Automated Assessment of a Critical Food Processing Variable (UA04 - CNAG)

1. UA04 - CNAG Automated Assessment of a Critical Food Processing Variable (UA04 - CNAG) • Principal Investigator: Dr. Earnest W. Fant PhD Ryan Mascoe BSIE, Graduate Research Assistant Sponsored by: ConAgra Foods

2. Project Overview • Automate the assessment and controlling of internal temperature of cooked meat portions • Investigate technical practicality and economic feasibility of proposed solution • USDA requires testing to prevent health risks such as E. coli • Human operator performing repetitive tasks in uncomfortable conditions • Proposed automated system will replace and mimic human operators

3. Project Overview • Proposed automated system must handle harsh environment of USDA regulated food processing plant • Proposed solution should allow for greater production, improve labor costs, provide better data management, and allow for greater system control

4. Experimental Plan • Areas of investigation: • Probe definition • Probe placement • Develop specifications for automated feedback and control of system • Steps involved • Define required tasks • Estimate costs • Identify benefits • Identify disadvantages • Validation

5. Objectives • Design a successful automated system to assess and control internal temperature of cooked meat portions • Detect presence of cooked portions on production line • Gain control of cooked portions from moving conveyor • Transport portion within work area • Obtain internal temperature of portion • Take action based on assessment results

6. Methodology • Sense portion on conveyor line using machine vision • Design and test robot end effector • Select appropriate robot based on machine environment • Pickup portion using selected robot end effector • Use robotic arm to transport portions within the work area • Design probing area to test various types of portions • Obtain internal temperature of portion using temperature probe • Adjust conveyor speed according to temperature obtained

7. Constraints • Must work within a USDA regulated environment • Must handle daily wash downs, electrical noise, and fire hazards • System must handle many product lines with varying properties • Pickup hot portion on inclined conveyor at up to 0.6 ft/sec • Transport hot, greasy, and flimsy portion to probing area • Ambient workspace temperature of 107° F • Probing must reach center of portion

8. Milestones • To assess that the technically feasible solution is achievable and economically practical (September 2003) • Setup a demonstration of two pickup lane to validate investigation as to programming and system setup to include probe area development for process testing (December 2003) • Develop process testing with data recorder and monitor display (January 2004) • Develop specifications as to training and equipment (March 2004) • Final report (May 2004)

9. Current Developments • SCARA robotic arm • Four camera machine vision system • Bellows style vacuum cup end effector • Stationary temperature probe with self adjusting testing area • Central computer for data management and system control

10. Current Developments

11. Current Developments

12. Current Developments