Virtual commissioning of camera-based quality assurance systems for mixed model assembly lines

We propose a new computer vision based technique that does not use data collected from real images to teach a decision-making algorithm. It uses CAD-Models which is already available from the product planning phase to check all product variants on the assembly line for misplaced or wrong components. This solution can hence be used already in the ramp-up phase of new models in which problems are more frequent. Our method can also easily adapt to changes of production, where existing methods need to redo the whole teach-in process, we just need to set the new nominal position of the part in the reference coordinate system, which can even be done semi automatically upfront the changes are initiated in the assembly line. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.