METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ILLUMINATING PARTS FOR RECOGNITION

PURPOSE:To effectively perform illumination, by a method wherein a sucked part is irradiated with the scattered light from a first indirect illumination body when the part sucked to a suction head is small and that from a second indirect illumination body when the part is large. CONSTITUTION:A suction nozzle 3 and the part P sucked to the leading end of said nozzle 3 pierce through the opening 26 of an indirect illumination body 25 in a closed state and the part P is positioned under the illumination body 25. The illumination light from an illuminator 24 is converted to scattered light by the indirect illumination body 23 provided in the outer periphery of the nozzle 3 to irradiate the part P and the image picked up of the part P is incident on a CCD confirmation camera to recognize the position of the part P. A large part P is sucked and held to the nozzle 3 and falls at a recognition position to pass between opened dividing plates 25a, 25b to stop at a falling limit position. Whereupon, the plates 25a, 25b are closed. Herein, illumination light is projected from the illuminator 24 and a part thereof is incident to the illumination body 23 to become scattered light which is, in turn, allowed to irradiate the part P while the other illumination light is incident on the illumination body 25 to become scattered light which is, in turn, allowed to uniformly irradiate the wide range containing the part P.