High-Speed Clip Insertion System Ensures Consistent Placement

Plastic clips and fasteners are indispensable components in automotive, electronics and construction sectors due to their versatility and beneficial properties. Their widespread use in assembly and securing applications is due to their lightweight and corrosion resistant characteristics and because they enable strong, permanent and adjustable connection. 

In a typical automotive assembly process, for instance, arrowhead, A-shape or V-shape clips are heavily used to secure plastic components, cladding, cupholders and trim pieces in the vehicle’s interior, says Michael Lalonde, CEO and president of the Innovation Group of Companies based in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

“Clip installation has been automated many times, but these are usually custom solution that have certain drawbacks,” says Lalonde. Innovative’s R&D team has been working on a standardized solution and Lalonde notes they are “perfecting everything from the feeding to the installation, and inserting a clip every two seconds, at a cost-effective price point, greater reliability and a smaller footprint than a traditional custom-automated solution.”

The product, RoboClip, was officially launched at Automate 2025 in May, where Zachary Cutt, R&D manager, Innovative Automation, was charged with demonstrating the clip insert solution that he and his team had been designing, prototyping and developing over the past two years.

“This is our robotic clip install machine,” he started. “And the reason we developed this was to make an easier, simpler solution for manufacturers in automotive, particularly industrial and appliances.”

Harnessing R&D, Experience & Grit to Create a Turnkey Clip Feeder

RoboClip is just the latest innovation in Innovative Automation’s range of advanced manufacturing production solutions. The fully integrated automation platform addresses a major challenge (jamming in the feeder) in clip-based assembly processes.

“Our robotic clip machine is designed to install automotive interior clips, and we do it in a quicker, more reliable fashion,” says Cutt. “This machine is available off the shelf, so it reduces lead time, [comes in at a] better cost and [is] more reliable than traditional systems that are used on the market.”

That Cutt nails his sales pitch is expected. “I come from a mechanical engineering background, and I started at Innovative Automation as a mechanical designer and machinist,” he shares. “And it took all of that knowledge in designing custom automation over a period of 10 years to move into this research and development role and develop standardized automation products like the one that we have here.”

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Cutt is equally enthusiastic to dive into the inner mechanics of the automated system. He shares that Innovative Automation has been in the business of developing custom clipping cells for the past 30 years. “That’s probably 40 cells that we’ve worked on and each time we’re reinventing the wheel with a slightly different design,” he says.

The drive toward standardization led to a breakthrough in their clipping cell technology. Part of this innovation is evident in the system’s rapid refill capabilities. RoboClip achieves a clip-to-clip cycle time of about two seconds, with the clip head able to refill in just one second. It can load 25 clips while the part continues moving through the system. Cutt highlights that the system eliminates downtime and is designed for round-the-clock operation.

RoboClip has a compact working area (spanning 1,000 mm wide, 750 mm deep and 300 mm tall) and comes in two other sizes. “We’re really trying to focus on it being as compact as possible to save square footage in your plant,” says Cutt. “We have customers that are interested in integrating it on the outfeed of mold lines in those tight areas, so the small one is ideal for that.” RoboClip’s website notes that the standard version of RoboClip has a compact footprint of 1,346 mm × 1,416 mm × 708 mm.

In addition, the user interface is built to be user-friendly so that operators with no programming or robotics experience can configure and maintain the system. RoboClip supports camera system integration for part verification, quality control and alignment adjustments, all of which enhances precision and process reliability.

“An integrator or an end user can purchase the equipment, bolt it down over top of one of their conveyance methods and have it up and running in a matter of hours because of our included interface that we've developed,” says Cutt.

Clear the Jam, Restore the Flow

Housed on the rear side of the equipment, the feed system singulates clips from a bulk supply and stages clips in vertical magazines. Between machine cycles, the head docks with the nearest ready feeder and up to 25 clips are dispensed into the head in under 2 seconds. During a machine cycle the head draws clips from the onboard magazine ensuring minimized cycle times. 

Cutt points out another innovation: the advanced anti-jam feature. “You don’t have any of the challenges with traditional systems of having to shut down the equipment and remove jams manually. So, here’s the demonstration...”

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As if it was commanded, the feed system jams. The machine instantly detects the obstruction and automatically opens the feeder to dump clips and quickly restarts without manual intervention.

“That same technology is also in the head,” explains Cutt. “So anywhere that the clip is touching the equipment, it is able to recover from a potential jam. The whole design was to focus on flexible integration, but also reliability and uptime. This unit has its own control system, so it’s shipped fully turnkey.”

Editor’s Note: Machine Design’s WISE (Workers in Science and Engineering) hub compiles our coverage of workplace issues affecting the engineering field, in addition to contributions from equity seeking groups and subject matter experts within various subdisciplines.