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Cobots Automate Assembly & Bagging of PopSockets

Promotional products company automates the placement of this popular smartphone accessory on a backer card and bagging of the product at 24/min with two dual-arm collaborative robots.

HOD bagging system
The new packaging system includes two dual-arm cobots that pick PopGrips from trays, insert them onto backer cards, and drop the cards into bags presented by an automated bagger.

A smartphone is without a doubt the most frequently handled device in the world. It’s also probably one of the most fumbled as well. The PopSocket, a circular handle that sticks to the underside of a phone and has a stem that expands like an accordion, was born out of the need to get a better grip on a smartphone without compromising its portability.

With the introduction of the convenience-adding accessory, savvy marketers saw the value of the one-and-a-half-inch-diameter circular knob as prime real estate for building brand awareness—a mini mobile billboard inexpensive enough to give away at trade shows, events, or through other channels. Such is the dynamic that made branded PopGrips the hottest product for iClick, a Seattle-based purveyor of promotional products.

As iClick increased production to meet the growing demand for its PopGrips, final assembly and packaging of the product became especially stressed. This is where, once a PopGrip is adorned with the logo of a sponsoring company, the finished piece is attached to a custom-printed backer card, typically containing operational instructions and promotional content, and then placed into a film bag. 

“Originally the PopGrips were manually inserted onto the cards at one station and then transferred to another station to be placed in an automated bagging machine,” says Steve White, iClick’s Executive Vice President of Production. “It was a labor-intensive process, and even with a crew of four or more people, we couldn’t keep up with the demand. Plus, it was a dull and repetitive duty; finding people to do it for any length of time was difficult.”   

Driven by the need to maximize the capacity of the bagging machine while moving employees to higher-skilled jobs, White and his team began looking for potential automation solutions. A series of Google searches provided additional inspiration, and after culling through a myriad of options, iClick decided that an ABB dual-arm collaborative robot, the model IRB 14000 YuMi®, was worth investigating.

Read related articles from Packaging World:

“Are Autonomous Mobile Robots at the Tipping Point?”

“Top Five Functional Machine Improvements for Sustainable Packaging Operations”

“Industrial Robot Growth”

“Food Manufacturers Top Two Improvement Priorities”

“In the Trenches with Collaborative Robots”

ABB referred iClick to House of Design (HOD), an ABB Value Provider (i.e., systems integrator) known for developing innovative robotic systems for unusual applications. HOD confirmed early in the discovery process that the dual-arm YuMi collaborative robot was ideally suited for the job, designing a station featuring two dual-arm robots working in sync to card the PopGrips and then place the cards with PopGrips into bags presented by an Automated Packaging Systems bagging system, the Autobag® 500™ bagging system.

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