FEATURE Machine vision
Below, left: Representation of the vials stored in the trolley in the front end
Left: The vision system of the robot cell is installed in
a way that eliminates the need to mount a camera on the robot’s gripper, enabling it to handle up to 46 vials Right: The trolleys are loaded with nearly 10,000 vials
drawer handle so that the robot can close it again. This process is then repeated with the remaining eight drawers until the trolley has been completely unloaded. Trunk said: “The development of the
robot cell took place under tremendous time pressure. The demand for the vaccine had to be met as quickly as possible, which also served as an intrinsic motivation for our employees.”
The main challenge was to achieve high
precision. The position of the vials must be detected with an accuracy of 0.1mm. And with a working area of 800 x 600 mm and a depth of 600 mm, this is no easy task. The extremely valuable contents of the vials make this requirement even more critical. The vials must not be damaged under any circumstances. However, loading and unloading must be done quickly, in part to facilitate the rapid vaccine delivery. “The vision system also faced two special challenges. On the one hand, it was necessary
of the vials and the metal, such as that of On the other hand, the system will only work if the robots can operate autonomously in three-dimensional space. To do this, however, the machine vision software must also include powerful 3D vision technologies,” said Daniel Simon. Various machine vision technologies are used in the robot cell that was developed. HALCON’s hand-eye calibration delivers high accuracy in determining the relative
position between the camera and the robot. At the same time, the system additionally utilises the stereo vision 3D vision technology, which is also included in HALCON. “We have managed to develop a completely new robot cell and get it up and running with process stability in just six months, “ said Trunk.
The system was put into operation in July 2021. The strict requirements – in terms of speed and precision – were also met.
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automationmagazine.co.uk Automation | April 2025 15
r Inspection
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