Hamrick Packaging Systems, founded in 1975, has specialized in end-of-line packaging equipment, including top-load case packers and palletizers. More recently, the OEM has been offering robotic applications as an authorized system integrator of Fanuc Robotics.
With nearly 100 robotic arms sold, Hamrick Packaging continues evolving its portfolio. This time, it has partnered with Olis Robotics, a provider of a remote video-based diagnostic system, to provide a way to monitor, diagnose, and resolve robot problems on the packaging line when no one is around — and even remote control a robot.
At Pack Expo International in Chicago last month, Hamrick Packaging and Olis Robotics demonstrated the remote monitoring application for use with Fanuc robots. (The software also works with Universal Robots and Kawasaki robots.)
The Olis software connects securely to the robot controller to collect data. Using Power-over-Ethernet cameras with live feeds set up around a cell, the visual system can detect an issue 24/7 and save the video files to allow an engineer to see what happened during a downtime event.
“It’s kind of like a Ring camera for automation,” explained Olis CEO Fredrik Rydén. Once an issue is resolved, the system even allows for event triggers related to the root cause of the problem to ensure the issue doesn’t happen again.
“This software will be able to detect when a crash happened and actually catalog it and email it out,” said Jordan Hamrick, president of Hamrick Packaging Systems. “We don’t have to play the guessing game for 20 minutes about why it happened. We can see what happened.”
Connecting machines to external resources traditionally conjures up cybersecurity concerns that have been an obstacle to the adoption of remote monitoring of equipment and control systems. Olis, founded in 2013 as a spinout from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab, has technology that builds on the advanced telerobotics R&D conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Navy and NASA. To that end, cybersecurity concerns are addressed via a secured connection that avoids the risks associated with cloud-based remote access.
Not only is it secure, but it is easy to deploy. The Pack Expo demonstration was Hamrick’s first install of the Olis application with its robotic palletizer. “We did it in about three hours,” Hamrick said, noting the company will now introduce the new service offering to its existing customer base.
For some customers, having a remote monitoring service will solve some of the mystery involved with automation and the imperfections on the packaging line that sometimes cause downtime. For others, it can mitigate the risk of deploying advanced applications. “I think it helps push the boundaries of the type of automation that you can do, knowing there is a safe fall back and you have a way to recover,” Rydén said. “Just because something stops doesn’t mean you are going to be down for a whole day.”
