UKM-SUM24-PG20-22_Layout 1 23/06/2024 09:56 Page 22
MACHINERY
Bakisto automates important tasks in retail bakeries, such as loading the baking tray, inserting and removing the tray from the oven, and stocking the displays. (Copyright Wanzl)
lend themselves well to lifting applications, such as palletising and material handling 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 value-added 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.
22
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 vision-guided 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 are 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 AI-powered 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. 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.
FANUC UK
www.fanuc.eu/uk/en
Summer 2024 UKManufacturing
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
