Development and simulation of a robotic plastic cap inspection system

In modern manufacturing, simulation has emerged as a key tool for improving quality control processes. It allows engineers to model, test and optimize systems in a virtual environment, reducing the risk of errors and inefficiencies in the physical implementation phase. In particular, in this thesis, in cooperation with Sacmi, the potential of simulation software is exploited to develop the 3D model of a robotic inspection cell for the quality control of plastic caps. These elements are among the most common items on the market due to their importance in the sealing of products of all kinds and require extreme reliability and precision in order to fulfill their role. The mass production of plastic closures inevitably leads to the formation of numerous defective products. The inspection system is therefore of particular importance. In this respect, the quality control of closures in the company today is entrusted to a rapid in-line check combined with a more detailed sample check carried out manually by human operators in the laboratory. The task is therefore characterized by low frequency, the quality control analysis is performed only a few times a day, high repeatability, the entire procedure must be iterated for each cap, and low execution speed as the entire process of analysis of an entire product set could take hours. The thesis project aims to create simulative models of a robotic cell that will automate some of the tasks performed in the laboratory to make the inspection process faster and more efficient. In this project, an in-depth analysis of three simulation software, Visual Components, Coppeliasim and Industrial Physics, was therefore carried out in order to evaluate, through comparison, the one most suitable for the required application. Once the simulation tool has been defined, it is used to create four solution hypotheses for the problem in the form of tridimensional models.