Systems and methods for reconfigurable, fixtureless manufacturing are provided. Material handling robots grasp and move parts within an assembly area to adjoin one another in a predetermined orientation. While the parts remain grasped and suspended within the assembly area, out of contact with any fixtures, work surfaces, jigs, and locators, a machine vision system performs an alignment scan to determine locations of datums on the parts which are transmitted to a controller for comparison against stored virtual datums for a subassembly comprising the joined parts. The location of the datums are transmitted to a joining robot which joins the parts to form the subassembly. The machine vision system performs an inspection scan of the datums on the parts after joining.

An on-machine monitoring system for the failure state of the rotating tool and a detection method thereof are provided. The monitoring system includes a detector, a data processing controller, a tool data server, and a Hall current sensor. A tool diameter and a tool length are determined according to image sequences of a tool. A wear state and a breakage state of the tool are determined according to the tool diameter and the tool length. A spindle current signal is acquired by the Hall current sensor. And an edge chipping state and a breaking state of the tool are determined according to the spindle current signal.

An information processing device to process a two-dimensional image generated by an imaging unit in a machine tool including an attachment unit to which the imaging unit or a tool is attachable, the attachment unit moving to image an image of a workpiece placed in the machine tool, the imaging unit imaging the image of the workpiece at an imaging position, the information processing device including a computation unit for (i) calculating a position of the workpiece based on an image imaged after the imaging unit has moved to a predetermined position based on machine coordinates of the machine tool, and (ii) detecting an edge of the workpiece from the two-dimensional image imaged by the imaging unit at an imaging position after the imaging unit has been moved from the predetermined position to the imaging position, and calculating a length of the workpiece from detected edges.

Image sensors distributed about a workcell including industrial machinery are registered using a registration object and an information tag associated therewith. The tag contains information specifying the location of the object and/or the pose of the object. This information is acquired along with images of the registration object, and the sensors are registered based at least in part on the images and the acquired information.

A method for picking and placing items includes the steps of: providing a picking conveyor transporting items to be picked; providing a placing conveyor to which the items are to be placed; and providing a plurality of robots configured to move the items from pick positions on the picking conveyor to place positions on the placing conveyor. For at least one of the plurality of robots there is defined an actual work area A.sub.ac that fulfils the condition A.sub.ac<A.sub.th−(A.sub.ol+A.sub.ex), wherein A.sub.th is a theoretical work area, A.sub.ol is an overlapping work area and A.sub.ex is an excessive work area of the respective robot. By limiting the actual work area A.sub.ac of the robots more than what is done conventionally, the total workload between the robots in pick and place systems may be balanced.

The system for making or breaking the riser includes a robotic system. The robotic system includes one or more robotic arms configured to be disposed on a spider deck, and one or more riser-connection manipulation tools each having a camera and being configured to manipulate a riser connection, the camera being configured to capture an image of an object, wherein each robotic arm is configured to couple to one riser-connection manipulation tool. Further the system for making or breaking the riser includes a control system. The control system includes a robot controller in communication with the one or more robotic arms and configured to control the one or more robotic arms. The system for making or breaking the riser is configured to analyze the image to determine the location and orientation of the object and transmit the location and orientation of the object to the robot controller.

A system includes a first fixture to support one side of a part and a robot that has a second fixture to support an opposite side of the part with respect to the one side. One of the part sides has a target on a surface that indicates a location for the operation. The system has a sensor to measure the target in 3-dimensional space. A tool performs the operation at the location, and a controller moves the robot to pick up the part from the first fixture using the second fixture. The controller presents the target to the sensor for measuring the x,y,z coordinates and the yaw, pitch and roll of the target. The controller moves the second fixture with the part to the tool based upon the measurement.

A method and system for programming picking and placing of a workpiece is provided. Embodiments may include associating a workpiece with an end effector that is attached to a robot and scanning the workpiece while the workpiece is associated with the end effector. Embodiments may also include determining a pose of the workpiece relative to the robot, based upon, at least in part, the scanning.

A method and system are provided for automatically detecting characteristic points of a herringbone fabric with a view to automatically cutting pieces. The herringbone patterns are formed by V-shaped features with vertices that are aligned along a plurality of parallel axes. The method proceeds with a step of acquiring an image of a segment of the fabric, a detection initialization step including, on the basis of predefined parameters or on the basis of the image, acquiring geometric parameters of the herringbone patterns and defining lines of operation perpendicular to the axes of the herringbone patterns, and a step of determining, in the image, coordinates of points of passage of axes of the herringbone patterns along lines of operation via the optimization of a criterion of symmetry of two mirror sub-images acquired along lines of operation.

A precision machine tool includes: a tool support for supporting a tool; a tool table serving as a moving mechanism capable of moving the tool support; and one or multiple imaging devices fixed to the tool support, the imaging devices each having an imaging unit configured to capture the image of a machining point on a workpiece machined by the tool.