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Outlines the special design requirements for robots working in the food industry

Out of the work at Oxford University on are welding robot guidance systems has come a new company, Meta Machines, to manufacture and market the equipment. John Mortimer went to see its founders, Peter Davey and Ed Hudson.

Examines Robofish, a prototype high speed, vision guided robot with an end‐effector that is able to grasp slippery fish and accurately place them within a deheading machine. Describes the vision system, the two fingered gripper and the robot which has two rotating arms. Outlines the software for the robot and gives results of initial trials. Concludes that with careful design, a fish can be grasped reliably and with the necessary accuracy in order to achieve yield improvements on fish deheading exceeding 1 per cent.

Formed just over a year ago the UK company Meta Machines has set its sights on advanced technology products. Brian Rooks reports on its first two product lines

The Science and Engineering Research Council is pressing on with funding of university research projects associated with industry. Dr Peter Smith of the ACME Directorate talked to Jack Hollingum about progress.

Robotic solutions for the handling of food products have been notably absent from suppliers’ catalogues and indeed from research laboratories. This is primarily due to the peculiarities that handling food adds to the general pick‐and‐place task. These are the complexity of handling non‐rigid products that are infinitely variable in shape, the hygiene requirement which stipulates IP65 or better for the hose‐down environment, and the reality that the food industry produces low margin products that only make substantial profits at large volumes, whilst also requiring perfect product presentation to the consumer. In this environment, tasks which have both a short payback and other commercial advantages, such as increased operator safety or improved quality, whilst also being technically feasible, are not immediately obvious.

Reviews recent literature on home‐based intravenous antibiotics services and reports on a clinical trial carried out in the UK. The UK trial is synthesized with the literature and an outline framework is offered for planning the launch of similar non‐inpatient services in the UK health care system.

Eighteen months ago the Science Research Council announced its robotics initiative. The programme is now well launched with many promising academic‐industry partnerships and in which sensing is playing a key role.

A look at the background of the robotic ideas company, Oxford Intelligent Machines, generally known as OxIM and at some of their current products such as a rehabilitation work cell for disabled people, a toolchanger and Robofish, for robotic handling in fish processing.