Precisely position, efficiently compact: Würth Industrie Service and SSI Schäfer further develop picking robots together

The new piece-picking cell in a compact gantry design is used for the automated consolidation of already pre-picked items on trays. The goal is to empty the trays faster and make them available again for pre-picking in a timely manner. For this purpose, the system identifies the items on the source trays in real-time, determines suitable gripping points, and controls the robot arm. This safely picks up the items and places them precisely at an appropriate position in the destination tray.

Pick & Place for Packaging up to Five Kilograms

The commonly used pick-and-drop mode in the market, where items are dropped or let fall over the target container, is not an option for Würth Industrie Service. This is because the product range of the C-parts supplier includes numerous products that are too heavy for collision-free execution of drop processes. To securely convey packages weighing up to five kilograms, the piece-picking cell at Würth Industrie Service operates in the "Pick & Place" mode. This mode ensures that the picked items are placed down deliberately.

Würth Industrie Service and SSI Schäfer seek to continuously develop the pick-and-place performance to a technically feasible optimum as part of their joint development partnership. In the pick-and-drop mode, this can reach up to 1,200 picks per hour. However, because the precise and gentle pick-and-place mode requires more time for the accurate and safe placement of goods compared to the pick-and-drop mode, such high performance values are not attainable.