Robotic CNC Tending (Camera & Vision)

CNC machines run serial, repetitive parts; when loading depends on an operator, the machine waits and the risk of misplacement and accidents rises. Robotic tending takes over this repetitive work and increases the machine's productive time.

Machine vision is the key component of the cell: the camera recognizes the incoming part and measures its position and angle, and the robot grips it in the right orientation and places it in the machine. Parts of different sizes and shapes can run in the same cell, and the same camera can inspect the machined part and send faulty ones to the reject bin.

An example from the field: in our machine tending cell the camera finds the pin and a reference feature on the part and sends the X–Y position deviation in millimeters and the rotation in degrees to the robot, which feeds the part to the processing station with this correction.