Flexible robotics for meal production

Van Wees Waalwijk

Surprisingly, a great deal of work in the food processing industry is still done manually. Think of adding packets of croutons to meal salads, portioning ingredients, or filling packaging. These are often repetitive tasks that are physically demanding and difficult to automate, especially for smaller production runs or changing recipes. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find enough staff.

To address this issue, Van Wees Waalwijk developed the Bin Pick Food Cell: a compact and flexible robotic cell capable of automating various manual tasks in food production.

Automation that adapts

Whereas traditional automation solutions are often fixed machines that perform only a single task, the Bin Pick Food Cell is specifically designed for flexibility. The cell can be easily deployed on various production lines and supports multiple operations within the production process.

Robotic arms automatically retrieve ingredients from bins (bin picking), measure them out precisely, and perform tasks such as adding components to meals or packaging. Meanwhile, vision technology continuously checks to ensure that the correct ingredients and quantities are being used. This ensures the quality of the final product.

Depending on the product and line speed, the cell can perform 40 to 60 picks per minute. This means that a single cell can replace multiple manual operations on a production line.

Designed to add variety to your meals

The food industry is changing rapidly. Manufacturers are increasingly working with smaller batches, more product variants, and shorter production runs. Traditional automation is often not flexible enough to accommodate these changes.

The Bin Pick Food Cell was specifically designed with this variety in mind. Thanks to its modular design, the system can be easily adapted to different products and processes. The controls have also been deliberately kept simple, so that operators without a technical background can start up and reconfigure the cell.

Smarter through AI and collaboration

The technology behind the Bin Pick Food Cell continues to evolve. For example, to pick up loose or irregularly shaped products, we are developing vision-AI that is constantly improving its ability to recognize how ingredients are arranged in a crate and how they can be picked up most efficiently.

Several technology partners are collaborating on the development, including Yaskawa for robotics, Fizyr for vision AI, and Wageningen University & Research for expertise in food processing and gripper technology.

The Bin Pick Food Cell features an advanced vision system that accurately recognizes and positions objects

Custom automation

With the Bin Pick Food Cell, Van Wees Waalwijk demonstrates how robotics can contribute to future-proof food production: more efficient, more flexible, and less reliant on manual labor.

In addition to this solution, the company also develops custom automation systems for specific production processes in the food industry.

Bin Pick Food Cell, Sjors van Haaren, Sales Engineer, and Andries van der Werf, Owner-Manager

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