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are straight when the steering wheel is attached. Te tier one and tier two companies supplying components to the car manufacturers are also using vision. ‘Car manufacturers are improving their


Inspecting to see if a parking sensor is installed correctly in a car bumper


with these sorts of component. Tis makes it possible to move the cameras. At higher speed, the cameras have to be fixed, but for these types of part there is time to move the camera around the component.’ Vollrath said the flexibility of the system is an


advantage when the same manufacturing line is handling different versions of a part for different car models. When a new car model is introduced that has a slightly altered bumper design, for instance, then mounted cameras would all have to be changed to inspect the new part. A robotic system, however, can be programmed with additional inspection positions. Attentra has supplied its Robot Vision Centre


to Audi for inspecting the bumpers for the Audi A3 and the Audi TT. ‘Tese are totally different bumpers, but we can check both with one system,’ remarked Vollrath. ‘Today every part has to


be checked and automotive components are getting more complex,’ he continued. ‘If you look at a bumper 10 years ago, this was only a bumper. Now there is a lot of electronics inside the bumper, which has to be inspected. Also, the Robot Vision Centre is ideal for mixed production batches.’ Mixed production is one of the reasons why


automation,’ said Williamson. ‘Companies like Jaguar Land Rover want to grow their manufacturing without having to increase personnel, but also they are at the premium end of the market so they need to make sure everything is done correctly. Tere are many applications where they are using vision to completely automate or validate whether an item has been assembled correctly before it goes to the next stage, because warranty return can cost so much money. Even down to ensuring the correct sound insulation has been fitted, for example.’ Stemmer Imaging has worked on a number of projects with integrators for Jaguar Land Rover in the UK. Attentra’s Robot Vision Centre is customised for


If you’re trying to


make things automatic, you need validation. That’s why automotive is the biggest growth area for vision in the UK


machine vision is now so important for automotive production. ‘A lot of the manufacturing plants now have multiple different car models on the same production line, whereas before it used to be one production line dedicated on one product,’ commented Williamson at Stemmer Imaging. ‘If you get different variants of product, you need to be able to validate which part the line is building. Here, vision can help the operator by giving some instruction about the part they’re building – what is the process for this model’s floor pan, for example.’ A classic automotive manufacturing example


of where machine vision is used is in aligning the steering column, i.e. ensuring the wheels


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certain applications. ‘Different lenses and cameras, for example, would be used to check a large part like a bumper compared to the small components on a door panel,’ explained Vollrath. ‘We talk with the customer about what checks need to be made. Te basics are in the Robot Vision Centre – the communication with the robot, with the cameras, and with the production system is all in the system’s soſtware.’ Te system’s 3D camera gives a depth image, which provides checks where a 2D camera is less effective, such as for ensuring black screws on a black part are in place. Vollrath said it’s important to have 3D and 2D imaging capabilities. Attentra is developing a


statistical module to review the results from each inspection. Te next version of the system will have a database where all the results are stored. ‘Our


goal is to have soſtware that can connect to a lot of cameras and robots so the customer can have a greater choice for an inspection system,’ Vollrath concluded. Williamson also noted that sales of robotics in


the UK automotive sector was booming, which ties in with machine vision. According to the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA), sales of robots in the UK into the automotive sector outstripped other sectors by a factor of eight, Williamson said. ‘It’s incredible. In the last two or three years robotics sales have been going through the roof in the UK. Tat ties in with machine vision, because vision is an automation tool. If you’re trying to make things automatic, you need validation. Tat’s why automotive is the biggest growth area for vision in the UK.’ O


small step for Matrox Design Assistant Software


One


giant leap for vision.


One


www.matrox.com/da4/imve


Attentra


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