Robots Fit For Food
Production
A combination of economic drivers determine which technology is best suited Integrating robots further upstream in
and future concerns over long term for bacteria control, and to show how the manufacturing process does bring
labour resources within the UK’s food European Hygienic Engineering & Design additional complications, including the
manufacturing sector has initiated a Group (EHEDG) hygienic guidelines have variability of food products, the fragile
significant rise in interest towards robots been used to improve the engineering of and often perishable characteristics of the
in recent times. these technologies. product to be handled, high production
However, as robots continue to move Historically, robots first found their further upstream in the manufacturing way into the food-manufacturing processes, the requirements for sector through end of line packaging Today’s robot technologies have
cleanliness, hygiene and food safety and palletizing applications. The ready successfully addressed the issues of high
become more stringent. This means availability of robots with a high payload speed, and deal with product variability
that robot manufacturers, system capacity and large work envelopes made and positioning through the use of
integrators and end users must give them the ideal fit for these relatively sophisticated sensors and machine vision
serious consideration, not only to adhering simple applications. Safety considerations systems. In addition, clever and innovative
to current food safety directives, but within these applications were focused gripper concepts have made it possible for
ensuring that the type of robot used and entirely on protecting operators through robots to handle a vast array of different
its design characteristics are appropriate the use of fencing and / or light-guard food products.
for the specific application. systems. Other than maintaining the
In this article by Staubli UK’s Laurence
Wood, robot technologies are considered
from a cleanliness standpoint to
16 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk
integrity of the cartons and populated
pallet, within this environment there
are minimal requirements and few
considerations in relation to hygiene.
speeds and of course a much greater
emphasis on cleanliness and hygiene.
From a hygiene and cleanliness
perspective, using robots does eliminate
the many potential opportunities for
human borne sources of contamination