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Unique Robotic Applications
by Bennett Brumson , Contributing Editor
Robotic Industries Association
POSTED 02/07/2011

When people think of industrial robotics, the automotive and electronics industries often come to mind first. As robots and
their peripheral equipment improve, robotics are called on to perform tasks in industries such as the food and beverage
business, as well as in the aerospace, medical device and pharmaceutical markets, among others.

“More specialized robots for the food, pharmaceutical, and medical
industries are available in the market now. Robots performing some of
these specialized tasks were very limited five years ago,” says David
Arceneaux, Operations Manager at Stäubli Corporation (Duncan, South
Carolina). Some of these applications requiring specialized solutions
were not plentiful five years ago but are increasing along with the
evolution for specialized robotic automation.”

Specialized Applications
Food and beverage applications promise to be among the fastest
growing and most important sector for the robotics industry. Traditionally,
jobs in food production facilities were performed manually and were
extremely repetitive with high ergonomic risks in a cold environment.
Robotics hold the promise of mitigating the dangers of working in food
processing plants. Robots are cleaner and more consistent that human
workers and offers flexibility to stay current in an ever-changing market.

“We see a nice future for robotics in both primary and secondary
packaging applications, More food manufacturers are using robotics for
placing food into trays and for tray manipulation,” asserts Sylvie Algarra,
Food Activity Manager, Arceneaux’s colleague at Stäubli.

Likewise, “The handling of food products promises to excite increased
investment in robotics because the food industry has been under-
served,” says, Rush LaSelle, Director of Global Sales and Marketing with
Adept Technology Inc. (Pleasanton, California). “As the robotics industry focuses its attention to that market, better means of
addressing the specific needs of the food industry will continue. Robot manufacturers and integrators will service this market
with products that satisfy sanitary requirements of regulatory bodies.”

Upstream Apps
According to Dick Motley, Senior Account Manager at FANUC Robotics America Inc. (Rochester Hills, Michigan), “Robotics in
the food industry perform tasks in four categories: processing, picking, case packing and palletizing. Robots doing the
processing, actively forming food products, is the newest classification. Robots butchering meat is an example of that,”
Motley argues.”

Until recently, robots in food processing facilities only did palletizing chores towards the end of the line. Motley contends
palletizing is an application that robots do best. “Palletizing has notorious ergonomic issues because of the repetition.” The
food product was already packaged in its primary wrapper and packed into cases or cartons. The final step before shipping
has robots placing those cases onto pallets. With improved robots and tooling, robotics are steadily making their way
upstream in food processing operations, from palletizing to primary and secondary packaging, towards directly handling
product prior to wrapping or packaging.

Direct robotic handling foods is also on the mind of Clay Cooper, Applied Robotics Inc.’s (Glenville, New York) Corporate
Development manager of Food and Packaging. “I see more robots handling fresh and sliced meats because companies look

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at reducing labor costs on meat slicing lines.” Turning his
attention to other foods
handled directly by
robotics, Cooper says,
“Other than donuts, I
have not seen many
robots handling
pastries yet. Donuts
with chocolate on them
are tricky for a robot to
pick without leaving an
impression.”

Likewise, LaSelle
points out “Meat cutting
represents a growth
area for robotics.
Vision and laser
technology combine to
provide three-
dimensional rendering,
enabling systems to
precisely process
products with highly
variable geometries.”
Grading and portion
control are areas of
heavy investment. “Grading meat is subjective and portion control helps producers
ensure they deliver exact amounts to maintain customer satisfaction,” LaSelle says.

Varying Inconsistently
Unlike industrial products, foods are inconsistent in both size and shape. Vision and flexible end-effectors manage these
variations. “Tooling for picking food products is a challenge. Providing end of arm tooling to allow robots to achieve targeted
rates, properly handle the product without damage and that can be cleaned, are key. Tooling that provides for variations in
food products must be considered in a joint effort with the end-user,” professes John Schwan, Director of Sales and
Marketing with QComp Technologies Inc. (Greenville, Wisconsin). “Vision is more flexible and can be set to reject products
outside of limits.”

Consumers’ fickle taste drives end-users towards robotics to remain competitive and flexible, observes Tim DeRosett,
Director of Marketing with Motoman Robotics, a division of Yaskawa America, Inc. (West Carrollton, Ohio). “Food companies
use robots because of product variation and to easily differentiate their products from competitors. The variety of choices is
greater now than any time in history, particularly how food is packaged,” notes DeRosett.

A Cold, Damp Place
Robots in the food industry must function in an environment rife
with moisture and cold. That setting poses challenges to
integrators and end-users not found in other industries, notes
Terry Zarnowski Sales and Marketing Director at Schneider
Equipment Co. of Brewerton, New York. “The biggest challenge
is that food products are often cold, wet, slippery, might have
frost on them or be statically charged. Some products coming
from food processors are dramatically different than when on
store shelves.”

To illustrate his last point, Zarnowski speaks of packaging for
blocked cheese. “The plastic looks like it was shrink-wrapped
but when the cheese is initially packaged the plastic resembles a
football. The packaging is filled with an inert gas that is absorbed
into the product by the time it gets to store shelves.” End-
effectors must deal with those shapes. “Designing around an
application’s variations is challenging. We provide standardized
designs customized for a particular application that takes into account all aspects of what end-users see in their real world
operations.”

Cleanliness
Robotics play an increasingly important role in maintaining a safe food supply. People are most often the threat to safe food
processing practices rather than the process itself. “Robots do not gather contaminants, do not get colds and are consistent,
unlike people. Recalls of food products and the following litigation are on the forefront of managers’ investment decisions,”



posits Schwan.

LaSelle echos Schwan’s sentiments. “The Center for Disease and Control (CDC) says 70 percent of food borne disease are
due to viruses spread by infected individuals. With 40,000 cases of salmonella reported in the United States each year,
companies that do not adhere to sanitation requirements are saddled with tremendous financial burdens.”

In most robotic applications, integrators design work cells to protect the robot from the environment. In food applications,
protecting the environment and the product from the robot are paramount. To sustain cleanliness, food industry robots are
constructed of easily cleaned materials.

Robots are one way to comply with the newly signed Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011. The statute empowers the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) to inspect food production facilities and order recalls of contaminated foods. To ensure the
safety of the food supply, the law requires larger food processors to formulate and adhere to safety procedures. Food-grade
robotics will help producers to consistently abide by FDA requirements in ways that people cannot.

“Robots for the food industry are made with stainless steel to be easily cleaned with high-pH chemicals. Using robots without
covers is the goals,” declares Algarra. “Food industry robots are enhanced to operate in wet, harsh environments while
subjected to aggressive sanitizing chemicals.”

To withstand a rigorous cleaning regimen, robots and their end-effectors must comply with sanitation requirements. “Food
industry robots and end-effectors must be food-grade and capable of being washed. They need to meet IP69K ratings, to
withstand high pressure wash-down and harsh solvents,” reports Robert Pitera, Global Innovation Manager at DE-STA-CO
(Auburn Hills, Michigan). “The environment and regulations for wash-down and bacteria control are a challenge.” IP69
requires food handling equipment to resist hot water sprayed at high pressure for a specified of time.

The design of food robots is important, stresses Motley. “Robotics in the food industry are constructed so as not to cause
contamination and so they can be easily cleaned and inspected, because draining and pooling of contaminates is an issue.
The design ensures that contaminates are not drawn into gaps and crevices that cannot be cleaned.”

Exotic Apps: Food, Pharmacy, Space and Beyond
Robots are called on to perform unusual applications, such as harvesting, says Algarra. “Picking mushrooms is an exotic
application. Milking cows is possible but managing the environment in agriculture is not as easy as in industrial plants.”

“One of the early breakthroughs has been accomplished by Green Source Automation using sophisticated vision technology
to enable industrial robots to interact reliably with dairy cattle in a rotary milking parlor,” said Motley.

Erik Nieves, Technology Director at Motoman Robotics, recalls a unique application where a robot performs masking on
printed circuit boards (PCBs). “Before etching printed circuit boards, areas you do not want etched need masking, an
intensive process if done manually.”

With so many different types of PCBs, programing robots to handle each is time-consuming, Nieves says and a more
automated means to teach robots to etch the boards was necessary. “The goal was to import the PCB's drawings, detail-in
where the masking parameters are. These parameters are downloaded into the robot.”

The PCB masking application uses a dual arm robot. Nieves says, "The robot does its own material handling, picking a PCB
from the rack, does the processing and puts it onto the out-going rack. In typical automation, the process and handling are
separate devices, so having one robot handle both was an advantage."

Nieves also describes a unique application where robotics simulate repair of orbiting satellites. “The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration’s (NASA) satellite servicing initiative wants the ability to change batteries, refuel or repair satellites.
Otherwise, a satellite becomes space junk and is a lost investment.” Robots tele-operated from earth or the international
space station will repair satellites when the system is fully implemented.

While robotics are commonly used in the manufacture of medical devices, Nieves sketches a prosthesis fabrication
application. "One of our system integrators provided a robot for waterjet cutting of composites for prosthetic lower extremities.
The system was integrated several years ago, but the programming was cumbersome." Prosthetics are customized by
definition and programing the robot meant printing out a template superimposed on the composite. "Someone had to
manually teach points with a pendant, which took all day and was fraught with error. If a mistake was made, the process had
to start over."

Nieves gives an account of the improved robotic system. “We found a means to import the computer-aided design (CAD)
data directly and generate a robot program through software without manual intervention. This process was very successful
and increased throughput.” The system uses Jabez Technologies Inc.’s (St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada) Robotmaster
software. “The application revolutionized how prosthetics are made, going from teach-intensive to teach-less with no
programing required.”

Arceneaux says robotics can be used in numerous hazardous environments now such as in automated pharmacies. “Mixing
cancer drugs is not friendly to people. Automated pharmacy applications is one example of specialized robotics on the rise



because operators do not have to worry about contaminating the product or the human.” Arceneaux anticipates more
specialized robot applications for various industries in the future.

Arceneaux anticipates more robot-based surgery. “Using robots to perform surgery requires following Food and Drug
Administration requirements by providing the necessary capabilities of the robot and its vision system to perform its tasks.”
An example is Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci robot, now approved for use by the FDA.

Aerospace applications offer unique challenges and unique
robotic solutions, says, Michael Muldoon, Business
Development Manager of AV&R Vision & Robotics. (Montreal,
Quebec, Canada). “We can do precise and complex applications
such as profiling trailing edges of propeller blades. The system
inspects the surface, analyzing critical components of aircraft
engines and ensures they have no nicks, dents or scratches. If a
defect is found, the system automatically tells the robot how to
remove it.”

Muldoon says the random nature of defects in aerospace
applications is challenging. “The defect could be anywhere on
the airfoil. Depending on where the defect is, the system has
different ways to repair it.”

James Kravec, Senior Sales Engineer with Girard Engineering Inc. (Strongsville, Ohio) agrees. “Grinding and polishing of
aerospace and other high precision parts have progressed, providing tighter tolerances.”

Automate 2011
End-users and integrators will have chance to check out the latest and greatest robotic technology at Automate 2011, North
America’s premier automation showcase. Taking place March 21-24 in Chicago, Automate 2011 will combine cutting-edge
manufacturing solutions in robotics, machine vision and motion control technologies. Co-located with ProMat and the
International Symposium on Robotics, Automate 2011 will also include a comprehensive educational conference featuring a
series of tutorials, workshops and the opportunity to upgrade skills through certification exams on machine vision.

Adept, DE-STA-CO, FANUC, Jabez, Motoman Robotics, Schneider and Stäubli, among others, will showcase their
capabilities at the Automate 2011 show. Complete details on the show, agenda for the companion conference, registration
and hotel information and more can be found at http://www.automate2011.com or call RIA at 734/994-6088.

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