Thermal imaging & vision systems
ENABLING ROBOTS TO SEE IN THE CARPENTRY INDUSTRY
Automation is advancing in furniture production. For individual processing steps, there are various powerful CNC machining centres, for example from HOMAG Bohrsysteme. The company has now automated the entire process around a vertical CNC machining centre with robotic handling for MAB Möbel AG in Switzerland. With the help of the machine vision software MVTec HALCON, a robot picks up wooden workpieces from a chaotically arranged stack, feeds them to the machining center, and removes them again after processing.
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ike many other industries, the woodworking sector faces a variety of challenges. These include quality assurance, untapped efficiency potential, and a shortage of skilled workers. One possible response is further automation. Automation can reduce errors, improve quality, and increase efficiency. In addition, production can be increased and accelerated because machines can operate 24/7 and perform quality control faster and more precisely than humans. Finally, the increasingly scarce human resources can be deployed more purposefully by automating monotonous and physically demanding tasks.
HOMAG Bohrsysteme has developed an automated solution that addresses these challenges. The company is part of the HOMAG Group and provides customers in the woodworking industry with a wide range of support options through its high-tech machines and systems. Its product portfolio includes CNC machining centres, through- feed drilling machines, drilling and dowel-insertion machines, as well as machines for drilling and fitting insertion technology.
The newly developed solution focuses on fully automated loading of a vertical CNC machining centre. At the centre of the system is a robot that picks wooden workpieces from a stack, feeds them into the CNC machine, and removes and places them after processing. The key feature is that the workpieces are all individual and their shape and size are not known in advance. In addition, they are arranged chaotically on the stack. Furthermore, not only are the workpieces different from one another, but each must also be drilled individually. The relevant information is stored in a barcode on the workpiece.
Machine vision enables processing to take place completely autonomously despite these challenges. With the help of the machine vision software MVTec HALCON, the robot can recognise the different workpieces and grasp them safely. The software executes numerous algorithms and also reads the barcode information on the workpieces, forwarding it to the CNC machine. Based on this information, the required, different drilling operations are carried out.
THE REQUIREMENT: FULLY AUTOMATE A LABOR-INTENSIVE PROCESS STEP Such a fully automated cell developed by HOMAG is in operation at the carpentry workshop of MAB Möbel AG. The company from Muotathal, Switzerland, has been producing quality furniture since 1951 based on ecological and design- oriented principles. “We want to continue developing with solutions that truly make sense. The further development of the cell with laser scanning and chaotic stacking was the function we had been waiting for. This allows the cell to meet our goal of batch size 1 production – and only then does automation make sense for us,” explains Luca Zingg, member of the management board responsible for corporate development at MAB. Until now, an employee handled the loading of the CNC machining centre. This involved picking up the workpieces, scanning the attached barcode, placing them into the CNC machine, and
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depositing them on another pallet after processing. After several hours, this monotonous task becomes physically demanding and is not particularly efficient in terms of profitability.
Tobias Schwarz, senior director product development at HOMAG Bohrsysteme, explains the goal of the automation: “MAB has set itself the objective of increasing productivity, deploying employees more effectively – and above all in less physically demanding workplaces – and thereby reducing costs. Another advantage of a fully automated production process is that the workpieces no longer need to be sorted before processing, since the application can also handle chaotically arranged stacks. This saves time in the upstream process step, which further increases productivity.”
The challenge during implementation was to develop a completely new solution, as nothing like this previously existed on the market. The task is also not easy for the machine vision system. This is due, firstly, to the enormous variety of workpieces – different surface decors must also be processed. Secondly, the image processing must function under ambient light. Because not every area is fully illuminated, less powerful vision systems may have difficulty determining the exact position of the workpieces. Finally, it is technically demanding to separate the surfaces of relatively flat boards. “Despite these challenges, it was clear that such a fully automated solution had to be based on machine vision. We had to teach the robot to see.
April 2026 Instrumentation Monthly
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