The R&D Tax Credit Aspects of Food Processing Robots
Improved robot technologies are
mainstreaming into American business. The food processing
industry presents tremendous opportunities for new robot
technologies because of their cost effectiveness,
contamination reducing characteristics and safety improvements
in this highly visible and critical industry.
The Research and
Development Tax Credit
Enacted in 1981, the federal Research and
Development (R&D) Tax Credit allows a credit of up to 13%
of eligible spending for new and improved products and
processes. Qualified research must meet the following four
criteria:
- New or improved products,
processes, or software
- Technological in nature
- Elimination of uncertainty
- Process of experimentation
Eligible costs include employee wages, cost of supplies, cost
of testing, contract research expenses, and costs associated
with developing a patent. On January 2, 2013, President Obama
signed the bill extending the R&D Tax Credit for 2012 and
2013 tax years. As of this writing, both the Senate Committee
on Finance and the House Committee on Ways and Means have
recommended extension of the R&D tax credit.
Food Processing and
Packaging Robots
In order to have the most efficient food
processing plant possible, the smaller the overall production
line the better, in order to reduce the time spent on
processing, packaging, and palletizing. In previous years
robots were too large for small product lines, but now,
robotic arm producers are creating smaller arms in order to
reduce space and increase efficiency of the overall space.
Delta style robots are a very new line of extremely efficient
dexterous robots that closely resemble spiders due to their
arms that hang down. Delta robots are perfect for picking and
placing all kinds of food products. They hang above the
conveyor line dangling their arms down in order to pick and
place the products where they need to go at a very rapid and
efficient speed.
Dual-arm packaging robots are also available for their
precision and dexterity. The arms can be equipped with
different tools in order to handle different jobs. Baxter the
robot is a famous example of a dual arm packaging robot .
Baxter is currently being used in several different
industries. Baxter is the first robot of its kind that is both
cost effective for smaller businesses looking for automation
in packaging and at a reasonable cost. Baxter is equipped with
sonar, a front camera to detect human presence and six degrees
of motion for each arm. Baxter is programmed with a
"common-sense" capability in order to be able to adapt to any
sort of environment change.
New Food Processing
Robot Technologies
Robots are made to work in harsh, unsafe
challenging environments, and work efficiently. The food
processing industry has been fighting cross contamination and
worker safety issues since food was produced on large scale.
Robots provide an outlet to minimize injuries, avoid cross
contamination, and increase overall efficiency. In 2011, the
FDA enacted a law entitled the FDA Food Safety Modernization
Act, allowing the agency to recall any food that is
contaminated, causing major public issues with the food
producing company responsible.
In the past, robotic arms could only process materials that
were all uniform in size and shape. Now with the development
of smart sensor technology, robotic arms can look at a product
and make a calculated adjustment in order to be able to work
with the product the most efficient way possible.
Food products, especially meat products are extremely
inconsistent in their shapes, sizes, and fat content. Robots
are now able to scan the product and make the necessary cuts
to get the most product off of the bone, limiting waste and
increasing output.
So, robots must be able to adapt to the fact that no two
pieces of raw meat are alike, and thus they must learn very
quickly how to handle the food. Not only do robots have to be
able to handle all different shapes and sizes of the meat, but
they also have to withstand cleanliness standards.
Fanuc
Robotics, Adept Technology, Inc., and Staubli are three of the
top robotic arm and delta robot manufacturers in the world.
Staubli makes all of their robots as adaptable to every single
kind of industry that may require one of their products.
Staubli prides themselves on being the producers of some of
the most reliable robotic arms on the market today. Adept
specializes in producing 4 axis as well as Delta style robots
that can be used in all industries as well as food grade
packaging arms. Fanuc is the worldwide leader in food grade
robotic arms. Fanuc produces the fastest smart tracking
robotic arms on the market, which is important with the food
industry, since many perishable products are under time
constraints to avoid spoilage.
The
following diagram illustrates a full robot food processing
line. Presumably this technology will evolve and the entire
food processing line will be completely automated with limited
human involvement.
In order for farms to remain profitable, emerging technology
applications are crucial in order to stay afloat. Drone
surveying is currently being explored to check crops for
parasites as well as overall health. Using drones allows for
rapid analysis of the crop that could not be reached
previously unless an airplane surveyed the farm. Drones can
also help with data collection to assist in the decision
making process of how much fertilizer to use or pesticides, to
apply in order to reduce runoff and help protect the
environment as well as reducing the farmer's costs.
University Research
Georgia Tech Food Processing Technology
Division
In January 2014, researchers at Georgia
Tech began a three year poultry project to attempt to
reconstruct cutting and deboning systems, so it can rival the
most experienced human poultry processor. By using advanced
image processing, advanced robotics, and statistical modeling
the robot can work just like a human in order to produce the
most yield. The caveat is, it can do it better and faster than
any human can. The biggest challenge is variability among
every animal carcass. Georgia Tech has created a program
called "Intelligent Cutting 2.0 System" which has substantial
improvements from its predecessor. The most significant change
is the 6 degrees of motion capabilities as opposed to the old,
2 degrees of motion. Having the extra range of motion, allows
more intricate cuts to be made, which produces a more
efficient overall process.
Georgia Tech is also researching the
uses of 3D printing in order to produce the robotic arms on
certain models of robots, primarily aggregation robots that
drive around fields inspecting and spraying plants. 3D
printing is a very cost effective and efficient way to make
parts or pieces out of plastic, metal, ceramic, and some
biomaterials. Researchers at Georgia Tech are exploring making
the robotic arms almost completely out of 3D printers to
explore the capabilities and limiting factors of using 3D
printers in order to produce food grade robotic arms.
National Robotics
Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon
Carnegie Mellon University is one of the
leaders in university research and development of robotics in
the country. The National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC)
is currently housed at the University where in house Expertise
and an abundance of research is available to aid innovation.
NREC is currently developing an automated, machine
vision-based strawberry plant sorter to aid the process. The
sorting stage strawberry harvesting is the most time consuming
and costly portion of harvesting strawberries and with the aid
of autonomous technology, the time it takes to sort
strawberries can be drastically reduced; thus reducing costs
and time while simultaneously increasing output. In a field
test conducted by NREC in which the machine vision system
distinguishes harvested strawberries by appearance, it sorted
75,000 strawberry plants with all different levels of maturity
at a rate of 5,000 plants per hour. That 5,000 plants per hour
figure alone, dwarfs what a human worker could do. The error
rate was about the same as a human's would be, but it sorted
plants on a more consistent rate.
Federal Government
Universities Robot Food Processing Grant
In October, 2013 the National Institute of
Food and Agriculture announced a $4.5 million grant that will
be divided by multiple universities including University of
California at Davis and will develop relatively small,
inexpensive robots to aid in human harvesting of strawberries.
University of Central Florida's project focuses on the
integration of agricultural robots, low altitude aerial
imaging and advanced sensor technologies to enhance early
disease and stress detection in fruits and vegetables,
including citrus greening. UCF's project will develop advanced
control methods for robotic harvesting of citrus. University
of Nebraska focuses on the development of semi-automated
aerial vehicles capable of sampling water in remote areas, and
Washington State University will develop robotic technology
for tree fruit harvesting in order to fund research to build
prototype robots that will assist in fruit production
industry.
Safety and
Contamination
Even though robots don't make very many
mistakes that cause cross contamination they are still in
contact with many different sources of contamination
throughout the day. Thus, they have to be pressure washed
daily. Robots greatly improve the working environments at food
processing facilities much better, since they do not get
tired, sick, cold, hot, and best of all almost never make
mistakes after doing the same task over and over again. Robots
don't get colds or coughs, so removing human workers from the
food processing can lead to the highest levels of product
safety. Questions arise such as, how can these robots
withstand constant exposure to salts, alkaline, acids, etc.? A
simple hose down isn't sufficient and would destroy the robot
completely. Robot manufacturers are developing multiple axis
functionality solutions to these problems, such as using food
grade grease for the robots joints, adapted sealings, epoxy
paint, plastic covers for the arms, and smooth surfaces to
improve cleanliness.
During food processing, temperature changes can vary greatly
from freezing to high temperature cooking. Robots need to be
able to adapt and remain operational in those extreme
temperature conditions. In extreme heat, heat covers are
wrapped around the robot in order to block out radiant heat
from harming the robot. The same can be applied for low
temperature. Thanks to an innovative Kevlar material made by
RoboWorld, robotic arms can maintain their efficiency in
extreme temperatures.As was mentioned before, robots that work
with food have to be made using certain food grade materials
and have to have smoother surfaces in order to reduce bacteria
build-up. Due to the increased risk of cross contamination
with meat products, the robots used in that industry require
the highest food grade rating evaluated by the USDA which is
IP69. Most other food processing robots only require a rating
of IP67.
By removing humans from food processing, it not only reduces
risk of sickness or injury, but it also protects the end
consumer from exposure to serious illness. With that being
said, human workers are still required in order to operate the
robots as well as clean and maintain them. Each robot works in
its very own 'workcell' where they can move around freely and
do their job. As long as the robot is performing its task,
human workers can never enter those 'workcells' without
properly shutting down the robot to eliminate human injuries.
Conclusion
The food processing industry for the last
20 plus years has been implementing more and more robots to
their facilities with the efforts to reduce costs, reduce
contamination, and increase output. Robot manufacturers as
well as leading universities have been working to improve
robotic technologies with the intent to create a completely
autonomous food processing line; from the chicken coop and
agricultural fields on to the processing plant and finally
into the consumers shopping cart. All new developments for the
automation process of food processing can potentially qualify
for the R&D Tax Credit.
