
Basic data
- INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES/ CONSUMER GOODS/ GARMENTS
European Commission - H2020
Advanced robotic technology for soft material handling in manufacturing industries
European Commission - H2020
Today, most strategic industries handle flexible and deformable products, such as footwear, toys, clothing or tires. The need for automation of these tasks is a technological challenge yet to be met, since, due to the number of different materials used and the variety of products, there is no robust robotic solution applicable to the industry. Many operations with deformable products are currently performed manually by operators (e.g. removal of injected flooring from its mold).
This task, among others, has the disadvantage of causing short and long term injuries to operators due to the constant repetition of movements and the force required to perform it. The SOFTMANBOT robotic system will assist the human in performing these tasks. To this end, four pilot demonstrators will be carried out involving four key manufacturing sectors: footwear, toys, textiles and tires.
The overall objective of the project is to develop and demonstrate an innovative and universal approach to robotic handling of flexible and deformable materials using advanced manufacturing technologies for the automation of robust and flexible handling of soft products.
Francias Aran Ais
R&D&I Coordinator
INESCOP