LS Change Log
Locator Studio 1.5
What’s New in This Release
Key Benefits:
Accelerated Setup: Bypasses the need to source or design external CAD files before starting.
Ideal for Consistent Angles: Perfect for structured or semi-structured applications where objects are consistently viewed from the same angle the model was created. (Note: For fully random object orientations, we still recommend creating the 3D model using Photoneo 3D Meshing software).
Broader Compatibility: Direct support for .PLY formats offers more flexibility in how you import existing models.
Key Benefits:
Higher Precision: A perfectly refined 3D model significantly improves overall localization performance and reliability.
Streamlined Workflow: Eliminates the need to export models to third-party software for basic geometric cleanup and adjustments.
Key Benefits:
Advanced Decision Making: Empowers your robotic application to execute complex sorting, routing, and handling logic based on object classes.
Continuous AI Enhancements: Includes under-the-hood algorithmic improvements that make the neural network faster and more robust at handling variable items.
Key Benefits:
Minimized Cycle Times: Drastically reduces processing time by skipping unnecessary 3D acquisitions for static objects.
Compounding Efficiency: When combined with the parallel scanning capabilities of Blue & Red sensors introduced in previous releases, Fast-scan pushes your application’s cycle time to the absolute minimum.
System Optimization & Usability Enhancements
Driver & Backend Optimizations
Upgraded to PhoXi Control 1.17.2: This release integrates the latest PhoXi Control driver capabilities
Refreshed UI of Settings Assistant: It now prioritizes profiles by scanning time, instantly displays key data, recommends a “suggested” profile, and fully supports new PhoXi 3D Scanner Gen3 sensor parameters, which ultimately reduces setup time.
Maintenance tool update: Using multiple identical marker patterns simultaneously is now allowed, drastically speeding up the maintenance process. The required number of scans is reduced from 10-15 to 3-4 in most cases, making sensor maintenance 3-4x faster for customers.
Visual 3D ROI: We extend the legacy numeric input fields with a user-friendly, visually adjustable 3D bounding box. This makes defining the Field of View (FoV) highly intuitive, fast, and error-free for users of all experience levels.
AI Algorithm & Gripping Point Optimization: Computation time for gripping point placement has been significantly reduced for selected placement methods, accelerating the cycle time of AI-driven bin picking tasks.
Improved Dynamic Mode in Hand-Eye MultiView: Real-time object tracking in dynamic environments has been upgraded. The updated tracking algorithms are significantly more robust, ensuring reliable candidate persistence even in rapid or challenging handling scenarios.
Optimized Scanning Profile Switching: Scanning profiles are now uploaded to the sensor using their original names (without the suffix referencing the specific vision system ID). As a result, when multiple vision systems share the same profile, only a single profile is uploaded to the physical sensor. This eliminates the need for physical profile switching on the device when transitioning between vision systems.
Robotic Integration & Support
New Robot Brand Integration - Estun: We are excited to announce our official support for Estun robots. A dedicated Estun robot module is currently under development to provide a native plug-and-play experience.
Enhanced Default Scanning Profiles
To simplify your initial setup, we have tuned our default scanning configurations for peak performance in specific environments:
Calibration Profiles: Fine-tuned to perform robustly across a much wider range of ambient lighting conditions, preventing calibration failures due to glare or low-contrast environments.
AI Application Profiles: Pre-configured with optimal color reprojections to provide highly accurate, balanced image inputs specifically suited for neural network training and inference.
GUI & Visualizer Enhancements
Global Settings Override Indicator: Vision systems that override global configurations are now instantly recognizable via a visual indicator, allowing you to identify custom parameters at a glance.
Reworked AI-Localization Object Rendering:
To improve visual consistency, localized objects are now rendered using identical, matching colors in both the 3D point cloud visualizer and the 2D texture visualizer.
Objects rendered in the 2D texture visualizer are now fully clickable, allowing for rapid inspection and detailed data lookup.
Advanced Point Cloud Coloring Options:
Added a broader selection of solid color themes.
Enhanced the height-ramp coloring mode. Users can now manually configure the range of the height ramp and choose to either saturate, dim, or entirely hide data points that fall out of the defined range.
Back-Face Mesh Rendering: The back-faces of CAD meshes are now rendered in black (previously, they were invisible). This provides immediate visual feedback on normal orientations, which is critical for configuring the CAD-based localization engine correctly.
Incremental Input in 3D Visualizers: Precision object manipulation is now easier. Wherever 3D objects are rotated or translated, you can simply click on the draggable 3D marker/gimbal to input a specific numerical increment to be added directly to the current value.
General Polish: Includes various minor GUI enhancements, stability improvements, and bug fixes to ensure a smoother development workflow.
Locator Studio 1.4
Higher Resolution: A powerful 5.1 Mpx sensor delivers 60% more 3D points for incredibly detailed scans.
Any Lighting Conditions: Thanks to new Blue Laser technology and HDR support, the Gen3 can perform flawlessly even in direct sunlight.
Integrated RGB Camera: Capture rich, detailed scenes with up to 8 Mpx color images.
Faster & More Robust Scanning: Exposure times are cut by up to 10x, and a 20 dB higher dynamic range ensures robust performance.
Extended Scanning Range: Now you’re able to scan up to 6 m distance.
Additionally, the newest PhoXi Control brings an updated Maintenance tool and various user experience improvements.
Locator Studio 1.3.4
Network configuration: Resolved an issue preventing the configuration of DNS servers on the Robot interface and the Network interface.
Locator Studio 1.3.3
Locator Studio 1.3.2
Automatic Calibration: Resolved an issue preventing automatic calibration from initiating when the 3D sensor was already connected but incorrectly evaluated as unavailable.
Locator Studio 1.3
New features
These applications often involve the manipulation of standardized totes, which require recognition, picking, and relocation.
The AI module for localization of totes has to be ordered separately as an extension module.
Performance and Configuration Improvements
General Improvements of AI Localization Engine post-processing algorithms In addition to the new AI module for localization of totes, a novel approach has been implemented for the computation of gripping points on localized boxes. Overall, all post-processing algorithms within the AI localization engine have been improved.
Vision System Disabling A vision system can now be temporarily deactivated. Within a solution deployment, it will appear as non-existent, while still remaining part of the solution configuration.
Optimized Sensor Connection The sensor connection process has been reworked to achieve maximum speeds.
Rejection of Objects Crossing the Bounding Box Objects can be localized even if they cross the bounding box (region of interest), provided that a significant portion of their volume lies within it. This behavior is now disabled by default, but a new parameter has been introduced to allow it if desired.
Configuration of Hand-eye CAD MultiView Scanning Parameters The properties of the mesh created by the hand-eye CAD MultiView vision system can now be fine-tuned to achieve the best possible input quality for the CAD localization engine.
Network DNS for the Robot Interface It is now optionally possible to configure network DNS servers for the Robot interface.
GUI Improvements
New Deployment Message Console The message console on the Deployment page has been redesigned. Beyond functional and visual enhancements, it now allows for message filtering and offers optional millisecond accuracy for timestamps.
Improved Data Persistence Localized objects in 3D visualizers, both in the localization interface and on the deployment page, are now persistent – they will reappear after the page is reloaded.
Improved Object Selection in AI Localization Engine An object detected by the AI localization engine can now be selected by clicking anywhere on its segment.
Manual Saving of Scans from the Web Interface Any 3D visualizer capable of displaying a point cloud now allows saving of the scan, a set of scans, or a mesh (MultiView) via the Scan widget of the visualizer.
Integrator-Focused Web Interface Customization New customization options for integrators were added, allowing for brand-specific color schemes, logo integration, and custom error messaging to streamline communication and make troubleshooting more efficient.
German GUI Localization The web interface now supports German language localization.
System Improvements
PhoXi Control has been updated to version 1.14.1
Google Chrome has been updated to the latest version
Robotic brands
Expanded Robotic Brand Support We are excited to announce the addition of support for Epson robots to our range of compatible robotic brands.
Important changes
Dimensioning Data from AI Localization Engine The dimensioning data includes information about the angle between the positive X-axis of the object and the positive X-axis of the reference frame (calibration frame). The range of this angle has been updated:
Up to version LS 1.3.0 (excluding): The angle range was 0-180 degrees, with the angle increasing from the X-axis of the reference frame towards the Y-axis. Upon crossing 180 degrees, the value was reduced by 180 (e.g., 185 degrees became 5 degrees).
From version LS 1.3.0 (including): The angle range is now 0-360 degrees, with the angle increasing from the X-axis of the reference frame towards the Y-axis.
Locator Studio 1.2.3
Improved overlap computation: Overlap values were inaccurately calculated when the localized object significantly overflowed the scene. This issue is now resolved by making the overlap decrease proportional to the unseen portion of the model.
Disabled automatic normal flipping: To prevent visualization discrepancies between Studio and external CAD software, automatic flipping of points’ normals for unclosed CAD models is now disabled.
This patch also brings some minor improvements and fixes of the web interface:
fixed overlapping tooltips of object status and object status percentage on the deployment page
increased precision of the rad-deg conversion on the deployment page
fixes of several forms across the Studio
fixed potential incorrect order of sensors in a MultiView vision systems after solution import
Apart from that, the behavior of the Automatic Backup feature was improved:
Old behavior Upon each deployment the solution will be automatically exported to the folder ~/Desktop/Backup. Each solution has a unique name with a timestamp of the export. Up to 5 solution backups are kept, when a new backup is created and the limit is reached the oldest one is removed automatically.
New behavior Upon each deployment, provided a change was made in the solution configuration since the last automatic export, the solution will be automatically exported. Each solution has a unique name with a timestamp of the export. Each solution export is stored in its own directory in ~/Desktop/Backup with a name consisting of the solution ID and the actual name of the solution. Up to 3 exports are stored per solution with the oldest one being removed to make room for a new one. Directories for up to 3 lastly deployed solutions are stored with the oldest one being removed to make room for a new one.
Locator Studio 1.2.1
The first patch version of the Locator Studio 1.2 was released in September 2024 and brings bug-fixes for the following issues:
Web interface showing persistent Error 500 caused by heavy web server traffic
CAD-based localization compatibility break in LS 1.2.0
visibility and segmentation behavior was unexpectedly changed in LS 1.2.0 when compared to previous versions. In this patch (1.2.1) it is restored to the previous state
[single-view only] recommendation for Scene clustering level update when migrating from LS 1.2.0 to LS 1.2.1:
Scene clustering level [LS 1.2.0]
Scene clustering level [LS 1.2.1]
low
high / normal
normal
high / very high
high
very high
very high
very high
Static hand-eye MultiView mode not aligning point clouds correctly
Loading of scanning profiles from older sensor FW versions not setting all parameters correctly
Inability to save the calibration result in the web interface when Calibration sharing was enabled
The patch also brings new usability improvements:
Extended overview of found objects in the localization interface
added information about the time it took to locate a particular object and added sorting based on this time
added information about the dimensions of the found objects for AI and Layer localization
added option to export the overview to a CSV file with additional information
Improved sensor list in the web interface now provides information about the sensor type, model and FW version
Added names of the Ethernet interfaces to Network page together with color-coded status of their activity
Scene cropping option in localization interface to speed up the localization process [CAD-based localization only]
PhoXi Control was bumped to version 1.13.4
improved Settings Assistant
improved Recording - new options to include {device_id} or {datetime} in the file names
Locator Studio 1.2.0
New features
MultiView configurations:
Static MultiView Employs statically mounted 3D sensors. One primary sensor is calibrated with the robot, while secondary sensors are calibrated relative to the primary. Individual scans are merged with high precision, resulting in a detailed scene point cloud.
Hand-eye MultiView Utilizes the standard hand-eye approach with a robotic arm holding a Photoneo 3D sensor. Instead of a single scan, the MultiView module captures the scene from numerous viewpoints to create a complete point cloud
Applications - the MultiView module addresses limitations of the single-view approach:
- Thin or highly reflective objects difficult to scan from a single perspective
- Requirement of specific model features for precise localization, obscured in a single view
- Self-occluding objects
- Overly large objects requiring multiple scans
- Need for higher detail quality, achieved by using a sensor with lower point-to-point distance and scanning volume and capturing the scene multiple times
User Experience Improvements
Up to 4 sensors directly connected to the vision controller Redesigned Network page allows configuration of all available Ethernet ports for robot, local network, and multiple sensor connections.
Studio navigation bar and solution wizard now have a fixed floating position.
Bounding box visualization around AI-localized objects.
Redesigned user interfaces for Localization, Network, and Vision System pages.
General GUI improvements and bug fixes.
System Improvements
PhoXi Control updated to version 1.13.1.
Host OS - Ubuntu - upgraded to version 22.04.4 with:
Up-to-date security patches
Latest versions of supporting third-party applications
Robotic brands, Communication protocol and Robot modules
Trigger scan: Allows adding a new scan within the Hand-eye MultiView configuration.
Localize on the last scan: Enables running localization on the most recent sensor scan.
Locator Studio 1.1.1
The first patch version of the Locator Studio 1.1 was released in early October 2023 and includes bug-fixes for following issues:
Broken automatic Deployment page reload upon solution stop/start via robot action request after several minutes of robot inactivity
Incosistent reporting of orientation by the LayerPick module - flipping of the orientation by 180 degrees around the Z-axis
Numeric values in the deployment Inspector and the Robot modules are rounded differently
Automatic calibration is disabled upon any change of scanning profiles
The patch also brings several usability improvements:
Reworked layout and enhanced usability of the localization interface
Added option to choose radians or degrees as the unit of angle/rotation values in the deployment Inspector
Solution that was deployed as last is marked with a new flag last run
Added option to specify a gateway on the Robot interface
Added automatic solution backup option - the solution is exported every time it is deployed
PhoXi Control was bumped to the latest version 1.11.1
Locator Studio 1.1.0
Locator Studio 1.1.0 by Photoneo was released in late June of 2023 with the following new features and enhancements:
New features
AnyPick module for Boxes has to be ordered separately as an extension module. For more information and inquiries, visit https://www.photoneo.com/depalletization.
When Bin Picking Studio is extended with the AnyPick module, user can create solution of two types:
based on CAD-object recognition
based on AI-object recognition (boxes)
The configuration wizard in AI-based solution guides the user only through relevant configuration steps. The gripping point is chosen automatically based on the visible surface of the box. The output data provides information on dimension and orientation of the box to allow precise placing.
AnyPick module for Boxes is supported (trained) in combination with PhoXi 3D Scanners.
LayerPick module - solution for Delayering
LayerPick module extends the functionality of the Locator Studio with the detection of the top surface - layer - of any objects placed on the pallet. This functionality allows Studio to be deployed also for Delayering applications.
LayerPick module has to be ordered separately as an extension module. For more information and inquiries, visit https://www.photoneo.com/delayering.
When the Studio is extended with the LayerPick module, user can create solution of more types
based on CAD-object recognition
based on Layer-detection recognition
The configuration wizard in the Layer-detection solution guides the user only through relevant configuration steps. The layer recognition can be configured for specific gripper abilities. The output data reports the central point of the layer.
LayerPick module is supported in combination with any Photoneo 3D Sensor.
Start the automatic calibration
Save the result of the automatic calibration
Stop the automatic calibration
Reporting of vision system status to the controller
Added request to the robotic API - Get vision system status - to provide information about:
number of localized objects
number of ready objects
state of the processing pipeline (in progress/finished)
This information is especially useful in combination with multiple vision systems to prioritize picking from the most full bin or to receive early information about almost empty bin.
Defining coordinate space with Marker pattern
In cases where the user requires to use a custom coordinate space, for example with the origin starting in the corner of the pallet with a Z-direction facing towards the camera, a calibration with Marker pattern can be used. The vision system is calibrated with a single scan during which the marker pattern is recognized. This approach is mainly suitable for 4 and 5-axis robots often used in depalletizing or delayering applications (assuming the user is capable of transforming the marker coordinate space to the robot coordinate space).
User experience and system improvements
Redesign of Vision system page into into three clear views:
Configuration
setup of the 3D sensor and localization scanning settings
localization and localization settings
calibration type and calibration scanning settings
Calibration overview
information about current robot-camera calibration
improved manual edit of the calibration matrix
option to set-up automatic calibration
Settings - optional settings overriding global defaults
Update of Deployment Inspector - showing the object angle and object dimensions (for AI based localization of boxes)
CAD localization improvements
Added parameter for special fine-tuning of CAD localization
Added option to specify when the object is considered occluded
Added option to enable parallel run of multiple localizations
Added option to block the Get objects action request until the localization is finished
Added option to sort localized objects based on localization score
General GUI improvements and bugfixes
PhoXi Control update to version 1.10, support for all Photoneo 3D Sensors
3rd party applications updates:
Google Chrome 114
Meshlab 2021.05
CloudCompare 2.11.1
User experience and system improvements
Communication protocol v1.1 adds support for the new action requests in the robotic API for performing Automatic robot-camera calibration and reporting vision system status.
Updated robot modules based on this version of communication protocol are available for:
ABB
Doosan (new)
Fanuc
Kawasaki
KUKA KRC (new)
Universal Robots
Yaskawa (new)
All robot modules based on the previous versions of the Communication protocol remain supported.
Locator Studio 1.0.1
At the end of October 2022, Photoneo released its newest product for robotic intelligence - the Locator Studio - in its first official version 1.0.1.
Easy configuration of the solution via web-based interface
Robot-Camera Calibration
CAD-based object localization: finding object position and orientation (6-DOF pose) in the scene
TCP/IP interface for communication with an arbitrary robotic controller, PC, or PLC
Key benefits
Superior 3D scan quality and speed thanks to compatibility with PhoXi 3D Scanner and MotionCam-3D. Scanning ranges from 161 to 3780 mm.
Easy calibration of the vision system with the robot. Support for multiple vision systems. Fixed or on-arm mounting.
Powerful CAD-based pose estimation of multiple objects in a single scan. Support for switching between solutions to search for different parts.
Fast integration with arbitrary robot systems thanks to TCP/IP interface and provided robot examples.