A customised room divider made from recycled oak wood that blends harmoniously into the room and offers maximum storage space. The optimum solution for the end customer poses challenges for joineries and furniture construction companies. After all, they want to be able to handle this high workpiece variance in a cost-efficient manner. Traditional automation systems are usually only suitable for large series, as woodworking companies have to adapt the hardware and software to the respective production task at great expense. Batch sizes of 1 and fast product changes cannot be realised economically in this way.

With the Solution Kit ivOS Wood, Schmalz presents a smart solution that can recognise, grip and precisely place unknown boards and furniture parts. Keyword: intelligent gripping. This refers to the AI-supported handling of different wooden workpieces. Thanks to the perfect interplay of 3D vision sensors, the right gripping technology and artificial intelligence (AI), the system identifies the boards without the need for programming or manual intervention. The AI segments the workpieces to be gripped and independently selects the gripping strategy and control of the suction cups. It takes over the entire process planning, calculates the best stopping point and controls the robot collision-free until it reaches its destination. If the production requirements change, the software optimises the parts handling and continuously expands the range of recognised workpieces and executable processes. This provides companies with a future-proof system.

With the Solution Kit ivOS Wood, companies benefit from optimised processes, produce less waste and can deploy their staff for more value-adding activities. This enables them to achieve significant cost benefits. Whether large and small series or individual pieces - processing systems such as nesting CNC milling machines, painting systems and edge banding machines can be fed and stacked automatically.