Robots at Interpack: Cars to nuts, and purpose-built too!

What was the most significant trend at Interpack 2008? Many would agree that it was the ubiquitousness of robotics. The halls of the Duesseldorf messe contained hundreds of robotic arms. The smallest item I saw handled by a robot was a single almond and the largest was an entire automobile. But the big news is the number of purpose-built arms that have been implemented by the European packaging machine industry.

We have become somewhat accustomed to seeing packaging lines with robots from the recognized general purpose robotics companies: ABB, Fanuc, Kuka, Adept ; or the specialized packaging robotic companies, most notably Schubert or SIG. Heretofore most robotic packaging applications have been built using one of these two sources of robotic functionality. What was different at this Interpack is that an equal if not greater number of applications were implemented using what I call "purpose-built" robotic arms: customized robotic arms built by a packaging machine builder or by a third party to fullfill a specific and well defined purpose within a machine. These purpose-built arms, while occasionally brought to life with proprietary software written by the builder, are most often driven by the kinematic function block libraries supplied by controls suppliers such as Bosch Rexroth, Elau, Rockwell Automation, B&R, Beckhoff and others.

Since these robots are built to perform one particular function or a limited array of functions, they needn't be as mechanically elegant as the general-purpose robots that they replace. Machine builders have designed and built custom, non-programmable mechanical modules for decades. Continuing to apply that know-how and supplementing it with the specialized robotic software that is being tested and produced in mass by the controls companies, is probably a good solution that will enable packaging machinery builders to add value for their customers while reducing cost and design time. I'm anxious to see how this trend plays out.

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