Case Study | Bin Picking Solution for Highly Reflective Axis Workpiece

Pins and bushings are commonly used as connecting parts for excavators and other construction machinery. A company is transforming an automated workstation to automatically pick workpieces from the deep bin through 3D vision-guided robots to complete rapid loading.

— Challenges

• There are many kinds of pins and pin bushings with a certain weight, which are labor-intensive for frequent manual handling and loading, and need to be replaced by machines;

• The surface of the workpiece itself has obvious reflective characteristics, making identification difficult;

• Shaft workpieces are stacked in the frame and placed next to each other, requiring precise segmentation for accurate gripping;

• In order to ensure the loading efficiency, the material frame is generally larger and deeper, which may create the risk of collision with the frame when the jig is gripping.

— Solution

In order to effectively solve the user's production pain points, automation transformation difficulties, the project selected ALSONTECH AT-S1000-01A 3D vision system, the system has a large field of view, large depth of field and good workpiece and environmental adaptability, with ALSONTECH's self-developed algorithm, to help the project quickly land and smoothly put into production.

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Reflective workpiece identification capability

ALSONTECH AT-S1000-01A 3D camera adopts laser line solution, which has good recognition ability for workpieces with complex characteristics such as surface reflection and pure black, and can produce complete and high quality point cloud data. The rust and oil on the workpiece surface also do not affect the accurate recognition of the vision system.

Workpiece style

Reflective workpiece point cloud effect

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Obstacle avoidance capability of deep bin picking

The workpiece is a round bar shaft, in order to load as much as possible, the user will use a deep full bin for loading, and the workpieces will slide and fit closer to each other during transportation, and the workpieces at the edge will appear close to the side wall of the frame, and there is a risk of interference and collision between the fixture, the workpiece and the bin when the fixture drops the claw to grasp the workpiece. ALSONTECH 3D vision system software avoids this problem through a reasonable obstacle avoidance strategy, ensuring accurate gripping position while making reasonable planning for the robot motion path to avoid the risk of collision.

Workpiece incoming method

Software obstacle avoidance interface

— User Benefits

The work station has been successfully put into production, and through automation upgrade, the labor processing efficiency is improved and automated loading of highly reflective workpieces is realized.

• Adopt the slide rail installation method, and also take into account the pin frame and pin sleeve frame, alternate feeding, effectively guarantee the capacity;

• Reduced deployment of non-technical staff at workstations, reduced operational costs and risk of workplace accidents, and improved management efficiency;

• The 3D vision system is compatible with a wide range of incoming material specifications, and new materials can be added continuously at a later stage according to production and order requirements, with an average introduction time of less than two hours;

• Product quality consistency is effectively guaranteed or even improved due to the machine changeover.