Illustrative engagements

MANUFACTURING

Ontario manufacturer — line-flow rebalance

A mid-size Ontario manufacturer running three shifts on a mixed-model assembly line found that upstream buffering collapsed every night when a manual inspection station fell behind. Perception on an existing cobot cell was tuned for day-shift lighting but misclassified parts under sodium fixtures, starving the downstream palletiser.

RoboFlux rebuilt the computer vision pipeline with sensor fusion — adding a structured-light depth check alongside the colour camera — and rebalanced buffer sizes in the PLC logic governing inter-station handshakes. Motion planning parameters were adjusted for the highest-variance SKU, and operators received human-in-the-loop recovery training for perception-confidence drops.

The engagement ran twelve weeks from feasibility through validated production, including functional safety review against ISO/TS 15066 cobot guidelines. We do not publish throughput percentages; the client's internal operations team tracks ongoing performance against their own baselines.

Line-flow mapping — buffers sized against real shift data

Client briefing — feasibility before hardware purchase

WAREHOUSING

Warehouse — vision-guided sortation pilot

A regional warehousing operator needed to route mixed-SKU totes from receiving to zone pick faces without adding barcode scan stations at every divert point. The feasibility study at our Toronto office evaluated camera placement, conveyor speed limits, and the SLAM map requirements for a small AMR fleet sharing aisles with forklift traffic.

We deployed a vision-guided sortation pilot: edge AI classifiers identified tote contents from exterior labelling and wear patterns, triggering PLC-controlled diverters. AMR routing was integrated with the existing WMS through a ROS bridge, with human pick stations retaining override authority at every decision point. CSA-informed safety review covered speed-and-separation zones around active AMR paths.

Pilot scope was intentionally limited — one receiving lane and two zone destinations — so the operator could evaluate fit before scaling. Structured test campaigns ran across two shift patterns before the internal logistics team assumed day-to-day tuning under retainer support.

FOOD PROCESSING

Food plant — automation cell integration

A food processing facility required a new pick-and-place cell for variable-format packaging without shutting down adjacent washdown lines. The project combined automation cell design, PLC integration with existing CIP interlocks, and robot perception tuned for reflective film and condensation on package surfaces.

Our engineers commissioned the cell during a planned maintenance window, running hardware-in-the-loop tests at the Niagara Street lab beforehand against sample packaging supplied under NDA. Control systems wiring included stainless-compatible cabling routes, sanitary-rated enclosure placements, and the functional safety documentation the plant's quality team needed for internal audit — not third-party certification.

Integration bridged the robot controller, upstream filler PLC, and downstream case packer through an OPC-UA gateway. Operator runbooks covered human-in-the-loop procedures for format changeovers and perception re-calibration after deep-clean cycles.

Pre-commissioning — bench validation before site install

Cobot commissioning — collaborative zone tuning

AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLY

Automotive supplier — cobot deployment

A Tier-2 automotive supplier sought to offload repetitive fastening and visual inspection from a station that had become a hiring bottleneck. Rather than specifying hardware first, RoboFlux ran a two-week feasibility assessment measuring cycle-time variance, reach constraints, and the force-torque signatures that distinguish a seated fastener from a cross-threaded one.

The deployed cobot runs force-controlled insertion with computer vision verifying seat depth and thread presence. Motion planning sequences were optimised for the three highest-volume part families, with manual fallback stations preserved for low-volume prototype runs. PLC integration maintains the existing Andon system — new faults surface on the same HMI panels operators already monitor.

Safety validation followed ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066 guidance with the supplier's joint health-and-safety committee. We make no claims about headcount reduction or guaranteed cycle-time improvement; the supplier tracks operational metrics internally.