Automated flexible robotic circuit board assembler

Abstract

The FLAIR (flexible assembly intelligent robot) workcell loads both through-hole and surface-mount odd-shaped components onto printed circuit boards. The workcell is completely data-driven, handles diverse boards in arbitrary batch sizes, and uses computer vision to examine components and boards. It incorporates sensor-based error detection and recovery, generic parts feeders, general-purpose lead straightening, and lead clinching. Cameras and robot are calibrated automatically. Although constituting a significant advance in functionality, the workcell requires trained engineering support.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>