Palletizing solution automates double pallet stacking for four SKUs simultaneously

At PACK EXPO 2021in Las Vegas, MHS, a single-source provider of material handling automation and software, demonstrates a robotic palletizing solution developed in collaboration with Mujin, a specialist in advanced motion planning for industrial robot arms. The palletizer, engineered for a U.S.-based packaging producer, is showcased at the Mujin booth #SU7233 in the South Upper Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The palletizing robot can handle four different SKUs of the same case size simultaneously, picking cases individually from the source conveyor and stacking them onto one of four pallet destinations at a rate of 120 cases per hour with more than 99.95% accuracy. The system is capable of double pallet stacking, in which after finishing one pallet, it locates, picks, and places a slip sheet and empty pallet over the completed pallet. Once the second pallet stack is full, an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) moves it to the shrink-wrap section.

The solution leverages the combined strengths of Mujin and MHS for everything from solution development to implementation, including robotic end-of-arm tooling, vision, controls, assembly, installation, integration, and validation. MHS also supplied the source conveyor and AMR, as well as MHS Helix, a modular warehouse execution system (WES), which integrates the automated components with the customer’s business-level systems to work together as a smart system.

Dean Terrell

“Intense labor challenges and customer expectations are testing manufacturers and distributors to re-think manual processes and capitalize on the potential of automation to unlock greater reliability and efficiency,” says Dean Terrell, senior vice president, research and development, MHS. “With this project, MHS Robotics partnered with Mujin to do what we always do – meet real-world challenges with advanced automated solutions that our customers can be confident in.”

A previous collaboration between MHS and Mujin produced a multi-pick robotic end-effector for an e-commerce order fulfillment project that won a 2021 RBR50 Innovation Awardfrom Robotics Business Review. Unlike end effectors that handle a single item at a time, the multi-pick end effector can pick up and hold as many as 36 items simultaneously and pack four orders at a time into four separate shipping boxes.

MHS Robotics develops advanced technologies in-house and engages with a range of innovative suppliers like Mujin to provide robotic solutions designed to fit seamlessly into existing workflows. The group also engages with academic organizations, including the Louisville Automation and Robotics Research Institute to develop technologies for real-world logistics applications.