The purpose of this thesis was to develop and standardize the automatic measurement in Fastems Oy’s robotic cells. When handling individual parts with robots, the location and the destination of the part have to be known precisely. Sometimes it is necessary to measure the location or the destination of the part. There are many suitable measurement methods, and the thesis focuses on laser measurement. The research for this thesis consisted mostly of studying the operation of laser sensors. The operation of industrial robots was also studied. The thesis included laser measurements, in which the location of a hole was measured. Three different laser sensors were attached to the flange of the robot. In addition to comparing the laser sensors, the main purpose of the measurements was to find out which conditions affect the reliability of laser measurement. Finding ways to reduce the effects of the conditions was also a goal of the measurements.

The results showed that the measurement distance, lighting conditions, reflections and the measured surface had the greatest effect. With a longer measurement distance, the measurement accuracy was considerably worse than with a shorter distance. Bright lighting reduced the measurement accuracy and darkening the measuring environment improved the accuracy. A reflective item can affect the measurement accuracy, but the reflectiveness of the measuring surface has a greater effect. The measurement accuracy was worse on a reflecting surface. Usually the effects of a single condition were quite small. It took multiple conditions to occur simultaneously to produce significant measurement errors.

Certain conditions produced consistent errors to measurement accuracy. Changing the settings of the laser sensors generally was not enough to negate the conditions. The measurements did however show that the individual conditions had a smaller effect on the measurement accuracy than expected. One of the laser sensors was clearly the most reliable and versatile. This sensor could be used in all the robotic cells that require measurements. The measurement environment that was developed for this thesis can be used to do further testing of different sensors or methods.