Enhancing Manufacturing Efficiency with Vision-Integrated Robotics

While robotic systems have several advantages on their own, including an increase in speed with a reduction of production and labor costs, there are other ways to boost the advantages of a robot system. One of those ways is to integrate vision into the system.

Vision guided robotic systems have three components, including the robotic system itself, along with the vision component and the handling component, which is usually a conveyor of some sort. While vision robotic systems are primarily used for material handling applications, they can also be used for some welding applications.

As parts are loaded onto the conveyor, the vision feature of the robotic system can track these work pieces and record the exact coordinates, which it then feeds to the robot. Once the robot has the picture of which is the correct work piece to manipulate, it can then start to accept or reject pieces based on the programmed criteria.

While vision can be fitted to a robot, as listed above, it can also be placed at a stationary point on the production line to perform quality control assessments after the robot has finished its application. This allows manufacturers to more accurately track packages and cut down on errors.

There are several advantages to choosing a robotic vision-guided system. This system allows the manufacturer to switch products and batch runs without mechanical adjustments. It can all be done with software. These robotic systems also reduce cycle times, while increasing efficiency, reliability and flexibility of the production line.

RobotWorx sells robots from Fanuc, Motoman, ABB, Universal Robots, and KUKA, has the capability to integrate vision features onto almost any material handling or welding robot. RobotWorx helps customers to design the perfect robot system to fit their needs.