Kuka robot picks billets and feeds an induction furnace

To feed the furnace, Colin Milas installed a robot with Pickit vision depositing the billets from their bin onto the infeed conveyor. The robot delivers a billet every 15 seconds, which is well within the requirements of the 30 second furnace cycle times.

Forges around the world depend on reliable feeding of their induction furnaces. In the past decades, mechanical feeding automation was the only solution this industry could rely on. However, these mechanical billet feeders are bulky, loud, and expensive to maintain. Due to advancements in robotics and vision, as well as our dedicated approach to tackle the bin picking problem in forging, Pickit came up with a solution. By integrating the gripper and camera, robot cells became easy to install and perform their job.