Resumen
The Conveyor System market and, in particular, robot segment for the automated material handling
are experiencing double-digit growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR). EU manufacturers in
this sector plays an important role, covering 23% of the market but this technological edge is
being challenged due to the astonishing growth of China, Japan and Korea. In real world, many
objects to be handled, including food, clothes, bottles, or plastic items, are soft or deformable
and robots are not yet efficient and effective in handling these objects. In this context,
AGILEHAND aims at developing advanced technologies for grading, handling and packaging autonomously
soft and deformable products, as a strategic instrument to improve flexibility, agility and
reconfigurability of production and logistic systems of the European manufacturing companies.
AGILEHAND will deploy 3 integrated Suites: 1) SMART SENSING SUITE, self-calibrating sensing
solutions to grade the quality (both interior and exterior) of delicate objects and to produce a
mesh of integrated and overlapping sensors that will improve production-line traceability, agility
and reconfigurability; 2) SELF-ADAPTIVE HANDLING, SORTING AND PACKAGING SUITE, robotic manipulation
systems that reacts to product quality and that can Pick-Up and Re-Orientated Different Soft and
Deformable Products without causing product damage considering collaborative (human-in-the- middle)
approaches; 3) AGILE, FLEXIBLE AND RAPID RECONFIGURABLE SUITE, a set of AI based solutions that
will allow for monitoring, adaptive control and synchronisation of production and logistics flows
in a factory, even when faced with a variability of products, production mix or fresh market,
guaranteeing high performance in customer response time, and an efficient use of resources. tions
will be demonstrated in 4 industrial pilots that differ in characteristics of the surface,
deformability, and
consistency of the products to be handle.
