Chicken Deboning Robot Invented
One of the most time-consuming steps involved with poultry processing is bone removal. In order to produce chicken nuggets, patties and other poultry products, the bones must be removed. While there area already machines being used to help strip the meat off the bones, a newly invented “chicken deboning robot” could potentially change the face of the poultry industry.
About The Chicken Deboning Robot
Georgia Tech researchers and engineers recently developed a prototype version of a device which uses a 3-D imaging system and cutting arm to debone chicken and poultry products. While it’s still in the early phases of production, the tests ran by the prototype have already proven to be quite successful at separating the chicken from the bones.
Using a machine to remove the bones from a chicken isn’t an entirely new concept. However, the difference with this chicken deboning robot and models previously attempted is the smart 3-D mapping system used. Georgia Tech engineers built this robot to cut each and every chicken differently. As you probably know, chickens come in all different sizes and shapes, so you can’t simply use one type of deboning technique to properly separate every chicken that comes through. The 3-D mapping system takes an image of the bird and then calculates the precise cutting trajectory necessary.
Another unique feature with chicken deboning robot is it’s ability to detect when it hits the bone. Up until now, no other machine has been able to accurately do this. With the ability to detect bone, there’s less chance of it accidentally cutting through and leaving fragments in the poultry.
How This Could Change The Poultry Industry
In the state of Georgia alone, poultry is roughly a 20$ billion a year industry. With the current processing methods used, a lot of this poultry is being discarded. If the chicken deboning robot were to successfully hit the shelves, it will reduce the amount of poultry discarded and reduce the possibility of bone fragments making their way into the final product, which in turn will save poultry companies millions of dollars each year.
If engineers and researchers continue to tweak and polish the chick deboning robot, we could potentially see it in manufacturing plants within the next couple of years. Like any piece food manufacturing equipment, there’s still more testing and research to be done, but there’s already a lot of buzz and media coverage surrounding the prototype.