3D Vision Sensor for Robot Arms Launched

OMRON Corporation announced the release of its new FH-SMD Series 3D Vision Sensor. The FH-SMD Series can be mounted on a robot to recognize randomly placed automotive parts in three dimensions, enabling space-saving assembly, inspection, and pick & place, which are difficult with conventional robots, and improving productivity. OMRON continues to contribute to bringing innovation to manufacturing sites through total solutions combining robots and automation devices. Production workers are hard to come by these days, and labor costs have risen sharply. Manufacturers are now facing intense pressure to automate processes that rely on the senses of experienced human workers. Moreover, production workers now need to work harmoniously with machines to raise productivity amid the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, the automotive industry requires vision sensors as the eyes of robots that are indispensable for automation because it is difficult for machines to recognize positions and postures of various complex-shaped parts. However, conventional large 3D vision sensors take a long time to detect the status of targets as well as needing large spaces and large mounting equipment. These are barriers to installation into preexisting spaces and automation that provides human-level performance. The new FH-SMD Series 3D Vision Sensor is small and light enough to be mounted on a robot arm, eliminating the need for special mounting equipment and thus saving space. This sensor can be moved to change viewpoints and easily recognize parts, reducing blind spots and providing reliable detection. In addition, the newly developed 3D measurement technology enables part detection in approximately 0.4 seconds (*1) regardless of the shape and location. Bulk parts assembly can be automated smoothly. Note:
(*1) Total time for 3D measurement and 3D recognition under OMRON’s specified conditions. For more information: www.omron.com