A core part of 3DFRL’s offering is AI.
When compared to traditional automation, this key component of the robot cell dramatically improves process repeatability. This is particularly useful when using AI for food processing as no two pieces of broccoli (for example) are the same, therefore the movement in each robot cycle is different as it makes adjustments for each product – this effectively emulates the work that a human can do.
Full automation has its roots in the automotive industry where the mass uptake of robots happened decades ago. The uniformity of vehicle components made this possible as the robot assembly cell follows the same, identical movement in each cycle. There is no requirement for any kind of deviation and in any case, any deviation would be indicative of a manufacturing fault.
A robot cell that processes a vegetable – whether it be trimming, cutting or portioning – has a far more challenging task because of the inconsistency of each product, which effectively requires reprogramming at the beginning of each cycle. The AI system ensures the accuracy and repeatability of the adjustment and it is this element that means the cell can do the work of a human. No toilet breaks, no COVID infections and no off days.
The result is increased productivity, not possible at this level before the availability of machine learning.
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