Dynamic Waiting Station for Use in Robot Cells for Flexible Sheet Materials

Abstract

This invention relates to a dynamic holding station that enables the temporary, fixed, and robot-ready holding of products made of flexible sheet materials (felt, paper, textile, nonwoven, etc.) in automation cells where collaborative and / or industrial robots are operating. The station has a rigid body structure consisting of upper and lower plates, frame and foot profiles attached to these plates, and support feet; multiple reference profiles (4) that can be positioned to support the circumferential regions of the flexible sheet stack at multiple points; at least one referencing plate (10) that guides these profiles in a linear direction; and at least one referencing profile stop plate (11) that limits the movement distance of the profiles.By adjusting the reference profiles to different product sizes and geometries without the need for hand tools, stacking areas are created on the same station body that are reliably accessible by the robot and can be picked up via a fixed pick window, limiting sagging and slippage for multiple flexible sheet product families.