Robotics in food & beverage and tobacco

The interesting mapping work by Giambattista Gruosso, professor of the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering at the Politecnico di Milano, continues. This time the study is dedicated to the challenges and potential of robotics in the industrial sector.

It is estimated that in Italy, in the food & beverage and tobacco sector alone, there are just over 7,000 robots at work, a hundred less than in Germany (third in the world rankings after North America and China).
After recalling that 38% of the companies interviewed use the robot in packaging applications and that 31% specifically in palletizing, Gruosso reported that 75% of companies have declared a close relationship between robotics and artificial intelligence and to be continuously searching for new AI algorithms.
The research then highlights the training needs both in the field of programming (automation, motion, robotics, vision, calculation and simulation software development, operator interface development) and in digital skills (management and protection of information, content, data and digital identities, software recognition, devices and artificial intelligence).
Gruosso concluded, emphasizing the challenges facing the sector:
• realization of faster robots with a greater reach;
• better man-machine interfaces;
• improvement in safety;
• integration with existing systems.
In this sense, the limitations are essentially two: the relationship between dynamics and precision, the possibility of maintaining high production in countries with high labor costs.
 

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