Vision-Guided Robotic Part Picking for Quantity Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated materials handling systems lack the capability to reliably pick the correct number of parts with varying shapes, sizes, and weights, and fail to efficiently package and label items for multiple orders destined to different locations.
Innovation Solution
An automated system comprising a conveyor, first and second robotic arms, vision devices, and an automated packing and labeling machine, controlled by processors executing program instructions to accurately pick, count, and package parts, and adjust the picking process based on predetermined specifications, ensuring correct quantities and labeling, with the second robotic arm placing packages into shipping containers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If automated robotic arms are used to pick parts, then productivity is improved, but reliability of picking correct quantity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs vision devices to capture images of picked parts and provides feedback to the control system. The control system processes these images to verify the quantity and correctness of picked parts, then provides corrective feedback by identifying which parts need to be returned to the receptacle. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures high reliability in part picking accuracy while maintaining automated high-speed operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary verification of picked parts using vision devices before final packaging. By checking the quantity and correctness of parts immediately after picking and before packaging, the system can identify and correct errors in advance, preventing defective orders from proceeding further in the fulfillment process.
2Reliability
If vision devices are added to verify part quantity, then reliability is improved, but device complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The vision devices serve multiple functions: they verify part quantity, identify part types, and provide positioning information for the robotic arm. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate verification systems, thereby limiting the increase in overall system complexity while achieving reliable part counting and identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system acts as an intermediary that processes vision device data and coordinates between the robotic arm and verification processes. By centralizing the intelligence in the control system rather than distributing complex verification logic across multiple independent devices, the system achieves reliable verification with manageable complexity.
3Productivity
If multiple orders are packaged together, then productivity is improved, but loss of information is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments orders into different packaging groups based on their destination and requirements. By organizing parts and packages according to their final destinations before consolidation, the system maintains clear tracking information for each order even when multiple orders are packaged together in the same shipping container, preventing information loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system creates and maintains digital copies of order information and destination data for each package. These digital records are updated and tracked throughout the packaging process, ensuring that even when physical packages are consolidated, the information about each order's destination and contents is preserved and can be retrieved when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
An automated parts handling system includes a conveyor, a robotic arm configured to pick parts from a parts receptacle and place the picked parts on the conveyor, a vision device disposed over or adjacent the conveyor and configured to determine the number of parts picked by the robotic arm from the parts receptacle and placed on the conveyor, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the conveyor, the robotic arm, and the vision device. The memory includes program instructions executable by the processor to implement a pick process configured to receive information from the vision device on the number of parts picked by the robotic arm and placed on the conveyor, based on the received information regarding the number of picked parts, selectively control the robotic arm to retrieve from the conveyor a number of the picked parts, and selectively control the robotic arm to place one or more of the retrieved parts back in the parts receptacle when the number of parts picked by the robotic arm differs from a predetermined number of parts specified in the program instructions.