Vision-guided
robotic processing
Automating craftsmanship in large-scale production
When a leading flooring manufacturer set out to industrialise a new product concept, manual processing quickly became a limitation. Together with Consat, a vision-based system was developed to guide robotic processing of wooden boards, enabling scale without compromising the desired visual expression.
The solution made it possible to replace a labour-intensive step with robotic automation, while adapting to natural variation in material and surface structure.
Objective: To enable robotic processing of wooden floorboards through a learning vision system capable of generating safe, precise robot tool paths.
Read more about the project
The challenge
Manual processing delivered the right appearance but was too slow and labour-intensive for industrial production. Robotisation required a vision system capable of interpreting each board and generating accurate, collision-safe robot paths.
The solution
Consat developed the learning vision system Optonova based on an example database. Incoming boards are matched against training data to generate robot tool paths, supported by an operator interface for fine-tuning when needed.
The result
The new product could be produced at industrial scale. Robotic processing replaced a manual step, increasing throughput and reducing dependency on manual labour.
Value-driven
innovations
The solution represents an early industrial application of machine learning in production. More than ten years after installation, the system remains in operation, with ongoing support and plans for further development.
Contact us
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