Competition in the flexible automated food picking sector is set to drive down the costs of robots further, thanks to a new machine from Fanuc Robotics.
The M-430iA/2F, which is expected to undergo trials at an unnamed UK meat processor within the next four months following its launch on June 19 in Europe, is a high-speed robot, hygienically constructed with hose-down cleaning capability (IP 67 rating), designed specifically for picking of primary and secondary foods. The robot has been developed in close collaboration with manufacturers across the world, including confectioner Ferrero Rocher.
According to Fanuc Robotics' UK md Chris Sumner, the robot is targeted at the UK food market serviced by competitor ABB Robotics' Flexpicker robot. ABB has said that flexible robots are becoming more affordable to the sector as their price falls and the launch will inevitably accelerate that process.
The M-430iA/2F has a long reach of 900mm and five axes of flexibility to accommodate horizontal and vertical product displacement positions. It makes up to 120 picks a minute with payloads of up to 1kg.
Fanuc expects to sell about 70 of the robots in the UK food sector by 2008, but as UK national sales and marketing manager Maurice Hanley said: "Penetrating the market with this new product will depend on our integrators."