Photoneo 3D Vision Powers High-Speed Bin Picking of Heavy Brake Discs for Leading Italian Foundry
By Pavel Soral || August 6, 2025
Modern industrial automation works best when smart vision systems and robots team up. A great example of this is a project by Tiesse Robot for Fonderia di Torbole, a well-known Italian foundry that specializes in parts for the automotive industry.
The aim was to fully automate the handling of brake discs, starting with picking the raw parts and ending with getting them ready for painting.
The system includes three connected robotic stations that work together, relying on Photoneo’s 3D vision to guide the robots with accuracy and reliability – even in messy, unpredictable environments.
The Challenge: Automating the Unpredictable
The goal was to fully automate the handling of heavy brake discs, from a semi-structured bin to the final preparation for painting. The initial stage, bin picking, presented a significant hurdle. The raw parts – cast iron and steel brake discs weighing up to 15 kg each – are piled in large bins.
A successful automation solution needed to:
- Reliably identify and locate discs in any orientation within a large bin.
- Handle heavy, metallic parts with potentially reflective or dark surfaces.
- Provide precise 3D coordinates to a robot for a secure grip.
- Calculate collision-free paths for the robot arm and gripper to prevent damage to the parts, the bin, or the robot itself.
- Achieve a fast cycle time (under 45 seconds) to feed the rest of the production line without interruption.
The Solution: Intelligent 3D Vision by Photoneo
Tiesse Robot built the first of three robotic islands around a Kawasaki RS080N robot guided by Photoneo’s cutting-edge bin picking solution. This combination transformed the challenging task into a reliable and efficient automated process.
The system leverages two core Photoneo technologies:
The Role of PhoXi 3D Scanner XL
Chosen for its large scanning volume and high-resolution output, the PhoXi 3D Scanner is perfectly suited for large industrial bins. Using advanced structured light technology, it captures a detailed and accurate 3D point cloud of the entire bin in a single scan, effectively mapping the position and orientation of every visible brake disc, regardless of their chaotic arrangement. Its robust build ensures flawless performance in the demanding foundry environment.