Food Engineering Automation with Robotics and AI

Chapter 2Automation in Food Processing Applications

After reading this chapter, you should be able to understand:

• Full range of automation over foodstuffs: all steps including retail display, catering service, cold store, as well as all transport, from retail to shop floor, right through transport. Each poses different specific challenges, and each needs optimized control strategies—whether just optimizing refrigeration in retail food displays, or optimizing efficiency within refrigerated transport systems.
• The first drivers for automation, which are energy efficiency, food quality preservation, and regulatory compliance, are always changing. Advances in research are responding to these needs, and the trends lean toward smarter, energy-efficient, and adaptive control systems that dynamically respond to food safety requirements and operational efficiencies.
• Practical applications of examples, especially case studies, will demonstrate an understanding of how automation drives the effective operation of food safety levels in a supply chain. Such examples will be successful implementations, experiences of problems, and benefits clearly identifiable with the automated solutions in real food industries.

The consumption of perishable fruits and vegetables is vital in reducing the incidence of chronic diseases, yet a considerable quantity of FV is disposed of annually, mainly due to the lack of post-harvest storage supervision. Among all present systems, those that monitor cold ...