controls the moving mechanism so as to place the adhering portion in the vicinity of the center of gravity calculated by the center-of-gravity calculating portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba
  • Publication number: 20200074692
    Abstract: A sensing system provided with a target detecting unit which applies predetermined processing to data obtained by a detecting device and thereby detects a target object, the sensing system including an augmented-reality-image creating unit which creates an image corresponding to a candidate in a plurality of candidates that appear in the processed data to which the predetermined processing has been applied, a predetermined parameter of the candidate being equal to or greater than a detection threshold, and creates a candidate image corresponding to a candidate in the plurality of candidates, the predetermined parameter of the candidate for the candidate image is less than the detection threshold and equal to or greater than a detection candidate threshold, and a display device that displays the image and the candidate image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Publication number: 20200070351
    Abstract: A detection system includes a first detection apparatus that detects an object that is being moved, within a predetermined detection region, a number of times, a work-data creation device that creates, every time the first detection apparatus detects the object, work data having a first data element that indicates at least a position of the object obtained by the first detection apparatus and a second data element that includes at least an index related to the object and obtained at the time of the detection, and a work-data storage unit that stores the work data created by the work-data creation means. The work-data storage unit selects, as the work data that should be stored, one of the work data that is newly created for the object and the work data for the object that has been stored by the work-data storage unit, on the basis of the index.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Publication number: 20200071094
    Abstract: An article picking system includes a detection device which detects a position of a plurality of articles which are moved, and a control unit, and the control unit performs work data creation processing which creates work data having position data of each of the articles, work data storage processing which stores the plurality of the created work data, region determination processing which determines determination region on the periphery of watching-target work data, which should be paid attention to, among the stored work data, and order determination processing which determines picking order of the articles by using the watching-target work data and the peripheral work data, which are within the determination region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi OOBA
  • Patent number: 10549422
    Abstract: A controller is provided with a machine learning device learning an operation start condition for storing motions for an article on the carrier device by means of the robot. The machine learning device observes operation start condition data showing the operation start condition and conveyance state data showing states of articles on the carrier device, as state variables indicating a current state of an environment. Further, the machine learning device acquires judgment data showing an appropriateness judgment result of the storing motion and learns the operation start condition in association with the conveyance state data, using the observed state variables and the acquired judgment data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Ooba