The Robot Report

from DESIGN WORLD_THE ROBOT REPORT_FEBRUARY 2023

The Robot Report Cobot assists plastic finishers with quality inspection

Solution

Equipped with dual Keyence cameras, the LBR iisy cobot checks DMCs. Each tray that slides under the LBR iisy contains 200 plastic parts. One camera carries out the quality inspection with associated software, while the second camera assesses codes for completeness.

“The first step spot checks the quality of the codes on the basis of 20 parts,” explained Hertz. “If everything is OK, the cobot moves over the tray again to check whether all 200 parts are present and all codes are readable.”

If the robot finds an issue with a code, it stops and points out the affected bus connector. A human colleague then replaces the faulty part; the robot checks the tray again and ideally releases it. This human-robot collaboration ensures maximum safety and efficiency.

With the aid of the KUKA smartPAD pro and the KR C5 microrobot controller, even employees with virtually no experience in robot programming can operate and train the cobot.

“The LBR iisy runs on the basis of the new iiQKA.OS operating system, which makes it easy to install, configure and program,” said KUKA’s Robert Korte. The cobot not only is up and running in just a few minutes but can adapt to new challenges equally quickly. That’s an enormous advantage for Fest: “We don’t have engineers here, so ease of integration is all the more important.”

Bastian Fest, managing director of FMO Surface, met Korte at a trade show and learned about the advantages of the LBR iisy collaborative robot. Fest then took a closer look at the LBR iisy at KUKA’s branch office in Siegen and decided to purchase it.

“The LBR iisy combines several factors that we require: flexibility, ease of programming and suitability for collaborative operation. That is why we purchased it, even without actually knowing where exactly we wanted to use it,” said Fest of this seemingly unusual approach.