With the development of automation, the "SCARA Robotic Arm Flexible Loading & Unloading System" is required in the fields of 3C electronics, semiconductors, lithium batteries, photovoltaics, food and medical, etc. Through this system, it improves production efficiency and precision, reduces operating costs. And it can adapt to all kinds of sizes and materials flexibility, then materials can be transferred rapidly, the whole production process is optimized well. Therefore, it promotes corresponding applications greatly.
*Low Flexibility*
It uses bowl-type vibrating plates, which are usually used for specific products, that is, it can't be very flexible to process size and shape changes.
*Limited Speed & Efficiency*
In high-speed production environment, there are some speed limits caused by mechanical design, vision processing, motion control data interaction, namely, it can't meet high quality or quick material transferring requirements.
*Complex System Integration*
Multiple components are involved, such as robot, vision system, control system, feeding system, etc., and there may be differences in protocols and data formats between these devices, which means it exists "compatibility problem", then debugging cycle will be increased.
*Low Data Circulation*
For old system, it may not support real-time data processing or remote monitoring, limiting the implementation of your intelligent manufacturing, and failing to integrate seamlessly with the MES system.
*High Cost*
It needs multiple sets of hardware, and the market employment and maintenance costs remain high, increasing your operating costs.
--No Problem, For Zmotion SCARA Automatic Loading & Unloading Solution--
According to current market requirements, Zmotion has developed a "SCARA Robot Loading & Unloading Solution" , which is based on Zmotion hardware and software:
A. Hardware: Zmotion VPLC Series Vision Motion Controller
B. Software: RTFuse Fast Configuration Software.
This Zmotion system combines point teaching with RTFuse fast configuration to quickly develop loader and unloader at one-stop. Then:
*effectively shorten the project period*
*reduce maintenance and labor costs*
*improve corporate revenue and production line automation*
In addition, this solution can flexibly adapt to materials of various sizes and materials. It only needs the operator to adjust vision and motion control functional module parameters, then material transfer can be achieved in the shortest time. Obviously, it is with high data processing speed, simple production process, and less labor working.
Therefore, it can achieve high-speed & high-precision, and it belongs to "Flexible" robotic arm loading and unloading, then can be applied in tray placing machines, laminating machines, food and medical packaging, assembly and sorting, etc.
Let's see more details.
SCARA Robotic Arm Flexible Loading & Unloading
(1) How Zmotion SCARA Loading & Unloading Designs
--20DI: connect to sensors of origin, position limit, and switch signals, encoders, etc.
--20DO: high-speed OUT connects to hard trigger IN of industrial camera and dispensing valve.
--EtherCAT: connect to EtherCAT drives for controlling other axes.
--4 Single-Ended Pulse OUT: connect to pulse drives for controlling conveyor belt.
--RS232: connect to light source controller.
--EtherNET: Gigabit network port, connect to area-scan camera that supports Gige protocol to do vision positioning, vision detection.
(2) How to Communicate with "Flexible Vibration Plate"
Zmotion SCARA robotic arm flexible loading and unloading solution supports a variety of flexible vibration plate communication protocols.
The vibration plate body is equipped with an Ethernet, RS232/RS485, I/O signals, so it supports Modbus-TCP and Modbus-RTU communication.
In this solution, trigger the flexible vibration plate I/O signal to do communication. Ideal vibration can be achieved by debugging the plate according to provided parameter configuration software.
(3) How to Do Motion Control & Vision Control
A. Motion Control
Step 1: trigger the plate to quick vibrate through IO signals, make materials distribute evenly in the material plate.
Step 2: upper camera takes the picture for materials, data is processed at the same time.
Step 3: SCARA moves along with preset path according to processed data by vision, achieving accurate point to point motion control.
Then, SCARA robotic arm will
Capture the Material → Photo (the second time) → Unload the Material.
During the whole process, the control system real-time adjusts the speed of each joint to achieve a smoother motion trajectory.
B. Vision Control
During the flexible loading and unloading process of the SCARA,
Step 1: position multiple materials (in the plate) roughly through "shape matching" tool.
Step 2: transfer material's world coordinates by coordinate coefficient correction to robotic arm for capturing.
Step 3: move materials to bottom camera's photo position for vision fly-shooting, do second time positioning for position correction.
Then, SCARA robotic arm can achieve accurately unloading. That is, high positioning precision can be met.
(4) How to Configure Loading & Unloading
(5) Why This Solution -- Core Advantages
A. High Integration
Integrates rich functional modules, such as, IO control, 30+ robot algorithms, machine vision and motion control, communication, etc., then it can flexibly build a motion control + vision control robot soft vibration loading and unloading solution.
B. Easy Debugging & Fast Completion
No need engineers to program. It only needs adjust parameters, shortening the project period, improving data processing speed, as well as quickly assessing the potential risks of new projects, with higher efficiency
C. Flexible System
No need complex mechanical disassembly and assembly processes, reset parameters to adapt to production plan changes. It is suitable for various small parts scattered loading.
D. High Precision
Identify material position through visual system, no need fixed fixture to specify the material incoming direction, then it can accurately locate the material position of the vibration plate.
E. Low Labor & Operation Costs
No need so much labor, one person can operate multiple devices. And reduce costs caused by loss of engineering personnel, human errors, rework, maintenance, as well as time costs.
(1) Hardware Configuration
--VPLC7XX Vision Motion Controller--
VPLC711 is a high-performance machine vision EtherCAT motion controller based on x86 platform and Windows operating system. It can run offline, and there are rich motion control, vision control, IO control, and 30+ robot algorithms. Then vision and motion control projects' configuration processes can be simplified greatly.
What's more, it is very convenient to install and disassemble it, and it only occupies a small space, then can be seamlessly integrated with other control unit components (such as servo drives, sensors, encoders, control valves, etc.) and MES systems, one complete end-to-end vision motion control solution can be provided for you.
Axis Control: 6-64 axes motion control (pulse + EtherCAT)
Data Processing & Interaction: one real-time kernel MotionRT7, and other vision software are valid.
IN & OUT: 20 general inputs (10 are high-speed) and 20 high-speed outputs.
Multi-Core Parallel Operation: process motion control, machine vision and other automation device core tasks efficiently.
Motion Control & Vision Control: achieve open IPC format real-time soft control / soft PLC integrated vision + motion control solution.
(2) Software Configuration: RTFuse Flexible-Vibration Loading & Unloading System
Zmotion "RTFuse Flexible-Vibration Loading & Unloading System" provides one-stop solution mainly for motion control + vision control loading and unloading. This software simplifies parameters setting, and matches with image acquisition system, then development period and cost can be reduced a lot.
**Easy to Adapt to Camera**
Most of mainstream cameras are valid, and 4 cameras can be used at the same time for acquisition and fly-shooting.
**Quick to Configurate**
Parameters can be set easily and rapidly, parameters of robotic arm, axes, vibration plate, camera, matrix material plate, tool.
**Teaching**
Multiple points' position can be taught by one operation, like, paths of loading, unloading, fly-shooting, etc.
**Coordinate Correction**
Camera calibration can be done, including XY coordinate direction modification, world coordinate position correction.
**Automatic Calibration**
Through motion points that were taught well, one "click" can complete automatic calibration.
**Flexible System Switching**
Switch to RTFuse (fast configuration system) for vision detection.
**Visible Interface**
It is a visible interface, data can be watched easily. It can real-time show enable state, homing state, the number of positioning, placement count, etc.
**Multiple Valid Robotic Arms**
Support robotic arms of 4-axis module, SCARA, Delta, Cartesian coordinate, 6-joint, etc.
