Picking & Packaging Robots

Buying advice

Expect weekly SKU changes, not a fixed line

In a distribution centre, a delta robot rarely packs one product for months. It builds multipacks, promotional bundles, subscription boxes and kits, and the item list changes with every campaign. That shifts the question from top speed to how quickly a new SKU can go live. Ask each maker who teaches a new item, whether your own team can do it from the pendant or software, and how long a typical changeover took at a comparable site. Plan the cell beside your value-added services area rather than at the end of a production line, and check that it can take product from totes or from a conveyor fed by your goods-to-person system.

Design packing around EU empty-space limits

If you ship into the European Union, packing rules are tightening. Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste states that by 1 January 2030 the empty space ratio in grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging should not exceed 50%. A cell that drops items loosely into a standard carton may struggle to meet that. Ask makers whether their vision and software can plan tighter pack patterns, place items in a set orientation, and hand over to a carton-sizing or box-on-demand machine. Keep a record of the carton choices the cell makes, because you may need to show how your packaging was kept to a minimum.

Run a grasp trial with your hardest items

By October 2026, $38,000 bought the least expensive priced model, the Kawasaki YF003N, and $60,000 the most expensive, the Bosch Paloma, and not one was quote-only. Then test the grip, because warehouse items are less uniform than production parts. NIST runs a project on grasping and manipulation performance that feeds test methods into ASTM Committee F45, including measures of grasp strength and slip resistance. Borrow that approach. Assemble a set of your awkward items, such as polybags, blister packs, glossy cartons and soft goods, and ask every shortlisted maker to run it under the same conditions while you log drops, double picks and placement errors.

What to look for

• Picks per minute at your product weight
• Working envelope and mounting options for your line
• Vision and gripper options for mixed or delicate products

Common questions

What is a delta robot?

A parallel-arm robot mounted above a conveyor, built for very fast, light pick-and-place work such as sorting and packing.

Can these robots handle mixed products?

With the right vision system and gripper, yes. Share your product range when you request a quote.

Sources and further reading

• Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste — EUR-Lex, European Union.
  The EU packaging regulation, including limits on empty space in grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging.
• Grasping, Manipulation, and Contact Safety Performance of Robotic Systems — National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
  NIST project building test methods for robot grasping, including grasp strength and slip resistance, with ASTM F45.