IC4 - TransVision

Localization of partially transparent containers on pallets for robot-based depalletizing

In intralogistics, robots are used for depalletizing packaged beverage containers, for example. The material of the surface plays a major role in detecting the boundaries of the containers to determine gripping points for the robot. Transparent surfaces cannot be detected by standard reflection recognition, because nearly no light is reflected. Therefore, classical approaches to laser measurement technology such as stripe projection do not work.

The aim of the project is to develop a sensor concept for the localization of partially transparent containers for robot-based depalletizing. New sensor concepts from extended wavelength ranges must be used and combined to make transparent objects visible. Furthermore, an artificial intelligence-based algorithm for object recognition will be developed to enable reliable detection even in case of disturbances in the image data.