SimDesign

Projects

Robot Guidance Systems for Automotive Industry

SimDesign has played an important software development role in creating the Robot Guidance System currently deployed by Perceptron. This system has a worldwide installed base in mainly automotive industry.

Principle

A Robot Guidance System comprises usually of one or more robots, a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) that controls the line, a Perceptron Controller (called P1000) and a number of Perceptron Tricam sensors.

When a new part (car body or door or...) arrives, the PLC will tell the Perceptron controller to measure. The controller then measures, and when the measurement is OK, the robots will get the part difference relative to a nominal part and adjust their path. An accuracy of +- 0.1 mm can be reached.

Example applications

The Robot Guidance System can be used in the following instances:

Glass Decking
Insert glass (windshield, side windows, backlight, sunroof) into the apertures. Usually one or more robots with gripper mounted sensors.
PU Application
Apply PU or any other product to a part (e.g. door) at exactly the right spot by measuring the part first.
Automatic Door Insertion
Insert doors (and hoods, trunklids) into the car body in a guided way. First, the doors are presented near their final position, then measured. The measurement will yield a small correction which the robot applies before welding or bolting the door to the body. The result is that the doors fit better to the body and need less reworking.
Roof Welding
With just three sensors it is possible to determine the position of the roof more carefully before laserwelding it to the body. The laser welder position is adjusted so that it always welds along the same line.
Laser Cutting
Adjust the path of a robot-mounted laser cutter by measuring the part that is about to be processed. This will yield in much more precise cuts since the exact location of a part relative to the car body can be found.

Please visit the Perceptron website for case studies.