ARISE

Why this project?

The need for automation in food companies remains urgent in a context of labour shortages and high labour costs. At the same time, the increasingly diverse product range makes meeting this demand particularly challenging. Flexible pick-and-place tasks, in particular, remain difficult to automate. Recent developments in AI-driven cobots offer a solution: thanks to AI-powered vision systems, these robots can autonomously identify, pick and place objects in dynamic production environments. This makes them suitable for high-mix, low-volume production without the need for complex programming or specialist expertise.

The ARISE project supports food companies and robot integrators in the successful deployment of AI-driven cobots for flexible pick-and-place applications. Through practical tools, validation activities and real-life use cases, the project demonstrates how AI-powered cobots can enable cost-effective automation in highly variable production environments. 

Research approach and expected results

With this TETRA project, AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Ghent University are supporting food companies in exploring, evaluating, and implementing AI-driven cobots for flexible pick-and-place applications in challenging production environments. The project aims to lower the barriers for deploying AI cobots by giving companies insight into the possibilities, economic benefits, and organizational impact of this technology. ARISE focuses on:

• Gaining insight into the potential of AI cobots through a reference library with over 40 practical examples from the Flemish food and packaging industry.
• Demonstrating the technology with a working AI cobot setup that validates representative applications from the sector.
• Providing practical decision support for companies through tools for scoping, ROI calculation, safety, and organizational implementation.
• Sharing knowledge and expertise with robot integrators, technicians, and future employees through open-source implementations, technical documentation, and training materials. 
• Inspiration sessions, demos, and other dissemination activities that connect companies with the possibilities of AI cobots.

Target group

The target audience is twofold: 

• Food companies looking for flexible automation for repetitive handling tasks in a highly varying production environment.
• Robot integrators who want to translate AI-cobots into cost-effective applications for the food industry.

Project partners

Ghent University is the VAIOP partner within the consortium, with the AIRO team of the IDLab research group contributing to the project. Flanders Food acts as a subcontractor and supports the project coordinator, AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts, in the dissemination of project knowledge and results.

Keen to join?

To ensure that the project results are as relevant as possible for the food industry, a steering group is being set up within the project, bringing together representatives from food companies and technology providers. Companies interested in participating can contact the Project Manager, Kevin Diependaele, at AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts.