Automated handling of variable objects

A feasibility study for an industrial company.

Which problem do we solve

Problem

An industrial company requested us to automate the handling of variable products with different outlook, size, mass and surface texture. Handling of these products requires new technologies that can tackle this variability:

Variable object detection using advanced computer vision
Variable object manipulation by combining gripper technologies and methods

How we solve it

Solution

We implemented a small scale system to detect and handle variable objects during a feasibility study. Main technological building blocks are a vision system, gripper and cartesian robot. The system performs following functions:

Detect various objects and their position
Move to a selected object and pick it up
Drop the object at a fixed location

Vision system

Computer vision algorithm development

Combining camera images, 3D data and machine learning makes it possible to detect and localize objects with variable outlook and size. Input from a depth camera is processed by the computer vision algorithm to detect and localize the objects in 3D.

Gripper

Design and implementation

A specific gripper is designed and implemented to pick up and hold the objects during movement. It combines:

Suction system to pickup different shapes and surfaces. With it’s foam vacuum cups it can even pick up rough uneven surfaces.
Clamping system using pneumatic cylinders to physically grasp the object and secure it during movement.

The activation of the suction system, position of the sliding and clamping cylinder is controlled using pneumatic valves.

Cartesian robot

Design, Implementation and integration

A cartesian robot is designed from scratch. 4 axis (X, Y, Z and rotation) are controlled to enable movement of the gripper. The desired gripper position can be calculated after transforming the position from the camera to the robot coordinate system.

Based on the initial and desired position, path planning is implemented to move the gripper.