Cutting Automation in Food Processing

Robot manipulators have been used in many fields relating to human life. One of the examples is food processing. Compared to traditional industry, such as car assembly, these tasks are more difficult for a robot to finish, because of change in size during food cutting or the difficulty of developing automated devices to perform cutting operations on parts with unknown sizes. To successfully conduct such tasks, we need a better understanding of the cutting principle. This is the main goal of this research article. We first developed a mathematical model of blade slicing-compression cutting. Next, we studied the influences from the perspectives of material properties, deformation, and blade properties on the cutting force. Based on these studies, we can develop a method to categorize the sharpness levels of a blade. The required force to achieve a slicing-compression cut can be predicted. This provides the reference force to modify the trajectory for cutting automation. These results can be directly used in chicken wing-shoulder cutting operations in a poultry-processing factory, which is a task that directly affects the yield of the breast meat.