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A Smart and Flexible Automation System for High Value Cake Manufacturing

用于高价值蛋糕制造的智能灵活的自动化系统

基本信息

批准号：
EP/L505213/1
负责人：
Xiu-Tian Yan
金额：
$ 37.67万
依托单位：
University of Strathclyde
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2014 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FL505213%2F1
关键词：
Smart Flexible Automation System Value

项目摘要

The context within which this project takes place is that of cake production within the food manufacturing industry. The foodindustry generally is worth £96.1bn to the UK economy with Food and Drink Manufacturing providing £26.4bn Gross ValueAdded and employing 395,000 people, and specifically the bakery industry GVA is just under £4bn (Food StatisticsPocketbook, 2012, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). The company within which theresults of this project will be applied, is one of 9,340 food and drink manufacturing sites in the UK. The project involves the partnership of the cake manufacturing company Lightbody, the University of Strathclyde, and the automation companyQuasar.The aim of the project is to investigate, research, and develop a new smart and flexible material handling automationsystem for cakes, icing, and cake decorations. This system will comprise various sensors, software algorithms, andmechatronic hardware in order to create a more efficient and consistent autonomous production method. A major challengewithin the project will be the creation of a novel handling and manipulation system that will be able to cope with the difficultattributes of the cake icing and decorative materials. These can be soft, sticky, brittle, and floppy, all of thesecharacteristics are very difficult for automated manipulator systems to handle.The initial benefits of this project will be to (a) the cake manufacturing company in that the project will increase itsefficiency, reduce its costs, and increase its profitability, (b) the University in that it will expand its knowledge and expertisein this field, be able to provide knowledge exchange, and provide employment and experience for two researchers, and (c)provide the other industrial partner with an opportunity to enhance its experience and knowledge while contributing itsexisting expertise to the success of the task.Further benefits to UK industry in general will result from the knowledge gained from the design of the system tomanipulate the difficult to handle materials. This knowledge should have general applicability not only in the food industrybut also in areas such as clothing manufacture. The developed system will be modular such that elements of the design,e.g. hardware, software, and sensing, will be useable by a range of companies.

该项目发生的背景是食品制造业的蛋糕生产。食品行业对英国经济的总体价值为 961 亿英镑，其中食品和饮料制造业提供了 264 亿英镑的总增加值并雇用了 395,000 名员工，特别是烘焙行业的 GVA 略低于 40 亿英镑（Food StatisticsPocketbook，2012 年，由环境、食品和农村事务部出版）。该项目成果将应用到的公司是英国 9,340 个食品和饮料生产基地之一。该项目由蛋糕制造公司 Lightbody、斯特拉斯克莱德大学和自动化公司 Quasar 合作。该项目的目的是调查、研究和开发一种用于蛋糕、糖霜和蛋糕装饰的新型智能灵活的物料搬运自动化系统。该系统将包括各种传感器、软件算法和机电一体化硬件，以创建更高效、更一致的自主生产方法。该项目的一个主要挑战将是创建一种新颖的处理和操纵系统，该系统将能够应对蛋糕糖霜和装饰材料的困难属性。这些可以是软的、粘性的、易碎的和松软的，所有这些特性对于自动化机械手系统来说都很难处理。该项目的最初好处将是（a）蛋糕制造公司，因为该项目将提高其效率，降低其成本，并增加其盈利能力；（b）大学，因为它将扩展其在该领域的知识和专业知识，能够提供知识交流，并为两名研究人员提供就业和经验，以及 (c) 为其他工业合作伙伴提供增强其经验和知识的机会，同时为任务的成功贡献其现有的专业知识。从处理难以处理的材料的系统设计中获得的知识总体上将给英国工业带来进一步的好处。这些知识不仅在食品工业中具有普遍适用性，而且在服装制造等领域也具有普遍适用性。开发的系统将是模块化的，这样设计的元素，例如硬件、软件和传感将可供许多公司使用。