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September 16, 2024
Imagine a world where people can perform the difficult and strenuous tasks involved in food processing from the comfort and safety of their homes? Well, this may not be as farfetched as we think.
The food industry faces increasing challenges, and among those, labor is at the top of the list. Many plants have staff shortages, low retention rates, high occurrence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), upskilling challenges, and more, coupled with a climbing labor cost.
In many ways, current automation and robotics solutions are already providing relief on those issues while improving quality, safety, efficiency, and reliability.
But for too many manual operations and tasks, “industry 4.0”, “black-out factory”, “AI”, are foreign concepts that still seem way out-of-reach. What if there was a bridge between fully manual automation and fully autonomous automation? This is what GTRI works on using Stäubli robots.
“Human-in-the-loop robotics technology” for collaborative applications allows human operators wearing a VR headset to operate a robot from anywhere in the world. The robot seats on the processing line in the cold and wet environment of a chicken processing plant for instance, while a human operator controls it from the comfort of home or any other remote location.
In this application, the robot does all the heavy lifting picking up chickens before placing them onto the moving cone line at a target rate of 30 birds per minute. All that is requested from the virtual user is to evaluate difficult scenes and place pick locations using the VR system.
From there, the program will determine the approach and depart strategy along with keeping up with the moving outgoing conveyor leading to the deboning machines.
Telerobotics already exists under different forms, but the unique value of this development is that it will combine AI learning taught with decision made on the fly by remote operators. This empirical approach will allow robots to quickly become more autonomous and handle more complex decisions without calling on the operator. One operator will be able to manage several robots at a time.
All robots in Stäubli’s HE series are designed for hygienic and humid environments and are suitable for a wide range of processing and packaging applications. Features include:
Stäubli’s HE series ranges in size and format (4- and 6-axis) and payload from 1 kg to 170kg. All have the flexibility of multiple mounting options, allowing easy integration into production lines.
