Like many other industries, baking is preparing for the adoption of Industry 4.0 to adapt instantly to influences and changing requirements.

FREMONT, CA: Innovations in sensor technology and data analytic are driving robots that are more intelligent and flexible than ever before, allowing the wider adoption and expansion of robotics into new use cases and industries. Markets like baking are looking to robotics and automation to combat hurdles and the continuous lack of skilled workers.  Here is more to know.

The deployment of robots in bakeries, whether small craft operations or industrial units, may be worthwhile to scale system flexibility and availability. For example, if a range of products is baked, manufactured, packed on one line, conventional automation remedies may be insufficiently flexible to enable timely product changeovers. However, robots can hold the need for many different products in their computer memories and be transferred from one to the next at the push of a button.

The outcome of this compared to more conventional manual or semi-automated methods of production means production cycles can be tailored to be substantially faster and more cost-efficient; quality and cons

istency can be assured, and hygiene never compromised. Robots are found to be compact solutions, a very useful characteristic in several bakeries where space is at a premium. They are controlled by a camera system or computer vision, easily understandable to operatives who have to work with robots. Robots can be ideal in pick-and-place applications, like placing delicately iced buns into the pockets before wrapping them in the final consumer packaging.

An example of robotic technology in bakeries is that they can apply personalized messages to a virtual cake through an iPad. The data recorded through the tablet is transferred to a PC, which controls a robot arm. In the simulation, the robot is having a laser, although, in the real world, this would be an icing dispenser. With this kind of technology, it would be possible to transmit a greeting in one's handwriting online and gather the respective decorated cake from a local bakery. For robotics to work in practice, production processes must be robust, stable, flexible, reliable, and armed with artificial intelligence.