Standardization News

ASTM International’s 3D imaging systems committee (E57) is developing a proposed standard that will provide guidance for robotic bin-picking systems used for sorting, assembling, and packaging items in industrial environments. 

“Robotic bin-picking systems are becoming popular in many industrial applications,” says ASTM committee E57 vice-chair Kamel Saidi, Ph.D. “These systems are used for things such as sorting parts into bins, feeding parts into and removing them from CNC mills, order fulfillment, and product assembly.”

According to Saidi, as these systems are applied to more complicated tasks, the burden on the machine vision systems, which act as the eyes for robots, becomes more and more significant. 

“Suddenly, solving a bin-picking problem using simple 2D machine vision techniques becomes impossible and the use of 3D machine vision systems, which can better handle complex part geometries, becomes necessary,” said Saidi, leader of the Sensing and Perception Systems Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The proposed standard (WK78941) will save time for potential users of 3D machine vision by helping users to choose the right system for their purposes. Saidi notes the proposed standard will also speed up the adoption process for new technologies.

“The proposed standard will help users, including manufacturing companies and supply chain warehouses, better understand how well the systems perform,” says  Armin Khatoonabadi, co-founder and chief operating officer at Apera AI. “The users will be able to invest less time when comparing different systems to pick the most suitable ones for their applications. System producers will be able to understand how their systems can be improved.” Khatoonabodi is the technical contact for the new work item and is leading this effort. 

Users and producers of 3D machine vision systems are invited to join the committee in developing the proposed standard. JOIN ASTM.