Towards sustainability in meat production
The EU is the fourth largest producer of beef, veal and chicken, and the second largest producer of pork in the world, heightening the meat industry’s importance in the EU. The sector, however, faces several challenges such as maintaining quality while sustaining a consistent food supply. Automation can help in this regard, as well as meeting the EU’s goals of greater food system efficiency and security. “Automation is critically important for sustainability in meat production, where heavy reliance on human labour is a growing challenge. Without the use of automation, the sector may struggle to meet the increasing demands for efficiency, productivity, and environmental responsibility that are necessary to remain competitive in the future,” notes Alex Mason, RoBUTCHER project coordinator. However, for many in the sector, advanced robotics and automation systems are inaccessible as they are expensive, lacking flexibility and lack scalability and robustness. An automation concept advanced by scientists in Norway and Denmark, the Meat Factory Cell (MFC), aims to address these issues. In the context of this, the EU-funded RoBUTCHER project worked towards developing a novel MFC platform, which presents an opportunity for unconventional automation in pork meat processing, particularly in abattoirs. “Instead of following line-based approaches, which are the main option today, it uses robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to perform complex cutting and manipulation operations on entire unchilled pork carcasses, with awareness of biological variation and deformation,” confirms Mason.
Disrupting the meat sector
One of the key results of the project was the successful demonstration of two prototype robotic cells for cutting both hot and cold meat. One was a prototype for complete disassembly of entire unchilled pork carcasses, while the other implemented a more conventional approach based on so-called tri-sectioning of the chilled half-carcass. “We also developed new software tools, including AI-systems for meat cutting, interactive virtual reality approaches for butchering using large robots, and solutions for smart system integration,” reports Mason. This is in addition to new tools to better enable interaction with meat products and robotic systems, including knives and grasping tools. Project work has also led to an improved understanding of the legislative frameworks and social impacts associated with innovative robotics solutions for highly manual industrial manufacturing environments. “In all, the RoBUTCHER Consortium identified 17 key innovations, including the two demonstrated prototype cutting systems, that have resulted from the project. Furthermore, the consortium has been busy publishing the results, with around 30 scientific articles published to date and many more at various stages of preparation,” highlights Mason.
Moving forwards – new developments for the meat industry
The consortium has identified new initiatives to continue the work of RoBUTCHER and expect to develop new R&D ideas within Horizon Europe over the next 12 months. “At national level, several partners are already working on projects. They use RoBUTCHER outcomes to pave the way for new developments in smart tooling, collaborative robotics and AI,” concludes Mason. The ‘cell’ concept has attracted interest from stakeholders globally, as emphasised at the recent ‘International Meat Automation Congress’ held in Spain, where RoBUTCHER outcomes were presented. Further information on the projects progress and results can be found on their website.
Keywords
RoBUTCHER, meat sector, automation, meat factory cell, sustainability
