Control nozzles and pump pistons in automobiles are subject to heavy conditions. In order to avoid wear and tear even after thousands of kilometers driven, the affected parts are carbon coated. In order to feed the coating machine the cylindrical parts are inserted into rings which feature a varying number of blind holes. The robot will have to pick up the pins, and insert them into the annularly arranged blind holes.
The disks are positioned on simple carriers with low accuracy. In order to facilitate precise pin insertion, vision systems are deployed. They serve to accurately determine the holes’ positions, and to navigate the robot accordingly. The hole measurement requires close-ups in order to achieve the accuracy needed for insertion. Therefore, the camera is fixed to the robot arm, which allows for precisely moving it to any requested measurement position.
The measured coordinates of the hole centers are transmitted to the robot, which computes all positions on the disk’s edge, and subsequently loads the disk with parts for coating. The VISIONexpert® software package provided by Compar serves to calibrate robots and vision, as well as to teach new types of parts.
