FANUC Showcases Automated Warehouse Solutions at Promat 2023

Rochester Hills, MI – (March 13, 2023) – FANUC America, the global automation leader, will demonstrate its latest robots, cobots and industrial automation designed for warehousing and logistics at Promat, March 20-23 in Chicago, booth #N7520.    

“FANUC’s demonstrations will offer attendees creative ideas that incorporate automation and robotics to solve today’s challenges to increase efficiencies and help offset the labor shortage,” said Anthony Cantrell, Executive Director for Warehouse & Logistics at FANUC America. “Key benefits to automation include improved order accuracy, higher warehouse productivity, lower operational costs and less ergonomic issues.”

CRX Cobot Demonstrations

FANUC’s expanded series of CRX collaborative robots are extremely robust and can run for eight years without maintenance. Easy-to-use interactive programming enables users to teach points using hand guidance or a Tablet TP with drag and drop icons.  

The latest CRX cobots complement FANUC’s existing lines of CR and CRX cobots that now total 11 model variations able to handle products from 4 to 35kg. 

Order Fulfillment, Bin Transfer and Shelving – Visitors using a Tablet TP will select from a variety of consumer items to pick orders. One of two CRX-10iA cobots with an iRVision® 3DV/200 vision sensor mounted on its arm scans QR codes on a shelf and on the items to confirm that correct products are picked and transferred to a bin on a table. 

Next a CRX-20iA/L cobot also uses an iRVision 3DV/200 vision sensor to locate a full bin and place it on a LOCUS autonomous mobile robot (AMR). The cobot then finds an empty bin on the AMR and places it on the table. 

The AMR moves from the order fulfillment area to the shelving side where the CRX-20iA/L picks an empty bin and places it on the AMR, and places the full bin on a table. 

Finally, a second CRX-10iA with a fixed iRVision 3DV/600 vision sensor locates and picks products from the full bin, scans each according to its RFID tag and places it back on the correct shelf. 

The CRX-20iA/L can pick consumer items of varying sizes and shapes that weigh up to 20kg. The demonstration highlights its wide motion range and ability to handle small or large bins, relieving workers from physically demanding and repetitive jobs. 

“Using cobots and AMRs for order fulfillment helps customers increase productivity, reduce operating costs and improve scalability,” added Cantrell.

Palletizing - A CRX-25iA robot, offering a 25kg payload and 1,889mm reach will demonstrate case palletizing. Guided by a 3DV/200 iRVision sensor mounted to the arm, the CRX-25iA will palletize boxes to nearly 7’ high.  In addition, the CRX-25iA will be mounted to a mobile cart to showcase its flexibility.  The robot can be easily repositioned by hand and uses vision to automatically adjust to its new location and continue working accurately.

Packing - A CRX-10iA will demonstrate packing health and beauty products. Attendees can try the cobot’s intuitive hand guidance and easy-to-use Tablet TP programming.   

High-Speed, Vision-Guided Induction/Singulation

A FANUC M-10iD/12 robot equipped with an iRVision 3DV/1600 sensor identifies and picks random packages coming down a chute onto a conveyor and places each item onto an outbound conveyor. Double picks are identified by an iRVision 3DV/600 sensor, and the robot returns duplicate packages to the pick conveyor.  Once a single package is on the outbound conveyor it is recirculated and the cycle repeats. This cell demonstrates how automation can effectively induct and singulate products for downstream sortation.

FANUC LR-10iA/10 Robot: Vision-Guided Each Picking

A FANUC LR-10iA/10 robot guided by several 3DV/400 vision sensors mounted over the workcell will pick various combinations of products from four separate totes to demonstrate order fulfillment.  When the order tote is completed, it moves to the opposite side of the cell, where an LR Mate 200iD robot picks and places each item back onto the conveyor, sorting them by color to refill the pick totes.  

FANUC M-410iC/110 Palletizing/Depalletizing  

The M-410iC/110 robot equipped with FANUC’s PalletTool Turbo software will pick cases from two conveyors and palletize a mixed layer unit load, and then use HandlingTool for depalletizing the product from the pallet back to the two conveyors. The unit loads were created with FANUC’s PalletPRO simulation software and then downloaded directly to the robot via ethernet. 

“Our software products simplify the setup of palletizing and depalletizing mixed layer systems,” said Cantrell. “PalletPRO simulation software can be used to completely build, debug and test a palletizing application offline. PalletTool Turbo handles both the robot motion and stack pattern generation.”

FANUC’s Latest Industrial Automation Solutions

• Industrial PCs for All Needs: FANUC offers industrial PCs providing a powerful platform for custom developments in a wide variety of applications. Available in several different sizes and options, FANUC’s industrial PCs are fast, secure and easy to use.
• The FANUC Digital Servo Adapter-Model B is a motion control device that enables the integration of a FANUC servo system with an existing, third-party control.

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About FANUC America Corporation

FANUC America Corporation is a subsidiary of FANUC CORPORATION in Japan and provides industry-leading CNC systems, robotics, and ROBOMACHINEs. FANUC’s innovative technologies help manufacturers maximize productivity, reliability, and profitability. Headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan, FANUC America has facilities throughout North and South America. Learn more at www.fanucamerica.com or explore collaborative robots at crx.fanucamerica.com.

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