Six European partners coordinated by ULMA HANDLING SYSTEMS will develop a new concept for a safe, flexible, efficient and dependable hybrid pick-and-place solution. The project – PICK-PLACE – will last for 36 months, has a total budget of 3.085 million euros and has received funding from the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, under grant agreement No. 780488.

Picking, placing and packaging are basic operations in most robotic applications, whether in industrial setups or in a service robotics domain. However, this is not the case when it comes to manipulating parts with high variability or in less structured environments. In this case, solutions exist only at laboratory level and have not reached the market due to factors like lack of efficiency, robustness and flexibility of currently available manipulation and perception technologies.

PICK-PLACE focuses on this key technology gap, the lack of flexible solutions that can handle objects of variable size, shape and weight, as well as different surface properties and stiffnes. In response to this callenge, PICK-PLACE proposes a multifunctional and flexible approach to variable object handling, combining human and robot capabilities to achieve a safe, flexible, dependable and efficient hybrid pick-and-package solution.

PICK-PLACE includes dynamic package configuration, flexible grasping strategies using an innovative multifunctional gripper, robust environment perception and mechanisms and strategies for safe human-robot collaboration. These scientific and industrial objectives are motivated by the real requirements demanded by the industry. Scientific and technological, as well as industrial excellence, are represented by the consortium, which comprises research centres and companies located in Spain, Germany, Italy and Turkey.