Robotic Handling Takes Shape: Demonstration of the Sintering Station at Elcogen’s Facility

The automation of Solid Oxide Cell (SOC) manufacturing has taken another important step forward within the AMPS project. Between 30 September and 2 October 2025, partners successfully carried out the first on-site demonstration of the robotic sintering station at Elcogen’s ELCO1 factory in Tallinn – one of Europe’s most advanced SOC manufacturing plants.

The activity, led by Smartal with the support of Elcogen, aimed to validate the performance of the robotic system directly on the production line, testing its functionality, ergonomics, and integration with other equipment. The goal: to pave the way for fully automated and precise cell handling during the sintering stages of SOC manufacturing.

Testing in real industrial conditions

Over three days of testing, the robot’s mechanical and software interfaces were evaluated across multiple operational stages – from delivery and installation to functionality testing, fine-tuning, and demonstration.
The tests covered two distinct SOC production steps:

• Green cells handling
• Sintered cell handling

From challenges to innovation

Handling both green and sintered cells poses unique challenges: they are fragile, lightweight, and sensitive to deformation. To address this, Smartal developed custom robotic grippers tailored to each process.

For green cell handling, Bernoulli suction-cup gripper. The system successfully picked and separated up to four cells per cycle, achieving an initial targeted loading time. Ongoing optimization will focus on integrating vacuum sensors and a colour recognition system.

Sintered cells handling was also tested using a suction-cup gripper.

Elcogen summarized the performance of over 100 cells tested during the demonstration. The results confirmed the feasibility of robotic handling in SOC sintering – a crucial foundation for future industrial deployment.

Looking ahead

The next development steps will include:

• Enhancement of the positioning accuracy
• Validation of the operation under real work conditions
• Reduction of the cycle times

This demonstration marks a key milestone in AMPS’ roadmap toward automated, digitalized, and cost-effective SOC production. The collaboration between Smartal and Elcogen showcases how innovation in robotics can accelerate Europe’s path to industrial-scale clean energy technologies.