Tiempo de lectura: 2 min
We have been hearing about industry for some years now. 4.0, a revolution that also affects the agri-food sector. Perhaps, due to its deep-rooted nature and the number of processes that are still carried out manually, it is one of the sectors that is socially most difficult to relate to digitalization, a pillar of this new fourth revolution and an essential factor for achieving the full sustainability of the sector.
Robotics is changing the agri-food sector. Many experts foresee an explosion of demand in the sector, as they assure that there are many factors that encourage the application of robotic systems, among which are the reduction in costs and health standards. In many respects, new opportunities are opening up for robotic automation of food processes.
Industries that have already opted for robotic systems enjoy greater efficiency and speed, improved safety and higher quality. This provides a competitive advantage that translates into profits in a short period of time.
As we mentioned at the beginning, the agri-food sector is one of the sectors with the largest number of manually developed processes, a fact that does not facilitate the improvement of competitiveness or the achievement of maximum sustainability, but that represents a great opportunity to highlight the companies that are already beginning to automate these processes.
A large number of processes can be mechanized, both the more traditional ones such as loading and unloading, handling, packaging, palletizing… as well as cutting, gutting, food decoration, labeling… And a long etcetera that makes it increasingly profitable to automate manual processes.
Although it should be noted that there are still many processes in which the person uses his or her hands directly, and does not use tools. These cases are difficult to replace with robots or machines. And this is when the need for collaborative robotics is born. Where people and robots share the same space, but the robot not only performs the work of the person but also makes it compatible. This robot can be programmed in real time, can be pre-configured or can work alongside a human. It can be said that the cobot plays the role of assistant to the worker. According to a 2016 study by researchers at the prestigious MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) shows that human-robot collaboration is 85% more productive than a person or robot working separately.