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Automation and flexible manufacturing:

why do we need more vision
and more robotics?

Ignazio E M Piacentini
ignazio.piacentini@imaginglab.it
www.imaginglab.it

Parco Scientifico Tecnologico Kilometro Rosso,

Stezzano (BG), 3rd December 2008
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Agenda

Who are we / who is ImagingLab / what do we
do?

The machine vision and robotics market: few
numbers

What is Flexible Manufacturing?

Vision and robotics in flexible manufacturing: an
example

Questions and answers

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Who is
ImagingLab?
 The mission is in our logo
 Our best ‘product’ is our
know-how
 From consulting to
systems
 Our robotics applications
are 'vision centric':
Machine Vision adds
flexibility and extend the
application range of
robotics
 We have purchased /
integrated more than 40
robots over the past two
years (2007 – 2008)
 Alliance Member of
National Instruments
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Where are we?

In Lodi, 30 km south of Milan, in an
historical building dating back from
1450

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Who am I? Who are we? Key figures

Ignazio Piacentini, 54 years old, M. Sc. from the Polytechnic of
Central London
 A past in research working for the European Commission (Euratom: thermonuclear
fusion, 1976-1991)
 Co-founder and president of Graftek Italia (Machine Vision)
 In 1996: Graftek France software machine vision library is acquired by National
Instruments (Austin, Texas)
 From 1999 to 2003 joins NI Corporate as Machine Vision Business Developer
Manager for Europe
 In 2004 soft shut-down and restart in ImagingLab Srl

Francesco Romanò, 30 years old, Degree in Mechanical
Engineering, Polytechnic of Milan
 Co-founder of ImagingLab

The full team: today 8 people (6 engineering, 2 admin)

2004-2007: from 2 to 6 people, from 250 k€ to 1 M€

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Machine Vision and Robotics is a growing mkt

We might be biased (90% of our
small company business is
linked to the tight integration of
vision and robotics), but there is
a fast growing presence of MV
in the field of robotics

There are plenty of new
areas for robots, especially
low payload, high accuracy
ones

Today only 5-10 % of
robotics apps make use of
MV, but these number is
destined to grow: 35% by
2012 ??

The number of robots in Europe
is also increasing (+11 % in
2006)

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Markets and statistics …

Gathering statistical data is a difficult and lengthy process

There are three kind of lies: lies, damned lies, and
statistics ...

Accurate trends are more important than accurate
absolute values (i.e. If you make mistakes keep making
the same!)

You may come across several discrepancies: data are
gathered via different associations, often with overlapping
areas of interest, different methodologies, ...

What is included within the 'MV market'? From
components to the added value of system design and
integration …

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Italy: 'meccanica e macchine' :

the weight of Italy in Europe

The weight of Italy in Europe: GDP (GEP?), manufacturing industry,

‘machines’ production

Italy ranks at the 4th place, but machine manufacturing is 2nd after Germany

Noi italiani siamo bravi a fare ‘macchine’

Weight of Italy in Europe

Other EU
Germany UK France Italy Spain members

% of Gross European Product 20.0% 16.4% 15.4% 12.8% 8.5% 26.9%

Manufacturing industry 26.0% 11.3% 15.1% 14.2% 7.5% 25.9%

Machine manufacturing 33.4% 9.4% 11.1% 19.5% 5.0% 21.6%

Source: Federmacchine / Eurostat

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Italy: 'meccanica e macchine' : the weight of

machine production in the Italian economy
All goods

The overall goods trade balance (2006) Agro-food
is positive only for the 'machines' and Fashion &
fashion/furniture segments furniture

The 'machines' segment has registered Rubber-chemistry

+ 12.500 M€ in 2006 vs. a – 21.400 M€ Mineral ext
industry
of all commercial goods
Machines
Other mnfg goods

Goods commercial balance 2006 (bl

Euro)

Continuos growth over an

extended period
Source: Federmacchine / ICE
Instrumental goods (machines) balance 1990-2006 Automation
(bn Euro) & Flexible Manufacturing 9
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World Robotics 2007 – World

yearly supply: > 100,000 robots/year
Estimated yearly supply of industrial robots
by regions 2004 - 2006

-19%

Asia/Australia

2006
2005
+11%
2004
Europe

-18%
Americas

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
'000 of units Source:World Robotics 2007

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World Robotics 2007 – Europe

Germany and Italy : largest mrkts and growing
Estimated yearly supply of industrial robots
in Europe by countries 2005 - 2006
Germany

Italy

France

Spain

BENELUX 2006
Central/Eastern Europe 2005
United Kingdom

Sweden

Austria

Switzerland

Denmark

Turkey

all other countries

0 2.000 4.000 6.000 8.000 10.000 12.000

units Source:World Robotics 2007

Some numbers from SIRI (Italian Robotics Association):

2006: Anthropomorphic 3421, SCARA 72, tot 3493
2007: Anthropomorphic 3948, SCARA 240, tot 4188
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Japan: by far highest robot density

Estimated number of operating industrial robots per 10,000
persons employed in the manufacturing industry
400
372
349
350

2006
300
2005
250
Average Europe 2006: 97
units

200 187 186

176
168

150 138
130 123 122
99 91 92 87
100 79 76
70 71

50

0
Japan Korea Germany Italy Sweden United France Spain Austria
States

Un commento: Source: W orld Robotics 2007

 In Giappone: un uso meno ‘tecnologicamente’ esasperato dei robot

 Velocità mediamente inferiori
 Compiti x robot più semplici / maggior numero di robot
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Share of Italy in the MV market

The graph shows delivery of all
European companies to
specific regions/countries

Italy: 2205 4.4%, 2006 4,4%,
change 2006/2005 11.8%

Germany to the WORLD:
approx 1 bl €

Italy exports > 70% of
'machines' (which also
include MV)

Roughly 1/7 of Germany
turnover: approx 150 M€ ??

Let's try to find our way
between data analysis and
educated guess ...

Source: EMVA 2007 survey

Machine vision mkt in Italia: probabilmente attorno ai 200 - 250 M€

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Machine vision and robotics:

tight integration

Robot application without vision usually require simple

programming

Very simple applications can be programmed directly from
the ‘teaching pendant’

When vision is present, programming gets more complex
(dynamic missions / dynamic programming)

In machine vision + robotics application vision should not be
considered an ‘add-on’, but designed / programmed as a
whole unit and possibly in a single programming environment

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Robot types and payload / size range

SCARA: 4-axis

Anthropomorphic: 6 or more axis

‘Inverted spiders’ or Delta: fast / less accurate, sometimes
considered only a ‘manipulator’

Range: payload from 1 to 1.000 kg

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Why and what is 'flexible

manufacturing'? 1: market changes

Market and economics changes have a
deep effect on engineering

Production methods and requirements
have changed a lot in recent years:
 Smaller production lots
 Faster time to market
 Lowering production costs to respond to agressive
new competitors (China, India mkts)

Flexibility vs production speed
 Cycle time: what does it really means?
 Design for speed
 Design for flexibility
 Design for ease of use
 Design for low cost of ownership

Pictures courtesy of Automatismi Brazzale and Cabur

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Why and what is 'flexible

manufacturing'? 2: robotics

Assembly machines need to be able
to produce different objects / products:
 At least in the same class of products
 No re-tooling required
 Fast production lot change with limited or no
operator intervention
 Used by non skilled personnel
 Reconfigurable / reusable for new products
 In-process quality control (as opposed to end-of-
line quality control)

Flexible automated assembly:
 Loading / feeding components
 Putting the components together

Flexible and reconfigurable
‘mechanics’ for handling and
assembly

Highly modular

The answer is: more robotics

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Why and what is 'flexible

manufacturing'? 3: machine vision

The robots need to perform
more complex and ‘dynamic’
(i.e.) work cycles

Robots need to see!

Vision is used to:
 Locate the parts and send info to
the robot
 Perform quality inspection of single
components
 Verify assembly correctness

In-process vs end of line
quality control:
 Discards only defective component
 Prevents machine malfunctioning /
jamming

The answer is: more vision

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Why and what is 'flexible manufacturing'? 4:

better integrated software

Machines need to be reconfigurable by the end user

Vision and robotics sw needs to have simple user interface

The integration of robotics and vision must take care of
calibration procedures, machine commissioning and start-up
tools, etc

The answer is: high level software libraries and tools
specific to vision and robotics integration

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Flexible manufacturing / flexible feeding:

the feeding station

Conventional vibrating bowl-feeder
are adjusted for a specific
component: lack of flexibility!!

Flex feeders: computer-controlled
vibration amplitude, direction and
frequency

Machine vision identifies the
components

Robots pick and place the part

LabVIEW offers one single software
platform

Advanced tools for auto-calibration

Advanced tools for system
configuration

Quality control of the selected parts

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Flexible assembly on the factory floor

Co-design and collaboration is

a key to success (ImagingLab,
Automatismi Brazzale, Cabur)

From the early prototype to the
deployed machine

A short video-clip …

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Questions &
answers …

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