Robotic wheel mounting with 3D vision in final assembly
While the car keeps moving on the line, the robot travels at line speed. A 3D camera on the tool scans the hub and finds the position and angle of the wheel studs; the wheel is turned to that angle and mounted, the nuts are tightened and each torque is compared with its window.
The hub pose is passed to the robot as an offset; the torque of every nut is logged against the vehicle identity. If a nut is outside its window the car is flagged and a warning goes to the line PLC.
- 01 Feed
- 02 3D scan
- 03 Align
- 04 Mount & tighten
- 05 Decide
The robot takes a wheel from the rack and waits for the next car.
- Hub angle
- —
- Torque
- —
- Nuts tightened
- —
Scenes are illustrative simulations; they are not customer references or performance guarantees.
Need
The hub is bright machined metal; reflections leave gaps in the depth data. Because the car does not stop, the hub moves between measurement and mounting, and its rotation angle differs on every car.
Solution approach
The 3D camera on the tool captures a point cloud of the hub face with structured light; a plane fit gives the hub position and tilt, and the 2D image of the same frame gives the stud circle and rotation angle. The robot locks onto the car through the line encoder, so the measured pose stays valid during mounting.
Process steps
- 01
Feed
The robot takes a wheel from the rack and waits for the next car.
- 02
3D scan
The robot moves with the car while the camera scans the hub.
- 03
Align
The stud angle is found and the wheel is turned to match it.
- 04
Mount & tighten
The wheel is pushed onto the hub and the five nuts are tightened in turn.
- 05
Decide
The torque values are compared with the window.
Related applications
Let us assess your application together
We test your sample in our laboratory and report on resolution, optics and lighting selection.