Objective To improve the accuracy and efficiency of the transitional manual cutting machine for corrugated cardboard. Methods Combined with the requirements of relevant national standards, an automatic corrugated cardboard sampling device was designed, which was mainly composed of cabinet, workbench, sample plates, horizontal caging devices on sample plates, revolving blades, motor shafts, cutting boards, vertical caging devices for cardboards, touch screen control system and safety hood. Results The samples prepared with this device had high passing rate, with clear corrugated board holes and parallel board edges, and without burrs or torn edges. It has high efficiency and could prepare 1500～ 1800 qualified samples per hour. It also showed high safety since the revolving blades could be stopped immediately by the opening of safety hood, what is more, rotary cutting made the blades durable and with long service life, so it had low cost. Conclusion This automatic corrugated cardboard sampling device had high accuracy and efficiency. In a word, it had a high practicability.