Bin Picking With Photoneo
Application
Order picking, bin picking – All those are modern robotic applications requiring a very precise set of equipment and object recognition. Thankfully, we partnered up with Photoneo for this machine vision example. First, the crate is scanned for objects. Keep in mind that we have all kinds of items at hand – different shapes, colors, depth – kombined with factors like reflection, stickers and so. Just as you get when a warehouse order has to be picked from scratch! We found the combination of a camera scanner setup combined with a robot (in this case a Universal Robot) and a SoftGripper (our SoftGripper) a perfect match to handle a variety of goods! While our main goal is to pick every object that gets into our grips without damaging it, Photoneo goes for the recognition and singeling out of pieces. Just take a look on how the picks are performed, here are some keypoints:
- The robot goes between objects reaching the destination by moving non targeted items apart
- By angeling the robot arm the robot reaches a kiwi without touching other parts
- The camera has a piece in sight. Usually, you would need a gripper tailormade for the form - called form fit - to get a fragile fruit. But, using a SoftGripper formfit is reached by the fingers reaching around the object!
For more information reach out or ask our partner Photoneo. You need the gripper used for your tests?
You can find more information about this gripper on our shop page:
A second look on bin picking
Why Bin Picking? Because this is the future of order picking. All big warehouses are currently experimenting with this technology. Tom Scott was presenting a video where a system of robots was handling order picking. But what is actually picking all the orders? Good question! Here is a second video for order picking including a moving platform the robot is mounted to. This way the robot can move to the bin to pick from and get an item requested. You can guess… This video was made using a SoftGripping – Mobile Robot Kit, a camera solution as well as a moving platform a Universal robot was mounted to. This was a perfect opportunity to have the suction cup get items before being claped by the fingers. Combine this technology with CRM and ERP systems gives a full robotic order fulfillment center!
Not every application requires this level of automation, but even a bakery handling crates of freshly baked goods can get a piece of this technology for a reasonable price!
You are still looking for applications that are involving camera recognition? Here is an article about robotic grippers and object recognition.
