Stellantis Automates Tightening on Moving Lines

Customer: Stellantis

‍Location: Paris, France

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Challenge

STELLANTIS and Inbolt worked together to automate a tightening operation on a moving assembly line, a task typically difficult to automate due to the unpredictable nature of such lines. Traditional robots lack the adaptability needed for unstructured environments, such as moving cars, making automation of these lines extremely costly and complex. Current solutions require a combination of sensors, encoders, and 2D vision systems, which leads to high material and integration costs. As a result, manual assembly is still the norm on older production lines, as retrofitting them with automated systems requires significant investment.

However, with growing labor shortages and the need to maintain or even reindustrialize factories in Western Europe, finding efficient and easy-to-deploy solutions for automating moving assembly lines has become increasingly urgent.

Solution

Inbolt developed GuideNOW, a real-time robot guidance system that enables smarter industrial robots using adaptive AI and 3D vision. GuideNOW processes large volumes of 3D data in real-time to determine the position and orientation of workpieces, then adjusts the robot’s trajectory accordingly.

STELLANTIS identified a use case from its Trnava assembly plant in Slovakia to test GuideNOW. The task involved performing a tightening sequence of six bolts on a moving engine. During the demonstration, GuideNOW tracked the engine's position and orientation in real-time by comparing its CAD model to 3D data captured by a camera mounted on the robot. It then adjusted the robot’s trajectory to precisely align the tightening tool with the bolts. The use of an Atlas Copco tightening tool allowed for more reach during the tightening sequence. Inbolt demonstrated a remarkable 1mm accuracy, ensuring the screwdriver fitted perfectly onto the bolts.

The test was successful, proving the maturity of GuideNOW technology for future production trials.

Benefits

• Real-time Automation: Automated tightening operations on moving assembly lines with a 1mm precision, ensuring high-quality results.
• Ease of Programming: The system can be set up in under 30 minutes, offering exceptional flexibility.
• Increased Opportunities: STELLANTIS now sees many deployment opportunities for GuideNOW across its assembly lines.

Quote:
“Automating operations on a moving line with reliability is a challenge we have struggled to find satisfying solutions for until now. Inbolt’s proposal is very impressive, and we particularly appreciate the ease of programming, which takes less than 30 minutes, allowing for great flexibility. We now see many opportunities for deploying GuideNOW solutions on our assembly lines.”
– Mario Pinto Ferreira, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Collaborative Robotics Specialist, STELLANTIS

About STELLANTIS

STELLANTIS is one of the world’s leading automakers and a mobility provider. With iconic brands like Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep®, Maserati, Peugeot, and more, STELLANTIS aims to be the greatest sustainable mobility tech company, not the biggest. For more information, visit www.stellantis.com.

About Inbolt

Inbolt is a Paris-based company that develops 3D vision-based robot arm guidance systems. The GuideNOW system simplifies the automation of complex operations in unconstrained environments. It boosts production line flexibility by eliminating part indexing constraints and enhances productivity by operating in real-time. Inbolt’s real-time AI identifies the position and orientation of parts in under 80ms using 3D data. For more information, visit www.inbolt.com