Taming Reflective Surfaces: ALSONTECH 3D Vision for Reliable Brake Disc Handling

Brake disc machine tending presents several challenges for industrial automation, including reflective metal surfaces, randomly stacked workpieces, changing  lighting conditions, and frequent product changeovers.

Combining laser 3D imaging with intelligent recognition algorithms, ALSONTECH provides reliable robot guidance for brake disc loading and unloading, helping customers deploy proven vision-guided automation across multiple workstations.

Project Background: From Batch Deployments in China to Overseas Applications

For nearly four years, ALSONTECH has supported a customer specializing in high-end brake disc machining equipment. Together, they have advanced robotic loading and unloading applications for brake disc production, with workstations deployed in batches across multiple cities in China.

As the customer's business expanded, the solution was also introduced to overseas end-user production lines, including applications in Türkiye.

In production, brake discs pass through different stages, including blank, rough machining, and finishing. Their surface conditions and reflectivity vary from one stage to another. At the same time, the automation system must handle randomly presented workpieces, ambient light interference, and changeovers between different brake disc models. ALSONTECH addresses these requirements with a dedicated 3D vision solution.

Application Challenges and ALSONTECH Solutions

1. Laser 3D Imaging for Reliable Recognition of Reflective Metal Parts

Application Challenge: Reflective Metal Surfaces

Brake discs have different surface conditions at the blank, rough-machining, and finishing stages. Some surfaces are highly reflective, making consistent 3D imaging and recognition more challenging.

ALSONTECH Solution: Laser 3D Imaging

The ALSONTECH laser 3D camera captures high-quality point clouds to help identify brake discs with different surface conditions throughout the machining process. The resulting 3D data provides reliable position information for robot guidance across multiple production stages.

2. AI-Powered Recognition and 3D Positioning for Reliable Random Bin Picking

Application Challenge: Randomly Stacked Workpieces

Brake discs are often randomly stacked in bins, with varying positions and orientations. The robot must identify a suitable target while avoiding interference or collisions during picking.

ALSONTECH Solution: AI Recognition and 3D Positioning

By combining high-quality 3D point clouds with AI recognition models and intelligent segmentation and matching algorithms, ALSONTECH identifies the position and orientation of randomly stacked workpieces. The AI model can be applied after simple training, helping the robot pick workpieces reliably while motion planning helps reduce interference and collision risks.

3. Active Laser Scanning for Stable 3D Imaging in Bright Industrial Environments

Application Challenge: Ambient Light Interference

Lighting conditions in CNC machining environments, combined with reflections from metal workpieces, can affect the consistency of 3D data acquisition. Changes in ambient light may also require additional parameter adjustments during commissioning.

ALSONTECH Solution: 3D Imaging Adapted to Industrial Lighting

The ALSONTECH laser 3D camera uses active laser scanning and is designed to adapt to industrial lighting conditions. It helps maintain stable 3D data acquisition across different batches of brake discs and reduces repeated parameter adjustments caused by changes in ambient light.

4. Flexible Vision Template and AI Model Switching for Multi-SKU Production

Application Challenge: Frequent Model Changeovers

Automotive component production often requires switching between brake discs of different specifications. Each model may have different vision recognition and positioning requirements, placing greater demands on production flexibility.

ALSONTECH Solution: Switching Vision Templates and AI Models

The ALSONTECH 3D vision system supports flexible adaptation to different workpiece models. When changing products, users can switch to the corresponding vision template and AI model to suit the new production task, without adding dedicated hardware for each model.

5. Simplified Vision Configuration for Multi-Workstation Deployment

Application Challenge: Repeated Configuration Across Workstations

When an established automation solution is extended from one workstation to multiple production sites, repeating vision configuration and commissioning can increase implementation workload.

ALSONTECH Solution: Simplified Configuration Based on Geometric Parameters

For brake discs with regular geometric features, the ALSONTECH vision software does not require complex traditional vision modeling. Users only need to enter basic geometric dimensions to configure grasping and positioning.

The software also includes a brake disc example vision project that can be called directly, reducing the need to configure the application from scratch. This makes it easier to apply the solution to similar workpieces and deploy it across multiple workstations.

Project Results: A Proven Solution Deployed Across Multiple Locations

More than ten ALSONTECH 3D vision systems have been running stably for over one year, supporting robotic loading and unloading in brake disc machining production lines.

The solution has been deployed in batches across multiple cities in China and introduced to overseas end-user production lines, including applications in Türkiye. These deployments demonstrate its practical value in different production environments.

With stable 3D imaging, random workpiece recognition, flexible adaptation to multiple models, and simplified vision configuration, ALSONTECH 3D vision provides reliable guidance for robotic brake disc machine tending and supports the replication of proven applications across additional workstations.

Watch the accompanying video to see the system in operation and learn how ALSONTECH 3D vision guides a robot to pick brake discs and perform machine loading and unloading.

Building on Nearly a Decade of Machine Tending Experience

Machining depends on machine tools, while intelligent automation depends on reliable vision technology.

With nearly ten years of project experience in machining and robotic machine tending, ALSONTECH continues to develop reliable 3D vision solutions based on real production requirements across a wide range of industrial automation applications.

Learn more about ALSONTECH Industrial 3D Vision Solutions.