Described are the development, integration and industrial implementation of flexible vision inspection systems using a commercial industrial robot. Recent advances in robot and vision technology, as well as related software have made such integration practical and successful in the production environment.
A fully integrated system is described, with vision processing resident in the robot controller. This integrated system reduces floor space requirements and improves data acquisition rates relative to non-integrated systems. Also, a temperature compensation methodology has been implemented with the system to eliminate errors due to thermal changes in the robot due to both internal heat generation and changes in the operating environment.
Implementation examples of systems applied to both off-line and in-line stations are provided. Off-line system applications include replacement of multiple check fixtures to reduce cost and floor space requirements. In-line 100% inspection applications include inspection of major subassemblies and body-in-white.
Test results regarding accuracy, repeatability and cycle time are described. Comparisons of flexible robotic implementations to more traditional dedicated or fixed sensor systems are provided, comparing cycle times, repeatability, and other factors are discussed, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches. A comparison of integrated and non-integrated vision robot system performance is also provided.