Visually guided robot for radiator sealing

A robotic vision-guided system that permits to manipulate different mixed parts is described in this paper. In order to work on a wide range of sizes and without stopping the products the industrial robot is equipped with two vision systems. A fixed vision system acquires a global image of the approaching radiators and computes a first pose estimation. This estimation is used for the robot to approach to the part and a second system, mounted on the robot arm, acquires a closer image to determine precisely the position and orientation just before the manipulation is performed. The developed system is working nowadays in an industrial line making it possible to robotize a complex task without using costly and inflexible fixtures.