Highlights at pester pac automation (Hall 15, Booth B32) included two new robots. Pester, known for its pharmaceutical end-of-line packaging expertise, is creating a new range of applications in cosmetic and food packaging for which these robots are equally well suited.

The two-axis, 300 bottle per minute, pick-and-place pac robot 3 with 30 kg payload capacity was demonstrated in a PEWO-pack 450 Compact film wrapper, picking up and turning 6 packs of cosmetic bottles for presentation to the wrapper.

A pac robot 4 with three conventional servo axes and a linear motor was applied downstream of a thermoforming machine, typical of medical products or fresh food packaging applications. The robot has a cycle rate of up to 100 cpm and payload of 800 grams.

Both robots are controlled by a single ELAU PacDrive C400 automation controller. In the case of the pac robot 3, it’s the same controller that runs the wrapper. There is no “black box” robot controller hardware with proprietary software – instead, control is performed by an IEC 61131-3 conforming Function Block from ELAU’s robotic software library.

www.pester.com