Vision enabled robotics

Purpose – Examines a recently launched integration of smart cameras into industrial robots to make them responsive to a changing environment. Design/methodology/approach – Reviews the capabilities of the vision‐enabled robot, citing installations in Sweden and the UK, then describes the robot and vision programming procedure. Findings – Vision integration opens up a range of new possibilities such as simultaneous product handling and inspection, as well as providing real‐time robot guidance. Standardisation plays an extremely valuable role in building integrated systems from disparate technological elements. Here ActiveX web standards, ethernet connectivity, a standard interchangeable family of cameras and a common controller for a whole range of robots are the keys to the synthesis of a powerful new combination of robot and machine vision. Originality/value – Draws to the attention of industrial engineers the availability of a family of robots with integrated machine vision.