International Business Machines Corporation

Henry E Wattenbarger

Gregory E Beers

Myron Dale Flickner

James Michael Stafford

Darryl Ray Polk

Hugo A Panissidi

Henry E Aviles

Francis W Bogaczyk

Jane A Gregory

Michael A Rubsam

William L Kelly-Mahaffey

The method and apparatus of the present invention permit the visual inspection of electronic component leads during the mounting thereof. A hot bar thermode or other mounting tool is provided having a plurality of thermally activatable blades. A vacuum chuck and associated vacuum pump are utilized to selectively mount an integrated circuit device such that the conductive leads of the device are disposed adjacent to the lower surfaces of the thermally activatable blades. A low angle light source is then utilized to illuminate the integrated circuit device conductive leads such that a high contrast is created between the conductive leads and the lower surface of the thermally activatable blades, in order to permit an accurate visual inspection of the conductive leads. In one embodiment of the present invention, the lower surfaces of the thermally activatable blades are given a uniform grain by lapping those surfaces in a single direction to minimize the specularity of these surfaces and the angle of illumination is adjusted to enhance the contrast between the conductive leads and the lower blade surfaces. A camera disposed below the hot bar thermode may then be utilized to permit remote visual inspection of the conductive leads of an integrated circuit device while it is present within the mounting tool.

Method and apparatus for electronic component lead inspection

A method and apparatus utilizing one or two cameras are described for visually inspecting a polygonal component located at the end of the robotic end effector for determining presence, position and orientation of component leads prior to placement. Image processing improvements are provided for decreasing computational complexity by representing two dimensional image areas of interest, and each containing leads along one side of a component, by one dimensional summation profiles.

Automated visual inspection of electronic component leads prior to

A multi-degree of freedom force transducer is provided for measuring forces applied to gripper fingers in a manipulator when grasping an object therebetween. The transducer includes a pair of force sensor assemblies rigidly connected at a first end to a respective finger and at a second end to a drive member for the gripper. A plurality of parallel beam structures are contained in each of the force sensor assemblies, each consisting of a pair of flat parallel flexure members, each member bridging opposite sides of a gap in the structure. These parallel beam structures are oriented so that the axis perpendicular to the planar surfaces of the parallel flexure members are orthogonal to one another, providing the capability of measuring the force applied to an object held by the gripper in the X, Y and Z axial directions. A strain gage of a pair of strain gages is located at a predetermined opposite maximum flexure point of each flexure member of said parallel beam structures, so as to measure the flexure of the member at the predetermined flexure points, which flexure is indicative of the force vector along the axis perpendicular to the parallel flexure members. In another embodiment the junction between the flexure member and the wall of the strain gage assembly is radiused or curved so that the maximum flexure point is spread out, giving longer life and enhanced measurement accuracy.

Tri-axial force transducer for a manipulator gripper

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Pflugerville, TX, United States of America

Henry E Wattenbarger