Case studies

Nordic Recycling is a leader in innovative recycling solutions, handling large volumes of waste material with focus on efficiency and sustainability. Challenge In the recycling process, waste arrives in sealed bags on a conveyor. Traditionally, operators had to manually locate, cut, and open these bags so their contents could be sorted and processed. This was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and inconsistent, creating bottlenecks in the recycling flow and limiting the overall efficiency of the plant.

Battery Sorting

in pick and place

IVAR is a leading waste management company in Norway, specializing in waste sorting and recycling. Challenge Sorting and removing batteries from mixed waste on a conveyor belt is a critical but difficult task. Batteries pose both fire and environmental hazards if they remain in the waste stream, but manual sorting is highly labor-intensive, repetitive, and prone to error. Human operators must stay alert for long periods to identify small batteries of different shapes, colors, and sizes mixed among a large volume of waste, increasing the risk of missed items.

Carrots

in quality control

Challenge The process of manually measuring, counting, and packing carrots is a labor-intensive and time-consuming task for personnel. It involves the workers manually handling the carrots, measuring and counting them, and then packing them into the appropriate packaging based on weight and quantity requirements. This process is often repetitive and monotonous, which can lead to a decrease in productivity and quality control. Additionally, human error can occur during this process, resulting in inaccurate measurements or incorrect packaging, which can impact the overall quality of the product.

Dairy

in pallet inspection

Challenge Overhang issues with products that are packed and wrapped on a pallet refer to the situation when the products extend beyond the edges of the pallet after they are packed and wrapped. This can lead to stability issues during transportation and storage, as the overhanging products may shift, slide or fall off the pallet, causing damage to the products or the pallet itself. Overhang issues can be caused by incorrect positioning or stacking of the products on the pallet, inadequate wrapping or strapping, or uneven weight distribution.

MOWI

in pallet inspection, quality control

MOWI ASA is a Norwegian seafood company that is involved in the production, processing, and sale of salmon and other seafood products. The company operates in over 25 countries and is one of the largest producers of farmed salmon in the world. Challenge The customer faced challenges in packaging fish into boxes of varying sizes and palatalizing them, where automated processes sometimes resulted in errors. They required a solution to automatically detect common faults such as overhanging boxes, broken boxes, and to count the number of boxes on the pallet.

Nickel

in quality control, pick and place

A leading producer and marketer of nickel, as well as a recycler of nickel-containing materials such as batteries. Challenge The customer is currently using a manual process to inspect and sort nickel pieces on a conveyor belt. Personnel is responsible for identifying and removing any pieces that do not meet the required shape or dimensions, as well as any contaminated pieces and unknown objects. This process is potentially error-prone and may lead to inconsistencies in sorting, especially when dealing with large volumes of nickel pieces or unknown objects.

Piccolo Tomatoes

in Advanced

For one of the largest vegetable production companies in Norway. The company produces open field and greenhouse grown vegetables. The main crops cultivated in the greenhouses are tomatoes (many different varieties), cucumbers and sweet snack peppers and chili pepper. Challange Currently, there is no available solution in the market that can effectively inspect piccolo tomatoes for various attributes such as ripeness, cracks, weight measurement, pruning, and packaging. These tasks are considered too challenging for machines, and therefore, the customer relies on human labor for these operations.

Robutcher

in Advanced

Viewer discretion is advised! The RoBUTCHER concept enables an autonomous meat factory cell. The main emphasis of the project is research into AI and cognitive systems, which will provide the necessary understanding for the cell to interact with the carcass through physical tasks like cutting, grasping and lifting. Research Work - Meat Factory Cell RoBUTCHER is a project funded by the European Union that aims to replace conventional line production in abattoirs with parallel production in autonomous “meat factory cells” containing robots that can lift, hold, cut, and debone carcasses.

Sausages

in pick and place

Challenge The customer was using a competitor’s vision system with 6 FlexPicker robots on 3 conveyors to pick sausages, but the system was not meeting their satisfaction. There were problems with accuracy, speed, and rotation of picks, and sausages were sometimes being destroyed. The system also struggled when there were many sausages on the conveyor belt. Solution We replaced the cameras with Nano 2020 cameras and trained an AI model to detect and identify different types of sausages.

Waste Management

in pick and place, human assisted vision

A waste management company located in Norway. The company’s main focus is to provide efficient and sustainable waste management services to municipalities in the region of Sør-Hedmark. Challange Sorting waste is a crucial aspect of waste management, especially in waste loading areas where bags containing various types of waste need to be sorted out from other types of waste. Workers usually perform this task manually, relying on their ability to identify and separate the colored bags containing waste.

Recycling

Battery Sorting

Carrots

Dairy

MOWI

Nickel

Piccolo Tomatoes

Robutcher

Sausages

Waste Management

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