Robotic innovations at the PPMA Show 2015
The Robotics Update team were at the PPMA Show at the NEC, Birmingham in September, looking at innovations in robotics and vision technologies for packaging and palletising applications. Over the next ten pages, we’ll present some of the most interesting and exciting of those innovations, and highlight the latest news from the key players.
The modern packaging industry is becoming characterised by shorter production runs with higher numbers of product variants, with lines handling more products than ever before and needing fast changeover times from one product to another. Throughput, quality, availability and the flexibility to work with different product variants or different pack sizes, without the traditional line changeover time, are all factors that impact on the bottom line.
Robots have an important role to play, delivering the machine flexibility that packaging companies require, while boosting productivity through high speed operation, and improving availability.
On this first page of our PPMA show review, we provide a quick snapshot of some of the highlights of the show from Omron, Applied Automation, Fanuc, Pacepacker Services, HepcoAutomation, ABB Robotics and Scorpion Vision.
A demonstration robot cell at the 2015 PPMA show highlighted innovative applications in pattern recognition and path tracing. Visitors to the Omron stand were able to draw their own freeform shapes, present them to the vision system within the cell, and then watch as the delta robot traced the shape, accurately following the path even as shape was rotated or moved back and forth on a linear slide to demonstrate on-the-fly conveyor synchronisation.
As well as the robot demonstrations on its own stand, key partner companies Applied Automation and HepcoAutomation also showed how Omron automation and robotics technologies can deliver real return on investment.
Fanuc showcased the capabilities of robots with intelligent vision, with a robotic golf cell that gave a masterclass in precision putting. At the same time, on the Pacepacker Services stand, Fanuc highlighted how robotic safety can increase productivity.
ABB Robotics shared a stand with packaging systems specialist RM Group, with a demonstration cell featuring its FlexPicker robots, which the company says are ideal for high speed pick and placing applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Joining it was an example of the IRB 260 robot, offering extended reach and payload while being small enough to fit into compact packing machines.
Scorpion Vision brought its 3D Stinger Camera to PPMA, with live demonstrations of the camera conducting real-time measurements of food products. The 3D Stinger camera enables production line robots to see with almost human-like vision. Robots can distinguish the exact height, depth and sizes of products on a manufacturing line.
PPMA Show 2015 report Next page
