SEPTEMBER 30, 2009--Robotics integrator QComp Technologies (Greenville, WI, USA; www.qcomptech.com) has been selected by Ruud Lighting (www.ruudlighting.com) of Racine, WI, to provide an automated optical lens pick-and-place system. The robotic cell using a four-axis delta robot and vision has "significantly increased" Ruud Lighting's production speed and improved overall efficiency, quality, and employee safety, say the companies.
"Ruud Lighting's LED technology is state-of-the-art and they are constantly looking to improve their processes as well as their technology to ensure their customers' and their own efficiency and profitability," says Tom Doyle, president of QComp Technologies. "QComp's research has shown that our robotic picking system will help them more efficiently use their production floor space, maximize their return on investment, and have minimal production interruption."
QComp designed and installed a plastic optical lens pick-and-place automation cell using an ABB FlexPicker robot and a Cognex In-Sight vision system. With information fed to it via the vision system, the FlexPicker robot picks, orients, and places individual lenses into an LED light engine assembly that holds various quantities of lenses. The light engines are then configured and assembled into a variety of LED lighting fixtures. The cell is capable of accommodating different light engine covers and lens shapes, making it flexible.
-- Posted by Carrie Meadows, Vision Systems Design, www.vision-systems.com