Omron TM Series Vision Guided Pick and Place Programming

Omron TM Series Collaborative Robot Robot Programming Cobot TM Series Programming Vision guided programming TM Series Vision Guided applications

In this article and video, we will show you how to do a simple vision guided pick and place application. Let's take a look.

The first step in this process is calibrating the robot so the camera knows actual real-world coordinates. You must use the vision cards that were supplied with your robot. There is a large card for distances between 2 3/4" and 15 3/4" and small card for distances between 2 3/4" and 7 3/4".

Next, place the vision card at the height of the top of the product you will be locating. So, in this example I am detecting these blocks, I will put the blocks on the surface and then place the card on top of the blocks to perform the calibration.

Then, move the robot to the vision area at the height you want it to search. The height must be a minimum of 2 3/4 inches from camera to calibrate this card. Press the vision button. The vision block should be added to your flow.

Now it's time to calibrate. Click on the pencil icon on the vision block. Click on arrow then the plus button. Give the vision job a name. My example simply uses locate. The live camera image will eventually load. Be sure the calibration board is centered within the field of view of the camera. Unless you are using dedicated external lighting, I would suggest turning on the robot’s internal ring light. Go to IO and scroll down to Camera Module. Press the button to turn the light on.

Now, double click calibration and choose automatic.

Press Next

When ready, press the PLAY button on the robot stick. Please note the robot will start moving at this time.

Once completed with step one press ok to go to the next step.

Reconfirm the calibration board is centered within the field of view of the camera and press next, then OK.

The robot will now perform auto calibration. Press the play button when ready. The robot will again move.

When complete the software will give an error value. This basically implies how much potential error could be in the vision system. Press yes to save.

Give your calibration a name and press save and yes to exit.

Now it's time to create a vision tool to locate an object. I've placed my block in the field of view. Click on task designer. Choose Fixed Point. Click on the calibration you just created. Press and hold the + button on the robot stick to move the robot to calibration position. Once in place, the software will load the vision tools.

Before we add matching tool, let's turn on the light again. Go to IO and scroll down to Camera Module.

From the black upper tool bar, choose the locate tools. This example uses the pattern matching shape tool.

Click on select pattern. Click and drag the box around the object you are wanting to detect. The tool has now been trained. You may notice the vision tool picked up some of the scratches in the block. These scratches will need to be deleted as not all objects may have these. Click on edit pattern. Click on the eraser tool and touchup all blemishes on the block. Press the arrow to update the pattern.

If needed, adjust the minimum score from 0-1 with 1 being most sensitive.

Finally set your search range. Anywhere in this box the camera will look for your pattern. Adjust rotational range if you want to limit how much rotation the object has before the robot will pick up the part. Scaling range will allow size differences in your pattern with 1 being the same size and 1.5 being 1 1/2 times larger.

As you can see, I can rotate the object and the camera locates it.

The next step is important. You need to be sure you save properly. Do not press the green arrow. If the save icon is slightly greyed out, press the left arrow in the black bar once. Now press the save icon and follow the prompts.

Now that the vision is saved, it is very important that you do not move the block until you have taught the robot that position.

Before teach the pick position, we need to program the light to turn on in your project flow. Drag the locate tool down a bit. Click on the start block and press the bottom "X". From the left tools, click on set and drag below start and locate. Then you can reconnect your blocks. To turn the light on, click on set1 and under digital I/O and light module click till you see the check box. After we locate, the light can be turned off. For set2, click on digital IO and click on light module till you see an "X".

Now, with the gripper open, move the robot to the position of the block. Once in position, press the point button on the robot. If you need to, you can edit motion setting so it is a line or way point. You can also give the point a name by going to point manager and editing P1.

Now that you have taught the pick position you are ready to move and teach the place position. Press the grip button to grip the block.

Move the robot to the place position, push the point button, and then the grip button to release.