I think the people commenting about the loss of possible jobs are crazy. The fact that a factory exists that produces pancakes is a testament to the quest for simplification creating more jobs. Its just the job that changes. I bet the ABBRobotics guys are happy they have a job
As someone who doesn't have anything to do with this field, it always astonishes me that something that appears so technologically complicated is cheaper than hiring people to do the same job. Impressive stuff, robotics chaps.
@@ldnelso2 and by that time the human worker likely would retire so you must spend money to find a new one, the machine may experience breakdowns but this is made up for by not requiring sleep or breaks or food or survivable work conditions
@@samuels1123 Yeah, thats the payoff. Safety and consistent operation. Sometimes (like this case) there isn't a direct financial ROI, but if you can operate more safely and consistently and save someone from monotonous, repetitive work that may cause injuries. The machine would probably need to be replaced 10 times during the payback period, but again, it can be worth it overall.
When the video was taken the cooking process was still being developed so pre inspection of pancakes was highly manned and pancakes turned over to be inspected as well. Now the process is stable and results predictable so inspection is visual and by taking samples off the line only. Packed pancakes are not handled at all.
I appreciate that clarification. Watching the workers who are unmasked and without gloves (even with the best of intentions on their part) didn't give me a sense of good hygiene...
Thank goodness we're not employing those pesky, disease-laden humans anymore. They always complain about affording groceries and spending time with their families. Now we can get back to what's really important - pumping out soulless, pre-packaged pancakes 'round the clock.
It's good that robots do these kinds of jobs. I'd kill myself if I'd work stacking pancakes for 30 years. These machines free people to more useful things.
The goal is to shift jobs from unskilled, menial labor (like stacking pancakes) to skilled, higher-paying jobs, like people who design and maintain the robots. What's so bad about that?
Probably the optimal balance of cost and speed? One picker only goes so fast, especially without damaging the product, but slowing the line down enough for one to do everything could cost too much in the long run vs buying more robots. Also, if one breaks, they'd still have some working units and could maybe slow the feed until it's fixed. Just my guesses though - I've never worked an assembly line.
I'm looking forward to working for ABB this year! Soon to be a former GE employee once ABB takes the wheel. I'll miss GE since I've been with them for nearly 30 years but, I look forward, not backwards.
@@hongtaozhong1172 it's been good however, you won't believe this but, ABB sold our lone plant here in Maine to a small (1,200 employees) company out of Italy named M.S.AMBROGIO and we've been under their ownership for just a couple months. But, it seems as if we're heading in a better direction. They are laser focused on building up our plant for a better, stronger future and this is their first full manufacturing facility in the United States.
It's a great theory, and I'd love to live in that world. Unfortunately, we don't live there right now, so people need to work to make money to live. When we get there I will gladly let robots do all the boring work and only do things that are fun and interest me!
There are multiple stack types as well as production speeds in this system. In one case of a four pancake stack, one robot only managed to place one pancake before the stack was out of range. Having four gives them a capability of 400/minute as well as a potential backup unit. There might also be an eight or larger stack as well.
Talking about how these robots benefit for hygiene standards but the video clearly show humans touching these pancakes, they are not even wearing gloves!
well, my gf still makes pancakes from scratch in the morning for breakfast. But due to how things works now it seems that not everyone have the time to make pancakes every morning. so pre-made store bought ones are the best solution on the go.
I remember my first job at a McDonalds 30 years ago. We would mix up batter and cook the "hotcakes" when ordered. Now everything seems to by flash freeze and microwaved. Same with Dunkin Donuts, their donuts are frozen as well.
I Googled "pancake Stacking" because I wanted to use the Mathematical program to test some new software. Instead I was brought to this. But this is very interesting none the less.
nice robot, to get only 1 pancake towards the belt you could make the sides push the pancakes like \ conveyor belt / then put in the robot and stack the other 2
No thought has been made as to WHY the robots where needed in the first place or how the job could be easier for the humans that did it in the beginning (flawed logical process).
Wonderful! Yet another step towards the workless society. :D Yes. Some people have lost their jobs. But seriously. Stacking pankakes is a waste of human potential... We should strive to abolish and automate all forms of labour that is trivial, boring, dangerous or poses a health hazard. Guaranteed minimume income FTW! Post-scarcity economics here we come.
The simple fact is that people are no longer prepared to do this kind of work because of the very high risk of developing Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Machines are the only viable long term solution.
I see how it can improve health, safety & hygiene, but the people were manually checking the pancakes with their bare hands before they went to the robot!
wow thats an awesome robot. What puzzles me is why the operator at one part of the video still used his bare hands to handle the pancakes. irony on the hygiene.
What is ABB and the food companies going to do when people no longer have jobs to buy their products? Is everybody just going to fix robots. Then what happens when that work is out sourced? I'm an automation specialist and l don't see anybody addressing these issues and that's a real problem.
Paul McDonagh Well they did also have black people working on the line there, soon to be obsolete. You know like with tractors and farming equipment before. Got to love ABB 😂
No pancakes were harmed during the filming of this video. But rumors suggest otherwise from some who claim there were some pancakes who escaped. ABB is a German company.
I'm confused, is there any particular reason pancakes are put in specific stacks, or is the machine just grouping any old okay pancakes together? Also for most how it's done videos, I have some idea of what "bad" products they're looking for, but with the pancakes here, I don't. They all look the same to me - what characteristics are the sub par ones supposed to have?
Vision drives the entire process. Whatever the vision picks is the next pancake to be picked. Vision criteria is set up by the programmer, but ultimately the vision process is so fast it is hard to determine which criteria drives any particular vision selection/order. To the robot, the pancakes are all the same - it will pick whichever pancake the vision process asks for next. See the video segments where pancake images are overlayed with numbers.
Amazing, however I'd never buy pre-packaged pancakes. Although the usefulness of robotics and automation cannot be denied. I'd love to see more investment in this area of technology yet people are too focus on advertising data mines like facebook when it's clear this area of tech is much more valuable when creating "real" wealth.
They're not robbing anyone from jobs. They're simply performing better at repetitive, monotonous tasks than humans could. These machines free people. If the same work can be done cheaper, better and with a fraction of the cost that makes products cheaper and more available. You aren't suggesting we'd get rid of tractors and start plowing field by hand or start weaving fabrics by hand? No one could afford food or clothes in that case.
@NinjaOnANinja I'm sure it's one of the reasons. There is certainly only a finite amount of jobs that can be available at any given time. I wonder if there is an equation that attempts to illustrate the number of jobs lost due to automation and advances in efficiency.
Yet the even John Connor could not predict the second rebellion. This came when the plant hired Hispanic workers who couldn't read english and ignored the sign! Forever we will be doomed to a life of radioactive pancakes from our captor ABB.
The humans are for tactile and visual inspection. If you've worked with vision, you'd know that checking pancake consistency and textures optically is a losing battle.
I always wonder if I'm the only one who sees all these misaligned shapes on the HMI. 1:39 'Robot1' is overlayed over a line 1:41 Both rectangular center areas are not consistent Brilliant engineering and still, that stands out like a sore thumb to me.
@diamantine100 I've been thinking(i have a tendency to do that after a joint) if every American owned 2 or 3 robots and leased them to corporations they would have the cheapest labour around and displaced workers would have an income- you could have a government agency to finance the purchase for people, the people in turn can lease them to corps the corps pay the lease and take care of all the maintenance.
Honeytop needs to invest in some gloves for the human "handlers" before they have an E. coli outbreak. One of them was wearing a ring (0:48)-- that's gotta be great for bring all sorts of contamination into the food supply.
Example of the trends to replace human labor for companies to increase profits. BTW this process didn't appear to be more hygienic when I saw humans touching the pancakes without gloves.
Can someone come up with an explanation why they had to use 4 robotic arms to just stack 3 pancakes on each other. I am sure they could have come up with a brilliant mechanical design that would have done the same job for a fraction of the cost. Just watch how it's made a bit.
Can I have the backing music and the voiceover to do a remix? It'd probably be quite subtle, just lower the voice a little in the mix. And hey, built-in promotional video! Kind regards Mr Braidy Technician, Museum of Techno
I think the people commenting about the loss of possible jobs are crazy. The fact that a factory exists that produces pancakes is a testament to the quest for simplification creating more jobs. Its just the job that changes. I bet the ABBRobotics guys are happy they have a job
Extremely impressive integration. I'm glad someone is implementing technology that will help out companies like this.
This Robot dod not steal any jobs. It just replaced boring labour with interesting engineering while making food more affordable.
As someone who doesn't have anything to do with this field, it always astonishes me that something that appears so technologically complicated is cheaper than hiring people to do the same job. Impressive stuff, robotics chaps.
one investment of $10000 is cheaper than infinity investments of $10 over 1001 months
@@samuels1123 that’s an 83 year payback period!
@@ldnelso2 and by that time the human worker likely would retire so you must spend money to find a new one, the machine may experience breakdowns but this is made up for by not requiring sleep or breaks or food or survivable work conditions
@@samuels1123 Yeah, thats the payoff. Safety and consistent operation. Sometimes (like this case) there isn't a direct financial ROI, but if you can operate more safely and consistently and save someone from monotonous, repetitive work that may cause injuries. The machine would probably need to be replaced 10 times during the payback period, but again, it can be worth it overall.
I think this is all about the time cost, hygiene and quality. When considered with those, the price of the machines seems quite fair.
When the video was taken the cooking process was still being developed so pre inspection of pancakes was highly manned and pancakes turned over to be inspected as well. Now the process is stable and results predictable so inspection is visual and by taking samples off the line only. Packed pancakes are not handled at all.
Could you count how many pcs per sec the picker can handle?
I appreciate that clarification. Watching the workers who are unmasked and without gloves (even with the best of intentions on their part) didn't give me a sense of good hygiene...
Buenas tardes...me pudiera mandar en Español...las ventajas de este Sistema
Thank goodness we're not employing those pesky, disease-laden humans anymore. They always complain about affording groceries and spending time with their families. Now we can get back to what's really important - pumping out soulless, pre-packaged pancakes 'round the clock.
This guy speaks like a text-to-speech program, except its a real voice
Davidvondle - It is meant to stack one on top of the other - It is building stacks on the middle outfeed conveyor to feed into the flow wrapper.
Watching these videos of robots make me wish I went into electrical and mechanical engineering!
I am glad robots will be part of the final solution :)
I prefer my final solution drenched in maple syrup.
Nice music choice too, you get the robotic feeling in there
It's good that robots do these kinds of jobs. I'd kill myself if I'd work stacking pancakes for 30 years. These machines free people to more useful things.
Ilyich Ulyanov like more time for heroin
Like waiting for their welfare checks...
The goal is to shift jobs from unskilled, menial labor (like stacking pancakes) to skilled, higher-paying jobs, like people who design and maintain the robots. What's so bad about that?
That's bad because those jobs will be out sourest to the cheapest bidder. That out souring started 25 years ago.
@@johnbrown6189 So you say that good jobs will be done poorly if people are paid very little for them?
@@samuels1123 yes. Why bust your ass for a company that does not recognize your worth? Move on to a company that does.
@MrSmartypants - Comprise - meaning to have members. The system is comprised of 4 FlexPickers.
@ABBRobotics , google "compose comprise".
You will see the correct usage is of the form: "The system comprises 4 FlexPickers."
Nice commercial, dudes!
But you should see the Toyota car factory, it would blow your mind!
Probably the optimal balance of cost and speed? One picker only goes so fast, especially without damaging the product, but slowing the line down enough for one to do everything could cost too much in the long run vs buying more robots. Also, if one breaks, they'd still have some working units and could maybe slow the feed until it's fixed. Just my guesses though - I've never worked an assembly line.
I'm looking forward to working for ABB this year! Soon to be a former GE employee once ABB takes the wheel. I'll miss GE since I've been with them for nearly 30 years but, I look forward, not backwards.
how was your job experience now?
@@hongtaozhong1172 it's been good however, you won't believe this but, ABB sold our lone plant here in Maine to a small (1,200 employees) company out of Italy named M.S.AMBROGIO and we've been under their ownership for just a couple months. But, it seems as if we're heading in a better direction. They are laser focused on building up our plant for a better, stronger future and this is their first full manufacturing facility in the United States.
@@hongtaozhong1172 great so far. 👌
Never thought i would ever hear these words: "400 pancakes per minute"
What was used to view the pancakes? OpenCV?
4 Gigabit ethernet cameras
It's a great theory, and I'd love to live in that world. Unfortunately, we don't live there right now, so people need to work to make money to live. When we get there I will gladly let robots do all the boring work and only do things that are fun and interest me!
There are multiple stack types as well as production speeds in this system. In one case of a four pancake stack, one robot only managed to place one pancake before the stack was out of range. Having four gives them a capability of 400/minute as well as a potential backup unit. There might also be an eight or larger stack as well.
Talking about how these robots benefit for hygiene standards but the video clearly show humans touching these pancakes, they are not even wearing gloves!
J'adore Dualscar Disgusting, and wearing rings too, making things worse!
well, my gf still makes pancakes from scratch in the morning for breakfast. But due to how things works now it seems that not everyone have the time to make pancakes every morning. so pre-made store bought ones are the best solution on the go.
1:29 Was that a package with 1 pancake offered?
I remember my first job at a McDonalds 30 years ago. We would mix up batter and cook the "hotcakes" when ordered. Now everything seems to by flash freeze and microwaved. Same with Dunkin Donuts, their donuts are frozen as well.
"their donuts are frozen as well"
WHAAAAAAT! You mean, no more 'time to make the donuts'?
"hygenic" ... and there are people handling the pancakes by hand without gloves!???!!!
farvision Disgusting, and wearing rings too, making things worse!
Anything that can be automated eventually will be. Hopefully we find jobs that are less mindless to replace them!
I Googled "pancake Stacking" because I wanted to use the Mathematical program to test some new software. Instead I was brought to this. But this is very interesting none the less.
The standard of living increases as production increases. The internet for example has replaced many jobs, but has made our lives easier.
2:28 Wait, what?
I'm so glad I am not the only one who was like "wait, WUT 😐" LOL
Nice to hear the voicover guy from LWT.... Miss his announcements!
nice robot, to get only 1 pancake towards the belt you could make the sides push the pancakes like \ conveyor belt / then put in the robot and stack the other 2
No thought has been made as to WHY the robots where needed in the first place or how the job could be easier for the humans that did it in the beginning (flawed logical process).
Wonderful! Yet another step towards the workless society. :D
Yes. Some people have lost their jobs.
But seriously. Stacking pankakes is a waste of human potential...
We should strive to abolish and automate all forms of labour that is trivial, boring, dangerous or poses a health hazard.
Guaranteed minimume income FTW!
Post-scarcity economics here we come.
@InfectedBeats No problem. Quick link to the phone signal & we get the robot to throw stuff at you until you HAVE to get up. Simple :-)
who made the music & what is the music called
@ABB Robotics, so it look like that robot was installed a little over 10 years ago... Is it still chugging along stacking pancakes?
Thanks to the music used in this video my body is ready for some pancakes.
ah, nothing like a little appreciation from someone who gets it
Now machines are taking over even the most simplists things... stacking pancakes.... but still this is amazing to watch
So awesome. Stuff like this is long overdue. In fact, it's a pancake factory. Why does it have workers at all?
@MrSmartypants is actually correct. The proper usage of the word would be to say "and comprises four FlexPicker robots." Awesome video nonetheless.
This is an awesome video, can you make a ABB Robot to get me out of bed when I'm called in to work early?
The simple fact is that people are no longer prepared to do this kind of work because of the very high risk of developing Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Machines are the only viable long term solution.
I see how it can improve health, safety & hygiene, but the people were manually checking the pancakes with their bare hands before they went to the robot!
Awesome robot! Hopefully the workers will seize the factory. What would be better than a worker-owned pancake co-op? Not much!
Of course. Works with most food stuffs.
Really very helpful robots, everything will be completely automated...
wow thats an awesome robot. What puzzles me is why the operator at one part of the video still used his bare hands to handle the pancakes.
irony on the hygiene.
This looks neat, but is a picking robot really the right tool for this job? Wouldn't a simple funnel-like passive arrangement also work well?
It must stack the pancakes into a neat order for packaging
What is ABB and the food companies going to do when people no longer have jobs to buy their products? Is everybody just going to fix robots. Then what happens when that work is out sourced?
I'm an automation specialist and l don't see anybody addressing these issues and that's a real problem.
Let's all take a moment to think about the fact that we live in a world with such a thing as pancake robots.
yes you are funny :)
nice robotic machine but i less agree hygienic handling of food after seeing worker picking pancake with no gloves START at 0:47
also he wears a ring
What was with that final solution joke? Too soon man.
Paul McDonagh Well they did also have black people working on the line there, soon to be obsolete. You know like with tractors and farming equipment before. Got to love ABB 😂
No pancakes were harmed during the filming of this video.
But rumors suggest otherwise from some who claim there were some pancakes who escaped.
ABB is a German company.
who buys pancakes? How hard is it too add water to mix and fry? I can't imagine a one day or 7 day pancake would taste very good.
I have to ask why the pancakes get in a mess in the first place.
Pour ramasser les ordures dans le caniveau à saint michel c’est pratique
Ou sur les aires d’autoroute
does the robot have 4 DOF or 3 DOF ? from my view, this is 3 DOF robot. Am I correct?
Buffer shelve is cowered with dust,that is very hygienic
no, because there would be no way for me to stack them all, but with this new technology anything could be possible!
It isn't sad, in this monetary system it might be, but the advancement of a civilization isn't sad -_-
whoa thats ultra cool its so fast too at the beginning i thought that the video was in fast forward
I'm confused, is there any particular reason pancakes are put in specific stacks, or is the machine just grouping any old okay pancakes together? Also for most how it's done videos, I have some idea of what "bad" products they're looking for, but with the pancakes here, I don't. They all look the same to me - what characteristics are the sub par ones supposed to have?
Vision drives the entire process. Whatever the vision picks is the next pancake to be picked. Vision criteria is set up by the programmer, but ultimately the vision process is so fast it is hard to determine which criteria drives any particular vision selection/order. To the robot, the pancakes are all the same - it will pick whichever pancake the vision process asks for next. See the video segments where pancake images are overlayed with numbers.
Fracking awesome! :D I'm about to make pancakes now. If only I had a ABB robitc arm to help me :(
Thanks. But remember RG Luma did the integration.
How about the agriculture
industry using robots for picking strawberries?
Amazing, however I'd never buy pre-packaged pancakes. Although the usefulness of robotics and automation cannot be denied. I'd love to see more investment in this area of technology yet people are too focus on advertising data mines like facebook when it's clear this area of tech is much more valuable when creating "real" wealth.
I would buy these. They are robotic approved.
im trying to finish a hello world script whilst the pancakes have advanced in technology.
They're not robbing anyone from jobs. They're simply performing better at repetitive, monotonous tasks than humans could. These machines free people. If the same work can be done cheaper, better and with a fraction of the cost that makes products cheaper and more available. You aren't suggesting we'd get rid of tractors and start plowing field by hand or start weaving fabrics by hand? No one could afford food or clothes in that case.
ALL jobs, besides those that require creative/artistic skills, can be taken over by a machine. Doctors, Lawyers, teachers, you name it...
You'd have thought this could be done a lot cheaper with some well-designed chutes
@NinjaOnANinja I'm sure it's one of the reasons. There is certainly only a finite amount of jobs that can be available at any given time. I wonder if there is an equation that attempts to illustrate the number of jobs lost due to automation and advances in efficiency.
I agree. That doesn't seem like super hygiene if they use their bare hands to touch the pancakes.
why are the people handling the pancakes not wearing gloves?
Yet the even John Connor could not predict the second rebellion. This came when the plant hired Hispanic workers who couldn't read english and ignored the sign! Forever we will be doomed to a life of radioactive pancakes from our captor ABB.
Mmmm, just like mom used to make!
Superficial much?
This installation is in the United Kindom
The humans are for tactile and visual inspection. If you've worked with vision, you'd know that checking pancake consistency and textures optically is a losing battle.
I have asked the ABB Robotics training team to what they can come up with.
I always wonder if I'm the only one who sees all these misaligned shapes on the HMI.
1:39 'Robot1' is overlayed over a line
1:41 Both rectangular center areas are not consistent
Brilliant engineering and still, that stands out like a sore thumb to me.
i wish i had one of these to clean my room.
@diamantine100 I've been thinking(i have a tendency to do that after a joint) if every American owned 2 or 3 robots and leased them to corporations they would have the cheapest labour around and displaced workers would have an income- you could have a government agency to finance the purchase for people, the people in turn can lease them to corps the corps pay the lease and take care of all the maintenance.
01:29 2 pile-up
Even robots can make mistakes... But nice catch. ABB, go back and do your programming homework right next time... lol
What country is this Honeytop factory in? Very nice robot system btw.
Honeytop needs to invest in some gloves for the human "handlers" before they have an E. coli outbreak. One of them was wearing a ring (0:48)-- that's gotta be great for bring all sorts of contamination into the food supply.
Example of the trends to replace human labor for companies to increase profits. BTW this process didn't appear to be more hygienic when I saw humans touching the pancakes without gloves.
Glad you like it.
now really... how hard is it to mix flour, water, egg, vanilla, and sugar.
There is another method of putting these pan cakes in line . Just make a funnel type exit.
And it's even strong enough to pick up pancakes!
Can someone come up with an explanation why they had to use 4 robotic arms to just stack 3 pancakes on each other. I am sure they could have come up with a brilliant mechanical design that would have done the same job for a fraction of the cost. Just watch how it's made a bit.
I agree. What the heck. NO GLOVES?
now someone REALLY needs to make a YTP of this
this robot bring more economic value for society and other employees will work another one possible
2:34
Imagine getting your pancake-picking job replaced by a robot
0:47 not sure how comfortable I am with the lack of food service gloves
Very smart technology, very fast and amazing.
Game over humans, we had a nice run.
Can I have the backing music and the voiceover to do a remix? It'd probably be quite subtle, just lower the voice a little in the mix.
And hey, built-in promotional video!
Kind regards
Mr Braidy
Technician, Museum of Techno
Yes, You may.