For a global bakery manufacturer, Mobile Automation designed, built and delivered a collaborative robot cell — a FANUC CRX-30iA cobot — to handle muffins on a production line, integrated with the existing line equipment and safe to run alongside operators.
Built and proven before it reached the line
The cell was wired, assembled and factory acceptance tested in our own workshop, then delivered and set to the existing conveyor.
- FANUC CRX-30iA cobot with vacuum end effector, on a stainless steel stand and table
- Machined aluminium spacers and packers to set the robot frame to the existing crate conveyor
- Tables levelled and aligned to the belt, then fixed down with dynabolts
- Floor safety scanner bracketed, positioned and fixed
Tooling and guides engineered for the product
Product handling was developed around the muffin itself and the line it runs on.
- Vacuum cup count and air supply sized by test on the customer's own product
- Product guides 3D printed in PETG at 8 mm, with material, infill, wall count and print orientation selected for strength
- Collation table guide rail cap redesigned and reprinted
- Guide rail machined from nylon and extended into the metal detector
Integrated into the line's safety system
The cell was tied into the existing line rather than fenced off beside it.
- Safety PLC mounted in the control cabinet
- Robot safety circuit tied to the line's through force-guided safety relays — any E-stop on the line stops the robot, and any robot E-stop stops the line
- Extend and retract sensing fitted to the pusher, reject and rotate cylinders
- Vacuum generator solenoids matched to their sensors
- HMI let into the panel and wired back to the robot enclosure
- Stainless sheet and mesh guarding, welds pickled and polished; cabling in stainless basket tray with food-grade ties
The results
- Repetitive hand-handling removed from the muffin line
- A cobot cell that runs alongside operators without fencing
- Factory and Site Acceptance Testing signed off
- Operators and maintenance trained across both shifts