A Sorting Solution Based on an Industrial Robotic Arm with Image Processing

This paper presents an automated sorting system which uses an industrial robotic arm and a modular goals approach design and implementation. The research was performed within a project that aims to develop an educational prototype solution that can demonstrate the appropriateness of a project-based learning approach in industrial robotics teaching. This work proposes a complex architecture that includes: image processing, real-time discrete event-based control and human in the loop integration. In order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed structure, validation and testing were performed using an industrial robotic arm system equipped with image sensor, a decision module implemented on a Programmable Logical Controller (PLC), which were integrated through a client server architecture based on Open Platform Communication (OPC) specifications. To provide an overview of the concepts and technologies that make up the work and to understand the purpose of the whole project, an in-depth study of the properties, components and control of the robotic arm is provided.