Market Application Background
The DELTA parallel robot consists of three identical branches, each containing a rotary joint and a locating joint. It features a compact structure, small footprint, high speed and high flexibility, enabling efficient operation in limited spaces. It is widely used in fields requiring rapid and repetitive operations such as flexible loading and unloading, packaging, sorting, and assembly.
The DELTA parallel robot, combined with a flexible vibratory feeder and a vision positioning system, can efficiently complete non-destructive and flexible loading and unloading operations for various materials, thereby improving production efficiency and meeting the needs of small-batch, multi-category production.
Working principle of DELTA parallel robotic arm:
The working principle of the DELTA parallel robot is based on the principles of parallel structure and kinematics. By precisely controlling the movement of each branch, it achieves rapid, accurate, and stable movement of the end effector. Control typically employs motion controllers and servo motors, calculating and adjusting the motion trajectory of each branch in real time to achieve the desired working effect.
Positive motion technology solutions:
Based on market demand, Zheng Motion Technology has developed the DELTA flexible vibration loading and unloading system, which is an extension of the VPLC series vision motion control all-in-one machine and the RTFuse vision system. It realizes a plug-and-play one-stop solution, meets the market's demand for flexible material supply, overcomes the limitations of traditional material supply methods, realizes rapid material switching and process configuration, and improves compatibility.
• Dedicated flexible vibration feeding system, simple and easy to operate, with customizable interface and brand logo;
The system supports single/dual cameras; a single camera identifies materials, while dual cameras provide secondary correction.
• High repeatability and ultra-high-speed material picking, with a single cycle time of up to 0.39 seconds;
High hardware and software integration: The VPLC532E controller integrates DELTA parallel robot control, machine vision, industrial computer, and input/output control into one unit, replacing traditional robot electrical cabinets, industrial computers, PLCs, etc.
◆Based on the VPLC series vision motion control all-in-one machine and RTFuse vision system, it can also be applied to applications such as small-range high-speed grasping of desktop DELTA or synchronous grasping and placement of conveyor belt DELTA.
01 Machine vision motion control integrated machine application in DELTA parallel robot vision loading and unloading
Design of DELTA Vision Loading and Unloading Solution
• 24DI: Start/Reset/Stop button, air pressure detection, oscillating disc signal, etc.;
• 12DO: Lower camera for rapid shooting, feeder, vacuum breaking/suction system, tri-color LED buzzer, etc.;
• EtherCAT interface: Connects to the EtherCAT bus driver to control the DELTA parallel robotic arm;
• 4-channel single-ended pulse output: for connecting to stepper/pulse drivers and encoder shafts;
• Ethernet interface: Gigabit Ethernet port, for connecting area scan cameras that support the Gige protocol to achieve visual positioning and correction applications.
Motion control and machine vision implementation process
(1) Machine vision
The upper camera first performs visual imaging and positioning of the flexible vibrating disc. The DELTA parallel robot arm then acquires the visual positioning data to retrieve and arrange materials or load tapes from the vibrating disc. (For products with high precision requirements, a lower camera can also be added. After the vibrating disc retrieves materials, the lower camera performs a secondary correction by taking a flying shot.)
Visual positioning primarily utilizes shape matching functionality, achieving target material positioning by using preset features such as shape, size, and marker points. Through coordinate system calibration, the material's world coordinates are transmitted to the DELTA parallel robot arm.
Visual parameter settings
(2) Motion control
The feeder places loose materials into the flexible vibratory feeder. The controller triggers the vibratory feeder to vibrate and disperse the materials evenly within the feeder via an I/O signal. After each vibration, the DELTA parallel robot arm moves along a preset path based on positioning data provided by the vision system, sequentially picking up materials and placing them at designated locations (the user can quickly teach the picking, placing, and photographing trajectories). If no materials are currently available for grabbing, the system continues to control the vibratory feeder to vibrate until grabbable materials appear, and then repeats the process until the feeder is full.
Motion trajectory settings
Types of sports modes
DELTA Vision Loading and Unloading System Process Flow
Core advantages of the solution
• Low technical barrier: Drag-and-drop Chinese configuration vision, application engineers can easily get started after simple training;
• Fast project development cycle: Mature vision-based robotic arm flexible vibration technology system reduces user development time and costs;
• Strong hardware and software integration: Integrates EtherCAT bus, pulse hybrid control, machine vision, motion control, and integrates hardware and software for easy equipment debugging and troubleshooting;
• Reduce labor costs for enterprises: One person can debug the motion control, vision, and IO logic control of the equipment, solving problems such as engineering staff turnover and high labor costs;
• Flexible production: The system can save vision and motion control configuration programs for multiple materials, enabling one-click switching of process packages. It can flexibly handle workpieces of different sizes and shapes without frequent hardware changes, reducing production line downtime.
DELTA Flexible Vibration Loading and Unloading System Main Interface
Solution Hardware Configuration
02. VPLC532E Machine Vision and Motion Control All-in-One Machine
The VPLC532E machine vision and motion control all-in-one machine is an EtherCAT bus vision and motion controller based on the Linux system. It can operate offline and has a wealth of built-in vision and motion control functions, which greatly simplifies the configuration process of vision and motion control projects. The core data interaction is fast, which can significantly reduce time and cost investment.
The VPLC532E machine vision motion control all-in-one machine is easy to install and remove, occupies little space, and can be seamlessly integrated with other control unit components (such as servo drives, sensors, encoders, control valves, etc.) to provide a complete end-to-end vision motion control solution.
The VPLC532E machine vision motion control all-in-one machine supports up to 32 axes, 24+6 digital inputs, 12+6 digital outputs, 4 high-speed latch inputs, 4 high-speed PWM and PSO hardware outputs, and comes with 6 high-speed pulse axes + encoder feedback, with a speed of up to 10M.
03. RTFuse Vision-Based Flexible Vibration Loading and Unloading System
In response to market demands, ZhengMotion has developed the RTFuse vision-based flexible vibration loading and unloading solution based on the VPLC series vision motion control all-in-one machine. By combining point teaching with RTFuse quick configuration, it can achieve one-stop and rapid development of loading and unloading equipment, effectively shortening the project cycle. Operators can complete material conversion in the shortest time by simply adjusting the parameters of the vision and motion control function modules, realizing high-speed and high-precision flexible loading and unloading of robotic arms.
Camera Support
It supports most mainstream cameras on the market, and supports parallel acquisition from 4 cameras and visual aerial photography.
▌Quick Configuration
Robotic arm, shaft assembly, vibratory feeder, camera and matrix feeder, tool parameters.
▌Teaching Function
It provides one-click teaching functions for multiple points such as material picking, aerial photography, and material feeding paths.
▌Coordinate Calibration
Supports camera calibration, including modification of XY coordinate direction and world coordinate position correction.
▌Positioning
Automatic calibration can be completed with a single click using the pre-taught motion points.
▌System Switching
It can be switched to the RTfuse fast configuration system to implement the visual inspection process.
▌Visual Interface
The interface is user-friendly and facilitates data monitoring, displaying real-time status, return-to-home status, number of locations, and placement count.
Supported robotic arm types
4-axis module, SCARA robot, DELTA parallel robot, Cartesian coordinate robot, 6-joint robot, etc.
