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

一家英国公司提交的申请，该公司专注于开发生产创新女性护理产品所需的新生产机械。这一新的创新是由一位妇科医生创造的，他希望创造一种混合的内裤和护垫组合，为女性提供一个舒适和卫生的台阶。这项新发明背后的主要思想是一个非常薄的弹性膜，连接到内裤护垫。该装置使插入和取出月经管的风险最小。这种新型的卫生巾已被成千上万的妇女使用，它提供了更好的防漏保护，更舒适，卫生水平也得到了提高。申请人融合了卫生护垫和卫生棉条的最佳功能，专注于到第7年实现1.48亿美元的年收入目标，占全球300亿美元年市场的0.5%。申请人已经开发并销售了新的半手工工艺生产的产品，其生产单价成本高昂。该企业正在开发本申请范围之外的新生产机械来解决此问题。填塞器设计的一个不可预见的后果是在整个制造过程中对填塞器组件取出管柱的路由和处理。该项目旨在进行研发，以解决当填塞器处于工艺结束时需要用环保/可持续包装材料包装时的特定处理挑战。绳的柔性和不受约束的性质意味着目前填塞器只能由人包裹，这在商业上是不可持续的。所附的研究项目需要使团队能够对机器人系统、夹具、气流、材料和包装设备/工艺进行实验，以解决这一挑战，并确保团队有一条自动包装工艺的路线。该项目的成功将通过成功和高度可重复的约束的字符串，折叠和包装的Tampliner在生物可降解包装在良好的下5秒每个项目。

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.