Automating Frozen Food Packaging with Fanuc Robotics

Robots that were once only used in the automobile and other similar industries have made a switch over the last decade or so, moving into areas like the food and beverage industry. One company, Fanuc, has an entire line of packaging robots fit for packaging food.

Food manufacturers are constantly in search of new ways to automate their food packaging system using robotics. These companies tend to use robots like the Fanuc spider packaging robot, a parallel-link robot that has four axes.

Some of the systems used to package these foods, especially frozen foods, are treated with special coatings to help them weather the elements they work in, so that the Fanuc robotic packagers are not damaged by the cold. Fanuc packaging robots like those in the M series often work in pairs in robotic workcells to package food on production lines.

Robotic Fanuc packagers use the PickTool software to locate bags of frozen fruit and vegetables on conveyors, the website stated. These packaging robots can then pick up the frozen foods and place their bags into a case, packaging them for transport. When these Fanuc packaging robotic systems work in pairs, one robot will usually pick up every other bag, leaving the bags that go by for the second robot to package, keeping an exact count so every case gets the same amount.

By using robotic packagers from Fanuc, manufacturers in the food industry can cut down on worker error when packaging their products, which will them boost their reputation among their customers.

RobotWorx has several Fanuc packaging robots available for purchase and customization. Customers can either purchase a single robotic system for packaging, or they can purchase one or multiple robots to be laid out in a workcell.