Food & Beverage Asia June/July 2020

MARKET INSIGHTS
19
Broadening the applications of cobots
Besides food manufacturing, cobots
are starting to address labour shortage
challenges of customer-facing food outlets
as well. In Japan, a country faced with an
ageing population and low birth rates,
cobots came to the rescue.
In the Japanese theme park Huis Ten
Bosch, the Takoyaki Robot OctoChef can
be found at the shopfront making Takoyaki,
a traditional Japanese snack. The UR5
cobot replicates the delicate movements
of a Takoyaki, pouring oil and ingredients
followed by rotating the dumplings to a
desired doneness. Usually, it takes about
two to three months to master baking
Takoyaki dumplings, but the UR5 learned
this very quickly in a matter of hours.
delicate moves. The theme park realised an
increase in productivity while also creating
a highly entertaining visual attraction.
Automation tools for the smart
workforce
Tomorrow’s workplaces will be run
by highly-skilled workers assisted by
intelligent devices. Cobots help automate
and streamline repetitive and potentially
unsafe processes, thereby ensuring a
safer work environment while increasing
productivity and efficiency.
Cobots enhance human capabilities
and efficiencies instead of replacing
jobs. By performing the dull, repetitive,
physically demanding and potentially
unsafe tasks, or tasks in harsh and
unpleasant environments in extremely hot
or cold temperatures instead of human
operators, cobots ensure a safer work
environment while increasing productivity
and efficiency. Human operators are
spared from muscle strain or joint damage
caused by repetitive tasks and accidental
injuries and take on higher-skilled jobs
involving more complex processes or
human interaction, or promoted to guiding,
maintaining and servicing of the cobots.
Human operators gain high job satisfaction
and quality of life; hence the acceptance
and enthusiasm in working with cobots
is high.
Cobots are now the fastest-growing
segment of industrial automation, with the
yearly annual revenue for cobots expected
to reach US$11.8 billion by 2030, up from
US$1.9 billion in 2018, according to ABI
Research.
Firms that adopted its cobots increased
production by as much as 300%, reducing
defects by 90% and lifting profits by 20%.
In metropolitan cities where real estate
is a premium, compounded by an ageing
population and declining birth rates,
cobots are ideal companion to continue
to deliver good quality food at reasonable
prices, and on time. FBA
Using artificial intelligence and deep learning, the UR5 cobot
installed at Huis Ten Bosch reproduces the delicate movements
of a Takoyaki chef, pouring oil and ingredients followed by
rotating the dumping to desired doneness
Capable of delivering 96 fully baked
dumplings at once, the OctoChef frees up
the staff from the tedious and repetitive
task of constantly rotating the dumplings,
and the discomfort of standing next
to hot steel plates the whole day. Its
human counterparts can now prepare
the ingredients, put toppings on finished
products and does what humans do best
and prefer to do – communicating with
customers with the human touch and smile.
The OctoChef is now popular among
customers that line up to witness its
Human robot collaboration in the food industry
FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA JUNE / JULY 2020