ROBOTICS
Find out precisely why is having fun with robots ZOTTER
At the Austrian Zotter chocolate factory, over 270,000 visitors per year are able to watch robots hard at work making pralines and chocolate bars, while another is employed to entertain and serve chocolates to visitors in the Chocolate Theatre.
T
he Zotter chocolate factory was founded in 1987. Today it offers more than 500 chocolate varieties – ranging from saffron and pistachios to pink coconut and gummi fish.
Since March 2019, the Zotter Experience
World theme park in the Austrian village of Bergl, near Riegersburg, has employed a robot to entertain visitors in its Chocolate Theatre. Visitors are able to select their favourite praline using a touch panel. The robot then grips the chosen treat using a suction cup, provides entertainment with some small rhythmic movements and then services the praline through an outlet. “The main reason for specifying this robot for us was the fun factor for visitors,” explains Josef Zotter, Managing Director. “We wanted to let everyone see and experience the latest in robotic automation.” However, this is not the first robot to be used by Zotter. Since 2017, two robots, supplied by KUKA, have also been hard at work on the production floor, where they have been helping turn chocolate into pralines or bars and to provide precision handling of the temperature-sensitive raw material.
28 Kennedy’s Confection February 2024
A robot serves visitors with their praline of choice in the Zotter Chocolate Theatre.
Thinking laterally “Sometimes you have to think laterally to innovate,” continues Josef. And that is how the idea of incorporating what are believed to be the World’s first chocolate making robots into the factory was born. “We chose KUKA as our robot partner because we share a drive towards innovation,” says Josef. In the production area, two robots,
suitable for use in cleanroom applications – and meeting the requirements of cleanroom class ISO2 – have been tasked with undertaking moulding operations. Thanks to a special powder coating and special seals to protect against particle emission, the cleanroom robots feature extremely smooth surfaces. The robots do not generate dust or particles caused by
KennedysConfection.com
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