METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR THE POSITIONING OF COMPONENTS WITH REFERENCE TO A WORKPIECE

The present method and apparatus provide a possibility to remove components from a magazine, from a storage bin or the like, to transport these components to a workpiece and to put these components onto the workpiece or into it precisely at a preselected position. The component which has been picked-up by and is retained by the transportation member will usually not be in a exactly preselected position with regard to the gripping means of the transportation device, but will be more or less shifted and/or tilted with regard to a theoretical, nominal positioning axis. In order to determine the actual position of the component retained by the gripping means, the component is brought to a position scanning station during its transportation from the magazine or storage bin to the workpiece. The scanning station measures and records the actual position of the component, e.g. by scanning the shape of the component by means of laser beam scanning according to the reflection or shadowing technique, calculates any deviation and generates one or more correction signals. The latter ones are further processed in order to influence the transportation path of the component transportation device, the position of the workpiece or both of them, so that the component finally may be placed onto or into the workpiece exactly at the desired position.