A system and method for simultaneously filling containers with different fluent products are disclosed. The system includes a plurality of vehicles that are independently routable along a track system to deliver containers to at least one unit operation station for dispensing fluent materials into the containers. The containers receive one or more fluent materials that differ from another in ingredients and/or weight percentage of at least one ingredient.

An information processing system for identifying a position of a workpiece conveyed on a conveyor is provided. A counter measures a movement amount of a conveyor a plurality of times at intervals shorter than a cycle of communication with a controller, and transmits measured movement amounts and respective measurement timings to the controller. The controller receives a position of a workpiece measured from an image obtained at a set imaging timing, identifies measurement timings relatively close to the imaging timing from among measurement timings, identifies a reference movement amount associated with the measurement timing, identifies a reference position of the workpiece at the imaging timing based on the position of the workpiece within the image, and adds a difference between the current movement amount of the conveyor and the reference movement amount to the reference position to calculate a current position of the workpiece.

An information processing system for identifying a position of a workpiece conveyed on a conveyor is provided. A counter measures a movement amount of a conveyor a plurality of times at intervals shorter than a cycle of communication with a controller, and transmits measured movement amounts and respective measurement timings to the controller. The controller receives a position of a workpiece measured from an image obtained by imaging the workpiece and an imaging timing, identifies measurement timings relatively close to the imaging timing from among measurement timings, and identifies a reference movement amount associated with the measurement timing, identifies a reference position of the workpiece at the imaging timing based on the position of the workpiece within the image, and adds a difference between the current movement amount of the conveyor and the reference movement amount to the reference position to calculate a current position of the workpiece.

A robot control system according to one or more embodiments may include a robot that performs a task in relation to a workpiece, a coordinate measuring machine that measures a three-dimensional shape of the workpiece, a control device that controls the robot in accordance with a measurement result from the coordinate measuring machine, and an image capturing apparatus that captures an image of the workpiece. An image capture interval for the image capturing apparatus is shorter than a measurement interval for the coordinate measuring machine. In a period after the coordinate measuring machine conducts a measurement and until the robot performs the task, the control device is configured to compute a position of the workpiece by referring to an image capture result from the image capturing apparatus.

In order to provide an image processing device capable of supporting installation of an imaging unit, an image processing device includes: an image acquiring unit configured to acquire an image; a feature information extracting unit configured to extract feature information from the image; and a first generation unit configured to generate installation support feature information used for supporting installation of the imaging unit on the basis of the feature information extracted by the feature information extracting unit.

Inspecting and/or testing of inline conveyed devices is performed in that a monitoring unit is applied to a device. The monitoring unit is removed in a removing area. Within the timespan the monitoring unit is applied to the device, the monitoring unit is operated in a standalone operating mode. During a timespan information about the device to which the monitoring unit is applied is collected in the monitoring unit. This timespan of collecting includes at least a part of the timespan during which the monitoring unit is operated in standalone mode.

A system for measuring physical properties of a workpiece in motion which includes a conveyance assembly for conveying the workpiece, a scanning assembly for scanning the workpiece, and a measurement assembly for measuring at least one physical property of the workpiece while the workpiece is in motion.

An article transferring device with a robot. An image processing section includes an article detecting section for executing image capturing and detection of articles that move according to a conveying motion of a conveyor, with a first period allowing all of the articles to be captured and detected, and obtain initial position information of each of all articles; and an article tracking section for executing image capturing and detection of the articles that move according to the conveying motion of the conveyor, with a second period shorter than the first period, and obtain shifted position information of each article iteratively with the second period, the shifted position information being based on the initial position information. A robot controlling section is configured to control the robot by using the shifted position information, so as to make the robot hold and transfer each article while following the conveying motion of the conveyor.

A programmable logic controller controls at least one robot to manipulate a plurality of workpieces. The programmable logic controller includes a sensor interface configured to receive sensor data that represents information of the workpieces. The programmable logic controller includes a scheduler configured to create a schedule that includes information representing an order in which the workpieces are to be manipulated. The schedule created by the scheduler is based on the sensor data. The programmable logic controller includes a synchronizer that is configured to receive the schedule. The synchronizer is configured to cause a robot to manipulate the workpieces based on the schedule and based on a function block. The function block is configured via the programmable logic controller.

An apparatus for setting a conveyor coordinate system in a robot system. The apparatus includes features provided on a movable part of a conveyor; a sensor provided on a robot; a first coordinate acquiring section for making the sensor detect positions of two features, when the movable part is in a first position, and acquiring two first coordinates in a base coordinate system of the robot; a conveying operation executing section for making the movable part perform a conveying operation from the first position toward a second position; a second coordinate acquiring section for making the sensor detect a position of one feature, when the movable part is in the second position, and acquiring one second coordinate in the base coordinate system; and a coordinate system determining section for determining the conveyor coordinate system based on a conveying operation direction, two first coordinates and one second coordinate.