How collaborative robots transform the food industry

Automation is transforming the food industry with robot applications as diverse as the range of food in our supermarkets. From the first robot-run lettuce farm in the world producing 30,000 heads of lettuce a day to novel fruit-picking robotic systems capable of distinguishing between apples and oranges, productivity all along the food chain is optimized with the revolution now also reaching the work in meatpacking plants. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, meatpacking is the most dangerous job in America. It is therefore not surprising that this industry has the highest rate of fluctuation; Repetitive tasks, tiring and strenuous movements are not only an issue for those who work in the meat industry alone but across the entire food industry.

Swedish sugar producer Nordic Sugar is one of the food manufacturers automating an especially repetitive task; three collaborating robots (known as cobots) assist in sample inspection during the main production time. They use a gripper to lift around 45,000 containers with sugar beet samples from a scale and scan their bar-codes. Whether it is scanning, stacking eggs, spraying bread rolls, or packing food in cartons: cobots are at the forefront of the food industry transformation. They become the third helping hand in production, which takes over physically demanding work and gives the staff time and space for more valuable tasks – without depriving them of their work. The personnel at Nordic Sugar are now in a position, with the use of the robot arms, to concentrate more on the area of process optimization.

Automation with cobots is an innovation which especially benefits small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). The use of robot arms like the UR3, UR5, or UR10 can be implemented economically and the small size of the robots and their simple programming allows them to be used for the most varied applications in the SME sector. The cobots enable companies to better deal with volatile markets while increasing competitiveness. The six-axis robot arms from Universal Robots are now in use globally in a wide range of industries and applications, from handling Pick-and-Place tasks to or partial process steps in the packaging branch.

In the food industry, the quality of the products and their faultless further processing and handling is especially important. The gripping of already packaged food and its preparation for transport is a matter of delicacy of touch and precision - criteria that can easily be fulfilled by lightweight cobots. At the Italian Cascina Italia company, over 2.5 million eggs have to pack every day. A UR5 robot with pneumatically controlled grippers is responsible for stacking cartons of 10 eggs each in boxes which finally contain 1,440 eggs. In this way the robot packs about 15,000 eggs per hour.

The application of cobots has also proved useful in environments with special climatic or hygienic conditions. They work in environmental temperatures between 0 and 50 degrees Celsius and function in low-oxygen environments which would require complex equipment for human staff. The machines are hermetically sealed and provided with a smooth outer housing that collects almost no dust or deposits. As a tool, the robots from Universal Robots have all the characteristics to fulfill the specific requirements of the industry.

For everyone with an affinity for tomorrow’s technologies (today´s technology in Singapore) and would also appreciate a helping hand at home, this article is worthwhile. Lucy is definitely an interesting solution for all people needing a helping hand on the home front. And hey, if it is your birthday, the robot will also do a little jig for you.