Cracking the nut: robotic automation at Freedom Fresh

Macadamias are famously the world’s toughest nut to crack. Requiring an extraordinary 300 psi of pressure, it is usual to buy these tough nuts without their shells. Happy Nut by Freedom Fresh Australia is among the exceptions. Freedom Fresh has long supplied its Happy Nut brand with a specially designed metal key: the macadamia nuts are roasted with a slit sawed into the shell, meaning customers can crack them open easily using the tool provided.

The challenge the business faced was automating the placement of the keys into bags during the filling process. The manual method was cumbersome and inefficient. It involved a worker standing on a ladder for prolonged periods of time and physically placing a key into each bag. The benefits of shifting from manual to automated processing was obvious: the manual task was repetitive and posed obvious safety risks — not to mention the monotonous nature of placing up to 20,000 keys into bags each day.

The goal of the automation project included automatic pick and place of up to 60 keys per minute, seamless integration with the existing production line and a minimal factory floor footprint.

To meet the requirements, the Freedom Fresh team enlisted automation service provider M.A.P Services, the authorised Australian distributor for TM Robotics and Shibaura Machine industrial robots. The M.A.P Services team selected the THE400 robot from Shibaura Machine as the foundation for the system.

“The THE400 met all of the requirements for the Freedom Fresh project,” said Nigel Smith, Managing Director and CEO of TM Robotics. “With a 400 mm arm length, the robot is relatively compact and requires minimal factory floor space. It also offers a cycle time of 0.39 seconds with a 2 kg load and accurate movement trajectory.”

The robot was equipped with the TS5000, a high-speed robotic controller, also from Shibaura Machine. M.A.P Services also integrated an ifm O2D camera for vision processing and an encoder for conveyor tracking, with vacuum gear from SMC handling the pick-and-place mechanism.

The automated process begins with the O2D camera monitoring a continuous stream of keys on a conveyor. Upon triggering, the camera captures an image and uses its in-built contour detection to locate each key. The camera then sends the position of each key to the robot controller via an Ethernet network.

“Integrating the vision system and encoder with the new-generation TS5000 controller presented some initial teething issues,” Smith said. “However, the user-friendly interface of the controller and the Shibaura Machine robot teach pendant made the integration process significantly easier. Our robot experts worked collaboratively with M.A.P Services to ensure seamless integration.”

The robot syncs with the encoder for accurate conveyor tracking, picks up the key with a suction cup and carries it to the drop point. There, it waits for a signal from the nut-filling machine before releasing the key. This cycle repeats every second, ensuring a high-speed operation.

Freedom Fresh Australia expressed immense satisfaction with the solution, the project having exceeded the company’s expectations. The automated system exceeded the cycle time requirement, achieving higher efficiency and reliability.

“Our experience with the new system has been an 11 out of 10,” said Trevor Steinhardt of Freedom Fresh Australia. “The job of placing keys into bags was a difficult one, and there was no mechanical solution we could find. Now, the system just runs. It is coping very nicely and the strike rate is far better than a human operator.”

The collaboration between TM Robotics and M.A.P Services was also noted as instrumental to the project’s success.

“It was the customer-centric approach that delivered outstanding results,” Spiteri added. “We ensured that we understand and addressed the specific needs of Freedom Fresh Australia. This effort led to a tailored solution that has exceeded the customer’s expectations.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Ildar Imashev