Robots are currently used in many industrial applications since they offer numerous advantages over simpler forms of mechanisation and human labour. However their use is by no means as widespread as was envisaged when industrial robots first became available. This paper highlights the problems which have limited the use of industrial robotic automation. To alleviate many of these including the prohibitive cost of many robot solutions an approach based on the use of a computer vision system and a learning controller is outlined. Advances in hardware and software technology in recent years which

have made this possible are described. The potential of the proposed approach is demonstrated using a cheaply constructed robot mechanism and computer vision system which is able to drill printed circuit boards (PCBs). The techniques used for successful implementation are presented along with improvements which could be made.

PDF file

In  Proceedings of the International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechatronics (ICRAM 1995)

Publisher  Springer Verlag
All copyrights reserved by Springer 1995.

Details