De-nest and close/fold soft bread carriers

Sandwich and wrap production requires picking single slices of fresh sliced bread (or unfolding/placing tortillas and rolls) from a stack, then closing the assembled product by placing the top slice or folding the carrier without crushing or marking it. Bread is highly compressible, crush-prone, and varies slice-to-slice in thickness and moisture. This is a distinct task from filling deposition, bracketing it at the start (de-nest the base) and end (lid/fold/close) of the assembly cell. It is difficult for a robot because the crush threshold is low and product-specific, slices stick and tear, and the gripper must conform to a soft, slightly different object every cycle while keeping pace with the line. We identified this through our own research; we have not confirmed the specifics with the customer directly. This page is our researched read — a starting point for that conversation.