Visual Sorting:
Human vs. Robot
At Fastco, we use have a few different options for visual sorting parts. There’s EZ sort (shown in the video) in which parts feed down a track and a person inspects them as they pass. There is also table sorting, in which a person picks up and inspects parts by hand. And finally, there’s our 6-axis robot, Ellie.
So which is better: the human eye or a robot?
Here’s a quick breakdown.
Team Robot
Robots don’t need breaks or vacation.
Robots don’t lapse in attention. They are 100% binary and will always find the defect they’ve been programmed to find.
Team Human
Humans can find other potential flaws, not just what they are “programmed” to find.
Humans can visually sort very quickly. EZ sort is fast, though not as thorough as table sorting.
Visual Sorting Winner
Sorry to disappoint, but this one is a draw. There is no definitive “better” method of visual sorting. There are benefits to each sorting method and different parts call for different methods of inspection. In addition to Ellie, Fastco has many other state-of-the-art machines capable of sorting for everything from length under head to presence of patch or threads to hardness and cracks.