Food handling and packaging using computer vision and robot

Abstract

Even though the use of robot vision system in manufacturing sectors is now a commonplace, however, the technology embodied in these devices is poorly matched to industrial needs of food processors. In particular, food processing imposes special demands upon machinery. For instance the vision sensor must be programmed to detect the position of single and isolated object as well as overlapping or occluding objects. Special grippers have to be designed for handling of food articles such that they have minimum contact with the food items and hence causing minimum damage to them. In this project, started over a year ago, a vision guidance system is being developed to meet this objective. The system integrates the modified version of the Hough transform algorithm as the main recognition engine. The methods and procedures were tested on commercially produced beef burgers.

Modeling and estimation of rheological properties of food products for manufacturing simulations

“…These include a robotic hand to place food into lunch boxes (Sakamoto et al, 2007) and a robotic vision system for accurate food handling and packaging (Muhammedali et al, 2004). Robotics and automation are feasible in food handling applications at all three stages of food processing: production, processing, and service (Erzincanli and Sharp, 1997).…”

The Quality Control of the Automatic Manipulating Process of a Flexible Container When Bulk Materials are Packaged

“…The vacuum gripper (3) is attached to a U-shaped lever (6), which is connected to the rod of the pneumatic cylinder (2). The pneumatic cylinder (2) is jointed to the frame (7) and can rotate around the axis which passes through the pneumatic cylinder center parallel to its foundation. In order to provide the rotation, a pivot (8) is rigidly attached to the housing of the pneumatic cylinder (2).…”

“…The pivot (8) is jointed to the rod of the bilateral pneumatic cylinder (9), which is mounted on the frame (7). flexible containers (14), unstitched from their neck side, is located on the elevating platform (15) inside the frame (7). The conveyor belt (16) is located under the loading spout (17).…”

“…It consists of a bilateral pneumatic cylinder (11) and a vacuum gripper (12), which is installed in a inverse manner to the central bars (4) of the vacuum gripper (3) of the gripping mechanism (1), attached to the U-shaped lever (13) and connected to the pneumatic cylinder (11). The stack of empty flexible containers (14), unstitched from their neck side, is located on the elevating platform (15) inside the frame (7). The conveyor belt (16) is located under the loading spout (17).…”

“…Different manual and automatic methods can be used for control of the FC gripping accuracy [6][7][8][9][10][11]. The algorithms which are used in automatic systems of FC gripping control can be divided into using a reference, based on the control of design rules and hybrid algorithms.…”