If we were to name one of the most common applications for industrial robotics, it would probably be material handling. The technological advances in servo design and motion control have allowed robots to operate at high speed while maintaining precision and repeatability. Although the speed rate of a material handling application is mostly dependent on the robot itself, an essential variable of the process that is usually overlooked is how the robot will localize and dimensionally recognize the part that will be manipulated.
Lack of part presentation design can cause many issues in the processing stream, but mainly the robotic arm can constantly damage the product when handling it. This could lead to time and cost consuming issues such as premature repairs in the robot arm and a reduction in the production throughput. When designing part presentation the most common solution usually includes the addition of guiding rails to a conveyor or using a mechanical device to center the part. This might suffice when working with boxes or any material that has a square/rectangular shape.