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BMW Regensburg, the manufacturing plant for the BMW 1 and 3 series, have recently selected a K600 Optical CMM for the absolute calibration of their robots. BMW decided to upgrade their current Rodym system, installed since 1998 and for years a reliable tool for the robot calibration. An important decision factor to select the new K600 was not only the 30% higher accuracy the system could provide but also the temperature compensation that allows the system to be used in severe
environmental conditions on the shop floor. Also the SpaceProbe Light, the handheld measurement probe, weighing less than 50% of its predecessor, is an important improvement
for the operator.
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“The new Metris K600 robot calibration system is also the same as installed in our sister BMW plants,” says Adolf Ermer, process planner at BMW Regensburg for the robot line on the car body manufacturing shop floor, “This is an important advantage to exchange experiences and so improve our productivity.” Also Kuka Augsburg is using many K600 systems to help them produce their “absolute accurate” robots.
In 1998, BMW Regensburg and Dingolfing, used to be pilot plants for using the optical CMM technology for robot calibration. In the meantime, most other BMW plants took over this concept.
BMW Regensburg daily manufactures about 1.000 cars consisting of different models. The Metris K600 robot calibration system enables the absolute accurate robots to easily add new car models from simulation. As all calibrated robots are as precise as the one in simulation, there is no need for time-consuming manual touch-up of the robot programs at each new program download. This way the car manufacturers can save valuable time by changing the production lane for new car models.
Robot calibration helps to establish the digital factory
Industrial simulation predicts in detail the production processes and methods, that will be used in the real world. The gap between simulation and real life is closed with measurement and calibration systems. Robotic devices typically have inaccuracies up to 10mm, where product quality demands specifications lower than 1mm. Metris provides a complete product line to close this gap, enabling massive cost reductions in re-using simulation data. K-Series systems in combination with ROCAL robot calibration software are a world reference in the automotive and aerospace industry. After the measurement of 25 to 60 robot positions, the software generates a robot signature containing all identified kinematic and flexibility parameters. Fully calibrated and under full payload, industrial robots will achieve absolute accuracies up to 0,4mm in their entire working volume. This way offline generated programs can be downloaded and immediately used. This saves real costs and time for re-teaching robot programs onsite.
Download: BMW Regensburg selects K600 optical CMM for robot calibration (PDF file)
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