Eye, Robot
March 1st 2006

A new Kuka robotic cell featuring an intuitive vision guidance system is being used by Pilkington in the assembly of vehicle backlights and quarter lights.

The vision system works within a cell where a Kuka KR60 robot solders contacts onto the glass that houses the elements for the vehicle's infotainment systems.

After the glass is loaded into an input conveyor, two statically mounted DVT vision systems read a fiducial mark on the glass and orientate the robot's handling software to correctly intercept the position of the glass.

"In order to calculate the rotation of the piece, the system must be able to compare two stud positions.

A single stud can only provide positions in x and y. Once the calculated positions are transferred the robot's coordinate system, the robot will them re-orientate to pick up the glass component and offer it accurately to the soldering machine," explains Paul Richards, general sales manager at Kuka Automation and Robotics.

More articles from Kuka Welding Systems + Robot L: