In the UK , of the 2,054 industrial robot installations in 2021 , 164 were in the food and beverage industry , representing a total of 8 % – well above the global average .
tasks – the FANUC CRX-25iA , for example , has a 25kg payload and a 1,889mm reach . We are continuing to develop our cobot range and in the future , we expect to see cobots with increasingly high payloads and longer reaches , to cope with growing customer demand .
2 Less manual handling
Since Covid and Brexit , labour shortages in the food industry have worsened and companies are looking to remove manual handling wherever possible . While a number of the individual processes in a food factory may already be automated , in many cases , people are still required to move products from one stage to another . Robots are ideally placed to help in these scenarios . Inherently flexible , they can easily be repurposed to cope with product changes enabling the factory to remain agile in the face of labour shortages .
Packing is another area which is traditionally very labour intensive .
There is now a clear trend of using robots to pack ingredients into trays , trays into boxes and boxes onto pallets , freeing up human workers to carry out more valueadded tasks . In the future , food factories will resemble automotive factories more and more , with robots carrying out the majority of manual handling tasks . There will also be an increased use of autonomous robot vehicles to move stock around the warehouse , and for loading / unloading .
3 AI-powered vision inspection systems
Another area which is ripe for automating is quality control . Robotic vision inspection systems using AI and machine learning can detect product faults quickly , accurately and reliably , helping to speed up production lines . This technology can also be used for product sorting and grading , eg potatoes . Repetitive , manual tasks such as this are ideal for being completed by AI-powered visionguided robots , helping to free up valuable human employees .
4 Robots in the field Finally , robots are moving out of the factory and helping to replace labour shortages in the fields . There are already trials of robots being placed onto tractors and incorporated with a vision system to inspect produce in the field . They can assess the stage of growth / ripeness , and then pick the fruit or vegetable when they ’ re ready to be harvested . Expect to see many more of these applications in the future .
Automation in action : Meet Bakisto , the robot baker
FANUC has joined forces with baking oven manufacturer WIESHEU and retail specialist Wanzl to develop the automatic Bakisto system . Comprising three interconnected systems – a FANUC cobot ; Wanzl ’ s smart baked goods presenter ‘ BakeOff i ’ featuring artificial intelligence and a network-enabled baking oven ; and the WIESHEU TrayMotion automatic loading and unloading system – Bakisto automates important tasks for retail bakeries , such as loading baking trays , inserting and removing trays from the oven , and restocking displays .
Based on historical data and current stock levels , the AIpowered BakeOff i estimates daily baked goods demand and predicts when peak baking should take place . The FANUC cobot then carries the baking trays loaded with frozen baked goods from the refrigeration unit and pushes them into the transport trolley , which runs on rails in front of the preheated oven . The TrayMotion loading system pulls in the loaded trays , enabling the baking process to begin . After baking , the system pushes the baking trays back into the transport trolley , which moves to the side , allowing the baked goods to cool down while also making space for subsequent production . The FANUC cobot then fills the predefined compartments of the BakeOff i with the finished and cooled baked goods . Feeding new data into the AI system ensures the process is continuously being optimised .
Packing is an area which is traditionally very labour intensive . There is now a clear trend of using robots to pack products into trays , freeing up human workers to carry out more value-added tasks .
FANUC believes that Bakisto is ripe for addressing labour shortages in the food industry by relieving retail workers from repetitive tasks and unsociable working hours , as well as increasing product consistency and reducing food waste .
www . fanuc . eu / uk / en FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk 49