The workpiece conveying apparatus for a pressing machine includes: a rotary base rotatable about a substantially perpendicular axis; a first arm pivotally supported by the rotary base so as to be rockable within a substantially perpendicular plane; a coupler pivotally supported on a distal end side of the first arm so as to be rockable; a second arm having a proximal end side that is mounted to the coupler so as to be rockable; a cross bar mounted to a distal end side of the second arm so as to be rockable within a plane substantially parallel to a rocking plane of the second arm; and a workpiece holding device mounted to the cross bar.

A bending robot takes out a workpiece stored on a stacker while contacting its end face with a storage reference flat plane of the stacker, and then supplies it to a bending machine. The bending robot includes a main body movable parallel to the storage reference flat plane, an arm portion supported by the main body and capable of positioning above the stacker, and a distance sensor provided in the arm portion for measuring a distance to the workpiece stored on the stacker in a contactless manner. According to the bending robot, bending can be done with high efficiency.

An apparatus for rotating an inner stamped part with respect to an outer stamped part is provided. The inner stamped part is nested within an aperture formed within the outer stamped part. The apparatus includes a plurality of grippers that include at least a first gripper positioned at a first edge of the inner stamped part and a second gripper positioned at a second edge of the inner stamped part opposite to the first edge. The plurality of grippers is configured to grip the inner stamped part at the first edge and the second edge, respectively. The plurality of grippers is further configured to rotate the gripped inner stamped part about an axis of rotation. The axis of rotation intersects the first gripper and the second gripper. The plurality of grippers is also configured to open to release the inner stamped part.

A forming die for forming a part is disclosed. The forming die includes a lower forming die portion comprising a lower pin receiving opening for receiving a lower portion of a removable securing pin that secures a lower surface of a part to be formed to the lower forming die; and an upper forming die portion, positionable above the lower forming die portion, comprising an upper pin receiving opening for receiving an upper portion of the removable securing pin that secures an upper surface of the part to be formed to the upper forming die portion.

A hot stamping system of automotive parts to enable the production of the body in white and moving parts, which form the body of a car in a single production plant (1) from blanks. Said system consists of two by two operating groups (2 and 3) of equipment, namely: a group for the fixed parts and a group for the moving parts, each composed of production units (4), which are fed (5) with blanks, previously individually cut into the required dimensions (5) and inspected (6), for entry into the stamping tool (matrix) in accordance with the shape and dimensions of the part to be made in the respective unit, distributed (7) both to the group of fixed parts and to the group (3) of moving parts. Each of the production units comprises: a blank feed rack (8), two to three handling robots (9, 11 and 13), a Joule heating device (10), A press (12) with the tool (matrix) relative to the workpiece to be stamped, and a storage rack (14).

A pattern matching unit carries out a pattern matching between a photographed image obtained by photographing a workpiece with a monocular camera and a first plurality of models having a plurality of sizes and a plurality of angles, and selects a model having a size and an angle with the highest degree of matching. A primary detection unit detects a position and an angle of an uppermost workpiece based on the selected model. An actual load height calculation unit calculates an actual load height of the uppermost workpiece based on a hand height. A secondary detection unit re-detects the position and the angle of the uppermost workpiece based on a model having a size and an angle with the highest degree of matching selected by carrying out a pattern matching between the photographed image and a second plurality of models selected or newly created based on the actual load height.

A workpiece transport unit including a pair of arms, an opening/closing mechanism configured to open and close the pair of arms in a horizontal direction, a pair of first placement surfaces provided at the pair of arms and configured for a first workpiece to be placed thereon, and a pair of second placement surfaces provided at the pair of arms and configured for a second workpiece to be placed thereon.

A production line sequentially includes a feeding platform, a feeding robot, a pressing unit, a conveying robot, a quenching device, a discharging robot, and a conveyor belt. The pressing unit includes a heating device, a die device, and at least one press used for mounting the die device. The heating device is used for wholly or partially heating the preformed blank to produce a hot blank, and the die device is used for stamping the hot blank, holding the hot blank at a certain pressure, and shaving and punching the hot blank, so as to produce a hot stamped part. The production line can continuously achieve rapid heating, stamping, pressure holding, shaving, punching, and quenching. Heating efficiency is improved, and a transferring process before stamping the hot blank is avoided.

The invention relates to a production system (1) comprising a bending tool (11), a tool store (12), a bending machine (4) and a manipulation device (13) which performs a travelling movement from a tool store position located in the region of the tool store (12) to a machine operating position located in the region of the bending machine (4). A first coupling element (18) is arranged on the manipulation device (13) and a second coupling element (19) is arranged on the bending machine (4). In the machine operating position, the two coupling elements (18, 19) are coupled together, through which the manipulation device (13) is fixed in position relative to the bending machine (4) and thus a reference position is set.

A plate material processing system includes a plate material processing machine and a loader. The plate material processing machine holds a front end portion of an unprocessed plate material by a work holder and moves the unprocessed plate material on a table forward, backward, leftward and rightward. The loader includes: a plate material attaching unit; and a pivoting mechanism for pivoting the plate material attaching unit on a predefined arc-shaped trajectory while maintaining the plate material attaching unit in a constant orientation as viewed in a planar manner. When the plate material attaching unit is at a foremost position, the work holder is positioned to the other side of the left and right sides relative to a processing head, away from the unprocessed plate material loading position side, thereby preventing the work holder and the plate material attaching unit from interfering with each other.