Quick Startup Guide

Getting Started

System Set Up

Hardware

Calibration

Software

Troubleshooting

Getting Started

Congratulations on purchasing your Apera Vue 4D Vision system! 

This guide will quickly walk you through the steps you need to take in order to setup your system and make the most out of it.

This article assumes you have received the following hardware:

• PC running Apera Vue
• Camera pairs attached to their mounting plates and lenses
• USB cables for connecting the cameras to your PC
• Camera calibration pad
• Robot calibration stickers.

In addition to the hardware, this article assumes you have requested to train an asset or that an existing trained asset be put on your system.

It is always a good idea to get the AI training needed for your task started early. Please follow the steps in this guide in order to do so: Asset Training Request

But before you do so, please sign up in our support system to get access to our support articles as explained below.

Signing up in our support system

In order for you to be able to access our support articles and be able to communicate with our support engineers within the support tickets you need to sign up in our support system. Please follow the below steps to do so:

1- Please go to apera.zendesk.com. You should see the page below:

2- Please click on "Sign in" at the top right corner of the page. It would take you to the page below:

3- In case you have already emailed the support team via [e-mail] email address, then please choose "Get a password". If not please choose "Sign up" at the bottom of the page.

4- please follow the process of providing your full name and email address and the system will walk you through the registration process.

 

System Set Up

Hardware:

1. Unpack your hardware and follow these guidelines to mount the cameras, hook them up to the PC and turn on the PC: Apera Vue Hardware Installation Guide
   1. Note: Your cameras need to be installed at a certain height relative to the bin or surface you are piking from (working distance) and should have a certain distance between them (baseline). These distances will be determined by Apera AI support team after you submit your asset training request as explained above.
2. Turn on the PC and connect it to internet either using the WiFi or a wired connection.
3. When the PC boots up for the first time, it will request an activation. Please follow these steps for activation:
   1. Please look up your PC serial number. (What is Apera Vue serial number and where can I find it?)
   2. Sign into your ZenDesk account by going to apera.zendesk.com and clicking on "Sign in" on the top right corner. After you have entered your credentials, please click on "Submit a Request" on the top right corner of the page. 
   3. Fill out the form, and Apera AI support will get back to you with a link for creating the activation code.
   4. Please click on the link provided by support to retrieve the activation code. 
   5. Enter the activation code to the activation screen and click "Activate".
      1. The system needs to be connected to internet for activation and will need time to download a sizable amount of data. Apera Vue software will launch after activation process is complete.
   6. Note: The activation code expires after 10 minutes. In case it did, please refresh the page to generate a new code.
4. Your Apera Vue software should be running after activation. In case it keep restarting please follow the troubleshooting steps in this guide: My Apera Vue keeps restarting, what is wrong?

Calibration

Camera Calibration

1. Calibrate the cameras: Camera calibration

Robot Calibration

1. Knowing your robot manufacturer, download the robot driver and follow the steps for calibrating your robot here: Robot Integration – Apera (zendesk.com)

Software

1. Setup vision regions: Vision Region Adjustment
2. Please ask Apera Support to deploy the assets you requested in step one above to your system. Please note your PC needs to be connected to internet for that. 
3. Please setup a virtual fence for your robot when using Autopilot as explained here: Setting up a Fence for a Robot Model
4. Please add the model of your gripper as described here: Gripper Editor
5. Please add / remove or edit your pick points to optimize your system performance as explained here: Apera Vue Pick Point Editor

You are all set! Program your robot to pick the parts using Apera Vue software. Most robot drivers include a template for simple bin picking and picking with Autopilot.

Please contact [e-mail] in case you needed help or had any questions.

Troubleshooting

In case you have not received above items, then please contact [e-mail] for further assistance.

Important note: You need to register in our support page in order to be able to send us support requests or access the rest of the articles that have been referred to here. If you have not already registered, please use this link to do so:

Zendesk Auth

Please note that for your email domain needs to be authorized in our system for you to be able to register. Please contact Apera Sales, in case the system indicated that your domain is not authorized.