CASE STUDY: Cracking the Bin Picking Code: How Automation Intelligence Solved Bin Picking with Force Intelligence

For manufacturers, robotic bin picking has never been easy.

Even with advanced vision systems, real-world production environments introduce variability that’s difficult to predict—and even harder to control. Parts overlap. Edges go undetected. Errors slip through. And the result is often the same: scrap, downtime, and risk to expensive equipment.

That’s exactly the challenge Automation Intelligence set out to solve.

The Challenge: High Stakes on the Production Line

When Automation Intelligence was brought in to support a major automotive OEM, the expectations were clear: deliver a bin picking system that could operate reliably in a live production environment.

But the reality was more complex.

Despite existing automation, critical issues continued to impact performance:

• Double picks were introducing scrap and disrupting downstream processes
• Unexpected collisions were damaging parts and fixtures
• Limited system feedback made it difficult to detect and correct errors in real time

These weren’t minor inefficiencies, they were persistent challenges that limited scalability and introduced risk into daily operations.

For the customer, solving this wasn’t just about improving performance. It was about building trust in the automation itself.

The Turning Point: Adding a Sense of Touch

By integrating the ATI Axia90 Force/Torque Sensor, the robotic system could now do more than just see—it could understand how it was interacting with the world around it.

This shift enabled:

• Reliable pick verification
  Each part could be validated instantly, ensuring only correct picks moved forward
• Real-time collision response
  The system could detect unexpected contact and stop immediately—before damage occurred
• Greater process control
  Operators gained real-time insight into system performance, reducing uncertainty and variability

Instead of reacting to problems after they happened, the system could now prevent them in the moment.

The Impact: Confidence at Scale

With force sensing integrated into the application, the results were immediate—and meaningful for the customer:

• Scrap caused by double picks was significantly reduced
• Collisions that once led to costly damage were avoided
• The system was successfully deployed in an active production environment
• New efficiencies unlocked the ability to scale across additional applications
• Lower-cost innovations, like 3D-printed fixtures, became viable

But beyond the metrics, the biggest impact was confidence.

Confidence that the system would perform.
Confidence that risks were controlled.
Confidence to scale automation further.

A Foundation for What’s Next

With a proven solution in place, Automation Intelligence and ATI are continuing to push performance even further—exploring new capabilities like in-motion weight verification to reduce cycle times and increase throughput.

For manufacturers, this represents something bigger than a single application improvement.

It’s a shift toward smarter, more responsive automation systems, ones that can adapt, react, and perform reliably in complex environments.

Take the Next Step

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See how ATI’s force/torque sensing solutions can help you improve quality, reduce risk, and scale with confidence.

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Let’s turn your automation challenges into measurable results.