Valka will be launching its new robotic solution at Icefish 2008 - so new it is yet to be named!
The company is currently working with HB Grandi to develop robotic solutions for feeding saithe fillets automatically into a portioning machine.
There are many simple repetitive jobs in the fish processing industry which sales manager, Víkingur Gunnarsson, says can be automated with robots. The deployment of robots is now becoming more feasible as leading robotic manufacturers have recently released robots which can work in the harsh environment typically found in fish processing plants. Until now robots have primarily been used in the dry areas of these plants to stack boxes or in other similar applications.
The robot selected for this project is a six axis M-430iA robot from Fanuc, a leading manufacturer of robots. Valka technicians have been cooperating closely with Fanuc technical experts to ensure that the robot operates successfully.
Mr Gunnarsson says that the key issue in order for the project to be successful is to utilise a gripper which does not damage the fish and is capable of laying the fish down completely flat so that it can go directly into an IQF freezer or a portioning machine which requires perfect alignment. It is, however, not guaranteed that the fish is in this perfect alignment when it is grabbed by the robot. Valka has therefore developed a patented gripper which, according to initial tests, is capable of this demanding task.
The initial tests have taken place at Fanuc facilities in the UK and at Valka's facilities in Iceland. Factory tests at HB Grandi's fish processing factory in Reykjavik began at the end of August. The initial focus of the project will be on using the robot to automatically feed the fish fillets, which comes in two rows from a trimming line, into a single row into a portioning machine.
Valka's primary focus at the Icelandic Fisheries Exhibition will be on demonstrating the abilities of this new technology as well as demonstrating the new RapidAligner grader.
