Separating wrapped milk powder spoons and dispensing them into a line of cups
Initial situation
Two types of flow-packed milk powder spoons are provided in bulk form.
Task
Spoons must be separated as they leave a hopper and dropped into cups which run in a continuous row through a cartoning machine. Surplus products are to be returned to the hopper.
Equipment
The flow-packed milk powder spoons, which are provided in bulk form in a hopper, are taken out of the hopper and separated on cascading belts. The separated spoons are then conveyed on a transport belt to two delta robots which pick them up from the belt using vacuum suction cups and drop them into the chain of cups. The position and orientation of the spoons is determined by the robot controller with the help of a camera. Once the first robot has filled as many cups as it can, the second robot steps in to fill the remaining positions, so that eventually all cups are supplemented with a spoon.
Owing to the higher output of the hopper there is a surplus of spoons on the transport belt, and the remaining spoons are returned to the hopper on a link conveyor.
Challenges
- Separation of the spoons
- Optical detection of the flow-packed spoons
- Detection of the spoon position in the flow pack
- Placing the spoons in the row of cups
Advantages of the system
- Availability of over 99.9 %
- Redundant suction cup
- Gentle product separation
- Two independent robots