Patents by Inventor Norikazu Tonogai
Norikazu Tonogai 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).
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Publication number: 20240017412Abstract: A control device for a robot including a three-dimensional sensor includes a definer that defines a scan area being an area measurable by the three-dimensional sensor and an object-free area being an area in which the robot is permitted to move to measure the scan area, and an operation controller that moves the three-dimensional sensor to measure the scan area by controlling an operation of the robot to cause the robot to move within the object-free area.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 14, 2021Publication date: January 18, 2024Inventors: Norikazu TONOGAI, Shinya MATSUMOTO
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Publication number: 20230405828Abstract: A calibration device performs calibration based on detection results of an object from a sensor. The calibration device includes a determiner that determines, based on a size of a field of view of the sensor and a size of the object, a range in which a posture of a robotic arm with the object attached or with the sensor attached to detect the object is changed, an obtainer that repeatedly obtains a combination of information about the posture of the robotic arm and a detection result of the object from the sensor while the posture of the robotic arm is being changed within the range determined by the determiner to obtain a plurality of the combinations, and a calibrator that performs, based on the plurality of combinations obtained by the obtainer, calibration to determine correspondence between the postures of the robotic arm and the detection results of the object.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 2, 2021Publication date: December 21, 2023Inventors: Norikazu TONOGAI, Shinya MATSUMOTO
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Publication number: 20230364795Abstract: A control apparatus for a robot including a three-dimensional sensor includes an operation controller that controls the robot to shift a measurement range of the three-dimensional sensor in a scan area, and a map obtainer that updates map information based on a result of measurement performed by the three-dimensional sensor. The map information indicates a scan status at each of a plurality of points in the scan area. The operation controller performs first scanning in which the measurement range of the three-dimensional sensor is shifted to update map information about a local range in the scan area, and performs second scanning in which the measurement range of the three-dimensional sensor is shifted away from the local range to update map information about a range different from the local range for which the first scanning is performed to update map information.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 3, 2021Publication date: November 16, 2023Inventors: Norikazu TONOGAI, Shinya MATSUMOTO
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Publication number: 20230356406Abstract: A control apparatus for a robot including a three-dimensional sensor to measure a scan area includes a position determiner that determines, based on positions of a plurality of ranges in the scan area, a plurality of measurement positions at each of which the three-dimensional sensor performs measurement of a corresponding range of the plurality of ranges, an operation controller that controls the robot to move and cause the three-dimensional sensor to move to each of the plurality of measurement positions, and an area definer that defines an area including an object in the scan area based on a result of measurement performed by the three-dimensional sensor at each of the plurality of measurement positions.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 3, 2021Publication date: November 9, 2023Inventors: Norikazu TONOGAI, Shinya MATSUMOTO
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Patent number: 11667036Abstract: A workpiece picking device includes a sensor that measures the workpieces, a hand that grasps the workpieces, a robot that moves the hand, and a control device thereof. The control device has a position orientation calculation part that calculates position, orientation and the like of the workpieces, a grasping orientation calculation part that calculates a grasping orientation of the workpieces by the hand, a route calculation part that calculates a route through which the hand moves to the grasping orientation, a sensor control part, a hand control part, a robot control part, a situation determination part that determines the situation of the workpieces on the basis of measurement result or the like of the three-dimensional position, and a parameter modification part that modifies at least one of a measurement parameter and various calculation parameters, when the determination result of the situations of the workpieces satisfies a predetermined condition.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 2019Date of Patent: June 6, 2023Assignee: OMRON CorporationInventors: Norikazu Tonogai, Toshihiro Moriya, Takeshi Kojima, Haruka Fujii
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Patent number: 11527008Abstract: A robot control device includes an obtaining unit that obtains, from an image sensor that captures a workpiece group to be handled by a robot, a captured image, a simulation unit that simulates operation of the robot, and a control unit that performs control such that the captured image is obtained if, in the simulation, the robot is retracted from an image capture forbidden space, in which an image is potentially captured with the workpiece group and the robot overlapping each other, and which is set based on either or both a first space being the visual field range of the image sensor, and a columnar second space obtained by taking a workpiece region including the workpiece group or each of divided regions into which the workpiece region is divided, as a bottom area, and extending the bottom area to the position of the image sensor.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 2019Date of Patent: December 13, 2022Assignee: OMRON CorporationInventors: Haruka Fujii, Toshihiro Moriya, Takeshi Kojima, Norikazu Tonogai
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Path Generation Device, Path Generation Method, and Recording Medium Storing Path Generation Program
Publication number: 20210260763Abstract: A path generation device including an acquisition unit, a setting unit, and a path generation unit. The acquisition unit is configured to acquire pose information relating to an initial pose and a target pose of a robot, position information relating to a position of the robot, obstacle information including a position of an obstacle present in a range of interference with the robot, and specification information relating to a specification including a shape of the robot. The setting unit is configured to, based on a positional relationship between the robot and the obstacle, set a clearance amount representing an amount of clearance to avoid the interference for at least one out of the robot or an obstacle present in a range of interference with the robot.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 27, 2019Publication date: August 26, 2021Applicant: OMRON CorporationInventors: Norikazu Tonogai, Haruka Fujii, Takeshi Kojima -
Patent number: 11097420Abstract: An interference determination apparatus includes: an acquisition unit that acquires region information indicating regions set in a configuration space in which the angles of rotation of two or three specific joints of an articulated robot are indicated by coordinate axes, the regions including an interference region in which the robot is determined to interfere with itself or an obstacle based on the magnitudes of the angles of rotation of the specific joints, and a non-interference region in which the robot is determined to not interfere with itself or an obstacle based on the magnitudes of the angles of rotation of specific joints; and a determination unit that determines whether the robot interferes with itself or an obstacle, by determining whether coordinates indicating a posture determined by the angles of rotation of the specific joints belong to the interference region or the non-interference region indicated by the acquired region information.Type: GrantFiled: April 18, 2019Date of Patent: August 24, 2021Assignee: OMRON CorporationInventors: Haruka Fujii, Toshihiro Moriya, Takeshi Kojima, Norikazu Tonogai
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Patent number: 10940591Abstract: This method is for calibrating a coordinate system of an image capture device and a coordinate system of a robot arm in a robot system that includes a display device, the image capture device, and the robot arm to which one of the display device and the image capture device is fixed, the robot arm having a drive shaft. The method includes: acquiring first captured image data based on first image data; acquiring second captured image data based on second image data different from the first image data; and calibrating the coordinate system of the image capture device and the coordinate system of the robot arm, using the first captured image data and the second captured image data.Type: GrantFiled: July 18, 2018Date of Patent: March 9, 2021Assignee: OMRON CorporationInventor: Norikazu Tonogai
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Publication number: 20210039257Abstract: A workpiece picking device includes a sensor that measures the workpieces, a hand that grasps the workpieces, a robot that moves the hand, and a control device thereof. The control device has a position orientation calculation part that calculates position, orientation and the like of the workpieces, a grasping orientation calculation part that calculates a grasping orientation of the workpieces by the hand, a route calculation part that calculates a route through which the hand moves to the grasping orientation, a sensor control part, a hand control part, a robot control part, a situation determination part that determines the situation of the workpieces on the basis of measurement result or the like of the three-dimensional position, and a parameter modification part that modifies at least one of a measurement parameter and various calculation parameters, when the determination result of the situations of the workpieces satisfies a predetermined condition.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 11, 2019Publication date: February 11, 2021Applicant: OMRON CorporationInventors: Norikazu TONOGAI, Toshihiro MORIYA, Takeshi KOJIMA, Haruka FUJII
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Publication number: 20190385329Abstract: A robot control device includes an obtaining unit that obtains, from an image sensor that captures a workpiece group to be handled by a robot, a captured image, a simulation unit that simulates operation of the robot, and a control unit that performs control such that the captured image is obtained if, in the simulation, the robot is retracted from an image capture forbidden space, in which an image is potentially captured with the workpiece group and the robot overlapping each other, and which is set based on either or both a first space being the visual field range of the image sensor, and a columnar second space obtained by taking a workpiece region including the workpiece group or each of divided regions into which the workpiece region is divided, as a bottom area, and extending the bottom area to the position of the image sensor.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 13, 2019Publication date: December 19, 2019Applicant: OMRON CorporationInventors: Haruka FUJII, Toshihiro MORIYA, Takeshi KOJIMA, Norikazu TONOGAI
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Publication number: 20190351550Abstract: An interference determination apparatus includes: an acquisition unit that acquires region information indicating regions set in a configuration space in which the angles of rotation of two or three specific joints of an articulated robot are indicated by coordinate axes, the regions including an interference region in which the robot is determined to interfere with itself or an obstacle based on the magnitudes of the angles of rotation of the specific joints, and a non-interference region in which the robot is determined to not interfere with itself or an obstacle based on the magnitudes of the angles of rotation of specific joints; and a determination unit that determines whether the robot interferes with itself or an obstacle, by determining whether coordinates indicating a posture determined by the angles of rotation of the specific joints belong to the interference region or the non-interference region indicated by the acquired region information.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 18, 2019Publication date: November 21, 2019Applicant: OMRON CorporationInventors: Haruka FUJII, Toshihiro MORIYA, Takeshi KOJIMA, Norikazu TONOGAI
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Publication number: 20190047152Abstract: This method is for calibrating a coordinate system of an image capture device and a coordinate system of a robot arm in a robot system that includes a display device, the image capture device, and the robot arm to which one of the display device and the image capture device is fixed, the robot arm having a drive shaft. The method includes: acquiring first captured image data based on first image data; acquiring second captured image data based on second image data different from the first image data; and calibrating the coordinate system of the image capture device and the coordinate system of the robot arm, using the first captured image data and the second captured image data.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 18, 2018Publication date: February 14, 2019Applicant: OMRON CorporationInventor: Norikazu TONOGAI
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Patent number: 9607237Abstract: When there is a possibility that a third character region is redundantly selected in both a case where the line extraction process is performed starting from a first character region and a case where the line extraction process is performed starting from a second character region located in a line different from a line containing the first character region, the line recognition unit determines which line to incorporate the third character region in, by comparing a case of incorporating the third character region into the line starting with the first character region, with a case of incorporating the third character region into the line starting with the second character region.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 2014Date of Patent: March 28, 2017Assignee: OMRON CorporationInventors: Hirotaka Wada, Tomoyoshi Aizawa, Norikazu Tonogai, Tadashi Hyuga, Yoshihisa Minato, Masamichi Oe, Koji Kobayashi
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Publication number: 20160092745Abstract: When there is a possibility that a third character region is redundantly selected in both a case where the line extraction process is performed starting from a first character region and a case where the line extraction process is performed starting from a second character region located in a line different from a line containing the first character region, the line recognition unit determines which line to incorporate the third character region in, by comparing a case of incorporating the third character region into the line starting with the first character region, with a case of incorporating the third character region into the line starting with the second character region.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 27, 2014Publication date: March 31, 2016Applicant: OMRON CorporationInventors: Hirotaka Wada, Tomoyoshi Aizawa, Norikazu Tonogai, Tadashi Hyuga, Yoshihisa Minato, Masamichi Oe, Koji Kobayashi
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Patent number: 9189694Abstract: An image processing method for identifying a region in an input image by character recognition, the region coinciding with a predetermined search condition, includes receiving the search condition, the search condition including assignments of plural format character strings, each format character string including an assignment of a character type or a specific character for each character of a recognition target, extracting a character string region becoming a candidate from the input image, calculating a similarity between a character recognition result and the plural format character strings with respect to each group of plural character string regions, the character recognition result being of each character string region included in each group, and determining the group coinciding with the search condition among the groups of plural character string regions according to the calculated similarity.Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2013Date of Patent: November 17, 2015Assignee: OMRON CorporationInventors: Norikazu Tonogai, Tadashi Hyuga, Yoshihisa Minato, Masamichi Oe, Masashi Kurita
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Publication number: 20140093172Abstract: An image processing method for identifying a region in an input image by character recognition, the region coinciding with a predetermined search condition, includes receiving the search condition, the search condition including assignments of plural format character strings, each format character string including an assignment of a character type or a specific character for each character of a recognition target, extracting a character string region becoming a candidate from the input image, calculating a similarity between a character recognition result and the plural format character strings with respect to each group of plural character string regions, the character recognition result being of each character string region included in each group, and determining the group coinciding with the search condition among the groups of plural character string regions according to the calculated similarity.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 26, 2013Publication date: April 3, 2014Applicant: OMRON CORPORATIONInventors: Norikazu Tonogai, Tadashi Hyuga, Yoshihisa Minato, Masamichi Oe, Masashi Kurita
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Patent number: 8212871Abstract: This invention provides an image processing device capable of appropriately generating a synthetic image with an enlarged dynamic range even when a measuring article is moving. A work to be a reference (reference work) is imaged a plurality of times under an exposure condition same as that for generating a synthesized image, and specified regions are registered as reference images from a plurality of input images acquired in the respective imaging processes. In an operation mode, a plurality of input images is acquired by imaging a work a plurality of times under a plurality of exposure conditions, and search processes based on the reference images are executed on the respective input images. A partial image having a predetermined size is extracted from each of the plurality of input images based on each specified position, and an image synthesizing process is executed on the plurality of extracted partial images to generate a synthesized image.Type: GrantFiled: November 3, 2009Date of Patent: July 3, 2012Assignee: Omron CorporationInventors: Norikazu Tonogai, Yutaka Kato, Kiyoshi Imai
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Publication number: 20100110180Abstract: This invention provides an image processing device capable of appropriately generating a synthetic image with an enlarged dynamic range even when a measuring article is moving. A work to be a reference (reference work) is imaged a plurality of times under an exposure condition same as that for generating a synthesized image, and specified regions are registered as reference images from a plurality of input images acquired in the respective imaging processes. In an operation mode, a plurality of input images is acquired by imaging a work a plurality of times under a plurality of exposure conditions, and search processes based on the reference images are executed on the respective input images. A partial image having a predetermined size is extracted from each of the plurality of input images based on each specified position, and an image synthesizing process is executed on the plurality of extracted partial images to generate a synthesized image.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 3, 2009Publication date: May 6, 2010Inventors: Norikazu Tonogai, Yutaka Kato, Kiyoshi Imai