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news
Vision-guided robotic system improves welding of car side panels
A vision-guided pick-and- place robotic welding system has been developed by KWD Automobiltechnik in Wolfsburg, Germany, to process car side panels. The system, using Kuka robots and VisionPro 3D image processing from Cognex, performs both the transport and the quality control of raw materials and finished parts on the production line.
A 3D vision system recognises the part position and possible distortions of the side panels in the supply rack and forwards the data to the robot controller. The robot controller then adapts the gripper movement to the actual position of the parts in real time. The result is increased product
quality compared with quality control using the human eye. Now, the operator can concentrate on controlling the system rather than loading and unloading parts. Depending on the requirements of the job step, individual or stereo cameras record the relevant image sectors. The VisionPro 3D software delivers 3D position data in real time. The intelligent vision system is used for geometrical pattern comparison of different 2D tool sets from the VisionPro tool library, such as PatMax. Accurate calibration tools optimise optical distortions and synchronise the cameras with the robot grippers. After the welding process is completed, the first and second robots perform an optical spot
news from UKIVA By John Haddon
At this time of year, much of the vision world eagerly awaits the new products to be announced at the Vision show in Stuttgart, Germany, and there is always a keen interest to see who has won the prestigious Vision Award. The inexorable advance in technology opens up countless opportunities for vision applications. With such a rich vein of opportunity within the vision industry, the UK Industrial Vision Association is keen to highlight some of the application areas within different market sectors, in the hope that it might provide the impetus to UK vision companies to investigate opportunities that they might not previously have considered. Periodically we will use this column to highlight a particular market sector and some of the applications within it.
This time we focus on some of the many and varied applications under the ‘Intelligent Transport System’ (ITS) umbrella, which address the problems of homeland security, road safety, congestion and environmental pollution. Clearly, vision systems have a key role to play and markets can develop and mature in a relatively short space of time. In 2005 in this column, we commented on the fact that in Italy, legislation was being considered for the implementation of ‘average speed cameras’ on some roads. Fast forward to 2011 and fixed average speed cameras are commonplace on miles of UK roads. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems are in regular use, not only in conjunction with speed camera systems, but in violation enforcement, such as congestion
charging and toll charging. Tolling systems for heavy trucks can combine ANPR with automatic measurements of the truck’s height and width to ensure that the correct toll charge is administered. For other toll applications, vehicle classification software is available which allows both the class of the vehicle (motorcycle, car, taxi, light van, bus, truck etc) to be identified as well as the vehicle make, model and colour to be linked in with ANPR systems.
This has been made possible by the developments in vision technology. High-resolution, high-speed cameras have benefited ANPR applications while the use of GigE cameras allow transmission of image data at high rates over significant distances meaning that the controlling PC no longer needs to be mounted
on the gantry near the camera. Faster data transmission using the Link Aggregation (IEEE 802.3ad) networking technology or the newest data transmission standards (HSLink and CoaXPress) offer even greater possibilities. High-quality, high-resolution zoom lenses have also been important, together with better quality illumination sources, both in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum. High dynamic range cameras can easily cope with extremes in lighting conditions such as monitoring on a sunny day with fast-moving cloud cover. Many of the technological developments mentioned above got their first public airing at previous Vision Shows, so it is no wonder that the ITS sector, as well as many others, will have its eyes firmly focused on Stuttgart from 8 to 10 November.
weld inspection. The number and location accuracy of the spot welds are inspected. The data obtained from testing is
archived and images assigned to the associated parameters. In this way, KWD Automobiltechnik achieves complete traceability and documented verification of quality. One of the biggest challenges in the implementation of the 3D vision system was the lighting. The individual components of the side panels do not have a defined position in the transport racks and can be twisted or tilted in a certain area. This results in constantly changing reflection behaviour of the car’s sheet metal plates. The solution was the construction of an enclosure with white interior walls, through which white light is dispersed evenly on the metal parts with the greatest possible angle of incidence.
imaging and machine vision europe october/november 2011
www.imveurope.com
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