The challenge

Robopac is one of the seven brands of Aetnagroup S.p.A., world leader in the packaging sector, specialized in end-of-line solutions. Robopac was born in 1982 and produces machines for wrapping with stretch film.
By participating in the Change2Twin initiative, Robopac is committed to using Digital Twin technology in order to ensure that its wrapping technology can guarantee perfect stabilization of the product and minimize the plastic material used for this purpose, aiming for the double advantage of saving consumables and reducing the environmental impact.

Robopac addressed the following topics within Change2Twin:

• generation and validation of the virtual model of a wrapped pallet (with University of Bologna)
• Digital Twin generation of a pallet wrapped under realistic load conditions (with University of Bologna)
• feasibility of using edge and / or cloud architectures for real-time use of the Digital Twin (with TTTech, University of Bologna and Cloudbroker).

The goal of the pilot project was to generate and validate the virtual simulation of the physical behavior of a wrapped pallet, and then use it as the main engine for a Digital Twin.

The Solution

This model will be used by customers of Robopac machines during the wrapping process: the Digital Twin will simulate the mechanical behavior of the pallet under realistic load conditions, in order to optimize the amount of wrapping film allowing the customer to reduce the impact on the environment, in accordance with the objectives of the European Green Deal.

Between the reality of the stresses during real transport and the Digital Twin developed in the project, the ROBOPAC-Techlab assets represent the “Physical Twin” that allows the validation of the complete cycle:

Digital Twin – Physical Twin – Real Transport Correlation:

With this approach the Digital Twin is the virtual model governed with the mathematical relationships that translate the real behavior into the virtual world, while the real transport case that is happening in the real world on trucks, trains, ships and planes during the transport of goods is the phenomenon that the Digital Twin is trying to imitate.

The validation between the two developments through a “Physical Twin” which is represented by movement platforms with one, two or six degrees of freedom that replicate the stresses and deformations of real world phenomena, allowing scientific investigations to transpose from the real dimension (real transport) to the dimension of the laboratory (Physical Twin) and then to the Digital Twin (Virtualization).