February 2020 - 11

It's important to take into account
the difference between industrial
and collaborative robots (cobots),
Donnelly added. Handling delicacy
and speed come into play when it
comes to fresh produce.
" Collaborative robots are growing
in popularity due to their ease of
deployment and use, " she said. " A
common mistake is not understanding
the differences in speed capability
with collaborative robots, which are
purposefully slower than industrial
robots due to the safety aspects of
collaborative robots. Collaborative
robots also aren't always less expensive
than industrial robots. "
Gripping and picking apparatuses,
such as Soft Robotics' mGrip, should
be able to adapt to size and shape
of the fruit or vegetable to allow for
minimal tooling so the produce does
not get damaged or bruised.
Future capabilities
Computer vision technology
can detect defects in items, even
if too small for the naked eye, in
a production when the items are
supposed to be uniform in shape and
size. No two pieces of produce are
exactly the same, however.
" In the industrial space, vision systems
are trained to look for something very
specific. Let's say for a pen, the outside of
the pen is always the same, " Brookshire
said. " But if you put five strawberries
down, they all look different. "
" That's really no different than a
human. If I'm a new person on the
line, I probably won't be able to detect
as many bad ones as someone who has
been doing it for five years. "
Brookshire said such technology
could be available to producers in the
next five years.
" We'll be able to do it in some scope, "
he said. " Will it be perfect? No, but we'll
be able to start doing it. It might not be
in the masses at that point; but in 10
years, it probably will be. "
With any new technology,
companies are reluctant to depend
on it until it's been proven to work
in a real production environment.
During an interactive forum at PACK
EXPO, titled " Robotics: Identifying
Applications and Justifying the
Investments, " some show attendees
were openly skeptical of computerized
vision defect detection, even for
ready-to-ship packaged products,
much less raw produce.
" Robotics hasn't caught up to
detecting end-of-line defects the way
people can, " said one attendee, who
added he's avoided replacing human
packers with automation for that
reason. " If I need someone to inspect
the product, I may as well have them
box it too. "
Brookshire said automation in
food production will likely occur in
small measures, perhaps one trial
production line for larger producers.
" It depends on the company. Some
of the big ones are very quick to take
this kind of thing on, " he said. " For
the small ones, they might look at
it as a way to compete and get their
costs down.
" Once it's proven and factories see
other factories doing it, they'll say, 'We
have to do that.' "
Ultimately, there is going to be
trial and error with robotics in food
production.
" Really, it's the same thing that
happened with the automobile industry
30 to 40 years ago, " Brookshire said.
" We tried to do everything with robots,
and we couldn't.
" You have to learn which things you
can do well with robots and which you
can't. " FGN
The scientific explanation.
Calcium is a critical element for fruit development.
A calcium deficiency in plants results in dividing cells
being unable to stay bound together. This causes poor
quality in fruits and vegetables such as blossom end rot,
tissue necrosis and poor storability.
ENCOURAGE NANOCAL is a unique
formulation of calcium carbonate.
®
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Typical calcium soil additives have particle sizes of up to
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expands the calcium surface area, and allows more
particles in solution, providing a denser field of
calcium particles for uptake.
Foliar-applied calcium does
not translocate to fruit.
The only efficient way to move calcium into developing
fruit and vegetables is through root uptake. Soil-applied
NANOCAL's particle size allows immediate movement
into the meristematic region of growing roots. TransXylem™
technology translocates the calcium throughout the plant
to rapidly dividing cells in the developing fruit.
Soft Robotics' mGrip picks a strawberry out
of a carton on a production line.
Currently, people are needed to pick
out defective produce in a processing
or production line. Brookshire said AI
technology is close to robots be able
to learn what to look for in a defective
piece of produce the same way an
experienced human picker has learned.
" Imagine if you could put 100 good
fruits and 100 bad fruits in front of
a vision system and it could learn
the differences. Slowly, it builds up a
database, " Brookshire said. " It's not
exactly what a good one looks like,
but what the characteristics are of a
good one and what the characteristics
are of a bad one. You could put a fruit
in front of it, and it would determine,
based on what it knows right now,
that's a bad one.
Soil-applied NANOCAL calcium particles are
immediately available to developing fruit.
Benefits of improved
calcium uptake include:
* Reduction in calcium-deficiency quality issues
* Improved shelf life and storability
* Better uniformity at maturity
* Increased firmness
* Increased yield
Learn more at oroagriusa.com
ENCOURAGE NANOCAL is a proprietary trademark of Oro Agri Inc.
Always read and follow label directions.
FGN | FEBRUARY 2020 | 11
http://www.oroagriusa.com
February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020
