ABB Robots and 3D Vision: Teaching Robots to See

From hand inspection to 3D cameras: IDS's Nion ToF camera hits series production, and ABB's PickMaster Lite links 2D and 3D vision to fast picking robots.

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

Chat With Robot

9/24/20261 min read

For most of factory history, quality control meant a person looking closely. In 1942 a former librarian, photographed for the US war effort, inspected aircraft parts by eye and with gauges, one piece at a time. Robots on the same lines could move parts but had no idea what they were holding.

Black and white photo of a woman inspecting small metal parts at a bench with a gauge

A former librarian inspecting aircraft parts by hand in 1942. Photo: Ann Rosener, US Office of War Information / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Measuring improved long before robots could see. Coordinate measuring machines and later portable scanning arms gave precise 3D measurements, but a person still had to set up each part. Cheap depth sensing reached homes first: the Xbox Kinect put a 3D camera under millions of TVs in 2010.

Red articulated measuring arm on a desk next to computer screens showing a 3D scan

A portable measuring arm with a 3D scanner head. Photo: TestoCH / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On August 24, IDS said its Nion time-of-flight camera is now in series production. It captures 1.2-megapixel depth images at 30 frames per second over 0.3 to 7.5 meters, in an IP67 housing, and is meant for robots that pick and check parts at normal line speed.

Black Xbox 360 Kinect sensor bar on a stand

Microsoft's Kinect sensor, which brought depth cameras into living rooms in 2010. Photo: James Pfaff / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

ABB's side of this is software that turns camera data into robot moves. In May it launched PickMaster Lite, a simpler version of its PickMaster picking suite that links 2D and 3D vision to high-speed robots such as the IRB 360 FlexPicker and tracks items on moving conveyors.

Engineer at a laptop beside an enclosed ABB delta robot picking cell

An ABB FlexPicker cell set up with PickMaster Lite. Photo: ABB

ABB says the preset templates cut engineering effort by 30% and commissioning time by 25% compared with conventional pick-and-place software. It runs through the OmniCore controller and connects to RobotStudio, so a picking cell can be simulated as a digital twin before anyone builds it.

Finger touching an HMI screen showing robot picking cell parameters

Setting up a picking job on a touch panel with ABB PickMaster Lite. Photo: ABB

Better cameras and easier software mean more robots that can see what they pick up, and eventually spot a bad part on their own. The same depth sensing is already in phones and robot vacuums. I'd expect a home robot's ability to find a mug in a cluttered sink to depend on it too.

Man using the touch screen on an ABB FlexPicker picking cell

PickMaster Lite runs on ABB's OmniCore controller and links to RobotStudio. Photo: ABB

Innovation

AI solutions for effortless ABB robot control.

Automation

Robotics

ceojohntran@chatwithrobot.net

+84905311611

qtran1215@gmail.com

Instagram