Last week, IBIE took over the Las Vegas Convention Center once again, filling the halls with what’s new and exciting in the bakery industry. Since we recently published an in-depth look at the growing role of robotics in the food industry, we were particularly excited to see how this technology is being used in new bakery equipment.
Robots were everywhere on the show floor. As I walked up and down the aisles, I saw many robotic systems, especially in packaging applications.
Here are four of the newest and hottest robot applications on display at IBIE. All of them were featured in this year’s Innovation Showcase.
Baker-Bot — Apex Motion Control
Baker-Bot is a “robotic bakery assistant” that can do a wide variety of everyday bakery tasks, including pan handling, loading and unloading racks, pick and place, and even cake decoration.
It’s small, flexible for performing different tasks, and can be set up using a mobile app. It’s also a cobot, meaning it can work alongside human employees without needing a safety cage.
Watch the Baker-Bot in action:
Find more info and more videos on the Apex Motion Control website.
Spider 300V — BluePrint Automation
The Spider 300V case loading system made its official debut last year at PACK EXPO. This two-robot system uses vision technology to pack both vertical and horizontal on the same line at the same time.
Watch Martin Prakken, BluePrint Automation’s owner and CEO, talk about the technology:
Learn more on the BluePrint Automation website.
Food assembly robotics — Grote Company
Grote Company develops robotic solutions for food assembly lines, like sandwich lines. The automation solutions are flexible for a variety of processes and applications, and provide accuracy and consistency for high-volume, repetitive tasks.
Learn more about sandwich assembly robotics on the Grote website.
Lightline Flowpacker – Schubert North America
Schubert’s Lightline Flowpacker combines the company’s Pickerline and Flowmodul into a single system for packing heat-sensitive products like chocolate bars into flow-wrap bags. The system uses robotic technology from Crailsheim to provide customized solutions that are appropriate even for fragile products.
Learn more on the Schubert website.
