Palletizing cell with Motoman HC20 Cobot at Verla-Pharm

April 18th 2022

Yaskawa

Based in Bavaria, Verla-Pharm, a company specializing in medicines and dietary supplements, has chosen to use, for the first time, the Yaskawa Motoman HC20 palletizing cobot.

The cardboard box palletizing facility, which until then had been manual and located at the end of an existing production line, had to be replaced by an automated solution. The main requirements were that it be as easy to operate as possible and require only limited installation space. Those responsible turned to AHM Sondermaschinenbau GmbH in Dasing, which has been producing such packaging and palletizing systems for more than 25 years.

"The reduced space of the facilities proved to be a great challenge," he recalls. Hubert Assam, General Manager and Project Manager of AHM. Consequently, he and his colleagues considered another option: a solution involving a collaborative robot or “cobot”, a robot that enables safe collaboration between humans and robots and thus direct contact between the robot and the operator. . It is perfectly safe for people to get close to the manipulator, so there is no need for a security zone or enclosure with security fences.

As an added bonus, the small system created is very flexible to use: its lightweight construction allows it to be easily moved to other parts of the factory if required.

The system is built very simply: the robot cell consists only of the robot arm (mounted on a base) with the corresponding gripper, the controller and the handling device. The boxes to be palletized arrive at the existing input belt and activate the robot through a light barrier. The robot then transfers the carton onto a pallet, placing it in exactly the right position.

The cell seems simple at first glance, but its most outstanding technical feature is that it is a palletizing cobot from Yaskawa's Motoman HC (Human Collaborative) series of robots. Although it is a full-fledged industrial robot, it is also capable of safe, reduced speed operation.

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