FEATURE Machine Vision
A cobot and the tea cup
3D-based robot pick-and-place vision system leverages Matrox Imaging’s flowchart-based software, 3D profiler and vision controller
A
luxury porcelain manufacturer based near Florence, Italy, has been a leader in handcrafted, elegantly-designed tableware
since the 18th century. Porcelain is renowned for its strength, durability and pristine white colour, yet it is precisely that immaculate white colour that poses many manufacturing challenges. For a robot arm to accurately locate raw white teacups on the production line and accurately place them in rows, a 2D vision system was not up to the task of distinguishing the diff erent sizes, shapes and positioning of the product. To overcome these challenges, the company sought the expertise of AuTech and Fortek, two Italian companies known for providing automation solutions, to develop a vision-guided robot pick-and-place system that could locate teacups randomly placed by human operators.
“Seeing the manufacturing process, we thought that the only way to solve this problem was through the use of a 3D-based vision system, and we found Matrox® Imaging’s vision systems and software perfect for this purpose,” said AuTech’s software developer Marco Goracci. The 3D vision system that AuTech and Fortek designed comprises a Matrox AltiZ 3D profi le sensor connected to a Matrox 4Sight EV6 vision controller running Matrox Design Assistant®
X vision software. A
collaborative robot (cobot) from Universal Robots completes the installation. The cobot is entirely vision guided; the software directs
Figure 1: Mounted at the end of the cobot arm the Matrox AltiZ moves above the vessels, performing a 3D scan of each teacup
its movements and requires no operator interaction.
The vision system performs three key tasks: scanning in 3D the raw white vessels; analysing the 3D scans to establish the vessels’ size, shape
and position; and communicating the results to the cobot so it can accurately reach the teacups as they move along the production line. A human operator placed the raw white teacups on the production line earlier in the process. “We needed a robust solution for a pick-and-place application. Matrox Imaging products were the best in term of ease of use, programmability and price-to-quality ratio,” said Goracci.
Figure 2: The 3D data, in the form of a depth map, is used by Matrox Design Assistant X software to locate individual teacups
The Matrox AltiZ is connected to and
powered by the Matrox 4Sight EV6 through a Gigabit Ethernet cable. Mounted at the end of the cobot arm, the Matrox AltiZ moves above the vessels, performing a 3D scan of each teacup; see Figure 1. The unique algorithms running inside the profi le sensor automatically generate reliable 3D data, by smartly selecting or combining pixel data from the two integrated image sensors, and outputting the 3D data through the GigE Vision interface.
The 3D data, in the form of a depth map, is used by Matrox Design Assistant X software to locate individual teacups by situating their unique coordinates relative to the carrier tray, and fi nding the handle position and degree of rotation of each cup; see Figure 2.
30 December/January 2022 | Automation
The vision algorithm begins by fi ltering the depth map to remove unwanted areas and pixels. Blob Analysis is then applied to the fi ltered depth map; each teacup corresponds to a blob, which is used to calculate the highest height value using the Intensity Checker within Matrox Design Assistant X. A combination of Metrology and Blob Analysis steps are used to precisely locate the position and rotation of the handle of each teacup. These coordinates are passed to the cobot using socket communication, allowing the robot arm to start its pick-and- place operations. Thanks to the fl exible fl owchart development within Matrox Design Assistant X, the team at AuTech was able to create a single project that addressed all possible product variations for the manufacturer, eliminating the need to implement and switch between diff erent recipes. The vision system was brought online within one month and helped contribute to a 15% reduction in overall production costs. This project demonstrated how eff ective
Matrox Imaging’s products are for vision- guided robot pick-and-place installations. “We knew that a normal 2D vision system wouldn’t suffi ce, and the 3D vision capabilities Matrox Imaging aff orded were ideal for our needs,” said Goracci. “Our customers were very pleased with the outcome, so much so we are exploring plans to extend this application to other products they manufacture.”
CONTACT:
Matrox Imaging
www.matrox.com/en/imaging
automationmagazine.co.uk
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