Rokk’s robot boosts ice cream, cake capacity

A new robotic production line from Rokk Processing can deliver high production volumes for manufacturers of ice cream and artisanal cakes.

The RO600 can fill up to 600 five litre containers of ice cream or 800 one or two litre containers of ice cream per hour. It can also create artisanal decoration on up to 360 rectangular cakes or 300 round cakes in the same timeframe.

The machine features a semiautomatic, pneumatically powered robot arm, which is capable of filling containers using a range of aesthetic designs. It can also recreate the appearance of hand crafted patterns on ice cream cakes or sponge cakes.

Rokk managing director Phil Darvell claimed the machine was not designed to replace production line staff. “It’s not about replacement; it’s about evolution and providing ice cream manufacturers with more opportunities to extend existing product lines, and therefore profit margins, with minimum effort.

Return on investment

“Historically, the return on investment available from manually producing the products that the RO600 is capable of creating was absolutely minimal to the point of being barely worthwhile. With the robot however, ice cream cakes and other such products are easily added to a line and with the volume it is capable of creating, the return is much, much higher.”

The machine has a fully open stainless steel frame for easy cleaning and is mounted on wheels for easy transportation around the factory floor.

In addition, it has a built-in Siemens S7 control panel, which is capable of storing numerous decoration recipes. It also allows line managers to control output remotely within a predetermined network or with an established WiFi connection.

Easy to operate

“The robot is a complex piece of equipment, but it has been specifically designed to be incredibly easy to operate,” said Darvell. “It’s a machine that requires just one person to change the trays or containers, and there’s even an optional extra where the robot can do that as well.

“We’ve invested in it so manufacturers can easily expand product lines, without having to undertake hours and hours of training.”

The RO600 can come with a variety of optional extras. These include a ripple kit with a dedicated ripple nozzle and a remote pneumatic syrup filling valve to control the syrup filling volume.

There is also a double nozzle kit for dual colour designs, programmable recipe patterns, and an ice cream pipe and holding ice cream pipe system for cake filling decoration.

Source: Rokk Processing