Inventory | Classification of Robot Applications in the Food and Beverage Industry

Currently, the robotic operations in the food and beverage packaging industry are primarily in the form of workstations. From sorting to packaging, palletizing, and even transportation, all tasks are completed by robots, which not only tests the technical layout of automated production lines but also imposes high cost pressures. Moreover, some processes for certain products are still difficult to accomplish with robots. Therefore, how to leverage the efficiency of robots is a topic worth long-term discussion.

Sorting

The sorting operation is performed by robots for variety selection. If there are many varieties with different shapes, the robot needs to be equipped with an image recognition system and a multifunctional mechanical hand. When the robot arrives at a tray of items, it can 'see' the shape of the item through the image recognition system and use the corresponding mechanical hand to grasp it, then place it on a matching tray.

Currently, the application of sorting robots in the food and beverage industry is gradually increasing, mainly concentrated in the later stages of packaging. For example, quickly grabbing small particles like chocolates or candies packaged in boxes or bags and placing them onto designated sorting conveyor belts or packaging boxes. These robots are not only as dexterous as human hands but also possess sufficient judgment capabilities. In the future, warehouses without human presence will see robots delivering shelves to packaging stations, accurately identifying goods, sorting out required products, and placing them on conveyor belts after packing. Sorting robots have already formed prototypes, and once these intelligent sorting robots are applied in the packaging industry, they will greatly improve warehouse management efficiency and reduce labor costs. It will still take some time for sorting robots to enter the market; in the short term, packaging sorting will inevitably exist in a form that combines automation with human assistance.

Currently, sorting robots are generally based on parallel robots, commonly referred to as spider arms, usually four-axis or six-axis parallel robots.

Packaging
 

In the food and beverage industry, sorting actions generally prioritize efficiency as the primary requirement. The difficulty level is also quite high for packaging, which requires accurately placing scattered items into packaging bags or boxes. This not only tests the flexibility and accuracy of robots but also requires them to have visual and computational capabilities.

Product packaging generally comes in various forms based on the shape, material, weight of items, and cleanliness requirements; thus, the packaging process is relatively complex. Currently, there are several types of robots for this process: Bagging Robots: These are fixed rotating base robots that can rotate 360 degrees. They use mechanical hands to complete tasks such as transporting bags, opening bags, measuring, filling, sewing bags, and stacking. This is a highly intelligent type of packaging robot. Boxing Robots: Similar to bagging robots but typically used for rigid packaging boxes for metal and glass containers. There are mechanical and suction types for grabbing boxed items. They can move as a whole to grab or suction packaging items and then deliver them to designated positions on boxes or pallets. They have directional and positional automatic adjustment functions that allow for unloading without boxes (or pallets) and directional adjustments. This type of robot is relatively mature and widely used in applications such as beverages and beer. Filling Robots: These fill packaging containers with liquid materials before measuring, capping (screwing), and identifying them. They have functions such as no bottle no filling, no cap no bottle feeding, broken bottle alarms, and automatic rejection. In the past, many liquid material fillings were done using these robots' partial functions—mechanical hands mounted on production lines—but now they are directly configured at the back of material production machines for automatic filling. Filling robots can be categorized into soft packaging and hard packaging; this analysis focuses on hard packaging (bottle filling) robots. Packaging Conveyor Robots: These mainly refer to robots used for transporting plastic bottle packaging in the packaging industry. They utilize power and special components to transport bottle bodies (empty bottles), quickly outputting individual packaged bottles from a barrel into an arranged line while applying specific (directional and size) forces to ensure accurate delivery along a parabolic path to filling workpieces. This type of robot changes traditional bottle transport mechanisms by increasing transport speed and reducing transport space; it represents a new concept in packaging robotics achieved through aerodynamics and special mechanical components.

Palletizing
 

With technological advancements and market demands in recent years, robotic palletizing has replaced traditional mechanical palletizing as a development trend. Moreover, due to efforts by domestic companies, the previously dominant position of foreign palletizing robots in our market has been broken. Robotic palletizers simulate human operations with automatic operations that can be reprogrammed to complete specified tasks in three-dimensional space; they include systems for picking up and placing items from one or multiple locations onto pre-set pallets. Palletizing robots offer strong operational flexibility; they are generally located at the backend of production lines to handle materials from production lines instead of manual handling for palletizing tasks. This not only significantly improves production efficiency and output but also saves costs.

Palletizing robots mainly include Cartesian coordinate robots, articulated robots, and polar coordinate robots that can adapt to various shapes of packaged products such as cartons, bags, cans, boxes, and bottles.

Currently, European, American, and Japanese palletizing robots hold over 90% market share in palletizing operations; most palletizing tasks are completed by these robotic systems. In terms of efficiency, palletizing robots can handle high loads while their speed and quality far exceed those of manual labor. For example, Fanuc's current four-axis handling robot comes in models with different load capacities such as 160Kg, 300Kg, 450Kg, 700Kg etc., achieving maximum speeds of up to 2500mm/s during linear motion; their handling capacity can reach up to 1500 times per hour. In terms of precision, each palletizing robot has an independent control system that greatly ensures operational accuracy with repeatability reaching ±0.5mm—fully meeting logistics palletizing positioning requirements; regarding stability, currently advanced palletizing robots have reached five-axis and six-axis configurations through scientifically rational designs of rigid mechanical bodies that allow them not only to adapt to high load and high frequency palletizing tasks but also meet complex sorting requirements with high flexibility in food fast-food industries.

Handling
 

Handling refers to transporting packaged products to designated locations; usually this location is a certain distance from the packaging site making mobile handling robots good helpers for transportation.

AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) robots are flexible and intelligent logistics handling robots that began being used in warehousing industries abroad since the 1950s; they are now widely applied in food and beverage enterprises especially in dairy and beverage sectors. Typically serving as the final link in packaging processes connecting finished products with shipping stages; thus handling robots exhibit flexible characteristics completing 'the last mile' work for products after packaging.

Catering Robots
 

As a derivative and development of AGV robots, catering robots are opening up a brand new market. In 2014, catering robots became a highlight in the industry's development and have frequently appeared in news reports across major cities. Currently, there are about a dozen companies in China that produce catering robots, with representative companies including Shanghai Jinghong, Shenzhen Oukai, Shenyang Xinsong, Pangolin Robotics, Haohai, Zhongke Nuosheng, Wari, and Puhua Lingdong. At present, the prices of catering robots vary, but the average price is around 50,000 yuan or less.

In addition to the common delivery robots found in hotels or restaurants, there are also some specially applied catering robots, such as knife-cut noodle robots, stir-fry robots, and welcoming robots.

As a form of robot that performs at the end of the food and beverage industry, catering robots have received mixed reviews in recent years. Some robots have been well utilized in restaurants across the country and have played a certain role in attracting customers. However, some robots have not been well utilized due to their performance and hardware issues, leading to various problems and ultimately being eliminated from the market. Overall, the future development of catering robots cannot rely solely on gimmicks; it needs to improve practical functions, safety levels, and intelligence to ensure more effective applications in real work.