In the following robotics case study, discover how start-up Unchained Robotics delivers personalised calendars of varying formats to customers, at pace, using a system comprising a collaborative robot and 3D sensor from ifm.
An industrial area on the outskirts of Paderborn in East Westphalia. This is where large quantities of calendars are produced in a great variety of different formats, from DIN A5 to DIN A3. They are all packed for shipment and fed to the pick & place station from Unchained Robotics. Here, a laser scanner automatically detects the bar code to allow tracking via track & trace, before the calendar is picked from the conveyor belt by a collaborative robot and placed on a transport pallet or in a post box, neatly sorted by size.
3D sensor and ifm’s technical support
The heart of the robot installation is the 3D sensor from ifm, the O3D. The operating principle of the O3D is based on the time-of-flight principle.
By means of 23,000 pixels arranged in a matrix, the 3D sensor detects the time needed by the light emitted to reach the sensor again as a reflection per capture. Based on this data, the O3D precisely calculates the spatial dimensions of objects and scenes.
“We particularly opted for the O3D and for ifm because of the easy integration into our in-house developed software,” said Mladen Milicevic, one of the founders of Unchained Robotics. “And if we had questions, ifm’s support helped us quickly and competently.”
Precision prevents collisions
Depending on the format, the robot places up to 12 calendars in a 3 x 4 pattern at the placement location. Thanks to the precise positioning, a stack height of up to 70 centimetres is possible even on open pallets. The high precision obtained by the 3D sensor is indispensable for the pick & place task carried out by the robot.
The camera and the software are the core of the solution
With a frequency rate of eight seconds, the pick & place solution of the start-up also masters the high requirements placed on it in the time before Christmas, when up to 6,000 calendars per day leave the printing shop. The packages can have a weight of up to eight kilograms.
Another advantage of this powerful combination of sensor and software: as no other system components are required besides the robot arm, the costs for implementation are kept to a minimum.
Conclusion
The O3D is a central element of the pick & place solution from Unchained Robotics. Thanks to the exact detection in three dimensions of the packages, the 3D sensor provides reliable information to the software which helps to precisely control the robot arm. Even during the printing shop’s busiest times, the calendars are reliably put in the correct placement location, and reach the customers in time.
