NOVEMBER 22--New products offered by Sony and Tordivel AS will allow users to quickly and cost-effectively tailor robot inspection systems via a high-level interface designed for production engineers, rather than vision system experts. The systems are expected to find applications in industries that require 100% inspection for zero-defect production and have already been proven in the automotive industry, where they have been used to inspect tire-pressure sensors. They will also ease integration and cut costs in general-purpose dispensing and pick-and-place applications.
An initial starter kit combines Tordivel's Scorpion Enterprise software with a Sony CAST robot, XCD710-CR camera plus lens, all of the necessary interface cables, and a two-day training course to help users get up to speed quickly and easily. The Scorpion Enterprise software allows the engineer to undertake any inspection task, from the very complex to the very simple: it can be used to measure dimensions and angles, check for presence of objects and inspect colours, if necessary in a multi-camera environment. It also includes calibration and control facilities required to set up an application.
The system has been in use since early spring 2005 and is outputting 100% inspection of a tray of 180 tire pressure sensors in six minutes. The Sony/Scorpion system logs measurement data and images for each tray of sensors and is used to spot defects such as sensors out of position or glue incorrectly dispensed. The system uses four Sony XCD710-CR cameras: operator intervention (for instance for manual re-inspection) is possible via a point-and-click interface, while setup and configuration is easily performed using Scorpion's robust imag-processing and powerful control features.
By basing the starter kit on Sony's CAST range of robots, Sony and Tordivel can cater to a large variety of applications, including those that require simultaneous control over movement in up to four axes. With positioning accuracy of ±0.01 mm, up to 2500 points per operation program, and speed up to 800 mm/s, the CAST range saves production floor space via compact design and is in use in applications from soldering, dispensing, and screw fastening to marking and depanelling.
In addition, the companies are offering an option based on Sony's ROBOKiD super-compact desktop robot, putting robotic inspection within the reach of most production engineers. The systems were exhibited at the Sony stand at Forum de l'Electronique (Paris, September 2005), Productronica (November 2005), and the Vision Show (Stuttgart, November 2005).