Vision System Provides Picking of Randomly Placed Parts

MotoSight 3-D CanonVision is Yaskawa Motoman's new hardware/software solution that utilizes a single 3-D machine vision head to quickly recognize and pick parts that are randomly placed in bins. "3-D CAD matching provides simplified, accurate part registration, allowing even complicated parts to be identified," said a company spokesperson.

MotoSight 3-D CanonVision utilizes a high-performance Canon camera, which uses projected light patterns to locate the parts. Lighting is integrated as part of the camera unit, eliminating the need for additional lighting.

Single-step recognition reduces the need for multiple cameras. Many 3-D vision solutions use a two-step recognition technology, which means it first must find the location of the part in a bin via a 3-D area sensor and then pick the part. Once picked, a second 2-D recognition step is required to detect the orientation of the part for processing. MotoSight 3-D CanonVision accomplishes both with just one recognition step. Once the part is recognized through 3-D CAD matching, the location and orientation data is transferred to the robot controller via Ethernet. This single step recognition helps to eliminate the need for complicated programming of parts and can reduce cycle times.

In addition to improving throughput and accuracy, MotoSight 3-D CanonVision can lower overall manufacturing costs for bin picking applications.

This complete solution includes interface software for integration with Yaskawa robots, rack-mounted graphics workstation, calibration target, automatic bin locator and empty bin detection. Up to 200 part models are supported.

Three camera models are available to cover a range of part and bin sizes.

For more information contact:

Yaskawa America, Inc.

Motoman Robotics Division

100 Automation Way

Miamisburg, OH 45342

937-847-6200

www.motoman.com