Next-Gen Automation Doesn't Require Guarding or Special Lighting

By Sandia Harrison, Director of Marketing, FPE Automation

Those familiar with 4D bin picking and robotic guidance will immediately recognize that the above statement is groundbreaking.

The ultimate proof of concept just took place at the Melton Machine & Control open house in Washington, Missouri. Are you a manufacturer located in the Midwest? If so, here's why that matters.

Watch as FPE Automation's Kurt Vaeth unsuccessfully tries to "trick" the robot into failing to perform its task. I reached him by phone a few days after the open house. "I was moving the part to show that it captures the image each time, and it can still follow the line or path for the weld." Vaeth explained, "You can set parts in front of it, and it can still detect where the weld needs to be. You don't need to have fixed coordinates. It can pull the coordinates and get the robot to do exactly what needs to be done."

Universal Robots are collaborative. That means they operate safely alongside humans with no guarding required in most applications.

Apera AI guides the robot using 4D vision technology. In a crowded room, with lighting conditions constantly changing, this type of accuracy was previously unheard of.

Apera's Cliff Tsugawa put it this way, "We quickly identify the steel angle, parts position/orientation and guide start/path under ambient lighting. This can be done without vision expertise, and is flexible/scalable for more fields of view and parts/assemblies."

Also included: footage of our other demos and Melton Machine & Control's turnkey CoboWeld system. All examples of how you can leverage vision and robotics to streamline your operations and do more with less.

If you missed the open house, and would like to learn more, or request a demo, reach out to FPE Automation. Whether you're a welder, or have an entirely different idea of how to leverage robotics and vision in your manufacturing process, we are happy to help.