SpecTUNA
The project focuses on the design of a robotic cell that brings together several enabling technologies within the scope
of industry 4.0, Artificial vision, hyperspectral vision and advanced robotics solutions will be developed
News
The Need
Manually
The loins need to be cut in order to be cooked. Nowadays, this job of de-heading, de-fining, and cutting in two halves, is done piece by piece with manually operated industrial band saws. This task is highly risky, the tunas are bulky pieces, difficult to handle (moreover when frozen).
High Heterogeneity
Currently each batch of frozen tuna presents a high heterogeneity, both biometric and nutritional. The thermal cooking and serilization processes treat this raw material equally. The next generation tools are necessary.
Competitiveness
Improving efficiency in the process, is critical for the competitiveness of European industry, especially if we DIMENSION the case.
The Dimension
In 2015 Tuna species accounted in the EU for two-hundred-thousnad tonnes (203.000) and eight-hundred and eighty-seven million Euros (million). From it, sixty three percent (63%) was canned tuna. Canned tuna is the most consumed fish product in the EU and by far, the most-important-product of the fish-product canning industry. Canned tuna directly provides 20.000 jobs and creates 60.000 indirect jobs in supporting sectors
The European Union is the third-largest producer in the world, after Indonesia and Japan.
This demonstration project for tuna can be applied to a large part of the food industry for other products.
The European Market of Food Processing Machinery will have a continuous growth. Market drivers are rising demand for food, rising demand for processed foods, and consumers' interest for the TUNA good nutritional characteristics.
The Solution
The Solution consist of four modules:
The Plan
Our PLAN is building the first 1:1 scale demo unit of SpecTUNA.
Currently, we count with a prototype of each module.
Along this project we will iteratively design, build, test and re-engineer each of the modules, and execute a two-step demo experience:
First ANFACO's and then in LA GONDOLA'
These demo experiences will allow us to perform a
market-oriented design, paving its succes.
The Challenge
SpecTUNA is highly ambitious and represents a big disruption in the state-of-the-art.
The Technological Challenge is important: to automate the timely processing of bulky units with irregular shapes, optimize cuts and
minimize discards.
Another great leap is The Calibration of the Hyperspectral Technology, that will provide physicochemical and nutritional parameters to allow
quality control.
We will apply the principles of Industry 4.0 to a currently very traditional and crafty sector.
The Results
The four main expected results and impacts are explained hereon: