Adaptable & high-speed robotic handling and packing of a complex new feminine hygiene product

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Application presented by a British company that is focused on the development of new production machinery needed to produce an innovative new femcare product. The new innovation has been created by a gynaecologist that wishes to create a hybrid tampon and pantyliner combination that provides women with a step change in comfort and hygiene. The main idea behind this new invention is a very thin elastomeric membrane that links a tampon to the pantyliner. The device enables the tampon to be inserted and removed with minimal risk of exposure to menstrual fluid. The novel tampon has been used by thousands of women and provides improved protection from leakage, is more comfortable and has improved levels of hygiene. Fusing the best features of pantyliners and tampons the applicants are focused on a target $148mn in annual revenue by year 7 representing 0.5% of the $30bn annual global market. The applicant had developed and sells the new tampon that have been produced on a semi-manual process with cost-prohibitive production unit price. The business is developing new production machinery outside the scope of this application to resolve this issue. An unforeseen consequence of the Tampliner design is the routing and handling of the tampon component withdrawal string through the manufacturing process. This project seeks to conduct R&D to address a specific handling challenge when the Tampliner is at the end of the process and needs to be wrapped in environmentally friendly / sustainable wrapping materials. The flexible and unconstrained nature of the string means that at present Tampliners can only be wrapped by humans which is commercially unsustainable. The enclosed research project is required to enable the team to experiment with robotic systems, grippers, air flow, materials and wrapping equipment/process to resolve this challenge and ensure the team has a route to an automated wrapping process. The success of this project will be demonstrated by the successful and highly reproducible constraint of the string, folding and wrapping of the Tampliner in biodegradable packaging in well under 5 seconds per item.