A robotic assembly system capable of handling flexible cables with connector

In realizing a robotic assembly system of electronic products, recognizing the connectors with flexible cables as a single component is one of the most difficult problems, which prevents from automating the system. To overcome this problem, we used our proprietary 3-D range sensor and developed three component algorithms: one is to recognize randomly-stacked connectors; another is to automatically compensate rotational and positional errors by force sensor; the other is to set up visually-guided offline developing environments. In this paper, we introduce these component algorithms and their integration into an evaluation system in detail.