The purpose of this article is to examine the pros and cons of Mounted and Fixed camera systems.
Fixed camera systems
Pros
Run main process and part location in parallel.
Choice of camera position not limited by the robot (bigger and deeper bins are accessible !).
Cons
Requires recalibration of the camera with the robot every time it is moved.
Robot mounted camera systems
Pros
System more flexible because the Region of Interest can move as does the robot (multiple bins, mobile bins or stations...).
Cons
One more object to take care of when planning your trajectory (collision avoidance), plus the cables that will run along the arm for power and communication.
This will eat part of the payload that you might have wanted to spare for lifting the parts in the bin.
As a conclusion, choosing between mounted or fixed camera will really depend on what your application looks like. If you need flexibility then mount the camera on the robot, but otherwise keep to the fixed camera.