Great examples of automated bin picking by Pick-it 3D

Automated bin picking offers a variety of solutions. Here are four cases where Pick-it 3D’s automated bin picking made an impact for both robots and their respective companies.

pick-it-case-study-benelli-1

Paired with a cobot in an Industry 4.0 logistics solution

Italian sports gun manufacturer Benelli introduced a robot equipped with Pick-it 3D vision to meet its increased production and quality demands. Many different and often small parts need to be kitted in plastic boxes every day at the Benelli factory. A full-time operator was responsible for this repetitive but demanding task. When the production demand for these kits started increasing, a different approach became inevitable.

Pick-it 3D proved to be a reliable solution. The Pick-it 3D camera was fitted on a Universal Robots UR5 and integrated in the robot cell, which consists of two more Universal Robots. New products were easily added by simply showing them once to the Pick-it 3D camera.

Now, the robot works 24/7 non-stop, allowing the operator that used to do the same tasks to focus on building more complex, one of a kind, kits for special occasions. All while carrying out tasks with more variation and adding more value to the company.

KYB suspension

A slightly different pick every time

One of the world’s largest shock absorber manufacturers, based in Indiana, United States, wanted to try bin picking to get ahead of automation trends. The company wanted to automate the picking of steel metal cylinders from a bin, with a slightly different diameter on each side, followed by placing them on a conveyor belt with the same position and orientation each time.

A Pick-It 3D vision system was linked up with a Universal Robots UR3 equipped with a vacuum gripper. It locates the cylinders in the bin and sends the coordinates to the robot for picking. The robot then picks one cylinder with its vacuum gripper and shows it again to the camera for a quick orientation check. Once the orientation is determined, the robot knows how to place the cylinder on the conveyor belt with exactly the same orientation every time.

Today, the company has installed six of these 3D vision guided robotic cells which run up to ten hours, five days a week. The company is looking to integrate more Pick-it 3D systems in the future.

Automated replacement for human subcontractor

When the collaboration with one of its subcontractors stopped, a leading door manufacturing company in the United States had to find a solution for a job that was previously outsourced. Instead of going through the process of recruiting extra workers, the American manufacturer of doors and storm windows decided to automate the job. This task consists of two different white plastic parts lying in separate randomly organised bins that need to be combined in one packet. Then, at a rate of 15 parts per minute, one part needs to be picked from each bin and placed with a certain orientation into the packet. The subcontractor did this job in 2 shifts during the day.

For this project a robot cell had to be built from scratch while keeping compatibility in mind. The company opted for the Pick-it 3D vision system since it seamlessly integrates with the Fanuc robot the company had decided upon. The Fanuc robot was equipped with a vacuum gripper and was taught to locate the plastic parts. Now it runs two shifts per day, seamlessly producing just as much as the subcontractor’s workers did. At a fraction of the cost.

The company is already looking at the next process to automate, this time to pick larger parts from a pallet with a robot. For this project also, they’re looking at Pick-it, specifically at Pick-it’s L vision system which was specifically developed for larger applications such as depalletizing.

Leading the way to automate family-sized factories

For almost 100 years Talen Tools has been producing gardening tools. The Dutch company is constantly investing in the future, especially in automating production processes. Talen Tools started using Pick-it 3D bin picking for the assembly of their shovels. Tree trunks are sawn to long handles and clamped to sheet steel blades on one side and to a wooden grip on the other. The sawing is already automated, whereas the assembly remained a manual task.

Talen tools

A Universal Robots cobot was equipped with a Pick-it 3D vision system and set up to execute three steps. First, the wooden handles are disentangled. Pick-it detects each separate handle and sends the coordinates to the robot for picking. The robot then places each handle in an automatic drill where a hole is drilled to screw the grip. Second, a grip is located by Pick-it in a disordered bin and again picked by the robot for screwing it on to side of the long wooden handle. Third, the sheet metal blade is detected with Pick-it and clamped on the other side of the wooden stem.

The shovel production at Talen Tools now runs every day for 8 hours. With a cycle time of about 35 seconds, 850 spades can be automatically assembled every day. With almost everything automated, only 3 employees are required to oversee the entire production

Want to see in which way Pick-it 3D can assist your production in any of these manners? Get in touch and send us the details about your application. If we think Pick-it can solve it, we’ll test your parts for free!

{{cta('a788a614-63b5-40fd-a3b5-96aed02b18c5')}}

Stay in touch

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates of product announcements, special offers, and more.