Market Application Background
SCARA robots are efficient, high-precision cylindrical coordinate system industrial robots specializing in assembly tasks. Their unique mechanical structure gives them high compliance in a specific direction (typically the XY plane) while maintaining excellent rigidity in the vertical direction.
SCARA robots typically consist of three parallel rotary joint axes responsible for positioning and orientation in a plane, and a translational joint axis that drives the end effector to complete Z-axis motion.
Due to its characteristics, SCARA robots are widely used in 3C electronics, packaging, automobile assembly, medical device manufacturing, pharmaceutical and food production and testing, and other fields.
Typical application scenario: Visually guided flexible loading and unloading
In this scenario, loose materials are placed in a vibratory feeder. The machine vision system first identifies the material's posture (including its front and back sides) and performs precise positioning. Then, it guides a SCARA robot to grasp the materials using the acquired material posture information. The robot accurately transfers the materials to a pre-set target workstation, completing tray placement, assembly, or final assembly. This solution effectively solves the problem of automated sorting of small batches of diverse products, significantly improving production flexibility and efficiency.
Limitations of traditional SCARA loading and unloading methods in the market:
● System integration is complex
It requires the integration of multiple components such as robots, vision systems, control systems, and feeding units. Differences in protocols and data formats between devices can easily lead to compatibility issues, significantly extending the debugging cycle.
● Speed and efficiency bottlenecks
In high-frequency production scenarios, its performance is easily limited by mechanical design, vision processing, and the speed and performance of motion control data interaction, making it difficult to meet the production needs of high output or rapid material change.
● Data silo problem
The system often lacks real-time data processing and remote monitoring capabilities, forming information silos, hindering the upgrade of intelligent manufacturing, and making it difficult to seamlessly integrate with upper-level MES and other systems.
● High investment costs
The need to purchase multiple independent hardware sets, coupled with high labor and maintenance costs, results in persistently high overall operating costs for the enterprise.
Advantages of SCARA robot vision-based flexible loading and unloading solutions with positive motion technology:
● Highly integrated, plug and play
Based on the VPLC series vision motion control all-in-one machine and RTFuse vision system, the single machine integrates robot control, vision processing, vibratory feeder, IO and additional axis drive, completely replacing traditional control cabinets, industrial computers, PLCs and independent vision systems, and achieving plug and play.
● Wide coverage of scenarios, precise and efficient
It supports advanced vision solutions such as single-camera positioning, dual-camera aerial shooting for secondary correction, and three-camera tray positioning, meeting the stringent requirements of various materials in sorting, traying, tape feeding, and assembly processes.
● Significant cost reduction and efficiency improvement
Hardware integration significantly reduces initial investment and maintenance costs; plug-and-play functionality significantly shortens deployment and debugging cycles, helping customers quickly increase productivity and flexibility.
01. Application of Machine Vision Motion Control Integrated Machine in SCARA Robot Flexible Vibrating Plate Feeding
▲ Schematic diagram of SCARA robotic arm for flexible loading and unloading processing ▲
Positive Motion SCARA Vision Multi-Material Sorting Solution Architecture
1. 20DI: Start/Reset/Stop button, negative pressure detection, origin signal, etc.;
2. 20DO: Camera trigger, vacuum breaking/suction, tri-color light buzzer, robot alarm, etc.;
3. EtherCAT interface: Connects to the EtherCAT bus driver to control the SCARA parallel robot arm;
4. Four-channel single-ended pulse output: for connecting to stepper/pulse drivers and encoder shafts;
5. RS232/RS485 interface: for communication with the light source controller, flexible vibrating plate, etc.;
6. Ethernet interface: Gigabit Ethernet port, for connecting area scan cameras that support the Gigabit protocol to achieve visual positioning and correction.
Flexible vibratory feeder is compatible with multiple protocols.
The Zhengdong Motion SCARA robot's flexible loading and unloading solution supports multiple flexible vibratory feeder communication protocols. This solution uses I/O signal triggering to achieve efficient interaction.
Vibration parameters can be quickly adjusted using the manufacturer's debugging software to precisely adapt to material conveying needs.
Motion control and machine vision implementation process
Motion control
The solution initiates high-frequency vibration of the vibratory feeder via I/O or communication signals to achieve uniform material distribution. An upper camera identifies the front and back of the material and performs visual positioning. Based on this positioning data, the SCARA robot moves precisely along a preset path, performing grasping, secondary imaging, and unloading operations. Throughout the process, the control system adjusts the speed of each joint in real time to ensure a smooth motion trajectory.
▲ Operating Interface ▲
▲ Selection of Process Action Type ▲
Machine Vision
When a SCARA robot performs flexible loading and unloading operations, the machine vision system first uses a shape matching tool to coarsely locate the material in the tray. After obtaining the world coordinate system of the material through visual positioning, the system guides the robot to complete the grasping action.
Subsequently, the captured material is dynamically positioned by the lower camera during its movement (flying camera), achieving secondary precise positioning and real-time position correction.
Ultimately, the robot accurately moves to the unloading area based on the correction data to complete the placement, significantly improving positioning accuracy.
▲ Camera Soft Vibration Plate Positioning - Visual Template Creation ▲
▲ Secondary camera flight positioning - visual template creation ▲
▲ Flexible Vibrating Disc Parameter Settings ▲
▲ Simple debugging interface ▲
▲ Calibration and feeding setup ▲
SCARA robotic arm flexible loading and unloading configuration process
Core application advantages of the solution
1. High integration: It integrates a wealth of IO control, machine vision, motion control and communication function modules, and flexibly builds an integrated "motion control + machine vision" robotic arm soft vibration loading and unloading solution.
2. Easy debugging and fast delivery: Engineers do not need to program; they can quickly complete the development by adjusting parameters through tools. It can quickly complete the early stage of project assessment and shorten the project development cycle.
3. High system flexibility: Supports rapid line/material changeovers without complex mechanical disassembly and assembly. Parameters can be easily reconfigured via software, flexibly adapting to changes in production plans, and is especially suitable for the scattered loading of various small parts.
4. High positioning accuracy: Based on the machine vision system, the material position is accurately identified without relying on fixed fixtures to limit the material direction, and the material in the vibratory feeder can be accurately positioned.
5. Significantly Reduced Costs and Increased Efficiency: It greatly reduces the need for manual operation, enabling one person to operate multiple devices, effectively alleviating reliance on engineering and technical personnel. Simultaneously, it reduces human error, rework, and equipment maintenance, lowering both operation and maintenance costs and time.
Solution Hardware Configuration
02. Highly Integrated Machine Vision and Motion Control All-in-One Machine VPLC712
The VPLC712 machine vision motion control all-in-one machine vision controller is an EtherCAT bus vision motion controller based on the x86 architecture. It adopts an integrated design, integrating real-time machine vision, motion control, I/O, and monitoring onto a single multi-core controller. This enables multi-task parallel real-time processing of automated equipment tasks. Through a shared memory mechanism, PC hardware resources are configured via MotionRT750 to achieve high-speed intra-core interaction, driving actuators to perform corresponding operations and completing the overall control of the equipment.
The VPLC series machine vision motion control integrated 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 VPLC712 machine vision motion control all-in-one machine supports up to 64 axes and has a minimum EtherCAT communication cycle of 250µs. It features 20 digital inputs, 20 digital outputs, and 4 high-speed latch inputs; as well as 2 local differential pulse axes, 2 AD converters, and 2 DA converters.
03. RTFuse Visual Soft Vibration Loading and Unloading Application
RTFuse's flexible vibration loading and unloading system, based on positive motion technology, is designed specifically for "vision + motion control" flexible vibration loading and unloading applications, providing a one-stop solution. The software simplifies parameter settings and, when paired with an image acquisition system, can significantly shorten the development cycle and reduce development costs.
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, axis assembly, feeder feeding, camera and matrix material handling, 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 switch to the RTFuse vision configuration system to implement the vision 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.
To help you better and faster develop and apply your SCARA robot vibratory feeder solution, we have prepared detailed documentation and source code for the motion control module. For further information on usage, parameter configuration, and practical application examples, please contact us at 400-089-8936.
