Vision guided real time locating and trimming of flash
OwnerCharles A. Abrams, Jerry Kuhn +1inventors
InventorsCharles A. Abrams, Jerry Kuhn, Mark W. Handelsman
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Abstract
A system and method for trimming flash from the body of a workpiece. The system uses a laser system and a vision system to determine quickly a cut line for removing flash from the workpiece. The method includes the steps of projecting a line of light onto the workpiece that crosses the flash and the body and determining the profile of the line in an image obtained by a vision system. The system and method are capable of dynamically trimming while determining where to cut the flash from the body of the workpiece.
Claims22
A robotic system for locating flash on a workpiece and then trimming the flash from the workpiece, said system comprising:
- a robotic arm;
- an end effector coupled to said robotic arm, said end effector having a first extent and a second extent;
- a first vision system including a first 2D camera coupled to said end effector and a second vision system including a second 2D camera coupled to said end effector and spaced a distance away from first vision system;
- a first laser device coupled proximate to said first vision system and a second vision system coupled proximate to said second vision system, and wherein each of said laser devices is capable of outputting at least one plane of laser light through oscillation of a laser in said laser device toward a workpiece to create a line of light on the workpiece and wherein each of said 2D cameras are capable of obtaining an image of the line of light where the plane of laser light intersects the workpiece and at least two of the X,Y,Z coordinates of points along the line of light on the workpiece;
- a controller for determining cut points and
- a cutting tool disposed between said first vision system and said second vision system along said first extent, and disposed away from said first and second visions systems along said second extent wherein said cutting tool is directed to cut along the determined cut points.
A method of trimming flash from the body of a workpiece with a robotic system having a robotic arm, said method comprising the steps of:
- locating the workpiece,
- positioning the robotic arm relative to the workpiece;
- projecting light from at least one light source coupled to the robotic arm toward the workpiece and wherein said light source creates a projected line on the flash and body of the workpiece;
- obtaining an image of the projected line on the workpiece;
- determining the profile of the line on the workpiece;
- determining a cut point using said profile;
- repositioning the robotic arm to a next measurement position;
- and
- determining a cutting path through multiple cut points by repeating each of said steps of projecting light, obtaining an image, determining the profile and determining a cut point;
- and
- removing the flash by directing a cutting tool along the determined cutting path.
The method of claim 30 wherein said step of determining a profile further includes the step of selecting the relevant vertex point when multiple vertex points are present.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.