SSI Schäfer is targeting users who want to elevate their hanging conveyor technology to a higher level of automation to make warehouse processes more flexible and quickly adapt them to changing market requirements with an extension of the robotic solution "SSI Piece Picking": With the modified version of the flexible robotic solution, the bags in the hanging conveyor system "SSI Carrier" can now also be loaded automatically, as the company reported in July.
In a load carrier, for example, a container or carton, the items reach the SSI Piece Picking cell via
conveyor technology. Thanks to the gripper technology, the portal robot is able to pick items of various shapes and sizes quickly and gently, it says. The robot takes an item out of the load carrier – or from a subdivision within the container – and places it on a short conveyor belt within the robot cell. This belt transports the item to the transfer point, where it is placed in the open bag of the SSI Carrier pocket sorter. The filled bag is fed back into the pocket sorter system and transported
to its destination.
Portal Robot as the Heart of the Solution
The compact design of the robot cell and the loading station, which also includes the feed to the automatic transfer point, positively impacts space utilization, according to the company. The concept of automatic loading, SSI Schäfer states, comes entirely from in-house development and production.
The robotic solution SSI Piece Picking is at the heart of the automatic loading. It fully automatically commissions on a single-item basis and guarantees error-free product verification, according to the company. This is made possible, according to
the provider, by AI-based object recognition combined with the integrated weighing function. This is supported by the associated software from the "WAMAS" portfolio. The software module is operated as a fully integrated component of a WAMAS installation. Thanks to the quick integration of the robotic solution into a system (Plug and Play), the commissioning time is shortened, says SSI Schäfer. Regardless of the industry, the robot application can be used for a wide range of goods assortments. With the help of machine learning, the SSI Piece Picking solution gains experience in use.
