Precision control with 3D vision technology

Oct 11, 2016

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Reduction of food damage during pick&place operations, thanks to SICK 3D vision technology combined with ABB automation.

Food packaging operations - whether it be raw materials or products placed in a primary packaging - require a high degree of automation.
ABB and SICK have developed a solution to reduce the amount of damaged products during pick&place operations.Usually the objects, of different sizes and thicknesses, are moved on conveyor belts; robots used for their removal for selection and packaging have to adjust to a whole series of different variables and, in doing so, the information on the height of the object is decisive. Thanks to SICK’s 3D vision systems, the robot can pick up the objects rapidly and safely, increasing efficiency and reducing the risk of damage. Furthermore, this technology offers more possibilities for the inspection of the volume and weight and for detection of anomalies in the shape of the object compared to 2D vision systems.SICK and ABB have together developed a very competitive solution, in which ABB robots have been equipped with the IVC-3D SICK smart camera, which combines lighting, acquisition and image analysis in a single device. Using the principle of laser triangulation, the camera can capture data in 3D, making it easy to grip objects that were beforehand difficult to manage.

The transmitted data contains both the 3D position coordinates as well as temporal information. The partnership between the two companies has also led to the creation of the Belt Picking Toolkit, thanks to a web graphic interface, that enables the object and the conveyor belt parameters to be set simply and the calibration of the camera and robots in a common coordinate system, by following a wizard.
For the pick&place operation in most cases the fast IRB360 FlexPicker™ robot is used along with the line control unit with the ABB Pick-Master™ software, which also acts as an interface between the IVC- 3D camera and the robots. The information needed to perform the picking up of the objects in the correct positions and moments, according to the coordinates provided by the IVC-3D and the movement speed of the conveyor belt, are constantly transmitted to the latter.
Even if the shape, contrast, orientation and size of the packages vary, the SICK 3D vision system provides highly detailed information; Thus the pick&place robots can handle objects in a more controlled and gentle manner, decreasing the rate of damaged products and eliminating downtime during complex applications.