Call multiple Vision Builder on Compact Vision System

[MarkGann]

I have a fire wire area camera attached to a six axis robot.  I want to inspect a product in several places.

I have created each inspection in Vision Builder and loaded on my Compact Vision System.

The robot moves to the inspection position and sends the inspection filename over serial to the CVS.

At that point I want to run inpsection, send out a complete serial string to the robot so it can move to the
next position, and start a new inspection.

What is the simplest way to do this?

Thanks,

[Jeffrey_P]

Good morning Mark,

This sounds like a very interesting and exciting application.  First, VBAI was not designed to read the serial port on the CVS outside of an inspection.  So, VBAI can't use the serial port to programmatically decide which inspection to run.  However, we do have a few options.  Option 1 would involve ActiveX.  You can use LabVIEW RT, or some other software application with ActiveX capability, to write code that can read the serial port on the CVS, and then decide which script to call and run.  If you have little experience with ActiveX controls, then this might be quite an endeavor.  Option 2 involves an option that require your robot to be able to output digital signals, instead of serial commands.  There is built-in functionality in VBAI to be able to programmatically determine which script to run based on a digital word.  ISO Inputs 0-4 are designated for this purpose.  Based on the combined values of these 5 ports, VBAI decides which script to run based on the association that you define in the script.  If this second option is one you would like to pursue, then please post back and we can head down that road!

I hope that this information is helpful!

Respectfully,

[MarkGann]

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for the information .  I actually found the I/O reference in the documentation last night so we switched the robot to digital output and it worked great. 

We have a booth at NI week and we will be using a CVS on a Staubli 6-axis robot.  We will be inspecting a drill for screws, pad printing, etc.  We're an automation system company demonstrating our vision and motion capabilities.  Come by and check it out if you get a chance.  Our company name is Design & Assembly Concepts.  Our booth is on one of the corners of the NI main booth in the middle.

Thanks again.

Mark