ABB will launch an automated bin picking robot, which was unveiled at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in late 2008, to the Australian market.
This IMTS debut was the first public demonstration of an ABB robot that could reliably locate and disseminate jumbled random material from bins. It is equipped with the company’s own IRC 5 controller as well as Braintech’s vision guidance software.
According to the manufacturer, random bin picking is nowadays considered almost too mundane a job for a person, but is actually quite challenging for a robot. The application requires the robot to distinguish between different parts and sort them. It also has a high potential for collisions.
The system is packaged as part of the company’s TrueView leading edge vision guidance product line and will be on sale from the end of February 2009.