Since AI has stepped in to work hand-in-hand with humans major industries are super keen in implementing the latest technology. The robots are helping in biological sciences, military, agriculture and what not. The efficiency of robots exceed humans as it eliminates the huge factor of human error in the affairs. Not only the efficiency is increased but the time factor has also been decreased considerably.
Robots are helping farmers with sowing, growth and harvesting of the crops.
But does every business need robots?
This is a fact that robots do not come cheap so you should ask whether it would be beneficial to invest in robotics?
Will the decision be such profitable that it outperforms the cost you bore?
Well there could definitely be discussions against the usage of robots but no one can deny the cost benefits it brings.
One of the major industries employing robots is that of palletizing. The trend of automated ordering has taken rise and the consumers demand for accurate, safe and punctual delivery under any circumstances. These demands compelled the research departments of the distribution centres to find the solution and they obliged with the robot solution.
This article would emphasize solely upon the palletizing systems and the implementation of robots in palletizing industries or palletizing robots. However the benefits described here would benefit in any business regarding robots.
Here are the uses, benefits and the process how robots work in palletizing.
Palletizing Systems
The process of palletizing means the loading of some material such as a carton on to the pallet or something defined in a similar fashion.
These systems are employed whenever an industry requires product versatility and the requirement of production is not too high.
There are two different types of palletizing systems and the criteria for the selection of one depends upon the need of the customer.
1) Mechanical Palletizing
2) Robotic Palletizing
Mechanical Palletizing
This type of palletizing system specializes in the loading and unloading of heavy objects and high speed applications with one or more than one types of crates and cases.
The speciality of this system lies in its adaptability and flexibility. Its application emphasizes upon different kinds of crates so a single unit is capable of solving various problems. The units are constructed of stainless steel or in galvanized material which ensures the longevity of the units.
The palletizing format of these units are highly flexible and can easily be changed to create various types of mosaics.
With the greater efficiency of these units comes the speed of up to 200 cycles/h. This combination of efficiency and speed ensures the cost benefits for its users.
The placement of the crates on the pallet is done in an efficient manner by using lateral pushers and rollers. The gripping tool puts lateral pressure to control the movements smoothly.
This smooth and quick method therefore ensures the safety of the material inside the crate. The damage in palletizing is never a rare case but with the help of these mechanical loaders the safety is not a huge issue.
The adaptability of these mechanical loaders allow its users to palletize crates and cases of different dimensions, material, and other specifications. Therefore a single unit can be used to palletize various sorts of material.
This allows the space a machine takes so that the user can make use of it for some other purpose.
The gripping tool can create different kinds of pallet formats so it is easy to fulfill the requirements of the client. You can easily manipulate the machine for the specific need of your customer. This feature provides a high functioning relationship between you and your customers.
You can also create gaps between the boxes using this machine for the aeration purposes.
Robot Palletizing
Many industries of this digital age have implemented the robot palletizing system in one way or the other. Every rising firm or established one alike favour the use of robots in the palletizing process. The reason is simple. Robot palletizing increases the productivity, allows flexibility, cuts cost and help products run for a longer period.
Another benefit of the palletizing robots is that they come with a built-in system which allows them to function faster and without spending any time on teaching.
Robot palletizing system offers vast flexibility and can be integrated towards any kind of project.
This revolutionary technology is working wonders for the industries all over the globe. Robotic palletizing system comes in many forms. Its types can be broken down into Layer Forming and Inline Palletizing, Layer Depalletizing and Palletizing, and Mixed Case Palletizing.
Each of these types possess their own set of functions and productivity. The users can choose the best set of system for their specific use.
Layer Forming and Inline Palletizing
This type of robotic palletizing has proved to be quite famous in the past years. It is popular for simple reasons such as high rate of cases per hour, brief space floor, system availability, and the better utilization rate of the complete production line.
This type of robotic palletizing is favoured by high end firms such as beverage industries. This system uses the clever implementation of the robots to increase the speed of moving long lines of products.
It uses form fitted grippers to move the products quickly and smoothly on a mesh belt conveyer with great accuracy on to the target. The robots are accurately synchronized with the speed of the belt serving reliability. The packages are gripped by the form fitted grippers actively so the process does not depend upon the friction.
The layer process is intelligent. During this process a little gap is placed between the packages to avoid collisions. Once a layer has been completed, a mechanical hand lowers down and stops it. Only when the previous layer has been moved the hand lifts and the next one forms.
The robot based inline system adjusts its system performance intelligently according to the speed of the production line.
If the process requires more speed and efficiency then it obliges by adding another layer forming robot which doubles the throughput.
This system offers brief space, fast and easy swith overs to different types of packages, high speed, safety, high reliability due ro layer forming and accuracy.
Layer Depalletizing and Palletizing
A system of any kind can only be optimized when it is controlled completely. If we talk about layer systems then you must be able to control your system so that it runs efficiently and handles large numbers of packages in lesser time with accuracy.
The problem is that cartons and cases come in so many forms that it becomes a hurdle to handle every single with accuracy. However every carton has a flat bottom and this system uses a universal gripping system to solve the problem.
This system uses two rubber rollers which exert force on pallet layer from the opposit sides. The layer rolls smoothly and the packages are lifted on to two carrier plates.
The gripper control system is employed to adjust the pressure and height position of the rollers specifically for every kind of package.
This system ensures high picking performance due its implementation of a multiple layer pickup cycle.
The performance is restricted by maximum payload weight or maximum payload weight.
The benefits of this system are low noise level, virtually no damage due to gentle handling, high flexibility of palletizing line, and the reduction of costs.
Mixed Case Palletizing
This type of robotic palletizing system has gained immense popularity in the past decade. The demand for the automated deliveries has increased considerably in the past few years. Comsumers are increasing their orders every day. Thus a requirment of a wide variety of articles must be picked and palletized with accuracy and minum damage.
This has caused a stir in the distribution centers. The stir was caused as the articles, packages and crates come im virtually every size. The consumer is free to choose whatever he or she feels like but this poses quite a problem for the palletizers as they look for the universal system to pick these up whether they be open ended or closed or in any shape whatsoever.
These demands compelled the researchers to invest their time and they came up with the wonderful idea of a module called Pallet-Mix for automated palletizing.
The very aim of the development of this module was jointed-arm robots and service wedded with innovative software and the latest gripper technology.
It was decided by the scientists that a jointed-arm robot with six degrees of freedom would solve this problem. Because this would eliminate the need for the external turning of the package.
This decision soon proved to be fruitful. The system exhibited an amazing capability of high performance and was soon popular among the large industries.
The benefits of this systems are short term cycles that ensure maximum cost effectiveness, gentle handling for the minimum damage to the packages using a servo gripper, high system flexiblity, and a wide range of palletizible packaging units.
