FANUC moves into the food-handling business

Citation

(1998), "FANUC moves into the food-handling business", Industrial Robot, Vol. 25 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1998.04925ead.002

FANUC moves into the food-handling business

FANUC moves into the food-handling business

Keywords FANUC, Robots

FANUC has developed and begun marketing what it calls a "genuine" food-handling robot. The machine is in fact a variation of the company's high-speed handling robot, the A-520i.

The new A-520i Washdown robot has high levels of waterproofing and dustproofing and is completely enclosed in stainless steel and anodised aluminium. This allows operators to wash down the robot using high-pressure water jets and brushing. It is also possible to sterilise the unit using weak solutions of acid; weak solutions of alkaline may also be used.

Indentations, holes and narrow gaps have all been avoided in the desire to create smooth outlines. In addition, all cables and hoses, including hand cabling, are mounted within the interior of the arm. This prevents bacteria from breeding on the robot surface.

All exterior painted surfaces have been eliminated through the use of stainless steel and anodised aluminium. This eliminates small particles of paint that might otherwise become broken away during washing or brushing. In addition, the mechanical unit is lubricated by a food grade of grease and all gaskets and oil seals are food grade one.

The high speed capabilities of the A-520i unit cater for 80 repeat cycles of pick and place per minute, and the payload capacity of 20kg allows the robot to handle significant amounts of food in a single movement given the use of a large hand or multi-gripper.

Grey-scale vision sensors, such as the FANUC Vision V-400i, can be used in conjunction with the robot and linked to the controller. The V-400i can detect the position and rotation of foods without any additional positioning mechanism by using a CCD camera mounted over the conveyor. The robot can pick up the foods which may be randomly arranged on a conveyor travelling at over 600mm/s.

Although the Washdown robot can be floor-mounted for specific applications, it can also be positioned upside down by changing the arm location.

(Source IFR)