Delicate placement of filled chocolates/pralines into assortment trays

In confectionery boxing for assorted ranges (e.g., Quality Street, Garoto, seasonal pralines), individual chocolates must be selected and seated one-by-one into the shaped pockets of preformed trays or boxes in a defined pattern. The objects are fragile and variable: soft-centred or filled pralines that deform under excess clamp force, tempered chocolate whose glossy surface is easily marred or fingerprinted, and pieces that vary in geometry across a single assortment. The task sits at the secondary-packaging stage downstream of moulding/enrobing and upstream of lidding and cartoning, often at high line speed. It is hard for a robot because grasp force must be modulated per piece to avoid crushing or surface damage while still seating the piece accurately into a tight tray pocket; current solutions rely on carefully calibrated vacuum cups, but mixed-assortment, soft-centred lines remain a labor-intensive manual pain point. Nestlé's own Chocobot project (with Pollux) demonstrates direct interest in robotic chocolate-into-box assembly. 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.