The machine vision measurement module is indispensable for the Modularized Flexible Precision Assembly Station (MFPAS), which is a fully automatic assembly system being developed at Dalian University of Technology (DUT). MFPAS consists of basic and additional modules, and are expected to be flexible, expandable, and re-configurable to adapt to a variety of parts with a large size range, requiring the machine vision measurement module to be able to achieve accurate measurement of position, as well as orientation of the parts with different size scale. An automatic zooming vision system was set up for evaluation and final integration in MFPAS. Pixel equivalent, principal point and orientation deviation of images were analyzed and experimentally studied using different magnifications of the lens. A new template with circular patterns of different diameters was designed for zoom-lens calibration. The experiments show that the measurement error caused by the variation of the pixel equivalent, principal point and orientation is estimated under 10 μm without online calibration. When high accuracy is required, online calibration can be employed during assembly. The evaluation results of the vision system with or without on-line calibration were given for a better trade-off between accuracy and efficiency during assembly.
Keywords: machine vision; micro assembly system; precision assembly system; vision system characterization.