Smart 3D Snapshot Sensors Are Ideal
Snapshot sensors use structured light and a stereo camera design to capture high-density 3D point clouds of a part or feature from two different vantage points—all in a single “snapshot” scan.
Each 3D point cloud consists of millions of data points that accurately represent the true 3D shape of the surface of a target. Rich 3D point clouds are especially useful in robotic applications because the scan data identifies both the position and orientation of a part necessary in pick and place processes.
Smart 3D Means … Seamless Robot Integration
A smart 3D snapshot sensor not only acquires 3D data but also analyzes the scan data to identify discrete parts and their location and orientation. The sensor communicates this X-Y-Z and angle information to an industrial robot. The smart sensor requires no additional external software or PC to interface with the robot in this way. Everything is onboard the sensor.
For example, Gocator® can be mounted on a robot effector and hand-eye calibration can be performed to determine the snapshot coordinate transformation to robot coordinates. Gocator offers built-in tools that locate parts and communicate these measurements over strings to a robot controller using a TCP/IP socket.
Integrating Gocator® with your robot is easily accomplished by following a series of one-click steps within the browser-based user interface:
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Trigger a snapshot sensor to capture data
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Enable and configure part detection
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Enable and configure part matching for orientation
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Add a bounding box tool for position
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Set output to ASCII and configure “String” to communicate measurements to a UR-robot
Once you’ve gone through this quick setup, your Gocator-driven robot is pick-and-place ready!
You can learn more about 3D smart sensors and vision-guided robotic systems in this free white paper.