Vision robotic system aids food industry

Robotics grant to be used for improvements in vision systems for Kuka robot technology in pork product manufacturing and distribution.

KUKA Robotics has announced that Ohio Northern University''s (ONU) Robotic centre of Excellence powered by KUKA robot technology has been awarded a US$50,622 grant to fund a summer research project entitled 'Vision Driven Robotic Processing for the Pork Skin Processing Industry'.

The grant awarded from Rudolph Foods of Lima, Ohio, the world's largest producer of pork rinds and related snacks, will be used to develop new algorithms to improve the packaging and distribution of pork snack products.

"This grant supports the reason why KUKA and other business work so closely with universities like ONU," said Stuart Shepherd, president of KUKA Robotics Corporation.

"When the business community works together with universities to address and solve process issues like the ones presented by the pork industry everybody wins because fresh minds are allowed to develop solutions that have practical real world applications".

ONU's Robotics Technology centre of Excellence, powered by KUKA Robotics technology, provides students with hands on design and programming experience using KUKA robots, controllers and software.

The university opened the centre, located in Taft Memorial Hall on South Union Street in Ada, Ohio, USA, on January 26th, 2007.

Currently seven KUKA KR3 robots including KUKA controllers and software are being used at the centre.

Five of the robots are interfaced to PLCs and CNC machines in simulated manufacturing environments.

Two are being used by their award winning competitive traveling robotics team as they go from competition to competition.

KUKA Robotics, with its parent company KUKA Roboter of Augsburg, Germany, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of industrial robots, with an annual production volume approaching 10,000 units, and an installed base of over 80,000 units.

The company's 5 and 6 axis robots range from 3kg to 570kg payloads, and 635mm to 3700mm reach, all controlled from a common PC based controller platform.

KUKA robots are utilised in a diverse range of industries including the appliance, automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, logistics, food, pharmaceutical, medical, foundry and plastics industries and in multiple applications including material handling, machine loading, assembly, packaging, palletizing, welding, bending, joining, and surface finishing.

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