New Pre-Roll Robot Hits The Cannabis Market:1,000 Joints Per Hour Without The $500K Price Tag

Sorting Robotics, co-founded by ex-NASA-JPL engineers and known for introducing the first automated pre-roll infusion machine, has launched AuraOne - a cutting-edge robot designed to produce over 1,000 pre-rolled joints per hour.

In an exclusive interview with Benzinga Cannabis, CEO Nohtal Partansky talks about its seamless integration with production lines, automating preroll and blunt manufacturing with added flexibility and efficiency.

“The AuraOne is a response to the realities of the cannabis market. 98% of companies do not need to produce 50,000 prerolls/day so they don't need a machine that costs almost $500k,” Partansky said.

Technological Innovations Behind AuraOne

AuraOne's design, in collaboration with pre-roller manufacturer Hefestus, boasts a highly variable blunt tube holding/feeding system, a simultaneous pack-and-vibration filling method with a patented cone folding system.

“When we started working with Hefestus to become their North American distributor we helped them design the AuraOne to become the "highly flexible" version of the Aura2000. The AuraOne has three features that make it perfect for blunts. The first is the highly variable blunt tube holding/feeding system, plus a simultaneous pack and vibration approach to filling the tubes, while it also allows the utilization of the patented cone folding system to pack the end of the blunt which makes it so that flower never falls out of an open-ended blunt tube,” Partansky explained.

“The trends in cannabis are continuously evolving so buying a single machine that does a single form factor puts producers in a serious predicament because they can't adapt or compete effectively,” he continued. “The AuraOne is priced so that it is within reach of everyone in the industry in this difficult financial market.”

Economic Efficiency For Scaling Production

Addressing the financial constraints and scalability challenges faced by small to medium cannabis operators, AuraOne presents an attractive proposition.

“A big problem that most operators have with acquiring automation is that most machines only do 1 form factor and they're $200k-$450k. If you are a medium-sized business, dropping $450k on a machine that can only make cone-style joints and pumps out 3,000 joints/hr feels like using a shotgun to swat a fly”, Partansky said.

Priced at $180k with an ROI of about one year for operations producing 30,000 joints per month, it represents a significant advancement in operational efficiency.

Operational Throughput And Market Position

AuraOne's capability to produce over 1,000 joints per hour not only streamlines the manufacturing process but also ensures compliance through precision weighing, a task that would otherwise require significant manpower.

“The aura is built to make 1,000+ joints/hr and it does it with precision via a check weigher and in any form factor that's currently on the market. This is huge for brands and co-packers alike. Instead of weighing joints by hand, then closing them; that whole process is done by the AuraOne,” Partansky said. “Weighing every single joint is crucial for compliance as well as spillage and doing it manually would require a team of 8 to match the throughput of the AuraOne.”

Looking ahead, Sorting Robotics is not resting on its laurels. With AuraOne addressing current production needs, the company plans to complete the automation puzzle by introducing retail packaging solutions.

“We have the AuraOne for preroll manufacturing, Jiko for internal infusion, and Stardust for external infusion, and later this year we will have the last module for retail packaging. The final step will be stitching all of these components together to have a modular fully automated line. Stay tuned at the end of this year for that one”.

AuraOne - Automated Pre-Roll System from Sorting Robotics Inc. on Vimeo.

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