Empowering System Integrators with Easy Automation: Self-Service Robotic Palletizing Solutions for Scalable Growth
Coboworx is making robotic technology accessible and affordable with its Robotics as a Service (RaaS) model. Using Wandelbots NOVA, Coboworx offers customers an easy-to-use robot application that generates collision-free paths via a modern and intuitive interface. This innovative approach reduces the dependence on specialized robotic engineers by providing an easy-to-use palletizing solution for end-users with limited robotic programming experience.
Project Highlights
About Coboworx
Coboworx specializes in turnkey robotic automation solutions designed specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through its Robotics as a Service (RaaS) model, Coboworx seeks to make robotic technology accessible and affordable.
Objective
Develop a solution allowing SMEs to automate their processes easily, making robotic palletizing accessible.
Solution
An intuitive application was developed on Wandelbots NOVA to streamline and speed up the creation of robot programs featuring various boxes, palletizing patterns, and layers. This allows users with limited robotics experience to use robots for their palletizing processes effectively.
Impact
By providing a self-service solution for palletizing, Coboworx can help customers save 30-50% on labor costs related to programming and setup, fully leveraging robotics' benefits in their palletizing operations.
Challenges & Process
In collaboration with Wandelbots, Coboworx recognized its customers' needs and developed an intuitive application compatible with various robot brands for the entire robotic palletizing lifecycle. The front-end application is designed to be user-friendly. It makes it easy and fast to create collision-free robot programs for different box types, palletizing patterns, and layering techniques.
To enhance the user interface and experience, 3D robot assets from Wandelbots NOVA's library were utilized to visually represent the robot's movements and configurations within the app. Wandelscript, Wandelbots robot-agnostic programming language, was used to program the robot's operations and handle logic for path planning. NOVA's APIs were used to manage communication between the front end and the back end, ensuring smooth data exchange and control flows. Additionally, the app was built using React and Next.js for a robust and scalable framework, incorporating pre-designed UI components to ensure a user-friendly design.
With this palletizing application, operators can create, save, and execute collision-free movements confidently. This enables Coboworx's end customers to create and manage various robot programs without relying solely on robot engineers. This approach saves time and reduces costs, dramatically simplifying operations and enhancing efficiency for both parties. Additionally, the application enhances internal processes for the Coboworx sales team, allowing them to use unified robotics code to simulate box sizes, layer patterns, and systems before implementing the physical hardware. This results in significant customization and operational improvements throughout the entire customer journey.
The development of Wandelbots NOVA is deeply rooted in the pioneering work of this project with Coboworx. This initiative directly influenced the choice of TypeScript and React as core technologies, setting the technical foundation for NOVA's modern development ecosystem. It also established the standards for 3D asset integration using Three.js, which has become an essential part of our visual framework. Path planning with Wandelscript was initially through simple cartesian coordinate systems, but this project pushed the boundaries of our proprietary Wandelscript language, marking the start of more complex implementations. The project's early API endpoints were the predecessors of the current NOVA API, enriched over time with additional capabilities. Significantly, many of NOVA's current UI elements trace their origins to this app, as developers who started this project brought valuable insights into NOVA's growth. This project provided a vital feedback loop, helping us understand what developers—especially those new to robotics—need to create intuitive and powerful software for robotic applications.
Working with Wandelbots NOVA as a base system increased our flexibility and productivity. It allowed us to move much faster and provide value to a significant number of our customers and our internal teams.
Maksymilian Piatkowski
Chief Digital Technology Officer, Coboworx
Impact & results
Wandelbots NOVA helps Coboworx reach previously inaccessible market segments by simplifying palletizing projects for their clients. By developing an application that users can easily operate, regardless of their experience with robotics, Coboworx can help customers reduce labor costs associated with programming and setup by 30-50%. Customers of Coboworx experience significantly more efficient operations, allowing them to fully enjoy the advantages of robotics in their palletizing tasks.
Coboworx will concentrate on integrating the app-based solution into their latest cell to facilitate the broader adoption of robotic palletizing in the entry-level market. Additionally, Coboworx plans to bring further enhancements by integrating Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics. This will advance the goal of creating a portable, user-friendly palletizing solution that can be deployed across multiple locations without allocating excessive resources for dedicated robotics engineers.