3D Camera Replaces Manual Picking and Saves Space
How a once tedious manual assembly process was reliably automated while minimizing the required floor space.
“As well as supporting production and maintenance, a big part of my role is continuous improvements by means of integrating automated solutions to potentially dangerous processes,” says Charles Cummings, one of the Controls and Automation Engineers at sand castings specialist Grainger & Worrall.
One such “potentially dangerous” process is now smoothly automated: The loading and unloading of large hot aluminum castings into a vibro-decore machine (i.e. a vibrating machine used for removing internal cores, typically made of sand, from cast metal parts). Previously this accident-prone process was performed by workers using forklifts.
A KUKA KR300 with a 2700 mm reach, connected to a Siemens 1214 PLC and equipped with a re-purposed robot gripper stemming from a pneumatic manipulator system, was upgraded (and made a lot stronger!) to handle these massive parts.
As the aluminum castings come to the operation on a conveyor, they are not always in a precisely repeatable position. Hence Cummings and his team immediately “knew that we needed a way to have a robot literally SEE the parts so that it could pick them up accurately.”
Their search for robust hardware (that will withstand a challenging industrial environment), and user-friendly software (that would not require them to complete a masterclass in robot vision prior to use), led them to Roboception.
The system was outfitted with a complete vision solution that enabled it to detect the parts quickly, accurately, and repeatedly: An rc_visard 160m and an rc_randomdot projector were enclosed in a protective metallic housing and mounted on the end of the robot arm.
The sensors were connected to an rc_cube to process the data, with the rc_reason CADMatch software at the core of the detection process.
As no actual CAD models of the castings were available, the team provided 3D scans of their objects for training the software – which was otherwise done in exactly the same procedure usually applied for CAD models.
Cummings and his team were not only impressed with the quality of the hardware and the user-friendly experience of the interfaces. They also appreciated the constructive working relationship with the Roboception team, whose profound experience and open sharing of knowledge and background information only increased the customer’s confidence in the vision solution:
“Finding a 3D vision system to guide a robot to pick-and-place our parts was clearly an elegant solution to our challenge, and working with the team at Roboception on this project was definitely a fulfilling experience”, says Cummings, while also confirming that Roboception would surely be the ‘go to’ for several future robotic pick-and-place applications he is currently evaluating.
In the first eight months of operation, Grainger & Worrall have processed over 25.000 parts at an average of 16 castings an hour – corresponding to an increase in capable production volumes of ~37%.
Grainger & Worrall is at the global forefront of castings development and innovation, specializing in engineering pioneering sand casting solutions and revolutionizing product development.
With the World demanding ever-lighter, ever more efficient means of propulsion and the company helps drive that trend, building on almost three quarters of a century of accrued know-how.
While typically used for mounting above a workspace, the rc_visard 160 sensor can also be robot-mounted when (as in this case) objects and environment are rather large-scale.
The rc_reason CADMatch Module relies on an object‘s CAD data – or, as in this case, 3D scans. Once trained, it easily copes with changes in the object‘s position and orientation.
The rc_cube IPC runs the CADMatch Module, enhances the overall performance in industrial applications requiring high-speed image processing and – thanks to the UserSpace – increases the system’s flexibility.
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How a once tedious manual assembly process was reliably automated while minimizing the required floor space.
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