Machine Vision and Web Inspection
Machine Vision automates vaccine production
A global company needed to quickly ramp up vaccine production. Goldfuß engineering GmbH and SIMON IBV GmbH developed a robot-based solution for loading and unloading trolleys with the vaccine vials. The machine vision software HALCON ensures the seamless automation of the robot cell
essential for this. T
In the automated production process, a robot places vaccine-fi lled vials from a conveyor belt into drawers and later removes them again. Goldfuß engineering GmbH was commissioned to develop this new robot cell. SIMON IBV GmbH was responsible for developing the optical 3D system that enables the robot to grip the vials independently without damaging them. Such an automation solution was previously not available on the market. In comparable applications, the vials are loaded manually into trays or boxes after fi lling.
ROBOT LOADS AND UNLOADS TROLLEYS WITH VACCINE
The trolleys have nine drawers, each capable of holding 24 rows of 46 vials each. In total, one trolley can therefore hold almost 10,000 vials. By buff ering such a large quantity, it is possible to fl exibly control the capacity utilisation of the packaging system. Since the trolleys are mobile, they can be parked in cooling chambers so that the cold chain is not interrupted. Employees manually position the trolleys on the system, which means that the exact position always varies. To successfully address this challenge and ensure fully automated vaccine production, a high-performance 3D vision system is required.
3D VISION TECHNOLOGIES AUTOMATE HANDLING IN THE ROBOT CELL
In addition to the robot, the hardware components of the robot cell include high-resolution 3D cameras and industrial computer technology with fast processors for PC-based evaluation. MVTec HALCON machine vision software has been integrated for high-performance image processing. As part of the process, an employee fi rst pushes a trolley into one of two possible positions. A 3D camera within the robot cell pinpoints the trolley and checks whether the drawers are open or closed. The programmable logic controller
20 May 2025
(PLC) contains information on whether the trolley currently being processed is to be loaded or unloaded, which drawer is to be opened, and how many vials are already there and where they are located.
The 3D camera takes a picture of the drawer to be opened. HALCON uses this to create a coordinates system and transmits it to the robot so that it can open the drawer. In the next step, the 3D camera takes a picture of the drawer’s contents. This allows the system to determine how many vials are stored and their exact location. It also
o quickly produce a large amount of vaccine, very large production capacities had to be built up within a very short time. A high degree of automation was
checks whether any individual vials are standing upright or have tipped over and therefore cannot be picked up by the robot.
HIGH DEMANDS ON 3D VISION TECHNOLOGIES
The position of the vials must be detected with an accuracy of 0.1 millimeters – in a working area of 800 x 600 mm and a depth of 600 mm, this is no easy task. “The vision system also faced two special challenges. On the one hand, it was necessary to work with diff erent materials. The glass of the vials and the metal of the trolleys have transparent or refl ective surfaces and are therefore diffi cult to detect. 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,” says Daniel Simon, authorised signatory and responsible for technical sales at SIMON IBV.
MACHINE VISION SOFTWARE HALCON ENSURES MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE AND ROBUSTNESS
Various machine vision technologies from HALCON are used in the robot cell – such as hand-eye calibration. This involves synchronising the robot’s and the camera’s coordinates systems so that the robot’s movements can be precisely matched to the camera’s images. This makes it possible to determine the exact positions and orientations of the vials in relation to the robot. At the same time, HALCON’s 3D vision technology “Stereo Vision” is also utilised. It is designed for 3D reconstruction and is particularly useful for large or medium-sized structured objects.
ROBOT CELL FOR VACCINE PRODUCTION DEVELOPED IN JUST SIX MONTHS The system was put into operation in July 2021. The strict requirements – in terms of speed and precision, for example – were also met. Daniel Simon concludes: “This project illustrates all of the potential and possibilities off ered by machine vision. Thanks to the successful implementation, we are very motivated to automate other challenging tasks.”
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