Custom Assembly Instructions via Image Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face challenges in generating accurate and comprehensive assembly instructions for the vast number of possible product combinations, leading to confusion and inefficiency in assembly processes due to incomplete or irrelevant documentation.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a computing device to retrieve assembly attribute data and model data for product components, generating custom assembly instructions with visualizations, tailored to specific product packages, and presented via an electronic display, allowing for efficient assembly guidance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If instructional documentation includes multiple assembly scenarios to cover all possible product combinations, then the documentation becomes more comprehensive, but the documentation size and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the comprehensive assembly guide into multiple scenario-specific sections. Each scenario is divided into discrete assembly steps that can be independently accessed. This segmentation allows the documentation to cover all possible product combinations while maintaining manageable complexity by organizing content into modular, navigable units rather than presenting all scenarios in a single monolithic document.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by using image recognition technology to automatically identify the products and components present in the user's environment before generating assembly instructions. This pre-identification allows the system to retrieve and present only the relevant assembly scenarios for the specific products detected, eliminating the need for users to navigate through all possible scenarios manually.
2Adaptability or versatility
If instructional documentation includes all possible assembly scenarios, then more product combinations are covered, but users experience confusion due to receiving irrelevant information
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and presents only the specific assembly scenario relevant to the user's detected products and components. By using image recognition to identify the actual items present, the system extracts the pertinent instructions from the comprehensive database and displays only those steps, eliminating irrelevant information that would cause confusion while maintaining complete coverage of all possible scenarios in the underlying database.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring the user's assembly progress and the detected components, then dynamically adjusting and updating the displayed instructions accordingly. This feedback mechanism ensures that users receive accurate, context-specific guidance based on their actual product configuration, improving clarity while the system maintains knowledge of all possible scenarios for future reference.
3Device complexity
If standard instructional sheets cover limited scenarios, then documentation remains simple, but custom assembly configurations cannot be supported
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system comprising image recognition technology and a digital instruction database that bridges the gap between simple standard documentation and custom assembly configurations. This intermediary automatically detects the user's specific product combination, queries the comprehensive database for the appropriate instructions, and presents customized assembly guidance, thereby supporting unlimited custom configurations without requiring complex pre-printed documentation for each scenario.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes parameter changes by dynamically adjusting the displayed assembly instructions based on the detected product parameters and configuration. Rather than using fixed documentation, the system changes the instructional content in real-time according to the specific products and components identified through image recognition, enabling support for custom configurations while maintaining a simple, unified documentation interface.
4Adaptability or versatility
If comprehensive assembly instructions are provided for all product combinations, then all scenarios are covered, but assembly time increases due to information overload
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by automatically identifying the user's specific product configuration through image recognition before the assembly process begins. This pre-identification allows the system to retrieve and display only the relevant assembly steps for the detected products, eliminating the time users would otherwise spend searching through comprehensive but irrelevant instructions, while still maintaining access to all possible scenarios in the underlying database.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and presents only the essential assembly steps relevant to the user's specific product combination, removing unnecessary information from the comprehensive instruction set. This extraction process reduces assembly time by displaying only the pertinent steps while the system maintains the complete scenario coverage in its database for future reference and dynamic retrieval.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for generating assembly instructions may include receiving inputs from a user, such that the inputs may include an indication of components of a product package. The method may also include retrieving assembly attribute data for each component from a first storage component, such that the assembly attribute data includes information regarding compatibility properties between two or more of the plurality of components. The method may then involve retrieving model data for each component from a second storage component, such that the model data is representative of physical properties of a respective component. The method may also include generating the assembly instructions for assembling the components together based on the attribute data and the model data, such that the assembly instructions include visualizations representative of at least a portion of a process for assembling the plurality of components together. The assembly instructions are then presented via an electronic display.