Bosch Packaging Technology has announced that it has introduced its latest pick and place second generation top loading robot, the “Paloma-D2-Delta Robot” (pictured below), which is tailor-made for secondary packaging of fresh, chilled and frozen foods as well as several non-food applications, and positions packages at the rate of 50 to 240 per minute.
Officials at the company say that the robot’s movements can be optimized with the Gemini v3.0 Software that allows simulation of new production processes and products on a virtual machine, and lets operators analyse process bugs in all-directions rotatable 3D views and suitably fine tune adjustments.
With sequentially improved digital trial runs helping to perfect the process off-line, companies benefit by saving: power consumption of actual physical robotic runs, moving parts wear and tear, many hours of actual process establishing time, trial and error clutter, possible loss of real products, and parts damage due to possible setup misalignments.
The top loading robot, say company officials, aligns and places pre-packaged and wrapped products into trays and shipping cartons, and positions the cartons on a parallel flow belt conveyor for dispatch to transportation bays.
It is available with a maximum of three arms to support different degrees of freedom and has a stainless steel construction that meets all the stringent, stipulated hygiene laws and standards for processing of fresh and frozen food as decreed by associated governing health bodies around the world. Its Ingress Protection, at a rating of 65, is extremely high and this is beneficial for the robot since hardly anything from the frozen food can enter its internal mechanisms, and similarly nothing from inside the robot can contaminate the frozen food packages.
The Gemini Software, say officials, has a save feature that allows operators to save iterative processes for later total recall, if and when required, and its tool-free changeable form sets, like end-effectors, ensure changeover time of less than five minutes thereby guaranteeing absolute minimum downtime.
TMCnet has earlier reported on a Space robotic arm that is mounted atop the Space Shuttles to inspect the space craft’s solar panels and replace if required, and has even helped in securing, loading and repositioning the Hubble telescope for its journey into deep space to boldly go where no man has gone.
Robotics are also being used in microscopic, pin-point accuracy, reported TMCnet, insertion and navigation of catheters within the human body to rectify differently beating hearts, or arrhythmias. And another robotics first time display, reported TMCnet, demonstrated a first generation prototype robot capable of following receiving, interpreting and responding accurately to hand signals, body motion and verbal commands.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.
Vivek Naik is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Vivek's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by
Michael Dinan