Case studies / Customer project
Picking SMD reels and PCB packs from an AutoStore automatically
At Continental’s electronics plant in Ingolstadt – now AUMOVIO – a robot picks SMD reels and vacuum-sealed PCB packs straight from the AutoStore port and commissions them for production. HD Vision Systems supplied the vision: a light-field camera with AI object detection, grasp points, path planning and DMC reading. The application is part of the “Touchless Material Flow” concept, for which Continental received the VDA Logistics Award 2022.
Ingolstadt plant, delivered 2021 for Continental (now AUMOVIO)
The task
At the Ingolstadt plant, the raw material for electronics production is stored fully automatically in an AutoStore. For commissioning, a robot was to take the material at the AutoStore port and place it in transfer containers for production.
The material lies unordered in the bin, and the system doesn’t know in advance what comes next: SMD reels from 7 to 15 inches, open or vacuum-sealed, plus vacuum-sealed PCB packs. The films reflect, and the parts overlap.
For open reels, a mandrel goes into the centre hole, which is only a few tenths of a millimetre larger than the mandrel. In addition, the DMC codes on the labels were to be read and assigned to the picked part.
The solution
A LumiScanX light-field camera captures the bin; the NeuroPick AI object detection determines the type, size and pose of every part. For open reels, it locates the centre hole precisely enough for the mandrel to go in safely.
The software plans the robot path into the bin and back out and checks it for collisions against the 3D model of the multi-gripper. Pick coordinates, path and material data go to the robot and the PLC.
Two 20 MP area cameras, calibrated together with the LumiScanX, read the DMC codes in the same scene and assign them to the picked part. If the system cannot identify a part, it reports it; staff can step in and train the new case.
The result
Picking from the AutoStore was automated, including identification via the DMC code – one building block of the plant’s digital internal material flow.
For the overall concept “Touchless Material Flow – internal supply chains become smart”, Continental received the VDA Logistics Award in 2022.