Project Background

Demand for Line Automation

With growing market orders, the speed of manual operations had reached its limit, making it difficult to further increase capacity. This created significant delivery pressure, especially during peak seasons.

Cost Pressure Driver:

Repetitive positions were hard to fill, and continuously rising labor costs were squeezing profit margins.

Hygiene and Standardization Requirements:

Manual operations struggled to achieve absolute standardization, and direct human contact with products remained a potential food safety risk.

Pain Points Analysis

Quality & Hygiene Risks

Inconsistent manual handling force caused fingerprints, deformation, or damage to cakes, leading to a defect rate of approximately 3%-5%. Furthermore, direct human contact posed a contamination risk.

Efficiency & Cost Pressure

Manual operation achieved a cycle rate of only ~50 units/min and was prone to fatigue, hindering capacity increase. This was compounded by the dual pressures of labor shortages and rising wage costs.

Solution Performance Metrics

Utilizing soft grippers with precise air-pressure-controlled clamping force, the solution features 0.1N-level precise force control and strong self- adaptive capabilities. It achieves damage-free grasping of single-layer cakes while ensuring stable handling of stacked cake piles. A single set of grippers can adapt to various product sizes and shapes.