Robotic pick and place - the ultimate challenge
RTS, the innovative UK provider of vision-guided Robotic Palletizing system to the food industry, developed a system to pick Poppadums in order to automate a heavily labour-intensive process.
Could a robot pick up a poppadum without breaking it? Could it pick up four in succession and put them down together? Could it do this at 100 picks per minute, 24 hours per day, seven days per week with a very low breakage rate? It might seem impossible, but RTS Flexible Systems have proved it can be done - and that the installed system can deliver a healthy Return on Investment in less than two years, by significantly reducing labour costs over three shifts and increasing production capacity RTS, the innovative UK provider of vision-guided robotic automation pick and place systems to the food industry, developed the system in response to a challenge to replace a heavily labour-intensive process.
Individual poppadums were manually Pick and Place Systems , having been delivered from a frying machine by conveyor, then stacked into piles of four.
The piles then needed to be manually picked again and placed into a vacuum forming machine.
Using a combination of RTS Pixcell vision systems and ABB Flexpicker robots, the RTS system is able to collect four poppadums one by one from the conveyor and place them for packaging in the vacuum forming machine.
It is also capable of handling multiple product variants for variety packs.
The key to the solution is the end-effector technology, which enables the poppadums to be handled extremely gently.
Also key was the ability of the RTS vision software to determine which poppadums can be picked successfully from the conveyor by instructing the robot to avoid any that are on top of, or overlapped with another.
Digitalization of parts and generating CAD files
One of the applications needed in today's industry is able to perform reverse engineering, through which to obtain a three-dimensional representation of a piece from the original piece itself. Traditional methods of palpable analog are very limited in this regard by the slow system of palpable.
Drafting PU
At present the options most advanced market for metrology applications are based on optical measurement, either through laser heads equipped with camera and mounted on an MMC (either fixed or portable) or via laptop computers based on patterns Light structured.
Checkweighers:
Hexagon Metrology, through the factory in Vitoria, Vittek, offers all possibilities exist at this time, deforms that can offer the right product wings needs of each client. The technical team Vittek studying each individual case and depending on the size of the piece, the desired accuracy, and other characteristics, select the best choice of digitalization to achieve the objectives of the client.
The possibilities are not limited only to have a cloud of points, but from post-processing of the same, and using advanced software reverse engineering, it is possible to have full DAC, whether in STL ( compatible with the majority of machining centers) or IGES format (standard CAD).
Increased automation in wrapping
Towards automated lines
The packers may explore some of the latest trends in packaging with Label Applicators , with automated equipment at Pack Expo Las Vegas-event to be held from 26 to September 28, 2005 - at the Convention Center in Las Vegas, USA.
It is astonishing to note how many packages are still manufactured manually, especially at the end of the production line.
: A robot fits Schneider Packaging ...
For packers and Label Applicators with operations manuals, robot technology and new designs in teams that make today easier than ever to automate or make the transition to automated lines.
The packers may explore some of the latest trends in container with automated equipment, Pack Expo in Las Vegas, which will take place from 26 to September 28, 2005 at the Convention Center in Las Vegas, USA. The exhibition is sponsored and produced by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute, PMMI, and displays hundreds of machines capable of automating operations manual or automated updating and lines.
The tool for handling bags ago ....
Robots flexible
The concerns about ergonomics, labour costs, and the need for flexibility to raise interest both in automation and in robotic systems in line packed. Today provides a lot more attention to robots since prices have fallen, reliability is extremely high and advanced software and controls simplify the recruitment and operation.