Škoda Mobil

Škoda Mobil is the company newspaper for Škoda Auto employees, published monthly and presenting up-to-date information on what is happening at Škoda Auto and the Volkswagen Group. The regular columns focuses on employees, innovations and interesting projects from within the company, current information from Škoda Motorsport and many other topics.

DIGITALIZACE VE SVAŘOVNĚ KVASINY

DIGITISATION IN THE BODY SHOP IN KVASINY

When a Robot Supports a Robot

Eliminate employee routine activities, help increase productivity and reduce costs

T his is exactly the goal of the new technology used by the Body Shop in Kvasiny. They run it as a pilot project created in cooperation with the PPF-K unit – Body Shop Planning department. It is called Bin Picking, and the goal is to automate the removal of parts from their pallets and load them onto the production line.

Typically, the entire system would work in such a way that the operator removes a part from its pallet, check it for damage and load it into a robotic station, where the robots continue to work with it to form a larger unit. In this particular case, it is the reinforcement of the front part of the SUPERB car floor. Robot-based automation works similarly. Using a 3D camera, the system scans a virtual three-dimensional image of a “scene” featuring a pallet placed at a specific location and full of randomly placed parts (about 200 parts). With the help of artificial intelligence, the algorithm selects the part that the robot easily picks up (it processes the theoretical possibility and percentage success rate of picking up the individual parts) and directs it. However, in addition to selecting the right part, its quality must be checked as well. “Our robot can do it, too. This is done with the help of another two-dimensional camera. It checks the part, and the software evaluates its quality status. Then, the part is centred and rotated so that it proceeds to the line in its correct position”, explains Jan Flégl from PFK-K/3 – Body Shop Maintenance. Next, a picture of the parts palette is taken, and the most suitable one is selected.

The first robot with this feature already works in our series operation. Its reliability varies between 70 and 80 percent (the percentage of times it successfully reaches the right part on the first attempt) and, so far, it supports one station – the aforementioned floor front part reinforcement. “For us, the Bin Picking system is an integral part of production automation. It represents the vanguard of the use of camera systems at our body shops and indicates how their expansion will continue in the coming years”, concludes Flégl. ŠTĚPÁN VORLÍČEK

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