When it comes to certain repetitive tasks, having a robot do the work instead of a human might be better. This is because humans can get tired, they might make mistakes, and they need to sleep. This is versus a robot which can work pretty much non-stop, save for times when it needs to undergo maintenance.
This in turn allows companies to produce at a higher volume and be more efficient in the production process. Over in Japan, robotics company RT has developed a new robot called Foodly that can automatically sort noodles. This is done by embedding an image recognition system in the robot itself that can be used to capture and identify food placed in front of it.
It then sorts the noodles using fork-shaped hands, and then places it onto a conveyor belt. The belt itself also features a built-in weighing scale so that it can detect the precise amount of noodles placed on it. The idea behind Foodly is that the company hopes it can be useful for smaller companies that might have found themselves a bit short on labor and need a way to improve their production.
It’s actually pretty cool, although in its current iteration, the movements of the robot do seem a bit jerky resulting in noodles flailing about, but presumably improvements could be made to make it a smoother operation.
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