An Automated Machine-Vision-based Feeding System for Engine Mount Parts

摘要

This paper describes a machine-vision-based prototype system for automatically feeding engine-mount parts to a swaging machine which assembles engine mounts. The system developed consists of a robot, a feeding device with two cylinders and two photo sensors, and a machine vision system. The machine vision system recognizes the type of different parts being fed from the feeding device and estimates the angular difference between the inner-hole center of the part and the point predetermined for assembling. The robot then picks up each part and rotated it through the estimated angle such that the parts are well assembled together as specified. An algorithm has been developed to recognize different part types and estimate the angular difference. The test results obtained for a set of real specimens indicate that the algorithm performs well enough to be applied to prototype system.