Lathe Tending with Vision Guided Robot

Challenge
A wheel manufacturer needed to automate the tending of 4 existing lathes. Different parts were to be run on different lathes and the parts would not be properly oriented when fed into the system. The automation had to be agile enough to adapt.

Solution
A robot on a rail was selected to tend all lathes without relocating them. Machine vision was used to locate the parts on the infeed and guide the robot to the proper location.

Key Features

• Carefully engineered robot gripper handles all part sizes
• Dual gripper configuration to allow the machine to be unloaded and immediately reloaded, maximizing machine cutting time
• Cameras and lighting at all infeed positions to locate parts for picking
• Zoned safety system allows maintenance on one lathe without losing production on all other lathes