The supply of packaging cases to filling machines is a tiring and repetitive task, as it involves moving heavy cardboard boxes weighing over 15kg and their contents. One of the global leaders in the Food & Beverage market, needed to automate and make this process reliable.
We created a robotic system consisting of two collaborative anthropomorphic robots that work together to open the cardboard boxes and empty the packaging cases into the downstream production line warehouse, using an ultrasonic cutting system.
The first collaborative robot, guided by a 2D camera and a distance sensor, picks up the boxes containing the packaging cases from a pallet. Each picked box is slid along the entire perimeter of the lid on a vibrating blade activated by ultrasonic stimulation. Once the cut is complete, the robot positions the box under a set of suction cups, which remove the lid.
During this phase, the two cobots move in coordination to ensure that the first robot empties the packaging cases from the box into the tool of the second robot. The first robot performs gentle movements to slide out the box and then disposes of it in a shredder.
The second anthropomorphic robot aligns with the downstream warehouse and deposits the packaging cases onto a chute.
Thanks to a complex integration between the two anthropomorphic robots and sensors, the process has been reliably automated with an ergonomic layout.
