Product handling for randomly fed parts requires a recognition of the position and orientation of each single part. Depending on the application, vision sensors with integrated processor or networked cameras with centralized processor can be used.
Demanding algorithms for inspection, sorting and grading require the recognition of additional product characteristics for each single part. Critical and validated applications in the medical, pharmaceutical or semiconductor industry may even require multiple inspections or advanced data matching with an external data base.
VELTRU specifies a simple minimal standard interface for machine vision to allow integrating any vision system. This interface makes use of the existing calibration routines to determine the sensor location relative to the robot and to communicate product location and orientation on a conveyor belt.
The VELTRU V10 Vision Connection is a tight integration for the Matrox Design Assistant, a flow chart based configuration tool for Matrox Machine Vision products. The V10 Vision Connection has been designed for integrating machine vision into VELTRU's robotics applications, but may as well be used as a stand-alone feature to integrate Matrox Machine Vision into the CODESYS PLC environment.
The V10 Vision Connection allows the communication of any parameter between the robot controllers and the machine vision system. For example the robot controller may trigger a capture on the camera. The results of the vision algorithm as position, orientation and quality features of products are sent back to the robot controller. It is also possible to communicate configuration parameters of the vision system. This allows to centralize the format parameters (recipe). The visualization of the robot application allows to incorporate live pictures of the vision system. The V10 Vision Connection allows controlling several cameras with one robot controller. It is also possible to connect several robot controller to one and the same vision system. The Ethernet communication is monitored and automatically reestablished, if needed.
For the calibration of the system the V10 Vision Connection and the C10 Application Templates offer all necessary functionalities and visualizations. The default parameters match the VELTRU Calibration Toolkit.
VELTRU V10 Vision includes a Matrox Iris GT* camera, the V10 Vision Connection and a Connection Box. The Matrox Iris GT* camera is available in various resolutions and with several sensors. The Connection Box considerably simplifies the wiring and optionally is available with integrated 12W LED strips, resulting in a very compact solution for standard applications. The PWM output of the Connection Box allows dimming additional VELTRU VL LED products.