Robotics
Generic Technologies and
Technical Challenges in Food
Automation
Darwin G. Caldwell
Centre for Robotics and Automation
University of Salford.
Robotics
Centre for Robotics and
Automation
Founded in late 1980’s
15 researchers
End
-
effectors, haptics, biomedical robotics, industrial
robotics, control eng.
20+ Postgraduate students
25% in food related activities
Recent Industry based R & D
ASAP
Food Factory in a Pipe
CASPAR
ERDF
–
NW Industry Support
Robotics
Robotics and Automation
Robotics
Robotics and Automation
Robotics
Food Automation
The Need for Change
Improve Yields
Reduce Waste/Rework
Cope with Short Lead Times
Increase Profitability
Cope with Product Customisation
Meet Hygiene Standards
Improve Quality and Consistency
Comply with Legislation
Provide Traceability
Powerful Retail Customers
Rapid Response To Customer Demand
(Skilled) Labour Shortages
Expanding EU/International Competition
Robotics
Food Automation Barriers
Real and Perceived
Human
•
Payback on replacing unskilled labour is low
•
Operators have high dexterity, accuracy and flexibility
•
Lack of Technical Expertise in the Industry
•
Actions of the human operators have to be mimicked
Product
•
Variable Packaging Combinations / Promotions
•
Short Production Runs
•
Short Term Focus
•
Supply and demand are seasonal and regional
•
Natural variability of Product v Consistency
Industry
•
Inherent Conservatism
•
Low margins
low investment
Robotics
Food Sector Automation Issues
Technical
lack of equipment suitable for the production cycle time
the modularity and the flexibility needed with respect to:
robots, sensors, grippers and systems layouts.
products that can withstand the "wash down" standards
cold areas
Reliability!!!
Skills and competences compared to automotive
Typically less competence (compared to automotive)
installation
specification
maintenance
running of highly automated production.
Robotics
Why Use Robots?
Quality improvements
High positioning precision
High repeatability
No deviation due to fatigue/ high concentration
Highly accurate inspection and measurement using sensors.
Improves
visual appearance
Perceived quality of the product
Fault detection
Reduced materials costs, rework and wastage
Robotics
Why Use Robots?
Improved Working Environment
Short term fatigue or long term injury or disability.
Fewer Health and safety legislation issues
Issues
Heavy lifting
> 20 tons per shift
Repetitive work
> 4000 single actions per shift
Contaminated environments (solvents, noise, heat, dust)
Jobs requiring continuously high levels of concentration.
Robotics
Why Use Robots?
Flexibility to Change
Robots/Automation can be extremely flexible.
Robots/Automation can cope with short life cycles.
Robot arms have higher/better capabilities than
humans
Robotics
Robot Utilisation
Financial
Social
Technical
Can the robot perform the task
-
speed, accuracy,
payload, repeatability?
Is Positioning and Orientation required?
Is the task simple and repetitive?
Is the cycle times acceptable?
Is this an established application?
Are there quality control issues?
Is inspection part of the job?
Task does not require Intelligence (Commonsense)?
Robotics
Factory Robots
Robotics
Industrial Robots
Robotics
Robots
Are they right for this sector?
Degrees of Freedom
5 or 6 dof typical
Food requirements
–
typically x, y, z and perhaps rotate
Payload
1kg
-
500kg
Most food products are under 0.5kg
Accuracy/Repeatability
Operators typically place to mm
Robots are accurate to 0.02
-
0.05mm
Reliability
>50,000hrs
Robotics
Industry Response to Automation
“
The scourge of introducing mechanisation and
automation in product assembly and packaging
operations in much of the food industry is the
reduced intrinsic reliability of the resulting
system
”
C. A. Pearson Consultant, ‘Food Factory of the Future’ Conference, June 2001,
Gothenburg.
Robotics
Current Robots
Are they right for this sector?
Speed
7.5
–
10m/s
Humans 1 cycle/s maximum 1
-
2m/s
Envelope
1m
-
2.5m
Humans 0.75
-
1m
–
movement is possible!
Programming/Interface
Automotive
–
high experience base
Food industry ….
Gripper/ End
-
effector
Sensor
Cost
Robotics
Over
-
specification?
Robotics
Position and Orientation
Essential part of design process
Humans are highly tolerant of imprecision
Humans are imprecise
Sensory systems permit realignment
Vision
Expensive
Not important in current layout and operation
Conveyor transfers
Lack of machine training and operation skill
Acceptance of poor machine reliability
Use of Low cost and poorer materials
Robotics
Robotics
Positioning and Orientation
Robotics
ERDF
3 year project
Available to SME
Objective 2 Fully legible and transitional areas
Technology reviews
Short term research studies
Robotics
Robotics in the Food Industry
Conclusions
-
Observations
Training
Companies that use robots well often develop their
own robots
Commitment
Many/most failures in the UK have been caused by
operators not buying into the project
Quality improvements are possible
Improved Working environment
Robotics
Robotics in the Food Industry
Conclusions
-
Observations
Robots have equal/better performance to
human arms
Robots are designed for some sectors but not
generally the food sector
Positioning and Orientation is costly to regain
–
keep it.
Flexibility
Robots only need to be trained once
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