Manufacturing Automation

Automated systems can optimize production and daily operations in manufacturing environments. Competitive Engineering Inc. seeks to maintain quality standards by automating the process of inspecting a gear for flatness and dimensional accuracy. The team designed a system to safely complete the inspection process with repeatability and flexibility.

The system design includes a UR5 robotic arm equipped with a custom vacuum gripper, a Gocator 3D laser profile scanner and a Keyence dimensional inspection tool. The team machined fixture plates with unique rod patterns to hold gears in the correct orientation for inspection. The design focuses on the compatibility of the fixtures with the Vention workbench, vacuum gripper and the 5th Axis mounting plates. The robot is programmed to load and unload gears throughout the system while managing the results of each inspection. The system can efficiently inspect and categorize without operator interaction.