3D SCANNING PROBLEM

[tamas]

HI everyone !
I'M NEW HERE ON THE BLOG BUT INTERESTED IN ROBOTICS . I'VE READ MANY OF YOUR INTERESTING POSTS BUT COULD NOT FOUND ANSWERS FOR MY QUESTIONS . I AM NOT A SKILLED PERSON ONLY A FAN OF TECHNICAL THINGS . FORGIVE MY BAD ENGLISH, I AM HUNGARIAN. I HAVE A PROJECT I NEED TO SOLVE SOMEHOW :
- THERE IS A NOT MOVING SPACE : 600 CM LONG 100 CM X 60 CM DEEP LIKE A BRICK 70 CM ABOVE THE GROUND
- IN THIS SPACE I HAVE APPROX. 60 PLASTIC OR METAL STICKS OR BALLS/ 1CM LONG OR 1 CM DIAM. /
- I NEED TO RECOGNIZE THEM SOMEHOW AND PICK THEM BY ANY ROBOT ARM
- ALL OF THIS PROCEDURE MUST BE DONE IN DIFFERENT ENVIROMENTS / OUTSIDE-INSIDE /
- I ALSO COULD MAKE A FRAME FOR THE SENSORS AND ARMS ABOVE THIS SPACE TO MAKE THE WHOLE PROJECT EASIER

 
MY QUESTIONS ARE :
- WHAT IS THE BEST RECOGNITION DEVICE TO TRACK EITHER METAL OR PLASTIC STICKS OR BALLS IN 3D IN DIFFERENT ENVIROMENTAL SETS / E.G. DARKNESS  OR COVERED OBJECT OF AN ANGLE /
-HOW SHOULD I DESCRIBE THE EGZAKT POSITION FOR THE RECOGNIZED OBJECTS IN ORDER TO PICK THEM BY THE ARMS /ESPECIALLY TO GIVE THE COORDINATES OF THE SMALL BALLS/STICKS FOR THE GRIPPER HAND /
- WHAT IS THE BEST SENSOR SET FOR THE GRIPPER TO FIND AND GRIP THE STICKS/BALLS ONE BY ONE
 
MY IMAGINE TO MAKE A KIND OF MAP WITH ANY SENSORS OF THE WHOLE SPACE I DESCRIBED, AND GIVE GROUPS OF ITEMS FOR EVERY ARM MORE OR LESS EQUALLY, THAN EACH ARM SUPPOSE TO LOCALIZE EACH GIVEN ITEMS, PICK THEM THAN PLACE THEM SOMWHERE ELSE
 
 
I'M REALLY DESPERATE FOR ANY SOLUTIONS PRIMARY TECHNICALLY, THE MATHEMATICAN TRANSLATION IS NOT IN MY WIEV AT THE MOMENT.
IN CASE ANY ONE OF YOU COULD HELP ME WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
EXCUSE ME FOR MY ENGLISH, IS ANYTHING IS NOT CLEAR, PLS WRITE ME.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP       TAMAS
 

[TygerDawg]

What you are describing is "bin picking" technology using a vision camera system.  Randomly-oriented parts are picked by a robot from a container with no prior fixturing of the parts.

Integrated Bin Picking has been developed in the last few years.  Solutions are provided by Fanuc robotics, among other companies.

Regarding "inside / outside" I suspect that a Bin Picking vision system must have correct illumination regardless of the location.

[tamas]

Thank You ! I will look for "bin picking" at Fanuc for moore information !

[jseger]

you are in for a real treat.  i've seen fanuc's displays at shows.      amazing what they are doing with machine vision.

[scgorlewar]

Hi,
If there is a lot color variations in sticks, balls and background color then machine vision system may not be reliable.
You have to go for something like laser type which is independent of colors.
May be you can go for ISRA also.

Regards
Sachin

[tamas]

Thanks for the information ! The color of the balls and sticks must be red color at approxometly the same length in various environment background wich does not contain any red colored object.
At the same time of scanning i would use one kind of a shape of objects .I am thinking for the first time and presentation about to use roborealm softver with hobby robot arm kits and  platform because of cost efficiency, do not have any idea for cameras yet .I have checked ISRA page but is a bit different and costs a lot.
Do you might know any softver to use basically on a simple PC with windows ?
 

[TylerRobertson]

jseger, what shows were you at? I saw the vision displays as well and they were great. I was at Eastec, Westec and Fabtech so maybe we ran into each other at some point

[jseger]

I saw them at IMTS show in Chicago.  We go every other year except last year.  So it's been a while since I've been there. 

I remember the first time I saw the application it was incredible.  The robot would grab a camera and scan a bin of connecting rods of different types!!  Then it would sort them by type.  The gripper would move to the center of the hole in the rod and exactly perpendicular and grab the part.  It took an average of 10 to 15 seconds to grab a part.  Some much longer if the robot needed additional scans.

Every couple years we would see the same exact cell, but slightly improved.  The last time I saw it they had rigidly mounted the camera and were picking the rods as fast as the robot could move.  The scanning hardware and software evolved into something magnificant.

[scgorlewar]

If you have no color problem then there are many companies which supports vision with robot. eg cognex. even if you want to save cost of PC and software, fanuc had a integrated vision in its robots itself that too 3D vision eg. Rj3iC controllers.

Thanks and Regards
Sachin