A robot plays packaging tetris
Group logistics in Pfullendorf (DE)
A new robot at Geberit Group Logistics in Pfullendorf (DE) can pack smaller items neatly into containers – as if it were a game of Tetris.
The classic video game Tetris is taken straight from life. What's the best way to load the boot before a big holiday? How do you place the food on the conveyor belt in front of the checkout to save space? Or how do you optimally fill a box with different Geberit products? Tetris skills help.
Filling packaging with products is called order picking in logistics. Employees in Group Logistics in Pfullendorf (DE) receive containers with loose products. They have to pack these into a shipping carton for the customer according to the order.
An intelligent robot
A robot is now also helping with this work. It can lift cardboard boxes weighing up to 4.5kg and bags weighing up to 800g. Using a camera, it scans the dimensions of the packaging of individual items and those of the target container – either a cardboard box or a plastic crate. And it immediately calculates the ideal position for the products. Using suction cups, he grabs one item at a time and places it down. “This is the first picking robot in Group logistics – and probably the most intelligent robot ever at Geberit,“ says Manuel Renz, Logistics Project Manager.
