Solution Design
This section introduces the solution design of the Square Steel Billets solution, including the workflow of the vision system, software combination, camera model selection, and calibration board selection.
Software Combination
This solution uses Mech-Vision to recognize the poses of square steel billets and uses Mech-Viz to plan the path for picking.
As shown below, Mech-Viz plans a robot picking path based on the pose and returns it to an external device (such as a robot, PLC, etc.) through Standard Interface communication.
Select Camera and Determine Mounting Height
Considering the camera’s field of view, accuracy and working distance, it is recommended to use Mech-Eye LSR L-GL industrial 3D camera (hereinafter referred to as LSR L-GL camera) for loading randomly stacked square steel billets. The camera has high accuracy, fast speed, and excellent resistance to ambient light. For detailed technical specifications of the camera, please refer to LSR L-GLTechnical Specifications. If you need to use a camera of other models, please use the 3D Camera Selector to select the appropriate model.
After determining the camera model, please use the 3D Camera Selector to determine the mounting height of the camera. Follow the steps below:
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Determine the dimensions of the objects on the top layer and the possible maximum heights, and fill in the Object dimensions in the Length, Width and Height tabs.
To accommodate deviations in the position of the incoming objects, a margin of 150–200 mm should be left on each side of the top layer, as shown below. Namely, the length and height values should be the dimensions of the top layer of the object + the margin reserved in the figure below.
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Turn on the switch to the right of Distance from camera to object and keep adjusting the parameter value until the square on the right that represents the object is at the center of the camera FOV and is completely covered, i.e., the square becomes green.
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Mounting height = Distance from camera to object + object height
To ensure good data quality, the distance from the camera to the top layer of the object should be within the recommended working distance, provided that the requirements of FOV and robot workspace are met.
Select IPC Model
The recommended IPC is Mech-Mind IPC STD, which is suitable for regular depalletizing and loading scenarios.
Select Robot Model
To pick square steel billets, a small payload, high-accuracy six-axis robot should be selected according to the picking range and accuracy requirements. The KAWASAKI_RS010N robot is used as an example in this solution.
For robots of other brands, please refer to Robot Model Selection.
Workstation Layout Design
The layout of the on-site workstation is shown in the figure below. The LSR L-GL camera is mounted 2 meters directly above the bin. After capturing the images, the camera can acquire the point clouds of the bin and all target objects in it. The items in the figure are: 1-camera stand; 2-LSR L-GLcamera; 3-robot; 4-robot tool; 5-infeed bin; 6-pallet.
Robot Tool Design
In this solution, a pneumatically controlled magnetic gripper is used to pick target objects with an offset. Please click here to download the model of the gripper.
The gripper design is shown in the figure below: 1-connecting rod; 2-buffering mechanism; 3-gas-controlled permanent magnet; 4-magnetic suction surface.
| In the gripper shown in the figure above, the pink and purple surfaces on the gripper are all magnetic, which can be used to pick target objects. |