Akira Sonoda

About

Industrial robotics/automation lead engineer who integrated a FANUC 6-axis arm with a KEYENCE CV-X vision system on a high-speed assembly line, coordinated by a master PLC over EtherNet/IP. Known for improving throughput by parallelizing vision acquisition in background robot programs and for rigorous factory-floor validation (PLC timing analysis, vibration mitigation, offline simulation, and custom HIL test jigs). Also built Python automation to deploy configuration updates across multiple robotic cells.

Experience

Education

Key Strengths

• Led end-to-end system logic for vision-guided 6-axis robot cell integrated with PLC over EtherNet/IP
• Reduced cycle time by parallelizing vision imaging with other robot tasks via background robot program
• Designed robust success/failure state handling using memory flags to control downstream mechanisms
• Validated high-speed pick stability by logging robot timing data through PLC and measuring average pick time consistency
• Improved vision accuracy by mitigating vibration-induced positional error with timing delays between vibration and imaging
• Pragmatic real-time debugging approach using timers vs. completion-signal gating for reliable sequencing
• Centralized multi-device/robot coordination by using PLC as a communication hub for status and command routing
• Built Python-based tools to push configuration updates across multiple robotic cells, reducing manual deployment errors
• Hands-on hardware/software validation mindset, including custom HIL stress-testing of sensors and actuators