Würth has been testing Festo's tailor-made AI software solution at the Reinhold Würth Innovation Center Curio. Festo's "GripperAI" can use a robot to handle heavy parts. This takes the strain off employees when packing.
At the headquarters of the Würth Group in Künzelsau, there are final packaging stations in the logistics center where a wide variety of products arrive in trays on sorter conveyors. Employees remove the objects from the trays and pack them in shipping cartons. Würth has around 1,000,000 products in its portfolio – from small and light products to very heavy parts. Working with heavy parts puts an enormous amount of strain on employees. The "GripperAI" software from Festo is therefore designed to use a robot to handle parts weighing up to 20 kilograms. Festo's impressive AI expertise led to it being selected by Würth for this innovation project, the development of a customized and flexible solution.
Customized software solution developed
The Advanced Development Analytics and Control department from Festo's Research and Development division has been working on the project for over two years: "We built a copy of Würth's sorter conveyors in our laboratory, which allowed us to develop the robot's various capabilities: object-dependent gripper selection, gripping any objects from the trays, packing shipping cartons and handling the cartons and trays," explains Jan Seyler, Head of Advanced Development Analytics and Control.
As a special feature, the robot cell is equipped with a tool station. The robot can use a variety of suction cups and grippers. The GripperAI determines which tool is most suitable depending on the type of object, shape and surface finish. An integrated camera in the robot recognizes the various objects, enabling precise selection. The Festo GripperAI solution can grip virtually anything you put in front of it – and whatever grippers and robots are designed for. The grippers specially developed for this project are setting new standards in robot technology. The suction cups come from the Festo portfolio.
The customized AI robot solution is enabling Würth to handle heavy parts and a variety of objects efficiently, thereby leading to a significant reduction in employee workload and an increase in operation efficiency. Another advantage of the Festo solution is that no teaching or training is required. It also works with every robot and vision system.
The robot cell has been in use at Würth since spring 2023 and can operate all the planned lines. Further development work and optimization steps have already been defined.