How can robots improve the ice cream experience?

Speed is important with ice cream. When it’s produced, it needs to be packaged and delivered quickly; when purchased to enjoy, it needs to be served promptly. Robots are being used to speed up ice cream packaging, delivery, and serving. Yea, robots!

Food-grade robots and clean rooms

Special food-grade grease (FGG) must be used with most ice cream robots. FGG is tasteless, odorless, and resistant to common packaging materials. Some FGG robots can withstand sub-freezing temperatures in ice cream storage warehouses. Many FGG robots are designed to withstand frequent and extremely thorough washdowns to ensure cleanliness. Common ingress protection (IP) ratings of ice cream robots are IP67 and IP69K.

In addition, food manufacturing facilities are generally required to meet ISO Class 6 clean room standards. Also referred to as a “class 1000” clean room, these areas can contain a maximum of 35,200 >0.5-micron particles per cubic meter and 293 particles >5 microns.

Ice cream robots must meet the general requirements of ISO 13849-1, “safety of machinery,” and the more specific demands of ISO 10218-1, “safety requirements for industrial robots.”

Various robot types, including delta and articulated robots, can be found in ice cream processing plants. FGG collaborative robots (cobots) are also a common choice. A machine vision system can be added to enhance productivity.

Figure 1. A delta robot like this can achieve 120 to 150 pick and place cycles per minute on an ice cream production line. (Image: *ABB*)

Cobot ice cream filler

A cobot has been developed to fill tubs with ice cream. It can create artisan-like patterns in the ice cream and fill up to 12 tubs per minute.

The cobot filling arm moves in three dimensions for precise and repeatable filling patterns and finishes. It can also be filled with cold ice cream, reducing the hardening time, minimizing the formation of ice crystals, and maximizing ice cream quality. Nozzles are available to make different decorations and finishes on the packed ice cream (Figure 2).

Figure 2. This ice cream tub filling cobot can use a variety of nozzles to produce different decorations and finishes. (Image: *Tetra Pak*)

More ice cream, faster

Delta and articulated robots are being used to speed up end-of-line packaging of ice cream products, including bars, sandwiches, and tubs. Delta robots are especially adept at handling bars and sandwiches. At the same time, 3D-printed suction cup end-effector tools have been developed to enable six-axis articulated cobots to pack ice cream tubs into boxes quickly.

The articulated cobots are FGG designs and can box up to 12,000 tubs of ice cream daily. That’s about an 80% increase compared with non-robot operations. Faster packaging also means less time for the ice cream to soften, helping maintain high quality.

The addition of a vision system with integrated lighting enables the cobot to inspect and sort the cartons before packaging and can speed changeovers between various flavors. These articulated cobots are also designed for integration with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to support automated machine tending and logistics operations (Figure 3)

Figure 3. This cobot’s vision system can speed up ice cream tub delivery into cartons. (Image: *Omron*)

Robots serving ice cream

Once the ice cream arrives at the shop, it must be served quickly in response to customer orders. Traditional ice cream shops and stand-alone cafes use ice cream serving robots. In one case, an ice cream robot has been developed with 7 degrees of freedom (DOF) movement that can achieve human-like dexterity when scooping ice cream. Robots are available that can serve ice cream in just under 40 seconds (Figure 4).

Figure 4. This FGG robot has 7 DOF for scooping ice cream and is designed for easy cleaning. (Image: *KUKA*)

Summary

Robots and cobots are increasingly important in producing, packaging, and serving ice cream. They can speed up the processes and improve the quality of the product. Common types of robots found in ice cream factories include delta and articulated designs. Some include vision systems to perform quality control functions. Robots with 7 DOF are needed to scoop and serve ice cream efficiently.