MU 2018 March April

40 MACHINERY UPDATE MARCH/APRIL 2018 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Installation News
Six-axis robots are deboning
legs of pork at flexible speed
Six-axis robots that are
now being used for
processing meat have
delivered greater productivity
and efficiency in Japan.
The job of removing bones
from pork legs is being
achieved by a pioneering
Hamdas-R robot system that
uses two Stäubli six-axis
RX160 HE machines operating
as master butchers. The
machine has to meet strict
hygiene requirements for
handling fresh meat and it also
has to perform at speed – no
fewer than 500 pork legs enter
and leave the line per hour.
Robot functionality is also
tested at these speeds because
no one piece of pork is the
same as another, so flexibility
is also a key requirement.
The HE version of the Stäubli
RX160 is used as it is specially
designed to withstand the
intensive cleaning processes
in the food industry. The fully
enclosed robots equipped with
special gaskets conform to
IP65 standards of protection
while the use of a Stäubli
overpressure unit increases
Simmatic MU J-F 2018.qxp_MU 09/01/2018 17:03 Page 1
The new meat processing line avoids the physically exhausting manual work for operators at new high speeds
the degree of protection even
further; the wrist meets the
requirements of IP67, meaning
that it is completely watertight,
for example.
Vertical internal cabling
has also meant that as all the
connectors are located under
the robot pedestal, they are
safe from water ingress.
The Japanese equipment
manufacturer has devised a
way of using the robots with
the correct precision for the
task. In operation, an x-ray
system detects the position
of the bones in the meat and
calculates the exact incision
line for the robots. Robots have
to compensate for the fact that
the meat is hanging from an
overhead hook, and so is liable
to move around. Each wristmounted
knife has to cut with
precision and, at the same
time, with sensitivity to avoid
any collisions with bones.
Food-safe oils are used
in combination with the
robots, without any loss
of efficiencies.
T 01952 671917
W www.staubli.co.uk
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