VisionBot a SMT Pick and Place machine

[visionbot]

Hey, I am Alexanru and right now, I am working to design VisionBot which is an affordable Surface Mount Technology assembly shooter that can be used to place about 2,000 SMD chips onto Printed Circuit Boards for PCBA. Practically the VisionBot machine will enable the dream of millions electrical engineers, hackers and makers just like me an you to manufacture electronic devices in their own garage. One week ago we changed VisionBot design from using a needle to advance the cut tape with automatically feeders.

VisionBot is still in the beta testing and in a few months it will be available to the makers through our website and maybe a crowd-funding platform. Using advanced Computer Vision VisionBot is avoiding electronical waste and is professionally assembling Printed Circuit Boards. It is estimated that VisionBot will be able to assembly about 75,000 electronic boards per year.

Although, VisionBot is compatibile with standardized files like RS-274X Gerber files, the machine works also with the classical CSV files. VisionBot will enable the dream of many makers who want to turn their homemade prototypes into industrial products by starting an electronic production.

VisionBot Main software showing the Gerber Editor

A picture of the VisionBot machine

How it looked like two months ago:

VisionBot very old

Do you have any suggesions to improve VisionBot? In 2 weeks we will upload a new Video showing everything

 

[Gryd3]

7 minutes per board, omitting the manual work required to swap out the board or components will be roughly 75,000 if the machine is run non-stop 24/7/365 ...
Other than for hobbyists, and perhaps some local start-ups, one would think it would be cheaper to out-source the work.

Curious though.. What's the work area and transit speed on that machine.
Is there a reason you built a gantry style pick and place machine instead of something a little lighter and quicker?

 

[visionbot]

VisionBot is designed to place about 2000 electronic components per hour. From my own experience it is very hard to out-source electronics in smaller amount. I tried to work with 3 Chinese factories from Shenzhen to out-source the production of my 3D LiDAR schematics that can be used for self-driving cars. Unfortunately all of the 3 Chinese factories totally refused me to mount my chips because my amount was 200 samples although my investment would have been about 50,000$. We design VisionBot to be flexible. Just in a few minutes after you import the Gerber the machine can start automatically, calibrating it self. In the pictures from our website and here we presented our first prototype. We are looking to change a few things and make VisionBot 2. The working area is 30 x 40 cm. We didn't calculate the number using the 24/7/365 formula.

I hope in 3 weeks I will upload new pictures with the new version which will be lighter and flexible.

 

[Gryd3]

VisionBot is designed to place about 2000 electronic components per hour. From my own experience it is very hard to out-source electronics in smaller amount. I tried to work with 3 Chinese factories from Shenzhen to out-source the production of my 3D LiDAR schematics that can be used for self-driving cars. Unfortunately all of the 3 Chinese factories totally refused me to mount my chips because my amount was 200 samples although my investment would have been about 50,000$. We design VisionBot to be flexible. Just in a few minutes after you import the Gerber the machine can start automatically, calibrating it self. In the pictures from our website and here we presented our first prototype. We are looking to change a few things and make VisionBot 2. The working area is 30 x 40 cm. We didn't calculate the number using the 24/7/365 formula.

I hope in 3 weeks I will upload new pictures with the new version which will be lighter and flexible.

Well. Giving us a component placement of 2000 / Hour is much better in my opinion than 75,000 boards a year
Considering the target audience seems to be start-ups and smaller ventures, I don't think there is much to improve on aside from some cosmetics.
http://www.shopbottools.com/
Here is a link to an entry level 3-Axis CNC machine. They are sold to a similar target audience for a different application, but they have gone through a few more iterations to give it a more professional look to it with proper cable management.

Good job, and I hope this works out well for you.

 

[visionbot]

THANK YOU FOR THE FEEDBACK! I truly appreciate it! I hope very soon we will upload the thread with new pictures and new videos!