Accurate identification comes from "pick-and-place"

German Engelhard Technologie is a world-renowned producer of soot filters for the automotive industry. The company effectively increased the production efficiency of the line by using Cognex's In-Sight vision sensor.

Engelhard Technologie's factory in Nienburg uses robots for parts production. In order to optimize the production process of the soot filter used in the automotive industry, the company adopted the advice of its robot supplier Staubli and decided to use the vision system of Cognex, the world-famous company, for the entire system last year. December has been deployed. Thanks to In-sight Ex-plorer's efficient deployment environment, this visually-guided robot "pick-and-place" solution was successfully deployed in less than four weeks.

The visual system that ensures accuracy effectively improves the working efficiency of the robot application environment. After the ceramic filter is calcined, it is automatically conveyed by the conveyor belt to the robot shop. There are very few differences between the various soot filter products and they need to be reliably processed by the vision system.

The In-Sight 5100 vision sensor deployed at the robot shop must identify the individual shapes of 25 different filter products and determine its exact location. The data provided by In-Sight 5100 about the angle of the product to the robot must remain accurate because the reading of the 2D code is performed at the same production point. One of the advantages of this application environment is that the visual tools of the Pat Max software have been integrated into the In-Sight vision system. These tools have a geometric pattern recognition function with a target accuracy rate of 99.9%. The precise data provided by In-Sight vision sensors regarding the location of the product effectively guides the robots. They can place the selected ceramic filter on a conveyor belt and deliver it to the packing shop for product packaging.

Fast and flexible configuration

Thomas Wente of Engelhard Technologie is responsible for the implementation of this project. He said: "We think it is very important to implement the project quickly and reliably, but at the same time we also hope that we can easily make the necessary changes to the process." In-Sight vision system configuration, installation and deployment is simple and convenient, not only Can accelerate the implementation of the project, and make the project more flexible, and improve the system's ability to quickly respond to changes made in any aspect of the production process.

Use the vision system to detect colors

Cognex's vision system can also effectively assist with additional control tasks such as packaging soot filters. The company uses the In-Sight 5100C color vision sensor to verify that each filter is affixed with a green quality label, and it is determined whether or not a product that matches the specified quantity has been placed in the package. The system continuously detects the quantity of the packaged product and compares it with the actually produced quantity, so that the quantity of products that are rejected and lost can be determined. Cognex experts visited the production hall to provide technical support and successfully deployed this control project in two days. This once again proved the advantages of using an easy-to-use interface.

Upgraded development environment

From the very beginning, the company took into consideration the diverse application environment during the deployment of the vision system for the assembly line. The Windows-based work platform is easy to use, which not only saves time, but also enables the solution to be applied to a special application environment, reflecting the efficient performance of the system. In the In-Sight Explorer development environment, the system can be quickly started and operated, saving initial installation time and costs. The company's employees quickly mastered the use of In-Sight Explorer, which not only reduced the development time of the vision system, but also laid the foundation for improving the system's functional flexibility and integration into the company's production network. The company has integrated another In-Sight Ex-plorer in its existing robotics workshop and plans to install two vision sensor systems in the second and the latest robotics workshops.

Reprinted from: China Packaging News