Multiaxial Articulated Arm for Automated Meat Deboning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing deboning methods for slaughtered domestic animals, such as pork and beef thighs, face challenges in automating incision making along the complex three-dimensional surfaces of bones, leading to low automation rates and reduced meat yield due to the need for manual positioning and unidirectional cutting blades that are not suitable for curved bone surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A deboning method and device that utilize a multiaxial articulated arm with a cutting blade operated by a servomotor to make precise incisions and separate meat from bones, featuring a scraper for initial meat removal and a separator with pivotally supported round cutting blades that retract to prevent edge damage, allowing for automated processing except for initial pretreatment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If manual positioning and unidirectional cutting blades are used for incision making, then the automation rate is reduced and positioning time increases, but the cutting blades are not suitable for curved bone surfaces leading to lower meat yield
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting blade is designed to rotate in multiple directions (multiaxial rotation) to adapt to the three-dimensional curved surface of the bone. This dynamic movement capability allows the blade to follow complex bone contours automatically without manual positioning, resolving the contradiction between automation rate and incision precision by enabling the blade to dynamically adjust its orientation while maintaining automated operation
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting blade's rotational parameters (rotation axis, rotation speed, rotation range) are optimized to match the geometric characteristics of bone surfaces. By changing the motion parameters from unidirectional to multiaxial rotation, the system achieves both high automation and precise incision following of curved bone surfaces
2Manufacturing precision
If unidirectional cutting blades are used, then the device structure is simpler, but the blades are not appropriate for making incisions along complicated three-dimensional curves of bones resulting in lower meat yield
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting mechanism employs multiaxial rotation capability allowing the blade to dynamically adjust its orientation in three-dimensional space. This dynamic design enables the blade to follow complicated bone curves precisely while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure, as the complexity is concentrated in the rotational mechanism rather than the entire system
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating cutting blade serves multiple functions: it can cut along different directions, adapt to various bone shapes, and follow three-dimensional curves. This multi-functionality replaces what would otherwise require multiple specialized cutting tools, achieving high incision precision without proportionally increasing device complexity
3Manufacturing precision
If positioning mechanisms are added to precisely position the thigh for incision making, then the incision precision improves, but the conveying must be temporarily stopped increasing processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting blade is designed with multiaxial rotation capability that allows it to dynamically adapt to the bone surface geometry during continuous conveyance. This eliminates the need for stopping the conveyor to reposition the thigh, as the blade can automatically orient itself correctly while the meat moves continuously through the processing line
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting mechanism performs self-positioning through its multiaxial rotation capability, automatically adjusting its orientation to match the bone surface without requiring external positioning mechanisms or interrupting the conveyance process. The blade essentially positions itself relative to the moving bone, maintaining both precision and continuous processing
4Extent of automation
If manual pretreatment and incision making are used, then the automation rate is low requiring more labor, but the succeeding automated processes can be implemented
Solution Approach 1:
The multiaxial rotating cutting blade enables automated incision making that can handle the complexity previously requiring manual pretreatment. By giving the blade the capability to dynamically adapt to bone surfaces through multiaxial rotation, the system can automatically perform incisions that were previously done manually, thereby increasing the overall automation rate while maintaining operational ease
Data Source
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Figure 2
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
In a deboning method, a deboning process of arm/leg parts of a meat carcass is automated and deboning processing is performed while a work is conveyed by suspending it on a conveyance device through a neck part of the work after a preprocessing for improving meat yield and work efficiency. The method is provided with a gristle cutting processes(50, 60 and 70) cutting gristle of the work in a longitudinal direction along a surface of a bone by using multiaxial articulated arms (51, 61 and 71) having cutting blades operated along an operation track which is set, a peeling process (90) for peeling a meat part from a first bone adjacent to the neck part by a scraper arranged in a conveyance path (12) of the work (1) while the work is conveyed, a separating process (100) for pressing the meat part of the work (1) from above by a separator while the work is conveyed and separating the meat part from a second bone connected to the first bone through an articulation part in a subsequent stage of the peeling process (90), and a post-gristle cutting process (80) for operating the cutting blade in the longitudinal direction of the work with driving force of a servo motor and cutting a side of the articulation part of the work in the longitudinal direction by the cutting blade in the subsequent stage of the gristle cutting process.