Automated Electrical Connectors Marking with Flexibowl® 650 and FANUC Scara Robot
Case study: a system dedicated to the automated connectors marking
Our Partner
With decades of experience, Samec Macchine develops solutions for cutting, stripping, unjacketing and handling electrical cables.
Its portfolio includes automatic machines, pre-feeders, rewinders, co-molding systems and ultrasonic welders.
The Challenge
- Achieving reliable feeding of varied components: Electrical connectors differ in type, colour, dimensions and size, and need to be handled reliably while ensuring proper singulation before robotic picking.
- Ensuring accurate component identification: Each connector must be correctly detected in terms of position and orientation so that the robot can perform fast and precise picking, regardless of the variant being processed.
- Maintaining flexibility across different connector types: The system needed to manage multiple connector variants within the same production flow, while keeping the feeding and positioning process consistent and avoiding dedicated mechanical tooling for each variant.
The Solution
- Feeding with FlexiBowl® 650: Electrical connectors are fed onto the FlexiBowl® 650, which reliably singulates the different components and presents them individually to the robot, regardless of their type or dimensions.
- Vision-guided component detection:A vision system detects the position and orientation of each connector, providing the robot with the information needed for accurate picking and handling.
- External re-orientation for correct positioning: A dedicated external re-orientation system, integrated into the process, re-orients the connectors when required, ensuring components are positioned in the correct direction before the laser marking operation.
The Benefits
- High productivity: The automated solution achieves a throughput of approximately 30 ppm, combining reliable feeding with efficient robotic handling.
- Automatic handling of multiple connector types: The FlexiBowl® 650 and vision system work together to manage the variety of components, enabling flexible handling of different colours, dimensions and sizes without dedicated tooling.
- Vision-guided robotic picking: The vision system detects the position and orientation of each connector and provides the corresponding data to the FANUC SCARA robot, enabling fast and reliable picking and transfer through the process stages.
- Reliable production flow: The external re-orientation system ensures correct component positioning whenever orientation is critical, supporting a consistent and reliable feeding process for laser marking.