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Trumpf unveils breakthrough in automated sorting

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Posted on 29 Oct 2024. Edited by: John Hunter. Read 510 times.
Trumpf unveils breakthrough in automated sortingAt last week‘s EuroBLECH exhibition, high-tech company Trumpf presented a completely new solution for the automated sorting of 2-D laser-cut parts. Utilising a combination of its SortMaster Station and SortMaster Vision solutions, customers can sort parts reliably, and importantly, without the need for any programming. The key to this is that the SortMaster Station removes the parts from the sheet metal in the pallet changer of the cutting machine in the first step, regardless of their geometry. The machine operator then sorts the separated parts manually or has them removed and palletised fully automatically by the SortMaster Vision. Either way, the laser cutting machine is freed up to process the next sheet.

Thomas Schneider, Trumpf CTO for machine tools, said: “The automated sorting of parts is one of the biggest challenges in the sheet metal world. Conventional methods are particularly suitable for simple components with medium sheet thicknesses of up to 12mm. For many companies, their common automation solutions are too inflexible and time-consuming to program, so they have their parts sorted by hand. With SortMaster Station and SortMaster Vision, Trumpf enables the automated sorting of any sheet metal parts and once again demonstrates its technological leadership.”

The new solution in currently available from Trumpf in a 3m format for the 3000 and 5000 series of laser cutting machines and uses the LiftMaster Compact loading and unloading automation system. It removes the cut sheet from the pallet changer of the cutting machine and transfers it to the SortMaster station. This separates the components from the scrap skeleton in just a few seconds. The separated parts are then conveyed to the sorting area.

Mr Schneider continued: “With our SortMaster Vision solution, we have decoupled the cutting, separating and sorting processes from each other for the first time. This allows users to better utilise our laser machines and increase their throughput.” A third pallet station also enables parallel manual sorting, for example for special formats.

Adaptive robotics

He added: “Partnering for several years with Intrinsic, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics software specialist in the Alphabet Group, we have introduced adaptive robotics capabilities to SortMaster Vision, including automated perception and robot path planning. This enables a robot to autonomously recognise the separated parts using AI-supported image recognition.”

The software autonomously calculates the robot’s motion plan including the gripping points and the SortMaster Vision independently obtains all the part information from the cutting program. It uses this to simulate various removals in advance and selects the most suitable one at runtime. This eliminates the need for any programming of the sorting process. In addition, the process creates maximum flexibility with regard to the range of parts and batch sizes.

Mr Schneider concluded: “Thanks to this innovative process and partnership with Intrinsic, customers can now automatically sort parts that could not be removed using conventional solutions, even with a batch size of one.” These include, in particular, small or complex parts that are prone to tipping over or tilting in the scrap skeleton. But even thicker parts can be separated out and automatically sorted. This fully automatic solution for separating and sorting is a real game changer.”

The two sorting modules can be retrofitted to existing machines, which reduces the initial investment, and allows the degree of automation to be increased step by step.