Compliant handling and orientation of filled flexible wet-pet-food pouches

Mars Petcare produces large volumes of wet food in flexible retort pouches. Between filling/sealing and secondary packaging, individual filled pouches—floppy, fluid-filled, and non-rigid—must be grasped, oriented, and presented for cartoning or display-ready packing. The pouch changes shape as it is lifted, fluid shifts inside it, and the seal area must not be stressed or punctured. This task sits at the wet-food line's downstream end. It is hard for a robot because the object has no fixed geometry: a rigid pinch grasp can slosh contents, distort the pouch, or compromise a seal, and the contact point shifts as the pouch deforms in-hand. Specific Mars throughput figures for this step are not public; it is included as a genuinely deformable-handling task distinct from the bulk case-packing it feeds into. Note: the surrounding tote/case movement is throughput automation and out of AGD scope—only the deformable single-pouch manipulation qualifies. 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.