To boost productivity and efficiency, a robot-guided vision system is used for verifying mounting elements, delivering speed and accuracy beyond human capability. This is achieved by equipping a collaborative robot (cobot) with a smart camera and a powerful spot light.
The Z-SPOT spot lights are compact and lightweight, allowing them to be directly attached to the robotic arm. As the cobot moves to scan different parts, the spot lights ensure consistent and precise illumination, enabling the camera to accurately detect every mounting element.
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Challenges
- Integration with cobot: Mounting the spot light and camera on a cobot requires careful integration to maintain the weight distribution and flexibility of the robotic arm, without compromising its range of motion or speed.
- Environmental variables: Changes in ambient lighting, reflections from other surfaces, or the presence of unexpected obstacles in the workspace can impact the effectiveness of the vision system.
- Adaptability to different parts: The system must be adaptable to inspect different types and shapes of mounting parts, requiring careful programming. The coordination between the cobot’s movements and the camera’s image capture is key.
Solution
- The Z-SPOT was an easy addition to the system because of its lightweight design. Its compatibility with various mounting solutions ensured that it could be securely attached to the cobot without affecting its weight distribution or range of motion.
- The chosen spot light provides powerful illumination to ensure consistency and outstanding contrast, reducing the effect of ambient lighting. Its high intensity and high uniformity output it is perfect for illuminating various parts in one sweep of the robot arm.
- The Z-SPOT features a built-in lockable zoom lens with position repeatability, providing an exceptional range of field of view and working distance variability. This versatility allows the system to identify defects on different types and shapes of mounting parts. When the robot arm is positioned so that the light creates a bright field illumination, it can flood the area with light. Conversely, positioning the camera and light at a low angle relative to the inspected area creates a dark field effect, which is effective for detecting edges and highlighting imperfections such as dents and scratches.