Apparatus for automatic glazing of cars

Claim 1

An apparatus for automatic glazing of cars comprising: a robot having a robot arm; a gripping tool mounted on said robot arm for gripping a window glass; a first set of two T.V. cameras fixed along a conveyor line for respectively taking images of front and rear pillars of a body shell stopped at a predetermined position; a second set of T.V. cameras mounted on said gripping tool for taking images of a window frame for position compensation of said window glass, said second set of T.V. cameras mounted on said gripping tool comprising two cameras mounted on the lower side of said gripping tool and two cameras mounted on transverse sides of said gripping tool, said lower side cameras respectively taking images of reference members mounted on the lower portion of said window frame for supporting the lower end of said window glass and said transverse side cameras respectively taking images of transverse ends of said window glass and frame; an image processing unit for distinguishing between different kinds of body shells and for calculating position variations of the stopped body shell with respect to predetermined positions thereof from images of said first set of two T.V. cameras fixed along the conveyor line and said second set of T.V. cameras mounted on said gripping tool; and a control unit for receiving a signal representing a distinguished kind of body shell from said image processing unit to move said robot arm to select a window glass of said distinguished kind of body shell and for receiving signals corresponding to the position variations from said image processing unit to move the robot arm so as to compensate for said position variations.

Claim 2

An apparatus for automatic glazing of cars comprising: a robot having a robot arm; a gripping tool mounted on said robot arm for gripping a window glass; a first set of two T.V. cameras fixed along a conveyor line for respectively taking images of front and rear pillars of a body shell stopped at a predetermined position; a second set of T.V. cameras mounted on said gripping tool for taking images of a window frame for position compensation of said window glass, said second set of T.V. cameras mounted on said gripping tool comprising two cameras mounted on the lower side of said gripping tool and two cameras mounted on transverse sides of said gripping tool, said lower side cameras respectively taking images of reference members mounted on the lower portion of said window frame for supporting the lower end of said window glass and said transverse side cameras respectively taking images of transverse ends of said window glass and frame; an image processing unit for distinguishing between different kinds of body shells and for calculating position variations of the stopped body shell with respect to predetermined positions thereof from images of said first set of two T.V. cameras fixed along the conveyor line and said second set of T.V. cameras mounted on said gripping tool; and a control unit for receiving a signal representing a distinguished kind of body shell from said image processing unit to move said robot arm to select a window glass of said distinguished kind of body shell and for receiving signals corresponding to the position variations from said image processing unit to move the robot arm so as to compensate for said position variations.