Determining the location and identity of components in an AMP environment

A description is given of a transputer based system that facilitates the identification and manipulation of components in an automatic manufacturing process (AMP). As a prerequisite to component identification and manipulation their location within the robot's workspace must be determined. In the system described, the location of objects is achieved by building a model of the workspace using information provided by sensors located within the robot's workspace. This model is then used to determine the location of components within the workspace. The system has been constructed using a modular approach. As a prerequisite to model construction three problems had to be addressed. First, the information extracted from different cameras is generally at different resolutions. Second, the representation of 3D space requires large amounts of computer memory. Third, the production of the 3D model, particularly when a large number of cameras are involved requires a substantial amount of processor time. The first two prerequisites were addressed using a data structure that allowed compact data storage, while the final prerequisite was met by identifying parallel aspects of the processing and implementing them on a network of processors.<
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