Towards robotic post-trimming of salmon fillets

Purpose - Practically all salmon fillets produced in Norway are trimmed clean of unwanted fat, bone remnants and other defects according to customer requirements. In today's modern salmon-processing plants, the trimming operation is performed by a combination of automated trimming machines and manual post-trimming. Manual post-trimming is necessary due to the inability of current trimming machines to obtain satisfactory trimming. The purpose of this paper is to describe the work done so far toward a robotic post-trimming of salmon fillets. Design/methodology/approach - A prototype concept system was developed to explore the possibility of robotic post-trimming. The concept is based on 3D machine vision, a high-speed robot manipulator and a flexible light-weight cutting knife. Findings - The developed prototype demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a pre-defined object to be trimmed in 3D, and performing the specified trimming cut along a 3D cutting trajectory. Research limitations/implications - The developed prototype system was built and integrated - focusing so far only on a single trimming operation: the tail cut. Originality/value - The originality in the paper is the description of a prototype integrated system, focused on robotic post-trimming of salmon fillets. The value is in providing a starting point for further development toward a complete robotic post-trimming of salmon fillets.