AC 2008-705: ROBOT PALLETIZING WORK CELL SIMULATION

Akbar Eslami, Elizabeth City State University

Dr. Akbar Eslami is a professor and Engineering Technology coordinator in the Department of
Technology at Elizabeth City State University. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
from Old Dominion University. His research interests are in computer aided manufacturing,
design,and automation.

Page 13.1057.1

© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008

 Robot Palletizing Work Cell Simulation

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to design a fully functional automated palletizing work cell that
will simulate real-world palletizing of two different size bottles in a classroom environment.
Successful completion of this project is based on the following components working together in
a system: the bottle feeder with a pneumatic actuator, two photoelectric sensors, a conveyor, a
programmable logic controller (PLC), and a robot. All the components are integrated to perform
a unit task of palletizing. The process begins when a pneumatic actuator pushes a bottle from the
tray of the bottle feeder onto the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt then transports the bottle to
the inspection station, where two photoelectric sensors are mounted to detect the bottle and
determine its size. One of the sensors sends the signal to stop the conveyor while the other sensor
prompts the robot to start palletizing.

I. Introduction

The Senior Design Capstone Project has been identified as a valuable instrument of the
assessment process. This instrument is now becoming more popular in undergraduate programs
for the assessment of behavioral and cognitive achievement1. Consequently, technology students
at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) are required to complete a Capstone Design Project in
their final semester. Simulating real-world robot palletizing is the goal for this Capstone Project.
The students, working together as a team, utilize their knowledge, problem solving skills,
communication and team work skills, to apply many of the technical competencies they acquired
throughout their course of study.

The main objective of this Capstone Project is to design and simulate a fully automated
palletizing system where the robot can identify different sizes of bottles and palletize them
accordingly. This project can be implemented in other applications as well. For example, the
automated palletizing process (APP) is capable of handling different size packages and cartons,
and placing them into various machines for processing. The APP is capable of moving different
sizes of bottles from one location to another, without the need for additional bottle handling
equipment, and counting and arranging the bottles accordingly.

Today, it is not uncommon to see palletizing robots performing the work of humans in an
industrial environment. One factor that greatly influences utilization of robots in a palletizing
work cell is cost of operation. Robots can work faster and more consistently, can withstand
harsher working environments, and are virtually immune to injury. A tight labor market and a
need for greater process consistency is the driving interest for robot palletizing2. Labor is the
highest operation cost for many companies. Over the past 10 years, the U.S. has seen a 34%
increase in labor costs. These costs include healthcare coverage, pension costs, as well as other
costs such as taxes, cost of regulation, etc3. With automated palletizing, labor costs are extremely
reduced compared to manual labor. Robots, with all their flexibility, can be programmed to solve
a wide variety of distribution and packaging problems. Flexibility, ease of operation, and speed
Page 13.1057.2

are the recommending factors for the use of robots in the handling, moving, sorting, and
palletizing of goods and materials4. Robot palletizing is widely accepted in the manufacturing
and material handling industry. Many companies that have added robot palletizing work cell to
their production line are pleased with the robot’s capability to handle heavy load items.

II. Robot Palletizing Process

Figure 1 shows the different components of the robot palletizing work cell. It consists of: a robot
with an I/O controller5, a conveyor6, a Programmable Logic Controller7 (PLC) that controls the
conveyor’s motor, a bottle feeder equipped with a pneumatic actuator, and two photoelectric
sensors8 that send signals to the PLC and robot. The bottle feeder consists of a sloped tray and a
pneumatic actuator. The sloped tray feeds bottles in front of the actuator. The robot has its own
pneumatic solenoid valve that can open or close an air input by receiving signals from the output
module of the robot. While the conveyor belt is stopped, the actuator that is connected to the
solenoid valve of the robot extends and pushes a bottle onto the conveyor belt.

Robot Unit

Palletazing
Palletizing

Conveyor Sensors
Bottle Feeder

Actuator

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

PLC
Robot Controller

Figure 1: Robot Palletizing Work Cell

Page 13.1057.3
The flow chart in Figure 2 outlines the robot palletizing process from start to finish. As depicted
in Figure 2, the process starts when the pneumatic actuator pushes the first bottle onto the
conveyor belt, after the robot’s pneumatic solenoid valve receives a signal from the robot
controller. A pneumatic flow control valve is used to regulate the pressure to the actuator; this
ensures an even, consistent, and smooth feeding of bottles onto the conveyor belt. After a few
seconds, the PLC sends a signal to the conveyor’s motor to start the movement of the belt, which
transports the bottle to the inspection station, where the two photoelectric sensors, one upper and
one lower, are mounted. Each sensor consists of a beam emitter and its receiver. Once the bottle
reaches the inspection station, it cuts the beam of the lower sensor, sending a signal to PLC in
order to stop the conveyor belt. If the bottle only cuts the beam of the lower sensor, this indicates
it is a short bottle. If the bottle also breaks the beam of the upper sensor, this indicates it is a tall
bottle. In either case, the robot will palletize the bottle in its proper place. While the conveyor
belt is stopped and the first bottle is being scanned by the sensors in the inspection station, the
robot’s program reactivates the actuator to push the second bottle onto the conveyor belt. There
is a 15 second time limit for palletizing of a bottle in an appropriate location. After the time has
elapsed, the PLC will restart the conveyor belt to transport the second bottle to the inspection
station. This process will continue until all the bottles are palletized.

III. Components Integration and Configuration

Students were faced with major challenges in the project including wiring and integrating the
different components of the work cell. The wiring diagram is depicted in Figure 3. The robot
controller has input (AX41C) and output (AY13C) modules equipped with 24V dc power
terminal connections. Both emitters and receivers of photoelectric sensors are wired to receive
24V dc power from the input and output modules of the robot controller. The chassis of Allen
Bradley PLC houses a 120V ac power supply, a CPU 5/2, 120V ac four and eight-terminal input
modules with 120V ac com terminal connections, and a 120V ac eight-terminal output module
with 120V ac terminal connection. The APP system works properly when each component
receives and sends the proper signal. A relay with coil of 24V dc and contact of 120V ac is
utilized to connect the photoelectric sensor 1 to input module of PLC. This allows the
photoelectric sensor 1 to send the signal to the PLC to stop the conveyor when a bottle cuts the
light beam of the sensor. The upper sensor, photoelectric sensor 2, which determines size of the
bottle, is wired to general input one (GI1) terminal of the robot controller. This allows photo
sensor 2 to send a signal to the robot controller to perform the required tasks.

Page 13.1057.4
 START

Activate the actuator to deliver a

bottle onto the conveyor.

Conveyor transports the bottle to the

inspection station.

Use two photo sensors at different

height levels to signal the PLC and
Robot.

Stop the conveyor and scan the size

of the bottle.

Identify the Palletize a tall

size of the bottle.
bottle

Palletize a short
bottle.
Page 13.1057.5

Figure 2: Flowchart Outlining the Palletizing Process

 Figure 3: Wiring Diagram

Figure 4 shows the robot program. GI1 terminal which is denoted as input 1 in the robot program
has two values, either 1 or 0. The robot program constantly scans this input for a value. If
program detects a value of 0, it is an indication that a tall bottle has cut the beam of the sensor. If
a value of 1 is detected, it is an indication that the beam has not been cut and bottle is short one.
Based on those two values, robot program will execute appropriate program lines and robot starts
to palletize the bottle accordingly. The solenoid valve, which is designated as HND 2 in the robot
program, opens the air line and extends the actuator if it has a value of 1 and retracts the actuator
if it has a value of 0.
Page 13.1057.6
5 MOV P6 ROBOT MOVES TO POSITION POINT P6
6 HND 1=0 OPEN END EFFECTOR
10 MCOUNT1=1 INCREMENTING COUNT FOR PLT 1 BY 1
15 MCOUNT2=1 INCREMENTING COUNT FOR PLT 2 BY 1
20 DEF PLT 1, P2,P3,P4, 4,4,1 DECLARE 3 PT PALLET 1, 4x4, ZIG ZAG PATTERN
25 DEF PLT 2, P10,P11,P12, 4,4,1 DECLARE 3 PT PALLET 2, 4x4, ZIG ZAG PATTERN
30 HND 2=0 EXTENSION OF ACTUATOR (actuator pushes a
Bottle onto conveyor)
35 DLY 1 DELAY FOR 1 SEC
40 HND 2=1 ACTUATOR RETRACTED
42 DLY 10 10 SEC DELAY TO SCAN GI1 INPUT
45 IF IN 1=1 GOTO 50 ELSE GOTO 150 CHECKING FOR SIGNALCOMING FROM GI1
(Line 50: Palletizing a short bottle, line 150: palletizing
a tall bottle)
50 MOV P6, 60 MOVE 60MM ABOVE P6
55 DLY 1 DELAY FOR 1 SEC
60 OVRD 30 SET OVERIDE TO 30%
65 MVS P6, 60 MOVE 60MM UPWARD. (SEPARATION)
70 MOV P7 MOVE TO POINT P7
75 DLY 2 DELAY FOR 2 SEC
80 HND 1=1 CLOSE END EFFECTOR
82 DLY 1 DELAY FOR 1SEC
85 MVS P6, 60 MOVE 60MM UPWARD. (SEPARATION)
90 DLY 1
94 MOV P15 MOVE TOPOINT P15
95 OVRD M_NOVRD RETURN TO DEFAULT VALUE
100 MOV(PLT 1,MCOUNT), 60 MOVE 60MM ABOVE PALLET 1 FIXING OPERATIONS
POSITION
105 DLY 1
110 OVRD 30
115 MVS(PLT 1,MCOUNT) 60 MOVE 60MM ABOVE PALLET 1 FIXING OPERATIONS
POSIT (SEPARATION)
120 DLY 1
125 HND 1=0 OPEN END EFFECTOR
126 DLY 1
130 MVS(PLT 1,MCOUNT1), 60
135 MCOUNT 1=MCOUNT1+1 INCREMENT COUNTER BY 1
140 OVRD M_NOVRD
141 MOV P15
145 IF MCOUNT1<17 THEN GOTO 30 REPEAT OPERATION 16 TIMES
150 MOV P6, 60
155 DLY 1
160 OVRD 30
165 MVS P6, 60
170 MOV P8 MOVE TO P8
175 DLY 1
Page 13.1057.7

180 HND 1=1

181 DLY 1
185 MVS P6, 60
190 DLY 1
191 MOV P16
195 OVRD M_NOVRD
200 MOV(PLT 2,MCOUNT2), 60
205 DLY 1
210 OVRD 30
215 MVS(PLT 2,MCOUNT2), 60
220 DLY 1
225 HND 1=0
230 DLY 1
235 MVS(PLT 2,MCOUNT2), 60
240 MCOUNT 2=MCOUNT2+1
245 OVRD M_NOVRD
246 MOV P16
250 IF MCOUNT2<17 THEN GOTO 30
255 MOV P6 MOVE TO SAFE POSITION
260 END END PROGRAM

Figure 4: Robot Program

Figure 5 shows ladder logic diagram using RSlogix 5009 software. As depicted in Figure 5, in
rung 0, the output (conveyor belt) O:3/0 is tied to a normally closed relay enable bit T4:0/EN and
normally closed input I:1/0 (photoelectric sensor). The conveyor belt is latched, in order to stay
energized until the photoelectric sensor detects the presence of a bottle. The bottle cuts the light
beam and causes de-energizing of the normally closed input I:1/0, and the conveyor stops for the
next step of the process. In rung 1, I:1/0, the normally open input, energizes the timer on delay
T4:0 presets to 15 seconds. The normally open input enable bit T4:0/EN which uses for latching
the timer on delay T4:0, allows the timer to keep timing for fifteen seconds before energizing the
normally open input done bit T4:0/DN in rung two. The fifteen second time delay will give the
robot enough time to palletize the bottle at this stage. In rung 2, the normally open input done bit
T4:0/DN is connected to an output reset T4:0. The reset coil will restart the conveyor belt by re-
energizing the T4:0/EN input in rung 0. In rung 3, the input of normally open I:1/0 is connected
to a counter up C5:1 with a preset of 2000 bottles. Every time a bottle breaks the light beam of
the photoelectric sensor, the counter counts up until the number reaches 2000, which indicate the
storage area is full.
Page 13.1057.8
 Figure 5: Ladder Logic Diagram

IV. Project Planning

The APP project was designed and simulated by a team of five students, with each student being
assigned different tasks by the team leader as part of their involvement in the project. Each team
member played a vital role in designing, building, testing, troubleshooting, and running the APP
project. As depicted in Figure 6, the project planning process started with developing a work
breakdown structure (WBS) method, in which the project was broken down into its five major
components. These components were then subdivided into various subcomponents with
associated activities. The WBS method was used to ensure that all activities were identified and
included and that these activities could be completed in the proper sequence.
Page 13.1057.9
 PROJECT

Robot Sensors PLC Feeder Conveyor

Teach the Attach to Program to Design a Connect

positions controller & control the bottle to PLC
PLC conveyor feeder

Write a Identify Stop and The robot Receive

program the size of start the activates signal
the bottles conveyor actuator from PLC

Palletizing Signals to Push a Transports

the bottles PLC and bottle on bottles to
robot conveyor the station

Figure 6: Project Break Down

Once the project planning process was completed, Gantt chart techniques for planning and
scheduling were developed. Figure 7 shows a Gantt chart with bars representing the time
allocated to accomplish each activity in the project. The Gantt chart outlines the project’s
activities over a 12-week period. In this case, it depicts the time spent in the designing,
Page 13.1057.10

purchasing of material, and installing of the bottle feeder assembly; the ordering, installing, and
connecting of the two beam emitters and receivers; programming and running of the robot;
programming the PLC; and writing a final report of the Capstone Project.

Figure 7: Gantt chart

Two of the students acted as the design engineers. They designed and constructed the bottle
feeder system, which consists of a tray and a pneumatic actuator (with an airflow control valve)
for placing a bottle on the conveyor belt. The tray has a moderate slope, which allows the bottles
to slide into place for the actuator to push them onto the conveyor belt. One of the students was
Page 13.1057.11

responsible for teaching the positions and writing the robot’s program to palletize bottles
according to the zigzag method, as well as wiring the I/O modules to the other components.
Meanwhile, the other student was involved in writing the PLC program, setting the sensors, and
wiring them to the PLC and robot controller. The team leader, acting as Project Manager, was
responsible for overseeing the various stages of the capstone project. He, along with another
student, gathered research documentation and data for the report, helped to resolve problems and
issues quickly, and ensured that parts and supplies were available and collected.

During the construction of the work cell project, the students were faced with different
challenges that caused the palletizing process to malfunction at times. For instance, the air
pressure to the pneumatic feeder was too high, thus causing the actuator to apply excess force on
a bottle while being pushed onto the conveyor belt. To correct this problem, an airflow control
valve was added to the actuator assembly that allowed the pressure to be adjusted accordingly.
Also, a relay was used to isolate powers in the PLC and photoelectric sensor, since the PLC and
photoelectric sensors operate with 120V ac and 24V dc, respectively.

V. Student Assessment and Outcomes

Faculty members of the Department of Technology at ECSU use Capstone Design Project as an
assessment tool to validate outcomes of the program and students’ competencies. The Capstone
Design Project afforded students an opportunity to implement many of the competencies learned
in their field of study including design, software simulation, wiring, system construction and how
to present the project in written and verbal form to their instructors and classmates. Students are
required to put into practice many of the competencies learned in their program and apply them
in a practical real world project. A team of faculty members utilized a capstone design project
matrix instrument to validate students’ competencies in the areas of technical knowledge,
problem solving skills, writing, oral presentation, and team work.

VI. Conclusion

This project provided an opportunity to students to design and simulate a practical project. They
practiced how to program, build, install, operate, diagnose and troubleshoot components of the
system. Teamwork and communication were two key factors in completing the project. Dr.
Eslami mentored students in order to resolve problems and issues that arose during the project.
The students were faced with many challenges including programming; integrating and wiring
the various components, as well as putting them in the proper location in order to perform the
required task. Successful completion of the palletizing process was a definite indication that all
components were interacting and receiving the proper signals. Although the palletizing process
was simulated in a classroom environment, it can be widely used in industry to palletize not only
bottles, but also other items of various types and sizes, such as boxes, metals, etc. Page 13.1057.12
Bibliography
1. Kenny, R., 2002, “Ten Ways to Change Undergraduate Education,” URL:
http://notes.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf/webform/VII.

2. Spencer, R., “Benefit of Robotic Palletizing More Measurable Than in the Past,” Robotics World Magazine,”
2003, URL: www.roboticsworld.com

3. U.S. Department of Commerce, “Manufacturing in America, a Comprehensive Strategy to Address the

Challenges to U.S. Manufacturing,” 2004.

4. Nunes, J., “Assembly Trends,” Robotics world Magazine,” 2005, URL: www.roboticsworld.com.

5. Mitsubishi Robot Controller: Model CR – P30C, Rixan Associate Inc., 7560 Paragon Road, Dayton, Ohio 45459,
URL: www.rixan.com

6. QC Industries: 4057 Clough Drive. Batavia OH 45103 Phone 513-7536001

7. Allen Bradley, “Model 4 slot rack PLC SLC 500,” Rockwell Automation, 1201 South Second Street, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin 53204

8. Banner Engineering Corp. 2008. “Model, QS 186 E 10-30 v and emitter is QS18VN6R,” 9714 Tenth Ave. North.
Minneapolis, MN 55441.www.bannerengineering.com, Phone 800-809-7043

9. Rockwell Automation, 1201 South Second Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204, www.sortware.rockwell.com.

Page 13.1057.13
Page 13.1057.14