Fanuc Conveyor Tracking

[Rosamunda Froats]

Ifyou are comfortable with UFRAMEs andUTOOLs, youshould catch on to line tracking quickly. A tracking frame is reallyjust a standard UFRAME that moves as an encoder signal changes. Themost common use is tracking a conveyor belt. You mount an encoder to oneof the axes or use a friction wheel to get feedback when the belt moves.You then sync up your tracking program with some external condition(maybe a part passes a photoeye), and the robot then moves along withthe conveyor relative to that trigger.

You jog the target to where the robot can reach it. (The target justhappens to be a 100mm cube right in the middle of the conveyor, and youalso taught the tracking frame in the middle of the conveyor.) If youteach a point at the center of the top cube face, what will thecomponents be?

When used in combination with iRVision, iRPickTool can do visual tracking, conduct quality control checks, read barcodes and, depending on how many cameras are used, manage different conveyor widths.

iRPickTool supports everything from the very simplest line setup to multiple, circular and highly sophisticated layouts. Nevertheless, changing setups is easy thanks to remote modelling using FANUC ROBOGUIDE's iRPickPRO tool and ready-to-use program recipes.

I am working on an R30iB plus controller with a Fanuc M20 that is using line tracking. The tracking is initiated when a part passes a photo eye. I want to move on the part and track it until it reaches its destination. the issue i am having is stopping the robot from tracking too far on the conveyor. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'm trying out simulating a conveyor in Roboguide, complete with parts, line-tracking and pick and place. I've followed the steps in the Roboguide help (under 'Conveyor Tracking with Roboguide'), and got a conveyor going with parts and can start and stop everything using the conveyor toolbar.

After writing a simple tracking program and testing it (again using the conveyor toolbar) I think I got everything in place (tracking works as I expect it to work), but am facing difficulties getting the simulated conveyor to give me a proper signal on the part detect switch (which I've configured as being on DI[1]. No tracking queues yet).

I haven't tried it since maybe V7 Rev D so I don't know if they've fixed it, but my understanding was that line tracking never fully worked in HandlingPro. The guy I talked to at FANUC said that they just use PickPRO when they want to simulate line tracking, even if it's just one robot.

A way around this, I've found, is to use LINECOUNT and SETTRIG commands to reset the line tracking frame. You can then throw those into a program in a macro and have it trigger off of a digital input.

From the Roboguide help I got the impression that the simulation should take care of triggering the part detect, based on the position of the sensor (in the tracking schedule) and the position of the part(s).

At FANUC, our goal is to provide customers with a complete,one-stop solution for automation. Our iRVisionproducts do just that: Providing you with the industry'sbest robotic vision products and service to help solve yourmanufacturing challenges.

All FANUC robots are iRVisionready. For you, this means that all your FANUC robots arealready empowered to make your processes faster, moreefficient, and more profitable for your business - Allbacked by FANUC's 24/7/365 service and support network atmore than 260 locations worldwide. You cantrust FANUC with all your vision needs.

iRVision findsparts and their precise position and orientation (X,Y, Z and R).As a result, production flexibility increases because expensivepositioning fixtures are not required. 20 vision is suited forany material handling application including palletizing anddepalletizing, as well as vision inspection.

iRVision 3DL uses ahybrid sensor head (FANUC development) for the 3D visionfunction. The 3DL head uses structured laser light projectionsfor reliable detections. The projection of structured lightmakes the system robust against various surface conditions (e.g.flat metal, rust, wet, discolorations, etc.). Using this hybridtechnology, FANUC's 3DL Sensor can detect the position andposture of a part in 3D.

The iRVision 3DArea Sensor uses a projector unit for 3D measurements. 3D datais measured in a wide area by projecting structured light veryquickly for reliable detection. A 3DV Sensor may be used fordepalletizing, kitting, tote picking, presence/absence check, 3Dvisual line tracking and many more applications. The 3DV Sensoris also ideal for 2D applications with low contrast or hard tofind targets.

iRVision 3D AreaSensor uses a projector unit for 3D measurements. 3D data ismeasured in a wide area by projecting structured light veryquickly for reliable detection. A 3DA Sensor can be mainly usedfor depalletizing and bin picking.

iRVision 2Dfunctionality can be added to iRPickTool tosupport the detection of randomly placed parts on a movingconveyor. This way, the iRPickToolequips single or multiple robots with the ability to identify,pick and place items in linear and/or circular conveyortracking. This is supported by a wide range of featuresincluding advanced queue management, buffering and trayfunctionality.

iRCalibrationfunctions are based on iRVision,but it is a stand-alone service tool to simplify the initialsetup and speed up the entire integration, which improvesapplication accuracy. Additional solutions based on visionsystems are the iRVisionWeld Tip Inspection, which prevents wear and tear of the weldtip, and the iRTorchMate,which inspects the arc torch, and calculates and correctspossible misalignment.

Wherever you need us, we're available to provide sales,support and customer service all over the world. You can besure to have access to a local contact who speaks yourlanguage. From pre-sale to integration and maintenancesupport, we're here to support your vision integration fromstart to finish.

Visual Line Tracking has a wide range of product applications from picking smaller objects from quickly moving conveyor (conveyor speeds can exceed 250 ft/minute) using high speed delta robots to picking heavier payload objects like car frames with larger, higher capacity, slower moving robots off of continuously moving assembly lines.

If you would like to learn more about line tracking download the FANUC tech sheet. Contact Motion Controls Robotics to learn more about integrating a robotic pick and place line tracking or visual line tracking application.

End of Line case palletizing, including pallet dispenser and robotic slip sheet placement. This AMI system includes a FANUC M-410iC/185 Robot and AMI ease of use product selection database for quick change over.

End of line case and bucket palletizing: customer required one End of arm tool to palletize both RSC, butterfly cases, and buckets of Product. This AMI system includes a FANUC M-710iC/50H Robot and Unigripper Pad gripper with AMI ease of use HMI product selection for quick change over.

Warehouse depalletizing bulk loads and then re-palletized into store specific pallets. This AMI system includes two (2) FANUC M-410iC/185 Robots and Unigripper Pad grippers with AMI ease of use HMI graphical interface and PLC programming for ease of operation and troubleshooting. One of the FANUC M-410iC/185 Robots runs with onboard FANUC iRVision to guide depalletizing.

Pail palletizing with robotic label application and automatic stretch-wrapping. This AMI system includes a FANUC M-710iC/50H Robot, custom AMI pail handling end of arm tool, robot activated label applicator, and Lantech wrapper for seamless integration and operation.

High speed pick and place tray unloading application to feed downstream flow wrapper and retail case building. This AMI system includes a FANUC M-10iD/12 Robot and AMI custom designed EoAT that rotates product after picking for singulation and also includes conveyor tracking for stable placement.

Robotic loading of small tubes and unloading blister backs from a Sonoco Alloyd rotary blister seal machine. Fanuc SR-6iA scara robots use visual line tracking to randomly pick and load various blister pack configurations (quick change and set up). Fanuc LR Mate 200iD unloading completed single and multi-packs and collating them for retail tray loading.

The FANUC SR-3iA SCARA robot uses iRvision and a one-axis gripper to accurately pick and orient the burs for placement into a specific fixture at high speeds. After the dental burs have been loaded into the fixture, the SR-3iA robot places it onto an outgoing conveyor. It then picks a new fixture model from a nested drawer and places it onto the worktable to begin loading burs that fit the fixture. The intelligent vision system and nested fixture drawers allow for on the fly loading of mixed parts to various fixture models.

Fanuc M-410iC/185 robot palletizing pails. The robot orients the pails for labeling and palletizing based on the handle location. The system shows updated status and production counts, and handles partial loads with ease.

Automated ball detent assembly system. Flexible solution for high product mix in a small space. Fanuc robots & iRVision 2D Guidance with Flexomation feeders load small components (#4-40 threaded bodies, springs and balls). 100% part inspection with Cognex.

Remtec was approached by a company in need of a case packing and palletizing system to reduce costs and increase productivity. This company produces products such as paper plates & bowls that get shipped nationwide. Discovering Remtec was one of the nations top system integrators, the company met with Remtec to discuss the requirements, ideas, and vision for their end-of-line system. This resulted in the system shown here.

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