A Robotic Solution for an Ergonomic Nightmare

摘要

DAY IN AND DAY OUT, OVER AND OVER, workers at a cereal distributor had to pick, twist and drop to move cereal cartons out of a bin and onto a "carton erector" conveyor. Repeatedly removing a batch of 40-50 cartons at a time from the four stacks piled in the bin made this task among the least desirable in the plant. People had a hard time with the repetitive motion, heavy loads, and awkward reach at the demanding speeds of up to 155 cartons per minute. Numerous injuries were reported and health issues were raised with this ergonomically challenging job. An individual in the plant who had past experience with robotics recognized that this type of operation might be a good fit for automation. JMP Engineering, a member of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), was called in to thoroughly investigate the process - line rates, types of cartons, accuracy, bin changeout, etc. JMP's engineers knew that this process was a fit for automation but would require thorough testing and prototyping.