Features

Food traceability is not just a matter of compliance, it’s also essential for maintaining customer trust and brand reputation. According to a survey by the US’s Center for Food Integrity, 55 per cent of consumers have changed their food purchasing behaviour in response to food safety concerns. Here, Ryan Guthrie, vice-president of Shibaura Machine partner, TM Robotics, explains how advanced artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and machine learning technologies can help manufacturers improve food traceability, ensure the safety of their products and build trust with customers.

Among the many worries currently surrounding the rapid evolution of AI is a potential lack of transparency and accountability. A report by the AI Now Institute, titled The State of AI 2019: Divergent Trends in AI, discusses how many AI systems are opaque and difficult to understand, which can make it challenging to hold them accountable for their decisions.

However, AI could help improve transparency and accountability for food manufacturers — particularly against one of the food industry’s biggest challenges, maintaining traceability. Manufacturers need to know where their products are coming from, where they are going, and who handled them in between. Being able to track a product from its origin through to the end consumer is critical, especially in the event of a recall or outbreak. Earlier this year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) linked a Salmonella Infantis outbreak back to a specific flour manufacturer.

Automated traceability can help, here. For example, sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices can monitor environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and light level. Or, barcoding and radio-frequency identification (RFID) allow for the easy tracking and identification of products as they move through the supply chain, providing real-time information on their location and status.

However, automated traceability has aways been a particular challenge in the food industry due to the variability of products. An obvious example is that no two bananas are exactly the same, and can vary significantly in shape. Any other given foodstuff can have its own unique set of ingredients, production processes and packaging requirements. An automated traceability system needs to be flexible enough to accommodate these variations and capture relevant data accurately.

The food industry also deals with complex supply chains and multiple stakeholders such as farmers, suppliers, distributors and retailers. The industry is also heavily-regulated, with strict rules and guidelines that manufacturers must comply with to ensure food safety and quality.

Previously, automated traceability systems that could deal with these complex factors were expensive to implement and maintain, requiring significant investments in hardware, software and training. The automated systems themselves were complex, requiring specialised knowledge and expertise to design, implement and operate effectively. They were also difficult to integrate with existing manufacturing processes and IT systems, requiring careful planning and coordination. So, what’s changed since then? The answers include robotics, AI and machine learning.

Affordable technology

Advances in vision systems, processing power and machine learning algorithms mean that manufacturers can now identify and sort different cuts of meat, fruits, and vegetables.

While these technologies are nothing new — the meat packing industry has been using X-rays to scan carcasses for robotic trimming for well over a decade — they were previously only accessible to higher-echelon manufactures. Automated traceability requires the integration of various technologies such as sensors, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, barcodes and data analytics tools. These technologies have traditionally required technical expertise and were expensive.

But this is changing. The adoption of automation technologies is increasing among small-medium-sized manufacturers due to improved accessibility and affordability. Additionally, the cost of IoT sensors, which are crucial for enabling automation, is decreasing rapidly. In fact, according to a report by IoT Analytics, the average cost of IoT sensors has dropped by 50 per cent over the past decade, making them more accessible to smaller businesses.

Storing large amounts of data used to be expensive, and difficult when dealing with large volumes of data from multiple sources. Costs have since lowered with the proliferation of cloud-based software and services, businesses can now access automation solutions on a pay-as-you-go basis, without the need for large upfront investments.

With the latest advancements in technology, it is now easier for manufacturers to access these technologies, reducing the need for manual labor and ensuring that every product is sorted correctly. But, how do robotics help in the traceability of food products?

Put simply, robots are designed to move products from one location to another safely and repetitively.

Adding scanners and RFID tags on each of the individual crates will help identify and trace products from one location to another, which is essential for ensuring the safety of the food supply chain. This way, manufacturers can scan the RFID tag and know that a particular container belongs to a specific pallet and, as the pallet leaves the factory, they could scan that the pallet was taken away by a certain delivery truck. This information helps manufacturers trace products and ensure that they are delivered to the right location at the right time.

TM Robotics offers a range of services and offerings to help manufacturers integrate robotics into their manufacturing processes. Its Shibaura Machine robots are designed to be flexible and can be customised to fit a range of applications. With its robots, manufacturers can improve the accuracy and consistency of their operations while reducing labour costs.

Improved sorting accuracy

Robot-assisted quality-sorting is one of the most effective ways to improve food traceability. The process uses robots to sort food items based on specific quality standards, and involves using advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning to ensure that the sorting is accurate and efficient.

The robots are programmed to recognise various shapes, sizes, colours, and defects in the food items and sort them accordingly. Machine learning algorithms enable the robots to continuously improve their sorting accuracy by learning from past data. This process ensures consistent quality control, reduces waste, and increases efficiency in the food manufacturing industry.

Advanced 3D vision systems, including Shibaura Machine’s TSVision3D, can read barcodes, check for defects such as in engine parts or wood quality, inspect packaging and inspect the end product.

The latest addition to vision systems is the TSVision3D system from Shibaura Machine, which is designed for industrial robots. This system is capable of recognising objects without the need for complex CAD data. The TSVision3D system uses two high-speed stereo cameras to capture real-time 3D images continuously. It can detect any object that appears in its field of vision, even non-uniform products such as bananas.

To ensure that a cheese manufacturer’s robot-assisted quality sorting system was accurately picking up and placing the cheese in the correct place, Elliptical Design, a design and manufacturing company, turned to TM Robotics. However, the cheese’s softness and unusual non-round shape created a margin of error. TM Robotics developed an ultrasonic cutting system specifically for this task.

TM Robotics’ engineers utilised their collaboration with Shibaura Machine to identify the appropriate algorithm within the vision program that enabled the robot to accurately select the cheese. The outcome was an automated quality-sorting system that not only improved efficiency but also reduced waste.

As the food industry grows, it’s essential to keep up with the latest technological advancements. Robotics and AI help manufacturers meet the demand for transparency in the food supply chain and ensure the safety and quality of our food supply.

For more information on Shibaura TSVision3D system, visit its website.

Cherwell, specialists in cleanroom microbiology solutions for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and related industries, has welcomed five new recruits to its growing team to meet industry needs for increasingly rigorous environmental monitoring. Cherwell aims to support these needs by creating new and modifying existing roles to grow capacity, and become the go to provider for cleanroom microbiology, reliably offering consistently high-quality products and services.

Key drivers to growth in the pharmaceutical microbiology industry in recent times have included: regulatory changes such as GMP Annex 1 increasing quality stringency; technological advancements in pharmaceutical manufacturing; plus, the escalating use of personalised medicines and advanced therapeutics. All require additional levels of environmental monitoring meeting exacting standards for drug manufacture to ensure final product quality and patient safety. To support customers in these areas, the new roles cover production, technical, customer communications, business development, as well as HR.

“It’s an exciting time at Cherwell, we have ambitious growth plans, however, we don’t want to lose our focus on delivering excellent support to our customers. Our growth is creating new opportunities for existing employees but is also allowing us to welcome new people into the business, which is great for everyone, including our customers. The energy and buzz created from new thinking and ideas is exciting and bodes well for our future,” said Andy Whittard, Managing Director, Cherwell. 

As production has increased at Cherwell, so a recent review has identified that the business would benefit from splitting the current Production Manager position into two roles. Therefore, joining with broad industry experience, Leonid Cemezov expands Cherwell’s production team as the new Production Manager; while the former manager, Sue Ellis, is appointed to the new position of Supply Chain Manager. Working together, Sue and Leonid will drive the production department forward to ensure sufficient manufacturing capacity to support future company growth and evolving customer needs.

With extensive microbiology, scientific and technical skills, Dr Wan Li Low joins Cherwell as Microbiology Product Specialist with expert cleanroom microbiology knowledge to support customers with technical advice on environmental monitoring applications and products. As a Chartered Biologist, her proven professional skills will also be valuable in driving Cherwell’s continued excellence in delivering high quality products to customers, in conjunction with the rest of the Company’s well-established, highly successful team.  

Two other new roles are linked to effective customer communications and relations. Melis Parmaksiz joins as Channel Business Development Manager; as the primary point of contact for all pharmaceutical industry channel partners and export customers, she will be providing them with guidance, support and training. Within the new role of Content Creator, Martin Sketchley will work alongside Cherwell’s technical experts to create useful educational videos, articles, blogs, plus product and industry updates to inform and inspire customers.

Clare Child is an experienced HR professional who joins the team as a dedicated Human Resources Manager to support Cherwell’s strong workplace culture and company values in commitment to excellence and ethical business practice. Cherwell recognises that good people are one of its most valuable assets, and with an expanding company, finding, developing and retaining top talent is vital for continued success and delivering service excellence to its customers, enabling them to effectively manage their controlled environments and processes.

Nanusens, a British electronics company that is re-inventing sensor technology, has appointed Dr. Phil Daniell as its VP of ASIC Engineering. He has over 25 years’ senior design experience at Cypress, Maxim, GF Micro, Trameto and Phoelex.

Nanusens CEO, Josep Montanyà, said, “Phil will play a crucial role in the next growth phase of Nanusens. We have solved the challenges of making MEMS-within-ASICs and Phil’s huge experience of ASICs will ensure that we can support customers with very easy integration of our embedded sensors solutions into their ASICs.”

Dr Phil Daniell added, “In my 25 years of silicon ASIC engineering, I found that the integrated MEMS technology innovated by Nanuses to be one of the most exciting and disruptive technologies that I have seen in my career. The prospect of implementing MEMS on the same die as more typical digital and analogue CMOS circuits is truly ground-breaking, and I was keen to work with Josep Montanyà and his team of experienced and dedicated engineers. I felt privileged to be offered a position of VP of ASIC engineering in such a dynamic start-up company with such a bright future ahead. I particularly look forward to growing the ASIC team to develop the product and IP portfolio to realise the potential of this cutting-edge technology.”

Technology backgrounder

Nanusens is the only company to have perfected the building of sensors within chips. The sensors, called MEMS, are built using the standard chip manufacturing techniques, called CMOS, that are used to build the electronic circuits on chips and at the same time as the rest of the chip circuitry. This means that chips with Nanusens embedded sensors can be made in any of the many CMOS fab in virtually unlimited numbers and with the high yields that are normal in such fabs with all the benefits of low unit costs that fab production provides.

A key new innovation by the company is development of a novel control circuit that measures the capacitance changes within the sensor to provide sensor data. Like the sensor itself, this is also a digital IP block so it can be incorporated in the floor plan of the device’s control chip, or ASIC, using standard EDA tools. This pairing for sensors and control circuitry as IP is unique as no other sensor solution can be turned into an IP block and made using standard CMOS techniques within the layers of the chip structure. This also significantly reduces the complexity and bill of materials costs for an AIoT device.

Nanusens has already built accelerometer sensors into an ASIC chip using this unique technology. It is developing many other different types of embedded sensors such as gyroscope, magnetometer, pressure sensor, microphone, IR imagers and gas sensor as most of these are variants on the accelerometer design. These open up many other massive markets for its embedded sensors such as smartphones, earbuds, wearables, automotive, medical equipment and aerospace, to name but a few. As a result, the company has started a Series A funding round.

Further details of Nanusens MEMS-within-ASIC™ technology can be found at www.nanusens.com

Excel Precision, a prominent player in the UK’s EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) sector, recently worked with Bowers Group to address a complex machining challenge faced by a machine tool company. The solution cut the client’s component setting time from around a week to less than an hour, also resulting in a 12-week reduction in production time.

Steve Batt, Technical Director at Excel Precision, said, “Our innovative solution transformed a complex and time-consuming process into a highly efficient one. By incorporating innovative technology from Bowers Group and smart engineering from our team here at Excel, we not only met the client’s precision requirements but also significantly increased their annual production capacity by reducing production time.”

The client had a precision issue with a deep-seated bore, complicating visual inspection and accurate adjustments. The initial approach involved using a conventional DTI (Dial Test Indicator) but proved inefficient, taking 5-8 days to achieve the required runout. This was primarily due to the inability to observe the part’s movement during adjustments in the confined bore, which extended to a depth of 350mm. Excel were tasked to significantly reduce the time required for achieving precise runout within the project’s necessary tight tolerance.

The initial approach involved creating a ball screw adjustment mechanism using a three-point system. This system featured one fixed point and two adjustable points to improve flexibility. Despite this enhancement, the client was still operating without visual cues on the part. As a result, the challenge of time-consuming testing persisted.

With the team having to repeatedly probe the bore horizontally, making minor adjustments until it met the desired tolerance, it quickly became apparent that having real-time visibility into the part’s movement would be paramount to helping speed up the setup.

After extensive research, Excel Precision turned to Bowers Group to supply the technology that would streamline adjustments and offer the much-needed visibility of part movement. The SYLVAC D62S Digital Display and PS12D Digital Probe were the identified as the ideal solutions to help solve the visibility issue.

The SYLVAC D62S table display unit and digital P12D measuring probes offer an array of user-friendly features. With functions such as MIN/MAX/DELTA, these tools provide the versatility needed for accurate measurements. They also feature both USB and RS232 data outputs, accommodating different systems.

The D62S was mounted on a carbon fibre tube and a wire passed through, connecting it to the two digital probes. A mechanism was also developed that allowed one probe to take measurements in the X direction and the other in the Y direction, ensuring precision despite the tight confines of the bore. This advanced assembly allowed real-time measurement of the part’s movement, enhancing precision during adjustments.

The immediate feedback reduced setup time dramatically, enabling the client to set the component within an hour, a significant improvement from the initial 5-8 days. Additionally, when combined with a custom fixture, it improved the client’s annual production capacity by reducing production time by at least 12 weeks.

TVR Instruments, a specialist technical distributor of low voltage instrumentation and power management products, are introducing a range of measuring and protection devices for use in domestic and industrial EV charging installations at the forthcoming London EV Show on 28^th to 30^th November at the London ExCel exhibition centre.

FRER Srl, the Italian-based manufacturer of measuring and protection devices, have enhanced their range of earth leakage relays with continued expansion of Type B Earth Leakage Relays for use in installations and sites equipped for electric vehicle charging. A range of three products are suitable for domestic and industrial charge points, roadside EV charging stations or at larger public installations.

The domestic charge point market is serviced with the XTDB019 – a residual direct current monitoring module. The XTDB019 is electrically coupled to a protection unit or switching unit and performs the function of the residual direct current monitoring device, in full compliance with the requirements of IEC 62955. 

As an option, the module can also integrate residual alternate current monitoring, in compliance with the threshold and timing requirements for residual direct current – protection devices (RDC-PD). The module is suitable for use in AC charging stations permanently connected to the mains. The XTDB019 module features a 19mm wide cable passage and is available with optional UART communication.

For EV charging station switchboards and applications in large installations FRER produce a series of Type B Earth Leakage Relays. The X35DB, X48DB and X72DB are designed for intuitive and automatic detection of continuous, alternating, and high-frequency leakage currents.

The XxxDB series relays feature continuous and real-time monitoring of the fault level current with a colour display indicating the fault level, and a digital indication of the relevant measurements. These programmable relays work with the FRER toroid design TDB sensor range. The TDB range can be used on networks with a mixed AC and DC powered systems and are available with internal dimensions of 28mm to 210mm. The TDB sensor range detect AC and DC leakage current from 30mA to 50A AC and DC. For higher current systems, up to 3600A, the TDB321050 and the TDB471050 are available.

The tripping level is set in the relay, allowing for one relay to operate across the whole tripping sensitivity span. The relays are available as a 35mm DIN rail mounting module, a DIN48mm and DIN72mm panel mounting. The FRER XxxDB family is compliant with the IEC62423 standard for integral overcurrent protection covering cardiac fibrillation and fire prevention. Additional variants are available with a real time clock for event logging and Modbus RS485 for remote monitoring.

As EV charging installations have developed, the number of distribution points from a single switchboard have also increased. FRER have introduced the COMBI 6, a multi-channel earth leakage relay. The COMBI 6 has been designed for the monitoring and protection of up to six independent systems. A single instrument of three DIN modules size, with a total width of 55mm, enables optimisation of the overall dimensions and efficient installation. Each channel has its own removable terminal block which allows for quick and easy wiring.

Four front keys facilitate immediate programming. Easy to use, push button control enables selection of any of the six monitored channels, while in case of trip intervention, the display will automatically show the last tripped channel. The Combi 6 is available in three versions: Type B only, Type AF only, and mixed Type B / AF with five different input combinations.

A bronze sponsor at the London EV Show, TVR Instruments will be exhibiting a range of FRER measuring and protection devices on Stand EP18 at the London EV Show on 28^th to 30^th November at the London ExCel exhibition centre.

With the introduction of the nRF7000 Wi-Fi companion IC, Nordic Semiconductor, a global leader in low-power wireless connectivity, is now established as the world’s first sole supplier of a complete silicon-to-cloud locationing solution with Wi-Fi, cellular IoT, and GNSS. Nordic’s single-vendor solution, combined with the company’s world-class tech support, will simplify and accelerate product development of applications based on Wi-Fi locationing.

The new nRF7000 companion IC is a unique low-power Wi-Fi 6 chip, optimized for Wi-Fi network scanning on both the 2.4- and 5 GHz Wi-Fi frequency bands. Together with Nordic’s nRF91 Series cellular IoT System-in-Package (SiP), the nRF7000 enables SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing. Nordic’s SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing enables the acquisition of accurate location fixes in an extremely power-efficient manner both indoors and outdoors, in urban and suburban areas. This is a valuable complement to GNSS, especially in buildings and in dense urban areas where GNSS can fail due to signal fading and interruptions. Scanning for Wi-Fi SSIDs for locationing is commonplace in products such as smartphones.

The nRF7000 IC is highly optimized for ultra low power Wi-Fi SSID scanning and does not support data communication via Wi-Fi. The optimization enables Nordic’s Wi-Fi locationing solution to offer a unique balance between power consumption and location precision.

Best-in-class Wi-Fi locationing

Nordic’s SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing solution uses the nRF7000 IC for Wi-Fi scanning and an nRF91 Series SiP for cellular communication to Nordic’s nRF Cloud. Instead of relying on traditional methods like cell towers or satellite signals, SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing scans the signals from nearby Wi-Fi access points to accurately determine a tracker’s location. This enables a location accuracy that is better than cellular-based but less accurate than GNSS, while being more power-efficient than GNSS and almost as power-efficient as cellular-based.

“Nordic’s dedication to low power wireless technology enables us to provide highly efficient solutions for numerous IoT applications,” says Kjetil Holstad, EVP Strategy & Product Management at Nordic Semiconductor. “This focus culminates in a fusion of Wi-Fi locationing from the nRF7000 with the cellular and GNSS capabilities of the nRF91 Series SiP. Customers now need to come to just one place for a comprehensive, low power locationing solution and world-class technical support. This streamlines the process and saves them significant time and money.”

“The launch of the nRF7000 IC makes the Nordic SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing solution best-in-class,” explains Finn Boetius, Product Marketing Engineer at Nordic Semiconductor. “Competing solutions tend to use general-purpose Wi-Fi ICs for Wi-Fi locationing. These are usually oversized and not optimized for this specific use case. This makes them both more expensive and more power-hungry.

“The Nordic locationing solution allows a trade-off between position accuracy and power consumption,” continues Boetius. “In situations where high position precision is needed, GNSS is the best option. But if GNSS is unavailable or only a very rough location is needed, you can use cell-based locationing and save battery life; this will be accurate enough to tell you in which neighborhood your device is. If you’re still without GNSS and need more, accurate information, you include Wi-Fi information at the cost of a little more power. This will be accurate enough to tell you in which house the device is located.”

Single development environment from a single vendor

Nordic’s SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing solution is supported by the nRF Connect SDK, the company’s single software development environment. When used in conjunction with Nordic’s nRF Cloud Services, it enables effortless over-the-air updates for application, middleware, and/or modem firmware while providing a secure and reliable update procedure.

“If you run into technical problems on a project, dealing with multiple vendors can create a massive technical support headache,” says Ville-Veikko Helppi, Product Director Cloud Solutions at Nordic Semiconductor. “That multi-vendor headache is eliminated with Nordic’s one-stop-shop solution.”

Hardware availability

The nRF9160 SiP and nRF7000 IC combine to make a compact, power-efficient Wi-Fi, cellular IoT, and GNSS locationing solution. To help developers get started on IoT end-products using this technology, Nordic has launched the nRF7002 EK (Evaluation Kit). The EK is supplied in an Arduino shield form factor and can easily be added to an nRF9160 DK (Development Kit).

The nRF7000 Wi-Fi Companion IC and the nRF7002 EK are available now through Nordic’s distribution partners.

On 17 January 2024 Instrumentation Live and Electronics Live will come together for the very first time at the National Conference Centre (NCC) in Birmingham. The one-day table top exhibitions will present the very best tech under one roof, making it an unmissable day for networking to kick off 2024…

Instrumentation Live, sponsored by IndySoft, is coming to the National Conference Centre in Birmingham on 17 January 2024. This brand new table top event is the ideal platform for showcasing your latest technology in the fields of test, measurement and control. The free-to-attend event aims to attract key decision makers that are looking to source the latest products and solutions and stay up-to-date with the latest developments.

Why visit?

Visitors benefit from the unique opportunity to see all of the instrumentation market leaders under one roof, while exhibitors enjoy an incredible ROI from the highly-targeted and relevant crowd that the event will attract. Exhibitors already signed up to be at the event include Michell Instruments, Micro-Epsilon, ION Science, POWTechnology, Calex Electronics, Trafag, Dewesoft, Asset Instruments Engineering, Luso Electronics, Rheintacho, D.A.T.S., Status Instruments, Winters Instruments; Sensing Innovation Leadership Council;Alphasense; Magnaflux; Mettler Toledo; Display Technology; Indysoft; GI Systems; Acoustic Camera; Strainsense and European Springs and Pressings.

With market-leading companies exhibiting at the event and co-location with Electronics Live there are lots of reasons to visit the event. The exhibition enables visitors to source cutting-edge innovations and knowledge from industry experts. Attendees can also forge valuable connections and do business with prospective clients face-to-face.

The day will also see a series of seminars covering the latest and hottest topics in the sector. More information about the seminars will be announced soon.

Why exhibit?

Got new products and solutions that you want to showcase? Instrumentation Live is an ideal platform to launch your innovations to the UK market. The exhibition will attract a highly engaged and focused audience and  serves as the ideal opportunity to strengthen existing business relationships and secure new connections. And with the 2024 exhibition joining forces with Electronics Live, there will be more opportunities to network than ever before. What’s more, Instrumentation Live receives extensive coverage in a number of industry publications – meaning that all of our exhibitors do too. The NCC will be the place for your test, measurement, control and electronic needs come 17 January 2024.

Celebrate 40 years of CIE at Electronics Live

Electronics Live will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of electronics magazine CIE (Components in Electronics). On the evening of 17 January 2024 there will be a three course meal, entertainment and a special guest to honour one of the most important publications in the electronics sector.

Find out more

Please visit www.instrumentationlive.co.uk to find out more about this exciting new event. Alternatively, to find out more about exhibiting at Instrumentation Live, please contact Louise Tiller by emailing ltiller@datateam.co.uk. To find out more about exhibiting at Electronics Live or attending the evening event, please contact Harriet Campbell by emailing HCampbell@cieonline.co.uk.

Industrial automation is no longer imaginable today without robots. Our VISOR^® Robotic vision sensor acts as the robot’s “eye” and is used worldwide in image-guided robotics applications.

Everything in view, everything under control – the vision sensor for robotics applications

The VISOR^® Robotic is part of the extensive VISOR® vision sensor family. With its five fast and robust detection methods for locating components, it represents the perfect solution for a wide variety of automation tasks. With the integrated Target Mark 3D technology, 3D object poses are determined in the shortest possible time. Thanks to the fully automatable and flexible calibration methods, both stationary and mounting on the robot arm are possible.

In addition to its robotic functions, the VISOR^® Robotic offers all inspection, measurement, and identification functions of the VISOR® framework.

Packed in a robust, compact housing, the vision sensor can capture images up to 5 megapixels. The evaluation of the results takes place directly in the camera, an additional PC is not required. With this range of functions and ease of use, the VISOR^® Robotic is a leader on the market for 2D vision applications.

A combination of 2D image-guided robotics and precise, integrated distance measurement

The VISOR^® Robotic +Z combines a vision sensor for robotics and the function of a distance sensor in a single device. This combination enables the functionalities of the VISOR® Robotic to be expanded by providing precise depth information. The distance measurement is based on triangulation and expands SensoPart’s product portfolio in the field of triangulation sensors – previously limited to a range of 1000 mm – to an extended range of 150-2500 mm.

The integrated projection laser ensures reliable detection of variable distances, which are precisely evaluated by the VISOR^® Robotic and transmitted directly to the robot controller. This proves to be particularly advantageous in the automotive industry. Here, the removal of body parts from load carriers plays an important role in the production process. In this application, the VISOR® Robotic +Z results in a significant reduction in the cycle time on the one hand and increased precision on the other. Thanks to the integrated distance measurement, the VISOR® can transmit the exact distance to the robot, which allows the robot to approach at accelerated speed and very precisely.

The VISOR^® Robotic +Z presents a combined solution that combines the strengths of 2D vision-guided robotics with precise distance measurement for large distances.

GO TO VISOR^® ROBOTIC +Z