wrist of any electric six-axis robot available today, according to Fanuc. The M-2000iA/1200 is designed to meet an industry need for handling very heavy parts—such as truck, tractor and automotive frames—that previously required dual robots, conveyors, lifts or other fixed automation, the company said.

One theme relating to the vision portion of the Robots, Vision and Motion Control Show involved advances in 3D vision technology. One entire conference session was devoted to the topic, for example, with multiple scheduled presentations from Baumer; ISRA Vision; QMC and LMI; and Sick Inc., to address various flavors of advanced 3D vision technology.

And on the show floor, Motoman Inc. ( www.motoman.com), a West Carrolton, Ohio-based robot vendor, rolled out eight new products, including two kinds of 3D vision solutions for use with its robots. The company’s MotoEye 3D technology relies on images taken from multiple locations along with a 3D algorithm to calculate the 3D location of a part. Its MotoSight 3D Advanced technology, meanwhile, relies on laser scan technology to facilitate its 3D capabilities. The company demonstrated a random bin picking application based on the latter approach at the show.

Liquid lens

Other advances on the vision side of the show included “liquid lens” technology from Cognex Corp. ( www.cognex.com), a Natick, Mass.-based machine vision supplier. According to Michael Hahn, a representative of Cognex solution provider RR Floody Co. Inc. ( www.rrfloody.com) , Rockford, Ill., who was manning a Cognex booth, the technology works by applying an electrical charge to a fluid within the lens to adjust the lens focus. The lens, which was shown within a Cognex 2D matrix code reader, has no moving parts and requires just 20 milliseconds to focus with a depth of field “from contact to infinity,” Hahn said.

National Instruments Corp. (NI, www.ni.com), an Austin, Texas-based test and automation supplier, was also on the show floor with a new vision product, the Real-Time Embedded Vision System. The system is the first using Intel Core Duo processor technology to be targeted specifically at machine vision applications, said Kyle Voosen, NI business development manager, machine vision and image processing. With connectivity for both GigE Vision and Firewire cameras, the new system features a processor clock speed of 1.66 Gigahertz, and is 10 times faster than NI’s existing Compact Vision system, Voosen said. It is ideal for use in machine vision applications including high-speed sorting, assembly verification and packaging inspection, NI said.

ABB Robotics
www.abb.com

Cognex Corp.
www.cognex.com

Fanuc Robotics America Inc.
www.fanucrobotics.com

Kuka Robotics Corp.
www.kukarobotics.com

Motoman Inc.
www.motoman.com

National Instruments Corp.
www.ni.com

Robotics Industries Association 
www.robotics.org

RR Floody Co. Inc.
www.rrfloody.com

Staubli Corp.
www.staubli.com
 

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