Am I comparing Fairino FR5 or tray preparation?

The notes are scrappy, but they distinguish the tray adjustments that aren't obvious in the footage. They also show most missed pickups occurring after tray replacement across the candidates.

@SamArcher0420 A shared tray trial sounds useful, with ordinary tray replacement included. Set acceptable placement and operator involvement in advance, and log both against each candidate.

@AlexAbbott0037 We had a separate transfer application where the locating step was awkward, but the continuous run looked fine. A tray replacement by another operator exposed it

@IsabelBennett0735 Robot cost or fixture cost? Our meeting keeps getting stuck there.

For my setup, package cost, labelled as fixture work. Somebody still had to pay, whichever column won

I'd also keep the gripper identical to make the comparison fair. It takes another variable out while you investigate tray location.

@AlexAbbott0037 An identical gripper doesn't establish fairness when its mounting arrangement favours one candidate. The adapter compromise would influence the comparison as well as the gripper itself.

@SofiaBell0630 You're right, identical tooling was too broad a rule. Match the gripping requirement, list adapter and tuning differences, and use the proposed tools when sharing one would skew the comparison.

Could one candidate bring a custom fixture, then? I'm unsure what you hold constant if each proposal has different tooling.

It can, provided the fixture belongs in the purchase scope. Use equivalent incoming samples and acceptance requirements, and account for fixture cost and changeover effort.

The samples I've retained represent ordinary variation in our batch. We didn't select rejected workpieces specifically to make the demonstration difficult.

Then include those alongside the easy ones. A comparison made entirely of awkward samples could misrepresent the mix just as badly as the polished demo.

We also encounter empty pockets in normal work. I'd like to include that condition in the comparison without anybody creating an unplanned fault while the equipment moves.

@SamArcher0420 Have the equipment lead define the test and expected response. The empty pocket should be prepared under safe access conditions, not created during motion.

We also recorded how much help the second operator needed. A fast changeover with the demonstrator pointing at every setting wasn't our actual staffing plan

@IsabelBennett0735 I've settled the next decision: use a common tray trial with agreed placement and intervention limits. Any choice of the arm will depend on that result; the existing videos don't settle it.

A defined trial is a useful decision in itself. Making the selection depend on it matches the limits of the clips.