CV
Graduated in Computer Science at University of Milan in 1989, Michele CANTELLA started his working activity in the field of industrial automation. He moved to ATOM Group in 1991, became its R&D Director of ATOM in 1997 and has been a protagonist of the technological evolution of ATOM products in electronics and software field. He is since 2011 in charge of the software R&D team of Main Group, a company specialized in machineries for injection moulds. He participated to several collaborative research projects (eg:“Euroshoe”) where he had the chance to collaborate with many different industrial enterprises, footwear schools, Inescop and famous Universities. He represents since 2005 Assomac (Italian shoe machinery association) in UITIC Executive Committee.
ABSTRACT
Today the automatic cutting of shoe components by means of special high speed CAD/CAM systems is surely acquired and consolidated by the footwear factories. But at the end of this fundamental phase there isn’t still any automatic process in order to allow a fast picking and subsequent sorting of the shoe components just cut by the plotters. Actually the same components are routed by human workers to the next working departments for skiving and assembling.Behind this project there is the idea of using special anthropomorphic robots (with six interpolated axes) , today already used for manipulation of goods in warehouses, connected at the end of the cutting plotter. On the wrist of this robot is assembled a special head made of a matrix of suckers.Depending on the geometry of the leather components to pick, the relative suckers will be switched on and, by means of a special vacuum pump, all the pieces just cut by the plotter will be handled by the anthropomorphic robot arm which is also in charge to locate the same components in the relative boxes divided by shoe article and proper size. The focus of this project is to reduce the total time for picking and to alleviate workers from a repetitive and alienate job.