Yaskawa Motoman Releases the HC20XP, the First Food-grade Collaborative Robot

Analysis:
Food manufacturing has not yet benefited from robotics automation to the same degree of other manufacturing sectors such as automotive, electronics, and consumer durable goods. Yet food producers are under the same competitive pressures to reduce labor costs and increase throughput.

At this time, most robotics systems for food production are used for end-of-line picking, packaging (primary and secondary packaging) or palletizing operations, mostly using standard articulated and delta robots. These applications are typically less complex than the food processing steps further up the line, where objects are unwrapped, inconsistent in size, and often delicate, wet and slippery.

Currently, much interest and a good deal of effort is focused on developing “upstream” applications for the robotic handling of raw or fresh foodstuffs, such as inspection and processing, especially using vision-based systems.

Collaborative robots, which can operate in close approximation to human workers, are well suited to such tasks, but most cobots to date have not met the requirements for the hygienic handling of foodstuffs.

With Yaskawa Motoman’s introduction of HC20XP, collaborative robots can now be employed for these upstream food processing tasks. Other producers of collaborative robotics systems will follow suit, but Yaskawa Motoman got there first. - Dan Kara