An international collaboration for a new type of inspection tool

In a collaboration spanning from Italy to Israel, Euclid Labs and Saccade Vision have come together to produce an inline 3D inspection solution for metalworking machines.

Manual inspection in machine jobs is often done because implementing a fully automated optical inspection solution can be expensive and arduous. The indirect costs associated with the implementation of such systems can be up to four or five times as much as the direct costs of the component, according to Alex Shulman, co-founder and CEO of Saccade Vision. The new jointly designed tool aims to subvert these challenges and provide an automated optical inspection service.

Shulman notes that many “manufacturers use offline metrology coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) for quality control. While CMMs are very precise, they are slow, expensive, and typically inspect a limited number of points on parts. Some applications, such as sheet bending, are extremely difficult to inspect using mechanical gauges and CMM.”

The CEO of Euclid Labs, Roberto Polesel mentioned that “When adopting ‘software-defined manufacturing,’ we need to get rid of inspection based on a collection of single measurements performed with multiple tools. We have seen applications with three smart cameras and 10 distance sensors to verify a mechanical assembly.”

In order to solve these issues, the two companies came together, using Saccade’s multidirectional 3D camera and accompanying software, combined with Euclid Labs’ point cloud visualisation and analysis technology. According to Euclid Labs, the Saccade sensor gives them “the flexibility that [their] software can leverage to simplify the design and implementation of complex inspection systems.”

The tool uses the same robot that loads and unloads the components from the metalworking machine, making it an efficient system that can inspect all sides of the component. Manufacturers can create “locally optimized 3D imaging, so that the sensor can optimize data acquisition on regions of interest to reach sub-pixel 3D resolution while at the same time ignoring non-important regions and dramatically reducing the required computational power,” Shulman says.

“The combination of Euclid Labs advanced digital twin and the ability to set up an inspection process directly from the CAD model (and automatically optimize regions of interest) allows fast inspection setup by factory technicians. This has a significant value, especially for high-mix manufacturing, where setup represents a significant burden,” he adds.

The product has already been sold to an undisclosed multinational conglomerate involved in industrial engineering and steel production, who will use it for checking flanges and angles of metal sheet parts after a bending process, as well as assembly processes for multiple items. Delivery of the system is expected to happen before the end of the year.