Bin Picking was born as the result of the union between a vision team and a robot. Conceptually, the operation is very simple, it is based on extracting pieces arranged in a chaotic way from a basket in order to palletize them neatly in a basket for delivery to the customer or even the direct feeding of different tools or tools.
The vision equipment is a 3D system that allows us to analyze the scene and locate the different pieces in space. In addition, it establishes which part is the most suitable to extract in each cycle, optimizing the entire process. Unlike traditional pick and place applications, based on vision systems where the trajectories are previously recorded and where the vision system is in charge of correcting said trajectories, Bin Picking systems self-generate picking trajectories based on the Localized parts and their work environment (columns that may exist, basket walls …) to achieve greater process efficiency.
The different processes that are carried out in a Bin Picking system are:
- Bulk Parts Container Scan
- Analysis of the information captured by the 3D camera identifying the different pieces present in the basket
- Establishment of the order of catching the located pieces for the correct optimization of the emptying of the basket
- Automatic calculation of the catch path by the vision software and sending it to the robot system
- Picking up the piece avoiding the different obstacles such as the container walls
- Deposit of the piece in the corresponding place
The difficulty largely resides in the type of part to be located. It varies depending on the size of the pieces, their shape (normally the flatter the pieces are, making it difficult to locate them correctly in space), the amount of brightness that these pieces generate …
A basic Bin Picking system is composed of a 3D vision camera, a vision PC where there is software where the captured information is processed and a robot for handling the pieces. The precision of these systems is not excessively great. For this reason, it is sometimes necessary to complement this basic system with some additional vision equipment for the repositioning of parts on the fly or an intermediate centering position.
Advantages of Bin Picking systems:
- Great flexibility and versatility, both in workload and reprogramming
- Higher productivity can be achieved, being able to work non-stop with minimal supervision
- They perform repetitive tasks, always with the same precision
- Vision recognizes and locates the position and orientations of parts in space
- Automatically calculates trajectories and robot movements avoiding collisions with its environment
- Quick payback of the system
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