Cobot palletising cycle time calculator

Adjust the sliders to match your application. The calculator estimates realistic throughput and checks whether a cobot can meet your line requirement.

Cycle time components
Pick time 0.9s
Consistent infeed, light cases Poor conveyor gaps, heavy loads
Travel time 1.3s
Compact layout, short reach Long reach, high clearance moves
Place time 0.7s
Simple pattern, no rotation Orientation rules, tight stacking
Settle time 0.5s
Rigid, stable cartons Deformable or unstable packaging
System overhead 2.0s
Fast gripper, well-controlled infeed (1.5s min) Slow gripper actuation, logic delays

Accounts for gripper actuation (blowoff / clamp open-close), conveyor indexing wait time, acceleration ramps, and layer-end logic delays. This is the time most vendor cycle time claims leave out.

Operation settings
Dual pick assumes compatible gripper tooling, sufficient payload capacity, and consistent case dimensions. Throughput uplift is modelled at 1.7x (not 2x) to account for increased travel and place time with a heavier load.
Cases per pallet
cases
Cell utilisation
%
% of shift time actively stacking. Losses include pallet changeovers, product changeovers, minor faults, and conveyor starvation. 80–88% is typical for a well-run cell.
Results
Pick Travel Place Settle System overhead
Cycle time
5.4s
per case
Cases / min
11.1
theoretical
Cases / hour
566
at 85% uptime
Pallets / hour
14.2
at 40 cases
Typical real-world cobot palletising: 8–12 CPM for single SKU, 4–7 CPM for mixed SKU. If your result sits outside these ranges, review your overhead and cycle time inputs.
Line validation — does a cobot meet your requirement?
Your required cases per hour
CPH required
Headroom
+42%
Adjust your required CPH to validate your application
Enter your line throughput requirement above. The calculator will tell you whether a cobot is a realistic fit and how much headroom you have.
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Estimates are based on industry-typical ranges for collaborative robot palletising systems. Actual performance depends on robot model, cell layout, product characteristics, safety configuration, and integrator programming. Always validate against integrator simulations before committing to a specification. Mixed SKU throughput applies an estimated 50% efficiency reduction; actual reduction depends on pattern complexity and changeover frequency. Cell utilisation represents the percentage of scheduled shift time spent actively stacking — losses include pallet changeovers, product changeovers, minor faults, and conveyor starvation.