Matrox and DENSO collaborate on vision-based robot guidance

Matrox Design Assistant 4 is the first hardware-independent integrated development environment (IDE) that lets users easily create an application flowchart and HMI and take projects from concept to completion in record time, without the need for conventional programming. Flexible project deployment options include Matrox Iris GT smart cameras, Matrox 4Sight GPm industrial imaging computers and PCs with standard GigE Vision or USB3 Vision cameras.

Yousuke Sawada, manager, Controller Business Unit, DENSO WAVE Incorporated, says: "Robot and vision systems integrators now have an easier way to create guidance applications that interact seamlessly with DENSO robots. Matrox Design Assistant is a powerful yet easy to use development environment and very versatile."

Sam Lopez, director of sales and marketing at Matrox Imaging, says: "DENSO robots are widely used in manufacturing industries around the world to improve quality, increase productivity, ensure safety and provide flexibility. The company's endorsement of Matrox Design Assistant through this collaboration will give our joint customers confidence that they can realise these benefits reliably and cost-effectively."

The Matrox Design Assistant robot communication protocol is network socket-based whereby the robot program requests a connection, the vision system accepts the connection, the robot program asks the vision project to locate the next part and the vision system provides the part location to the robot program. DENSO WAVE created a "Provider Softwar" add-on to perform this communication on the RC8 robot controller.

Native communication between a Matrox Design Assistant project and a DENSO robot requires Matrox Design Assistant 4 with Service Pack 1 available from Matrox and an RC8 controller with the appropriate COA Provider from DENSO. For more information, visit www.matrox.com/imaging.