ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION – CLEANING
After automatically recognising crockery,
Turbo Clean deploys the above gripper to
handle them
can be processed every six seconds. The
deep learning-based system was trained
using images of thousands of trays with
every conceivable combination of messy
crockery. The machine vision not only
recognises items and waste on each tray
in milliseconds, but can also classify items
such as bowls, plates, glasses and cutlery.
Turbo Clean also boasts the ability
to identify new variations of items,
meaning it can cope with new sets of
crockery and cutlery, without the need for
reconfiguration.
“Working with our client, we were
able to design a system that uses a
novel combination of technologies and
to take them from initial discovery right
through to the prototype ready for
commercialisation. We look forward to
continuing our support in the future,”
says Nathan Wrench, commercial director
at Cambridge Consultants. “It’s widely
accepted that AI and robotics will impact
almost every business. But it’s vital to
understand both what is technically
possible and what is commercially viable,
to ensure that a business thrives through
this time of technological revolution.” See
the automated system in action at www.
is.gd/copabi.
BARN-EY CLEANER
Lely International is a dutch company
with UK dealers in Yeovil, Stafford, Devon
and St Neots. It produces a range of
products for the agricultural sector,
with robotic solutions focused on areas
such as milking, feeding, housing, care
“It scrapes and sucks and keeps the floor
clean, leaving a good amount of passageway”
Siebren Woudstra, farmer, the Netherlands
and animal health. Among its solutions
is the Discovery 120 Collector, which
took top spot at the International IERA
Award for Robotics and Automation last
year, alongside two separate robotic
innovations from companies in Germany
and the USA (www.is.gd/ejogur).
The Discovery 120 Collector is a
barn floor cleaning robot for the dairy
industry. It has been designed to vacuum
up manure on solid walkways, whilst also
being able to spray water at the front and
the back for dilution and cleaning. Its total
water container capacity is 70L, while total
water output via nozzles is max 3.5L/min.
Its drive mechanism is made up of two
electric motors, with each motor driving
one wheel, reaching a driving speed of up
to 200mm/sec. It navigates a programmed
route via gyroscope, and is controlled on
its way by built-in ultrasonic sensors.
Once the vacuum tank is full, the
Discovery can drive itself to a specified
dumping location, where it empties the
manure and refills the water bags, before
returning to the charging station (charge
time: six hours maximum).
Siebren Woudstra is a farmer in
Gersloot, the Netherlands, with 160 dairy
cows. Since 1974, he has cleaned the solid
floors of the barn with a fixed scraper
system. However, through word of mouth,
he heard that Lely had a manure scraper
(www.is.gd/anibom).
“The robot is just what we were
looking for because we could get rid of the
poor working manure scraper,” he explains.
“I expected the number of hoof problems
to subside, firstly due to obstacles being
removed from the barn, and secondly due
to hoof infections subsiding because the
floors are much dryer. The robot does
what it has to do. It scrapes and sucks
and keeps the floor clean, leaving a good
amount of passageway around it. It works
well.” An animated video of the robot in
action can be found at www.is.gd/upedul.
These are just some of the product and
prototype examples currently available
or being developed for different sectors.
The rise of technology has been a major
talking point over the last decade and will
continue to be so. Cleaning bots certainly
look like they have a future.
16 www.operationsengineer.org.uk June 2019
/ejogur)
/anibom)
/upedul
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk