Poultry Processing SINTEF

Posted by Klain on

Company: SINTEF
Industry: Poultry Processing
DENSO Products Used: VS 087
Company Location: Norway
Website: http://www.sintef.no

PROBLEM

In one of the few industries where automation seems to have leveled out, a breakthrough application has now successfully demonstrated how robots can perform even the most challenging food handling usually done manually by human operators.

SOLUTION

At SINTEF, Scandinavia’s biggest independent research center, engineers developed the “Gribbot”, a specially designed system using a DENSO VS 087 robot for processing chicken breasts.

“This part of the chicken is the most costly one, so meat producers are naturally concerned about the yield”, explains SINTEF’s research leader for the Gribbot, Dr. Ekrem Misimi. “However, automating this process, as any procedure that relies on human hand-based operations, is very challenging. With the Gribbot, we wanted to show to manufacturers and food retailers that this kind of automation is possible today.”

The Gribbot is based on the center’s experiences with several robot-based projects such as RoboTrim project, also using a DENSO VS 087, which was used to trim objects in a salmon fillet. This experience with the DENSO V087, primarily because of its flexibility and the ease of use, has opened up a sea of opportunities in robot-based automation in the food industry for handling and processing operations.

The main goal but biggest challenge was to generate a satisfactory yield comparable to that of human operators – not an easy task, given the slippery surface, soft texture and the high variation of the chicken breasts as such. “We had to implement the scraping of the fillet from the carcass along the rib cage so that a minimal amount of rest meat was left on the carcass. This was an even bigger challenge for the entire system – from the detection of the gripping point with machine vision as well as creating an optimal path movement for the robot arm”, says Dr. Misimi. The biggest challenge, however, consisted in the development of the gripper. The chicken fillet had to be handled with care so that it would not be teared off or squeezed too hard.

RESULT

The Gribbot consists of a transport system, a machine vision subsystem, a robot arm and a  compliant gripper. The DENSO VS 087 robot-based concept is using 3D machine vision – the Gribbot’s “eye”, the DENSO robot serves as its “arm”, and the compliant gripper, which was designed by SINTEF, functions as the Gribbot’s “hand”.

SINTEF researchers opted for the DENSO VS 087 because it as an IP67-rated robot suitable for working with food raw material. It is also the fastest robot arm in its class, with a very short cycle time. “Having a robot that is easy to program is very important to us”, says Dr. Misimi, “as we can quickly develop a prototype.” Another reason for the DENSO V087 was the fact that it could be programmed entirely in a LabView environment, using the DENSO robotic library developed by ImagingLab/DigiMetrix. All of the equipment is interlaced in LabView, including the 3D machine vision. The system’s gripper is also controlled via the built-in solenoid valves in the robot arm, alleviating the researchers for long loss cables. SINTEF was also able to use the built-in electrical wiring of the DENSO V087 to send and receive necessary signals from the gripper. The machine vision is connected through USB 3.0 to the controlling computer and accessed via LabView.

The Gribbot can process a chicken breast in about 2-3 seconds, which – in a Norwegian chicken industry context – in perspective, translates into a concept based on one or more Gribbots being able to replace up to 30 human operators (8-12 per shift), resulting in huge savings for the industry and releasing the employees from highly repetitive tasks.

While it’s still a research project, the Gribbot demonstrates a promising technology readiness level that needs one more development cycle prior to potential industrial prototyping. The potential benefits of the Gribbot for the food industry are enormous – the Gribbot can optimize the entire production, making it both more cost- and operations-efficient due to the automation of the harvesting procedure. It also shows an optimal utilization of raw material very close to the one achieved by human operators. In the future, the system could also be applied to other, similar tasks throughout the food processing industry.

Movie available here: https://youtu.be/9BcqXaf0F2E

Fish Trimming SINTEF

Posted by Klain on

Company: SINTEF
Industry: Fishing
DENSO Products Used: VS-087
Company Location: Norway
Website: http://www.sintef.no

PROBLEM

The processing of fish and meat is subject to strict regulations: The production process has to be completely hygienic. It must be possible to track the origin of every product. Fish and meat have to have a consistent quality.

SOLUTION

The research company SINTEF from the Norwegian city of Trondheim is currently working to automate and optimize the way these foods are processed. For the processing, SINTEF uses the highly efficient six-axis robot of the model VS-087 produced by DENSO Robotics. With over 2200 employees SINTEF is one of Norway’s biggest research facilities.

“Our robot fillets the fish and operates the cutting blades”, Lars Wirenfeldt, Sales Manager of DENSO Robotics in Scandinavia, explains. The fish is measured with the help of sensors, so it can then be analyzed at which exact points the blade has to cut around the skin and the bones. Another advantage for the consumer is that unwanted bloody spots can be identified by the sensors and can be removed by the robot. The use of robots ensures that the weight and shape of the filets is close to identical when they go into sale. The process is also intended for portioning chicken breasts.

Demanding work environment
“The biggest challenge when processing fish and meat is that all pieces are different but are still supposed to look identical when they go into sale”, Harry Westavik, Research Manager for automation and product efficiency at SINTEF, says. But the processing of fish and meat is a difficult field to operate in. Westavik: “The work environment is cold and yet very wet, which is corrosive to all objects made of metal. DENSO robots are very robust and operate extremely fast. This is why we have chosen one.”

RESULT

The robot from DENSO not only complies with the IP67 standard, but is also completely washable with water. The robot also has internal wiring and is connected through the bottom, which reduces possible points of contact for bacteria and other microbes. The robots aluminum design was also chosen for reasons of hygiene and to weather outside influences.

Until now the job of separating the bones from the filets was done by hand, which was very time intensive and prone to errors. Furthermore, a lot of the fish was lost. The process that is now being developed by SINTEF will be based on several robots, which will take over the entire production chain in the processing of fish and meat. This includes grabbing the pieces with the help of sensors, the relaying on conveyor belts, the filleting and the packaging. ”Robots can be in use around the clock every day” Westavik describes the advantages towards manual production.
Automating the processing procedures can also be profitable for food companies: The production process becomes more hygienic and safer. The quality of the fish and meat is increased because only high quality cuts make it into sale. Additionally, the origin of the products and every single step in the production process is traceable. This increases the chances for the consumer not to receive contaminated meat or fish.

Movie available here: https://youtu.be/uAyJlOLtfGA

Napkin Folding ROFOBOX

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Company: ROFOBOX
Industry: Gastronomy
DENSO Products Used: 3x VS-087 (IP40)
Company Location: Germany
Website: http://www.rofobox.com

PROBLEM

Folding napkins is one of the most labor consuming processes in the gastronomy and hotel industries. Each year, around 400,000 napkins are folded in larger hotels. It was witnessed that it takes about 30 seconds to fold a napkin but the 3,333 hours of folding can quickly become monotonous and demotivating for the worker. In addition to this, in food courts, napkins fall under special hygienic requirements as they come into contact with the mouth.

SOLUTION

Designing and developing a cost-effective, efficient and hygienic automatized system could replace this monotonous manual task.

The company ROFOBOX (RobotFoldingBox) together with partners developed a fully automatized machine that uses, combined with other devices, DENSO robots for the handling, folding and palletizing of napkins.

The DENSO technology that is being utilised by the ROFOBOX is the best robotics technology available on the market. “The robots are compact, fast, relatively light and have a long arm reach. In addition, the small floor area required for the robot allows for easy installation- whether it is on the ground, or mounted on the ceiling. The VS087 DENSO robots that we use have an attractive design and their white color portrays the purity of their design. These are precisely the skills we need for our innovative napkin machine,” says Kartal Can. CEO of Rofobox.

RESULT

For ten months, the ROFOBOX, the first high-tech napkin-folding machine worldwide, was tested under real conditions at the Estrel Hotel & Convention Center in Berlin. During the test phase, up to 50,000 napkins were accurately folded by the robots. This underscores the high process reliability and repeatability of DENSO robots.

At the INTERGASTRA 2012 in Stuttgart, the technology received a special award for technology innovation. In addition to the hygiene, the time saved also speaks for the use of the napkin machine. This folding technology can reduce costs.

The ROFOBOX is now being used into mass production for a laundry service near Frankfurt am Main.

Videos of ROFOBOX are available here: www.youtube.de/rofobox.