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Technology for Next-generation Assembly Equipment
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
At the heart of every assembly machine is an embedded vision system. In addition to what it already is tasked to do, it now must inspect at pre-pick for component identification, lead coplanarity, bump or column damage, and solder paste quality.
By Don W. Lake
The next generation of assembly equipment must be able to handle, in real time, positioning relative to pads, as well as pick-up relative to packet/tape. What is needed is equipment capable of increasingly precise positioning in three-dimensional space where it is not only assembly activity that is required, but movement to the desired spot must be fast, flexible and precise. Meeting these requirements demands generic movement to a selected area and then, by using visual self-guidance, going to exactly the right place and precisely performing the required task.
This procedure is, of course, exactly what a person would use to solve this problem. One must be introduced to the situation, taught what to do, and then act to recognize, position and inspect the work. A person would not need to be meticulously programmed to perform each minute step, as a present-generation assembly machine must. People are much more flexible, more adaptable than machines at problem solving and have a much shorter learning curve to begin doing a job. Once programmed, however, a machine has the advantage of being more reliable and precise, and often faster.
A new technology that combines digital cameras with neural network-based zero instruction set computing (ZISC) now combines the benefits of both the human and machine in the assembly environment. This programming-free smart camera1 is taught by example, just as a human being would be. Once taught, it then operates as a stand-alone inspection, recognition and positioning machine. It does not need to be programmed. In other words, the smart camera behaves like a human operator, with regard to how it learns to handle a situation, but performs like a digital computer in its tireless and precise handling of a task.
Operating in conjunction with the camera is its graphical tutoring interface. The tutor guides the process of capturing an image on an object, then annotates the field of view, trains the smart camera to recognize the appropriate features and finally tests its knowledge. These elements define the smart camera's behavior.
The hardware defines the smart camera's performance. One variation of the camera2 contains a 640 x 480 square pixel CMOS 1/3" progressive scan sensor operating at 60 Hz. The camera can be triggered externally, uses standard C-Mount lenses and has a shutter speed that can be as fast as 1/13,500 of a second. The raw image can be output directly to a VGA-compatible monitor for rapid camera positioning and scene monitoring. The smart camera's Ethernet capability means that every aspect of its operation can be controlled and reported anywhere served by the Internet.
Because the camera is designed to work on the shop floor, it includes the capabilities that factory automation equipment requires. There are three open collector outputs that provide eight different combinations of output signals suitable for driving actuators and other assembly machine mechanisms. In addition, the camera is rugged: it can withstand 70 G shock, random vibration of 7 g from 10 to 2,000 Hz at temperatures from -10° to 45°C.
To grow and prosper, the assembly equipment industry must meet user demands for lower costs, better performance and the ability to support shorter production runs. A significant barrier is the cost and time required to reprogram the equipment for each run change. The ZISC-based smart camera can eliminate this barrier. Teaching is much faster and cost-effective than programming, yet the hardware delivers superior results.
The needs now driving the assembly machine industry and its equipment have nearly exhausted the capabilities of the present generation of equipment. To meet these challenges, next-generation machines must evolve as a fundamentally different kind of equipment. A new technology, which behaves like a human but performs like a computer, promises to be the enabler of that next generation of assembly machine.
1 ZiCAM by PULNiX America.2 Zi-640
Don Lake, director of marketing for PULNiX America Inc., may be contacted at 1330 Orleans Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94089; (408) 747-0300; Fax (408) 747-0660; E-mail: dlake@pulnix.com.