Robot picking operations depend on perception, grasping, and integrated systems. Soft Robotics Inc. is displaying its mGripAI system in multiple booths at the PACK EXPO International Exposition in Chicago this week. mGripAI is designed to enable the automation of production processes in the food and consumer packaged goods industries.
“We're excited to show the flexibility of mGripAI to handle products with our soft grasping technology as well as suction,” said Paul Kling, vice president of global sales and marketing at Soft Robotics. “This opens the door to handle a wider variety of products and applications using the same robotic machine platform.”
Bedford, Mass.-based Soft Robotics designs and builds automated high-speed picking systems using proprietary soft robotic grippers, 3D machine vision, and artificial intelligence. The company's backers include leading venture capital firms and strategic investors including ABB Technology Ventures, FANUC, Honeywell Ventures, and Yamaha Motor Co.
mGripAI built for ease of integration
mGripAI combines 3D perception, soft grasping, and AI to enable high-speed picking, sortation, singulation, and packaging of items from bulk presentations to bins, boxes, totes, or conveyance. Soft Robotics said it is easy to integrate.
By allowing systems integrators and OEM machine builders to to automate complex processes, mGripAI helps free end users from their primary challenge—a scarce and expensive labor force, said the company.
Soft Robotics partners with other PACK EXPO exhibitors
At PACK EXPO from Oct. 23 to 26, Soft Robotics is demonstrating picking, sorting by variety, and pack out of donuts at rates of up to 70 picks per minute in Booth 5230 in the North Hall of the McCormick Center.
Schmalz will also display mGripAI in Booth 319 in the South Hall. It will show bin picking of consumer goods, alternating between suction and soft robotic effectors using an automatic tool changer.
“Collaborating with automation partners—showcasing both their values in conjunction with our own Schmalz automation products— offers the most complete view into the valuable impact we're both making toward packaging technologies,” said Mark Westphal, manager of U.S. marketing at Schmalz. “We're glad to have joined efforts with Soft Robotics.”
Soft Robotics' mGrip flagship soft gripper will also be featured in the PACK EXPO booths of partners FANUC, Ossid (a ProMach brand), Premiere Tech, and SMC.