Deboning system (via Georgia Tech)
Deboning poultry can certainly be a time consuming/messy process, and if you’re like me, fingers get cut during the endeavor. It’s always better to leave that job to a qualified butcher-robot. Yes, you read that right. Researchers from Georgia Tech have recently designed a robot that’s capable of deboning chickens of all sizes.
The system makes use of a 3D imaging system to determine where to cut the bird after which a robotic arm does the precision slicing that ‘optimizes the yield and minimizes bone fragmentation’. To accomplish the precision deboning, the chicken is first mounted on a robotic arm that has 6 degrees of motion. The imaging system takes 3D measurements of the bird using software written with custom algorithms that estimate locations of the chickens bone and ligament positions before cutting begins. A second robotic arm is outfitted with a cutting knife which has a force-feedback sensor that allows it to detect the transition from meat to bone without cutting into the bone itself. Both robotic arms move in relation to each other in order to maximize the determined position while making the cuts.
Georgia Tech says that the robot provides a better yield of meat and also promotes food safety as bone chips can become a hazard when eating boneless meat. However, the robot is far from being new as Mayekawa Manufacturing (based in Tokyo) has had their deboning robots TORIDAS (poultry), HAMDAS-R (ham), and YIELDAS-EYE (chicken *** only) for a few years now. Those ‘deboners’ also use an imaging system to help gauge cuts. No matter the robot, my fingers greatly appreciate their cutting prowess.
TORIDAS Mark II below:
Cabe
