Posted to News on 19th Feb 2008, 21:55
Vision inspection system is robot-mounted
AA Robotics has supplied six robotic vision inspection machines to Boehringer Ingelheim; these have helped to increase throughput and improve quality control in a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.
Boehringer Ingelheim, which can trace is origins to 1885 when Albert Boehringer commenced making tartaric acid salts in Ingelheim, Germany, now employs the latest technology in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and healthcare products.
The process, which AA Robotics has automated, involves the inspection of compartments in packaging boxes. The boxes are used to transport vials containing liquid drugs between production and packing. Once the vials have been removed from the compartments the boxes are returned to the production process for refilling. Ensuring that the box compartments are empty requires a visual check. This visual check is now conducted by an automated robotic process on each of the six production lines.
Boxes pass beneath a Cognex Insight camera mounted on the Z axis of an inverted Denso Scara robot arm. The robot moves the camera around the compartments of the box, checking that all the vials have been removed. An inspection cycle takes 20 seconds, which is a significant improvement on what was being achieved previously. A major benefit of the inverted SCARA arm is that it is able to operate successfully in the tight confines of the existing production line.
Ethernet communications are used between the robots and cameras. Boxes are only released for the following process when they are authorised to do so by the system. Message protocol ensures that each message to release a box is unique and contains new data. Every cycle of inspection is self-checked, as the Cognex Insight camera records its position at the start and end of the cycle in order to verify that the images seen are correct.
Repeatable imaging
The Denso robots position the cameras to a tolerance of 0.015mm and provide a stable camera platform that enables discernable vision images of the corners of the boxes to be repeatably produced - something not possible with a fixed camera system. Only one set of parameters and lights is required to enable the complete inspection process. When inspections are not taking place the camera is moved out of the area, thereby minimising the danger of disturbing the camera or its associated lighting.
Boehringer Ingelheim's project representative comments: "We have achieved a significant improvement in quality control and production pace as a result of this innovation. AA Robotics has been very helpful. Its engineers made sure that they analysed the issues and really understood our manufacturing processes before designing the solution."
