"It is important to us to reduce
the barriers to entry"
Whether driven by the general labour shortage or the desire for reproducible and hygienic processes:
Automation in the form of robotics is becoming more and more prevalent in the packaging sector. In an exclusive interview, the editorial team spoke with Daniel Navarro about the most important trends.
interpack NEWS: Automation by means of robotics will continue to increase rapidly in packaging in the coming years. How do you think demand will be divided between classic applications such as fixed pick & place robots and mobile cobots?
Daniel Navarro: We observe that global developments - such as labour shortages, customer demand for more personalisation or increasing sustainability requirements – are accelerating robotic automation. In addition to productivity and quality, flexibility and simplicity are crucial today. What matters here is a clever combination: With industrial robots as well as with flexible collaborative and autonomous mobile robots (AMR), companies exploit the full automation potential.
ABB is the only company that offers a complete portfolio of machine automation, robotics and mobile autonomous robot solutions. Thanks in part to the acquisition of B&R in 2017, we deliver the full range of integrated hardware and software solutions for control, drives, robotics, sensors, analytics and electrification. In short: we are the one-stop-shop provider for solutions in the areas of packaging, processing and palletising. Which type of robot is used in packaging processes depends individually on, for example, the space available, the actual task and the degree of cooperation with employees. With flexible robotic solutions, adjustments to packaging processes can be implemented quickly. This allows companies to react to shorter product life cycles, constantly evolving packaging designs and many product variations, for example. This applies to picking, actual packaging as well as pelleting of packaged products. New technologies and software innovations are also helping to ensure that robots can be quickly integrated into processes and easily programmed. One example is our Robotic Depalletiser: the solution is quickly ready for use and combines industrial robots, image processing and software into a powerful overall package to handle complex depalletising tasks. Thanks to the fully integrated software and image processing technology, the depalletising robot can process a wide range of pallet sizes, cartons or palletising patterns. This creates relief for employees and a plus in competitiveness for companies.
When deciding on an investment, it is important to consider not only the purchase price but also important factors such as simple programming for quick commissioning, the flexibility of the robot or innovative service and support offers from the manufacturer.
interpack NEWS: Companies not only lack skilled workers on the line, but also those who can program a robot in a complex manner. What role do intuitive teaching functions and AI play in the development of new robotics solutions at ABB?
Navarro: In order to promote automation even in companies that have hardly automated at all, simple programming for quick commissioning and operation is crucial for a high level of acceptance among employees. ABB robots can be programmed without any special programming know-how, for example with Wizard Easy Programming, which is based on simple graphic blocks that represent actions. In this way, it is possible to quickly and intuitively create a series of simple processes that the robot executes. With Lead Through Programming, the human guides the robot arm, such as the Yumi or Swifti cobots, intuitively to the desired positions and saves them via a graphical user interface. Due to increasingly complex automation, it is becoming more and more important to provide such intuitive tools.
It is important to us to reduce the barriers to entry for robotics. Conventional robots, for example, require elaborately installed cells with protective fences, light barriers or the like. With safety-certified software, such as Safemove from ABB, any robot can be integrated into a collaborative application. Employees can thus interact directly with industrial robots without the need for further protective measures.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is constantly developing in robotics. It already makes it possible today to transform collected data into useful information, so that in the long term robots will be autonomous, self-learning or self-optimising. It's not about copying human abilities. We want to enable robots to work in unstructured environments. For this, it is important that they recognise certain patterns and are able to correct their mistakes on their own. AI will contribute overall to making packaging processes more efficient, reliable and productive – everyone benefits from this. Thanks to machine vision and artificial intelligence (Vision AI), robots pick objects of different shapes and sizes independently and without prior detailed programming. In addition, self-learning robots are becoming increasingly established. These technologies are used in our AMR. ABB uses the innovative and AI-based VSLAM technology for its AMR. It enables navigation in complex and dynamic environments. They are coordinated and guided by intelligent software to achieve greater flexibility, speed and efficiency. The AI-based technology allows ABB's AMR to act as autonomously as the arms of ABB robots, while helping to make work more productive and safer for humans.
interpack NEWS: At least some robots will be available in a double pack in future: the classic physical variant and its digital twin. What advantages does this open up for the user?
Navarro: With the help of a complete digital replica – a digital twin – users can create and simulate complete plants and systems in a virtual 3D environment and test the interaction of robot control and PLC even before the plant is built. We make this possible with our simulation and programming software Robotstudio as well as with Pickmaster Twin – our software for camera-based picking and packaging applications. This enables companies to programme their robots in a collaborative way, reduce the time and cost of physical testing and commissioning, and avoid malfunctions. System integrators and engineering teams even collaborate in real time in our new Robotstudio Cloud - across teams on any device and from anywhere in the world. ABB's Robotstudio AR Viewer is particularly recommended for robotics beginners.
Thanks to visualisation on the smartphone or tablet, it shows quickly and easily how robots can be integrated into existing processes and plants.
You will find ABB in Hall 6, Booth B74
