WELCOME to the regular series of articles focusing on red meat R&D, presented by Beef Central and the Australian Meat Processor Corporation. These items highlight a range of projects designed to enhance the efficiency, productivity, product quality and safety of Australian red meat sold into the domestic market and around the world.

All have the ability to help underpin Australia’s unrivalled reputation as the world’s premier export of quality beef, lamb and offal. Links to previous articles in the series appear below.

COMMERCIALISATION of a shadow robot system for meat processing operations is getting closer, with the most recent stage of ongoing research and development in the field delivering good results in a processing plant trial.

This has led to the granting of a patent for the system.

Australian Meat Processor Corporation’s research partner Mimeo Industrial trialled a system at JBS Brooklyn in Victoria in October last year. The project sought to demonstrate how the technology can be used in the plant alongside staff, using the skill of an operator to make a task more comfortable and less physically demanding.

Two applications were selected: picking product from the individual wrapping line in the boning room, and hock-cutting.

In the example in the attached video taken at JBS Brooklyn, an operator using a touch-screen monitor located 200m from the robot in the boning room is controlling the technology, being used for ‘operator informed picking’ of product from a conveyor belt. The robot uses five dextrous ‘fingers’ to gently grasp product from a moving conveyor and relocate it.

AMPC’s Stuart Shaw said the trial generated some promising initial results and identified a number of areas for refinement.

“The goal of this stage of the project was to see how the shadow robot performed in an actual plant rather than in the workshop,” Mr Shaw said.

“We saw great results on the individual wrapping line. With limited training, the robot was easily able to pick from the conveyor belt. Across several new operators it was achieving around 70 percent picking success and a trained operator was even more effective. The operator was able to sit in the JBS Innovation Centre while the robot did the work, showing how we can potentially work differently.”

Unfortunately, the hock cutting demonstration didn’t progress due to unexpected overhead space constraints in the plant, but it remains an option for later exploration.

“For now, due to the ease of operating the system alongside the staff on the individual wrapping line, that’s where we’ll focus,” Mr Shaw said.

The plan is to continue to use the robot in the Brooklyn boning room and develop it into a solution that is commercially viable for industry.

To see the shadow robot in action, click the link below.

About the Australian Meat Processor Corporation

AMPC is the research and development corporation for the red meat processing industry in Australia. As the research, development and marketing service provider for processors, AMPC runs programs of activity that are funded by processor levy payers, private contributions and the Australian Government. AMPC’s mission is to drive world-class innovation, adoption and strategic policy development through genuine partnerships built on trust.

 Previous articles in this series:

• One of Australia’s first AI-driven automated beef scribing systems installed
• AMPC’s inaugural Innovation Showcase program
• The trends that will drive innovation
• Australian first in hot boning technology
• What’s in the box? Technology driving label verification
• Red meat R&D: AMPC Academy of Meat Engineers designs own sausages
• ‘Spot the dog’ shows benefits of automated guided vehicle technology + VIDEO
• 3D printing trial begins at red meat processing plants
• Technology trial for small stock electronic ID
• Progress in shadow robotics
• Eating quality tool a step closer to commercial reality
• Advancing red meat sustainability
• 5G trial for Aussie red meat processing plants
• New product academy to see processors get the most out of each carcase
• Shadow robot technology mimics human actions
• Frenched lamb – no knives, no water 
• Could a futuristic exo-skeleton create new opportunity in the meat sector?
• Red Meat R&D: Upping our game in processing efficiency
• Magnetic conveying could leverage high-speed train technology for beef