Braintech: Intelligent Vision

Case Studies

Cylinder Head & Engine Block Packing


Toyota
Vision enabled robots pack roughcast cylinder head and engine blocks for machine processes.

The Objective
To automate the labor-intensive task of packing rough cast cylinder heads and engine blocks for machining processes.

The Problem
Automation without human assistance risked damaging the expensive parts in collisions.
Expensive Precision dunnage needed to be reduced or eliminated to lower annual investments.

The Solution
The TrueView robotic vision system uses eVF and SC3D to accurately locate parts in inexpensive, non-precision dunnage, reducing annual costs by allowing the customer to reallocate its manual labor while reutilizing their inexpensive and imprecise racks and dunnage layers.

The vision-enabled robots maneuver without collisions, eliminating the risk of part damage and removing the ergonomically unsafe human assisted placement or parts.

Savings
Annual Labor Savings: 1 opertor @ $75,000 annual burden rate X 2 shifts = $150,000
Annual Capital investment Savings: Toyota's savings have been estimated at $100,000 per year by reducing annual investment in racks and dunnage.
Total Annual Savings: $250,000
Average Cell Price: $200,000
Payback Time: 10 months

 

Gear Transfer from Heat Alloys

eVisionFactoryª enables robots using eVF Image Divider, Xi2D and IDM2.5D guidance technologies to transfer gears from imprecise alloys, deformed by heating processes.

The Objective
To simplify the labor-intensive tasks of transferring multiple sizes of gears from heat treatment alloy racks to the machining process.

The Problem
Heat treatments warp and damage the alloys after repeated heating and cooling cycles, bending the pins that hold the gears in plaace. Removing and replacing gears on the pins without collisions is an automation task impossible without vision.

The Solution
TrueView locates each individual gear and its orientation on the pins, removing and replacing multiple sizes of gears without collision.
TrueView saves time between robot movements by capturing several gears in a single image and calculation their unique positions simultaneously.

Savings
Annual Labor Savings: 3 operators @ $100, 000 per burden rate X 3 shifts = $900,000 annual labor savings.
Annual Capital investment Savings: Ford's savings have been estimated at $500,000 per year by reducing annual investments in heat alloy trays.
Total Annual Savings: $1,400,000
Average Cell Price: $750,000
Payback Time: 6 months