The Durango HB sport utility vehicle from DaimlerChrysler (Auburn Hills, MI) is built with acoustical dampening foam in several body cavities to lesson road and engine noise. Typically, this foam is dispensed manually, using a heavy dispensing gun placed against access holes to the insides of doors, fenders and other hollow regions.
To increase throughput and ensure correct foam dispensing, DaimlerChrysler installed a paint-shop-type robotic workcell that uses three articulated IRB 4400 L-i10 robots equipped with S4Cplus+ robot controllers from ABB Inc. (Auburn Hills, MI). The cell also uses VIAMES integrated image processing controllers and 12 dual-camera, location measurement stereovision sensors from ISRA Vision Systems Inc. (Lansing, MI) to provide vision guidance for the robots. The stereovision sensors come with a halogen stripe light, composed of a halogen light and optical grating. These stripes provide additional image features, which enable the vision system to guide the robots even when manipulating highly reflective parts, such as car bodies.