achievements
This high-performance robotic cell is designed for the automatic loading and unloading of single-dose pharmaceutical units into thermoformed trays.
Positioned at the end of the filling line or at the beginning of the packaging line, it ensures smooth and continuous product flow and feeding after the filling stage or before the boxing or bundling stages.
By combining machine vision, Delta robots, and 6-axis articulated arms, this solution delivers a throughput of up to 216 doses per minute while meeting the pharmaceutical industry’s most stringent cleanliness standards.
Automation of loading and unloading: Transition from time-consuming manual feeding to fully autonomous robotic distribution.
Continuous operation: Ensures uninterrupted production of the filling machine and a steady flow to downstream machines.
Multi-format flexibility: Ability to process different single-dose formats (packs of 5 or 10) and different tray heights on a single system.
Physical Strain and Musculoskeletal Disorders: Eliminates repetitive movements involved in handling trays and unloading products by operators.
Supply disruptions: Avoid production line stoppages with a buffer stock of one pallet of trays.
Product integrity: The gripper is equipped with non-slip pads and digital pressure control to hold the single-dose units without marking or damaging them.
Loading: The operator loads a pallet of empty or full thermoformed trays (depending on use) into a loading bay secured by sliding doors.
Vision-Based Tracking: A 6-axis robot, guided by a Cognex Insight camera, precisely locates the trays on the pallet.
Tray transfer: The robot unstacks the trays one by one and places them on a transfer conveyor.
Robotic Loading or Unloading: A Delta robot picks up rows of single-dose units and places them precisely onto the two output conveyors leading to the production line, or vice versa.
Inspection and Flip: A 180° flip station ensures that no doses are left stuck in the tray before filling or discharge.
Unloading: A second robot picks up the empty or full trays and stacks them on an output pallet.
Output: Up to 216 doses per minute (for packs of 5).
Footprint (dimensions): 3 meters long, 2.7 meters wide, and 2.5 meters high.
Types of products processed (forms): Pharmaceutical single-dose packs (PE/PP) in strips of 5 or 10 doses.
Storage capacity: 2 pallets of full or empty trays
Compliance / Standards: Safety through light curtains and safety glass doors (Directive 2006/42/EC).
Pharmaceutical sector (sterile solutions, single-dose ophthalmic/ENT products) and Cosmetics.
Yes, the design includes an operator access area that allows products or samples to be loaded manually when necessary or for quality testing.
The cell includes a 180° flipping module located at the end of the conveyor. Each tray is physically flipped to ensure that it is completely empty before being picked up by the palletizing robot.
Absolutely not. The operator loads the pallets during downtime. While you are replacing a pallet, the robots use the buffer of trays already in the machine to maintain the production rate.
Contact UNISTA for a customized assessment.
