Vision systems are now widely used within automated and robotic production processes, helping manufacturers overcome one of their biggest challenges – producing high quality products quickly and consistently.

Every manufacturing business relies on this quality to uphold their reputation and ensure that all items leaving their facility meet the standards promised to their end-users. By delivering first time and mitigating errors at the outset, your production lines will return better value for your business.

State-of-the-art vision systems can be applied to any industry and can be standalone, built-for-purpose, or integrated retrospectively into your existing robotic or mechanical assembly systems.

Utilising vision capabilities to enhance your assembly process

Vision systems provide data to guide and support your robotic and automation systems.

This data can be collected in three formats:

• 2D – flat image

• 2.5D – using 2D cameras in conjunction with laser or distance sensors

• 3D – using stereoscopic cameras

• X-Ray

The type of vision system used will depend on the production task in question – our experts will offer you guidance and advice on the best type of system for your manufacturing needs.

Our standard robotic pick and pack cell uses vision systems to identify, locate and pick up to seventy individual components per minute form the feeder beds and place them into a bag or onto a conveyor.

The machine is equipped with a SCARA robot, two anyfeeders and can integrate a variety of third party bagging systems.

The system has been designed for component manufacturers and resellers to pack individual or multiple components for retail sales or kitting purposes.

• Up to 70 parts per minute

• Configurable for multiple components

• Output to bag or carton

• Compact footprint

Another of our vision guided robotic solutions is a pre-packed product Case Packer, which is capable of picking and packing a wide range of products, providing a holistic answer to the packaging needs of manufacturers across many sectors.

System ‘Ease of Use’ is critical when integrating automation into existing manual manufacturing environments. The user friendly HMI interface of the Case packing machine is designed so operators can simply select the required product recipe, load the case magazine and press the start button.

• Up to 120 parts per minute

• Two stage stacking system

• Configurable for a variety of pre-packed products

• Accepts a range of case sizes

We developed a cobot component assembly cell for a leading Building Products manufacturer which incorporated an ABB YuMi collaborative robot. The assembly process of injection moulded parts and rubber seals was originally performed manually by production staff, which was not only repetitive, but boring and ultimately not the best use of employees skills.

Hand assembly of the components was seriously restricting output for the customer. Switching to an automated process freed up staff to work elsewhere and increased productivity of the assembly process, which now matches the cycle times of the customers injection moulding capacity.