Robotic Tray Handling Automation
Insulet - Summer 2016
Insulet is a company that makes a self-contained, stick-on insulin pump called the OmniPod. Currently, production of the OmniPod is primarily in China - the company wants to bring manufacturing to Billerica, MA, and automate the assembly process.
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My job this summer was to design the tray handling islands of automation. Trays of parts would be brought to the island (depicted to the left), the trays would be unloaded from the carts, and parts would be unloaded from the trays.
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The initial design proposed to me involved moving entire stacks of trays on a conveyor, unstacking them with the robotic arm, moving them along another conveyor to get them in place for the part arm, and then reloading and moving stacks to the outfeed.
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My modified design eliminated the conveyor belts,
kept the stacks stationary (and more stable), and saved Insulet $1.5 million on this project's budget. Because my design used the carts that carry the trays as the infeed, outfeed, and storage, there will be fewer costs in repairs and setup, as well.
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Over the course of the summer, I became proficient in RobotStudio (ABB's proprietary robot control software), tested various robot arms for size feasibility, designed and performed FEA on the frame, and presented my results to the managers for approval.