Guided by a 3D imaging system, knife-wielding robot debones poultry

Atlanta, GA--Guided by 3D vision technology, a robotic cutting arm developed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) can automatically debone chicken and other poultry products.

A different take on the robotic surgeon, the so-called Intelligent Cutting and Deboning System automatically performs precision cuts that optimize yield and reduce the risk of bone fragments in the finished product. “Each bird is unique in its size and shape," says Gary McMurray, chief of GTRI's Food Processing Technology Division. "So we have developed the sensing and actuation needed to allow an automated deboning system to adapt to the individual bird, as opposed to forcing the bird to conform to the machine.”

In use, a bird is positioned in front of the vision system prior to making a cut, explains GTRI research engineer Michael Matthews. The vision system makes 3D measurements of various location points on the outside of the bird; using these points as inputs, custom algorithms then define a proper cut by estimating the positions of internal structures such as bones and ligaments.

The prototype uses a fixed two-degree-of-freedom cutting robot for making simple planar cuts. The bird is mounted on a six-degree-of-freedom robot arm that allows alignment of the bird and cutting robot to any desired position. The robot arm places the bird under the vision system, and then it moves the bird with respect to the cutting robot.

The system uses a force sensor and force-feedback algorithm that can detect the transition from meat to bone, says research engineer Ai-Ping Hu. That detection capability allows the cutting knife to move along the surface of the bone while maintaining a constant force. Because ligaments are attached to bone, maintaining contact with the bone allows the knife to cut all the ligaments around the shoulder joint without cutting into the bone itself. A similar approach can be used for other parts of the bird where meat must be separated from bone.

"Fine tuning is needed to adjust the force thresholds to be able to tell the difference between meat, tendon, ligaments and bone, each of which have different material properties,” says Hu.

Poultry is Georgia's top agricultural product, with an estimated annual economic impact of nearly $20 billion statewide. The research is funded by the state of Georgia through the Agricultural Technology Research Program at GTRI.