Some industries are more suited to robotics than others. While automation has soared in many manufacturing fields, its use in food production and packaging has been limited until recently. As technology has advanced and demand has grown, food robots are seeing more widespread implementation.
Experts predict the food robotics market to more than triple between now and 2027. A growing population needs more food, but facilities can have trouble finding enough labor to sustain growth. Advances in soft robotics make robots an ideal alternative, but this comes with challenges as well.
Any business in the food industry needs to meet strict health and safety regulations. As a result, the robots these facilities use must be likewise food-safe. Here’s how robotics engineers can meet this need.
Enable Easy Cleaning
One of the most important considerations in designing a food-safe robot is making it easy to clean. Any surface that comes into contact with food has to meet strict sanitation guidelines from the FDA. Since workers will have to clean and disinfect these machines regularly, it should be easy to do so.
Industrial robots may be more challenging to clean than traditional food preparation tools. More moving parts and articulation points create spaces that could be difficult to reach and easy to overlook. The most straightforward way around this problem is to enable quick, effortless disassembly.
If workers can take robots apart quickly, they can clean the entire surface area with less effort. The fewer small pieces a machine has, the easier this is to do. Designing robots with larger panels and fewer crevices also enables quicker cleaning. More recent technological advances have created self-cleaning systems, providing the fastest possible solution.
Keep Temperatures in Check
Heat is an issue that may not concern other fields but is a crucial matter in the food industry.
Anyone who’s worked with food has likely heard of the danger zone, or the temperature range where food becomes unsafe. Electricity and moving mechanical parts tend to generate heat, so if robots get too hot, they’re unfit for direct contact with food.
The danger zone lies between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, as that’s where bacteria grow most rapidly. Part of avoiding these temperatures is keeping indoor temperatures low or ensuring food doesn’t sit out for long. Given how sensitive some foods are, though, food-safe robots also need to include their own temperature regulation solutions.
Insulation can keep the exterior of a robot from getting too hot. Similarly, more energy-efficient designs will stay cool as a result of using less electricity. Heavier-duty systems may need a cooling component, whether in the form of fans or liquid cooling.
Use the Right Materials
Another leading concern with food robots is the materials manufacturers use to make them. Machines that interact with food need to be both easy to clean and resistant to bacterial growth. Some materials have to meet FDA regulations, like stainless steel, which must contain at least 16% chromium. But not everything is so straightforward.
Soft robots are ideal for handling delicate foods, but they can be problematic. Bacteria are more likely to linger on porous surfaces, so soft robots could spread them more easily. When designing these machines, engineers need to ensure they use less infection-prone materials or apply food-safe coatings.
Some metallic nanoparticles can kill disease-causing bacteria, so many hospitals use them to coat medical devices. Food robotics producers can take the same approach by coating their machines in these particles to reduce the risk of infection. These solutions can effectively turn any material into something fit for food contact.
Pay Attention to Power
In the past, robots’ inability to handle items delicately has been a roadblock to their service in food production. As technology has advanced, robots have become more gentle and dexterous, and this has become less of an issue. Robotics manufacturers still need to keep it in mind, though, and ensure that food robots aren’t too powerful.
Bruising is the most common type of mechanical damage in the harvesting, handling, and transporting of fresh fruits. Bruises don’t just stop customers from buying fruits. They can also speed the fruit’s deterioration. Consequently, if fruit-handling robots are too powerful, it could lead to economic losses and health concerns.
Robotics manufacturers need to pay close attention to the amount of force their robots apply. Too much, and the machines could damage the food, making them unfit for service in food processing. Too little, and they can’t move products as quickly or efficiently.
What defines these parameters will vary with the specific application, so manufacturers need to approach them on a case-by-case basis.
Ensure Precision
One of the primary draws of automation in any industry is that robots are typically more precise than humans. Some medical robots are 10 times more precise than surgeons, and food robots need to provide similar precision. Any mistakes can lead to damaged, unattractive, or inedible food.
When slicing vegetables, a lack of precision can lead to stems or other unwanted parts ending up in a package. Similarly, meat processing robots need to avoid bones or excess fat in some cuts. Since food is rarely uniform, this precision relies on a machine’s ability to see and recognize which parts are desirable.
The key to this process is machine vision. Engineers need to equip these robots with cameras or sensors to distinguish between meat and bone or flesh and stem. Advanced machine learning algorithms can improve these cameras further, helping robots gain a more comprehensive understanding of how and where imperfections or undesirable parts appear.
The Need for Food Safe Robotics Has Never Been Higher
As the population grows, so does the demand for food. But labor shortages make it difficult to keep up. Food production plants need robotics to sustain growth, so it’s never been more important to design and deploy fast, precise, and safe food robots. These five steps should help guide robotics engineers towards that end.
Robotics design in food production isn’t just a matter of efficiency, but also health and safety. Food-safe robotics will help feed the world’s growing population and safeguard public health in the process.
