Food handling and packaging using computer vision and robot

Even though the use of robot vision system in manufacturing sectors is now a commonplace, however, the technology embodied in these devices is poorly matched to industrial needs of food processors. In particular, food processing imposes special demands upon machinery. For instance the vision sensor must be programmed to detect the position of single and isolated object as well as overlapping or occluding objects. Special grippers have to be designed for handling of food articles such that they have minimum contact with the food items and hence causing minimum damage to them. In this project, started over a year ago, a vision guidance system is being developed to meet this objective. The system integrates the modified version of the Hough transform algorithm as the main recognition engine. The methods and procedures were tested on commercially produced beefburgers.